As we started to drive up the hills from Bagdogra (Siliguri). It was a quick change in the terrain within minutes from the start. After passing through a few Army establishments, we entered the slopes draped with tea and tea all around. We pulled down the windows and enjoyed the cool wind blowing from these slopes.
As we started ascending, the temperature began to drop rapidly. A two hour drive along the winding slopes and we caught sight of a well populated town on one of the peaks. The driver told us, that was Kurseong and that we would be halting at Ambootia tea estate a little below this town for the night.
After another half an hour of this soothing drive we reached an even more beautiful place... the Ambootia Estate Guest house. Without wasting a moment, we dumped our stuff in the rooms and spent the rest of the evening sitting in the lawns enjoying the beautiful evening setting over the slopes, the clouds flowing down the hills and engulfing the entire valley as it got dark.
As we moved into the lounge later in the evening, we were offered some steaming Darjeeling tea in transparent glass cups. We were told this tea was Darjeeling's special and it was to be had with no milk and no sugar. To me it was looking more like champagne in a cup and I wondered how one could have it without milk or even sugar. So I made a reluctant attempt at sipping it. The experience that followed was something that I did not expect. The sweet honey kind of flavor that hits you, as you take the cup closer is just so magical that we begin to wonder that, all that we had so far was not tea at all. Deepu is even more a connoisseur of tea. She was so impressed, she kept asking for more.
Having just a day to halt at this place, the next morning we woke up early, grabbed a quick breakfast and set out for a walk in the estate. The estate manager took us around various places where work was in progres and Deepu even got a hands-on experience in tea plucking.
We spent some time at the tea factory watching the process of manufacture and then tea tasting. After visiting a few scenic spots in the estate we returned to the guest house for lunch.
We were packed by 2pm and left for Darjeeling on a cool and cloudy afternoon. It was a scenic drive up and we reached Darjeeling by about 4.30. The SP here is a batch mate of mine whom we fondly call DP. He had invited us home for dinner that night. So having hardly anytime left to ourselves we dropped our bags at the Police Guest house, Kennilworth and rushed to the Mall road. Some how compared to the Mall roads in Mussoorie and Simla we found this one quite disappointing. But then Deepu decided to explore it on Horse back and so even I had to find one for myself.
After a nice ride on horseback around the town we then explored a little bit of the shopping area on foot. We returned to the room by about 7 and left to the SP's residence by 8.30. It was cold windy and entire Darjeeling was engulfed in a cloud. It started to rain heavily soon after and having nothing much to do outside, we stayed in and had a good meal, catching up, on the good old Academy days and some grape wine on other batch mates. The SP's residence otherwise is located at such a wonderful location that you get a great view of the Golden peaks of Kanchenjunga, during sunrise. So as we left the place after dinner, we decided to come back for breakfast expecting to be just lucky to get a glimpse that magical view.
The next morning we woke up early and we were back at the SP's residence for breakfast and for a view of the Snow capped mountains. But as it was to be in this month of the year, the whole valley was covered in cloud and we could hardly see anything beyond a few hundred yards. The SP's residence also called the Campbell House has another specialty. It was the residence of one Dr Campbell, who in 1839 planted the first tea plant here at the residence and it still survives to this day for visitors to see. Amazing fact ! a tea plant actually survives that long. We enjoyed our breakfast, bid goodbye to the hosts and set out on exploring Darjeeling.
We visted places like the famour St Paul's School (of 'Main Hoon Naa' fame), the the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, the Zoological Park, the Japanese Buddhist Monastery and the Mahakal Mandir. While we were going round the town we came across the Darjeeling toy train chug into the station... and without wasting time we rushed to it and took some good pictures. We even managed to get on to the one hundred year old engine to get a feel of what it is to drive a steam engine... my childhood ambition finally came true, momentarily though.
We returned back to Kennilworth by 4pm, packed up and left for our next halt at Kalimpong. But before we actually left the town, we decided to grab some lunch and our driver suggested we go to this place called Glenary's. Wow! thanks to the driver... this place was amazing. A true relic of the British era and maintained so well that you feel you're in Europe. We loaded lots of stuff at the bakery on the ground floor and had a nice meal on the next, with a beautiful view of Darjeeling covered in cloud. We finally left Darjeeling by about six and started driving towards Kalimpong in heavy rain. By the time we reached Kalimpong, there was a breakdown of one of the power transformers, cutting off power supply to the entire town. So we entered the police guest house in candle light. We were tired and still full with the late lunch. So we decided to retire early with some daal and chawal.
We woke up to a pleasant morning with clear skies and a beautiful view of the hills. But yet, the Kanchenjunga was still evading us with some clouds still on the horizon. We relaxed till late and left after a brunch at 12pm. That was the end of our Darjeeling leg of the vacation. our next destination was Gangtok, Sikkim and we were to make it there by evening. So on our way we just made short visits to a few places around Kalimpong like the Buddhist Monastery, Deolo hill Guest house and an Army Golf course. The Deolo hill gives a magnificent view of Kalimpong but same problem... it is completely covered in cloud this time of the year. The highlight was the golf course. The location and maintenance makes it perhaps one of the most beautiful courses in the world. I don't think there's another one like this with such a majestic backdrop of the Himalayas.
We then started to drive towards Gangtok and at about 4pm we entered the state of Sikkim at Rangpo with the river Teesta separating the two states. We took a break at the tourism hotel on the banks of the river and let the driver and gunman have their lunch. That was the start of our next leg of the vacation.
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