Phase I

Ok...I'm back from my short vacation. Back to the maddening city and even maddening life in the city. I wish I still were on my vacation. It was an awesome experience, tiring yes, but reallllllly good.

We flew out of  Delhi in the morning. After a quick layaway at Guwahati, we reached Bagdogra Airport around noon. Efficient that the travel agent was, we had a Tata Sumo waiting for us at the airport to take us to our destination, Darjeeling, which is like 5-6 hrs away. The weather down in the plains was a lil' more warmer than what it was in Delhi. We actually had to take off our jackets in the jeep.

The drive to Darjeeling is a scenic one. We stopped at a couple of scenic areas to take photos, but we din't dally around much since we wanted to reach Darjeeling way before it got dark. The winding roads up the hills were kinda scary to take in the rickety jeep that we were travelling along with the slow fog that was seemingly getting heavier as we ascended each bend. Even then we reached our hotel late in the night. Thankfully, the hotel had a hot dinner waiting for us when we reached which we had and fell asleep before our heads could even hit the pillows.

We had an early morning tryst with the sun the next day. So, at the break of dawn we were at the Tiger Hill to get a view of the Kanchenjunga breaking out of the dawn. The view was absolutely fantastic. Worth waking up early and standing in the early morning chilly weather.

The rest of the day was spent visiting the various tourist spots of the area... Buddhist monasteries, the Rock Garden, the Zoo, the Mountaineering Institute. We also took a trip to the nearby market and looked around the place.

We spent the next morning going around the Tea estates and then to the War Memorial. Unfortunately we din't get time to take a ride in the Toy Train since we had to leave for our next destination with wasting any more time.

I would be doing a great injustice if I din't spend a few lines describing the hotel and the service it gave us.
The hotel we stayed at is a small stone-wood establishment consisting of around 12 rooms. The rooms are small and cozy. The food even better. They actually served us food in our room including getting us extra helpings if necessary. The only problem with the place is that they do not have any in-room heating system. However they do provide an small room heater at extra cost.