Any trip to Darjeeling can not be considered complete without visiting it's tea estates, for which the place is renowned all over the world. The heritage toy trains are also a major tourist attraction of Darjeeling. The scenery, that unfolds before your eyes, while taking a ride in the toy train, can be a surreal experience. During my trip, i had the opportunity to explore these two famous T's of Darjeeling, i.e. Tea Estates and Toy Train.
Tea Estates As we all know, Darjeeling is one of the largest producer of premium tea in the world and the place reaches to all Indian homes through the rich aroma of tea produced here. While having Darjeeling tea sitting at your home may be a stimulating experience, a stroll through the tea gardens and interaction with tea workers may also be a memorable one.
Tea Garden at Mirik, Darjeeling
There are many tea estates in Darjeeling area and some of them were established in the post-independence era by our colonial cousins. In fact the tea plantation was introduced in this area by the Britishers only. One can visit these gardens after taking permission from the manager of estate. Some tea estates in Darjeeling area also offer vacation packages to tourists to experience life in the gardens along with stays in heritage bungalows, plus musical and cultural activities that are rarely found anywhere else in the world. Some of the most renowned tea estates are : Makaibari, Glenberg, Happy Valley, Singtom and Gomtee. Toy Trains Apart from the tea gardens, Darjeeling has one more major tourist attraction, which finds it's place in the wishlist of each tourist travelling to the hill station, i.e. the toy trains of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR). It has been accorded UNESCO World Heritage status due to engineering acumen and creative skills employed in it's construction, making it the 2nd Railway in the world to receive such status. The toy trains are also the legacy of the British rule. Operating on narrow gauge tracks since 1880s, these steam engine toy trains offer unique ride through breath-taking landscapes, picturesque mountains, villages and shops on the way with children waving at you. Though DHR operates toy trains between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling covering total distance of around 80 kms, the most preferred section by the tourists is Ghum (the highest railway station of Asia) to Darjeeling, a 7 km long track. The train moves along the hilly terrain with snail's pace, taking around 2 hours to complete 14 km journey from Ghum to Darjeeling and back. The train operates 04 times a day between Ghum & Darjeeling. One advice for travelers wishing to board these joyride trains - Please book your tickets in advance, as you may not get it over the counter due to heavy rush of tourists. Online Ticket booking may be made through the website of IRCTC. Tourists, while reaching Darjeeling city by road, can see the toy train running parallel to the Hill kart road and climbing up to the famous Batasia loop.
It stops here for 10 minutes giving the tourists opportunity to capture the magnificent views of Darjeeling town and snow caped ranges of Mt. Kanchandzonga. Batasia loop has itself been developed as a tourist place with manicured garden and a war memorial at the centre.
Toy Train near Batasia Loop
View of Mt. Kanchandzonga from Batasia Loop
Joyride Train
View of Darjeeling Town from Batasia Loop
War Memorial built in the honor of Gorkha Soldiers
The place has been picturized in many Hindi and Bangla movies and the most notable of them is the song "Mere Sapno Ki Rani" from the movie Aaradhana picturized on the superstar Rajesh Khanna, Sharmila Tagore and Sujeet Kumar. You can compare the Batasia loop of 1969 (the year, Aaaradhana released) and now. I will leave you with the melodious and evergreen tune of the legendary music composer S D Burman. Enjoy!
After a series of posts on Mysore, a heritage city of southern Indian peninsula, now is the time to travel up the Northern hills of Mighty Himalayas and this time, it is Darjeeling, the queen of Eastern Himalayas. Darjeeling is one of those places in India, which needs no introduction, as it has many facets to be famous and known by all. I have been exploring various parts of mystic Sikkim during my stay at Gangtok for 03 years and a trip to Darjeeling was on the cards from the day one, being the neighboring area of Sikkim. What i observed during my several trips to Sikkim and Darjeeling was that Sikkim was relatively untouched and less explored territory, where one could unravel many gems of natural beauty, whereas, Darjeeling had certain heritage value apart from having plenty of natural landscapes, flora and fauna. The place is famous among all classes of travelers for it's six T's - Tea, Teak, Tourism, Tiger Hills, Trekking and Toy Train. To explore these six T's of Darjeeling, one fine morning, we, a group of 08 persons started our trip to Darjeeling from Gangtok. It was a 4 hours (nearly 95 km) smooth ride mostly on serpentine and curvaceous NH-31A, the lifeline of Sikkim, which connects it to the rest of India. For us, it was like, first going down the hill into the planes and then again going up the hill, as Darjeeling is comparatively at higher altitude. Topographically, there is no difference between Sikkim and Darjeeling. The only difference, one can make out between the two is that the later falls in West Bengal district. With in two hours of our journey, we had crossed Rangpo, a border town of Sikkim and had left NH-31A after Jorethang for the road (Lebong Cart Road) leading to Darjeeling. We had gone hardly a few kilometers from Jorethang and a beautiful sight of confluence of Teesta & Rangit, two major rivers of Sikkim greeted us.
Confluence of Teesta & Rangit Rivers
As we were moving up the road leading to Darjeeling, the weather was getting colder and fog was engulfing the surroundings. Soon, we crossed Lamahatta eco-tourism park and a good travel destination in itself, regarding which i will write separately. After another hour's journey through the famous Hill Cart Road, we had entered dazzling Darjeeling. At the entry point, our vehicle's papers were checked at the check post and we entered the city with high anticipation of fun and joy in exploring the famous hill station. As we were slowly snaking up the hills, a narrow-gauge railway track along the road grabbed our attention and we instantly realized that this is the track on which the famous toy trains of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway ply. soon, Ghum Railway Station was before our eyes.
Ghum Railway Station
Ghum Railway Station is the highest Railway Station in India located at the height of around 7400 ft. A joy ride in the toy train from Ghum to Batasiya Loop, Darjeeling offering magnificent views may be a wonderful experience for travelers. We had reached there by 02:00 PM and decided to look for hotels for our night stay. Darjeeling has plenty of all budget hotels and it didn't take much time to search hotel rooms. After settling in the rooms, we started exploring local markets and famous Mall Road, popularly known as Chowrasta. The Chowrasta is the heart of Darjeeling town. It's a flat land where tourists and locals come to enjoy in the sun and watch the wonderful views of the mountain peaks and valleys all around sitting on the benches. Here, you will find some of the old and heritage stores lined up on one side, and open view on the other with many pine trees all around. If you want to feel the real vibe of Darjeeling, Chowrasta is the right place for you. You may also notice many young local fellows with their ponies offering horse rides to tourists.
Chowrasta at Darjeeling
Cultural Programme for tourists at Hawa Ghar, Chowrasta
We took a stroll in the bustling mall road, did some shopping of woolen clothing, for which the place is also famous for and enjoyed the cultural & musical programme going on at Chowrasta. We returned to our hotel taking colourful memories of Mall Road with us and thinking to visit the place again, if time permits. Next Morning, we had to start for Tiger Hills, a tourist spot, from where the magnificent view of the ranges of Mt. Kanchanjangha can be seen in a sunny morning. In the next post, i will take you all to Tiger Hills and many other tourist places of Darjeeling. Till then Adios!
