Ethereal in winter. Review on Darjeeling

Most people choose to visit Darjeeling in summer to escape the sweat and dust of the plains. The mad rush makes the city overcrowded and messy, taking away some of the joys of visiting a hill station.

A break from the usual idea. Myself and two of my friends decided to visit the place in January 2007, hoping to find a more pristine Darjeeling. We had to take some extra luggage, including heavy boots and sleeping bags in case of a sudden snowfall. Train reservations were not hard to get, and hiring a Tata Sumo to Darjeeling was at a discount price. I will not go into every detail of prices, because everyone has their own budget. But even hotels were giving rooms at throwaway prices.

The skies in Darjeeling are known for frequent interplays of sunshine and clouds in summer. In January however, the skies were just clear blue, only a few specks of clouds here and there. Kanchenzonga was clearly visible from dawn to dusk on any day.

We hoped to experience some snowfall, and had taken some extra leave from work in case we got stuck. However our luck wasn't going to favour us with snow.We just got to see clear sunrise every morning for the whole week.

A trip to Ghoom station on the toy train was arranged. We did not get a train back to Darjeeling, so we hired a local jeep back to the hotel. We managed to get up at midnight on one day(with great difficulty). The hotel gave us a Tata Indica on hire for an early morning trip to Tiger Hill.

Most tourists who visit the place in summers never manage to see the sunrise because of fog and cloud cover. We were pleasantly surprised to find the skies clearing up shortly before dawn. A clear sunrise and Mt. Everest at a distance(Tiger hill being one  of the few places in India which offers a view of Everest). We had taken a 30x binocular with us, so the view was just a little closer. However, the early trip had given two of us a mild sore throat, so we had to down two glasses of piping hot tea from a nearby tea stall.

Shortly afterwards, we did some local sightseeing. Not all of them were exceptional. However we enjoyed a visit to the Darjeeling zoo, which, I must admit, appears much well maintained than its Kolkata counterpart. The Gangamaiya Falls is a tranquil place, more so in winter. We loved the gentle treks across the rapids. The Himalayan Institute, along with the adjoining museum can be avoided. The Tibetan refugee centre has some nice thangkas and brass artifacts on display. We rounded up the sightseeing with a visit to a local tea garden, and buying some tea(though in hindsight I admit it was a wrong decision. I get better quality of Darjeeling tea from Calcutta New Market)

That evening, we visited the local market. My friends bought some heavy woollens after some haggling. Then we visited a curio shop. One of my friends bought a small Kukri, that would double up as a paper knife. I bought a dorje, a phurba and a Tibetan bell.  The last thing bought was a generous amount of booze from a local wine shop, but I prefer not to go into the details of that particular purchase.

The next day we visited Mirik, and its main attraction Samendu Lake. We did some boating on a paddle boat for about 20 minutes. We were told angling also takes place here, but perhaps because this was the  off-season, no angler was there. The view of the mountains from the lake is quite majestic. Our driver  had offered to take us to Pashupatinagar across the Nepal border. There are some foreign goods to be bought at decent prices. But the restrictions at the border are stiffling and gullible shoppers can be easily duped. So we decided to give it a miss.

This being our final day in Darjeeling(with the exception of a heavy snowfall or landslide), we decided to hang out in the mall during the evening. It was pretty chilly to be out in the open, so we had some momos and hot soup from a fast food stall. We also visited Darjeeling Inox, although it was closed for some reason. Finally with the cold mounting, we scampered back to the hotel for an early dinner.

Despite the chill, there were no snowfalls during our stay. The next day we moved back to Siliguri to take  a train back to Kolkata.

I had a comment from one of the users about the prices. As I said, prices will vary greatly depending on one's budget. More importantly, with the current political turmoil in Darjeeling, prices and accomodation may be vastly different. Even then, I will give a rough price estimate.

3rd AC one-way train fare to New Jalpaiguri is about Rs. 600 in Kanchankanya Express. A auto-rickshaw  to Siliguri bus station could be hired for about Rs.100. A trekker would be far cheaper at about Rs. 15 per head. In the off-season, we hired a jeep to Darjeeling for Rs.1000 after some bargaining. Here also, one can take a bus ride to cut costs. A shared Tata Sumo charges around Rs.75 per head.

The hotels charge off-season rates between November to March. We hired a 3 bed room for Rs. 1100 per day including 3 meals per day. Although we did not use it, we inquired about a room-heater, which would have been rented at Rs.1500 per day, including electricity consumption.

A local sightseeing charge was Rs. 350 and trip to Tiger hill was settled for Rs. 250. The half-day trip to Mirik was done in a Mahindra Scorpio, and we shared space with a family of 4. We were charged Rs. 200 per head. Boating in Samendu lake, Mirik was charged at Rs. 30 per half hour. If we had visited Pashupatinagar in Nepal, and bought items there, we would have to rely on our driver to "smuggle" it across the border; "charges" would have varied, but we estimated around Rs. 100-300 depending on items bought. The trip from Darjeeling to Ghum station in the toy train was Rs.10 in the general compartment. 1st class charges would have been Rs.250

I will not mention the prices of booze that we bought, but its far cheaper to buy booze in Sikkim which does not impose taxes. We had chicken momos almost every evening, they are just heavenly in places where Tibetans make them. One plate cost Rs.20. I suggest going for pork momo, because thats more authentic.

The curios that I bought cost me around Rs. 800. The woollens that my friends bought cost them about Rs. 1200. Tea was charged at about Rs. 600/kg, but I would not suggest buying it. That just about sums up the economics!