Our Sikkim trip: A comedy of mishaps (Part 9)

30th May 2010 – Home home sweet home

Luckily the bus ran smoothly and entered Kolkata by 8.30am on the next morning (30th May 2010). It was the day of corporation election in Kolkata. The bus runners were afraid of stopping the bus at my home stop (i.e. Sribhumi) due to probable political turbulences. So there were two options – either getting down near the Damdam Airport or at Ultadanga and catch a cab from there. I opted for the former one since it’s a challenge getting a taxi for a short distance from Ultadanga.

On the way to home (finally relaxed in the bus :)

Opportunely, we got a taxi asking for Rs. 150/- for a drop to home.
Home home, sweet home!! I realized the truth once more on that day. I am looking for another pleasure trip to get a relief from the stress earned from this tour. Please suggest ;)

Our Sikkim trip: A comedy of mishaps (Part 8)

29th May 2010 – Back to the roller coaster

On the day of departure (i.e. 29th May 2010) we were at the gate of the hotel by 9am. I noticed a Maruti Wagon R car was waiting to pick us up. Getting shocked with this I asked the car rental lady “who is this car for?” She replied since the Sumo met with an accident last night, she replaced it with this Wagon R (Thank God!! She did not go for a rickshaw). Wangon R is too small to carry 4 adults, 1 kid and our luggage on a long drive of 5 hours, so I denied going with it. The driver got angry and left immediately. The lady started calling different drivers to arrange for another car. Ultimately she could manage a Maruti Omni van (not again!!). This time it’s not a 1993 model, a little newer than that and well decorated. The driver was nearly 17/18 years old. Time was running out and we had to catch the bus from Siliguri at 7.15pm. Being compelled by the situation we started our journey with the Maruti Omni (collected one more pearl on our necklace of mishaps J. I noticed that the hotel manager and associates were standing there expecting for a concluding tip but I did not entertain them this time (the Mullah Nasiruddin idea :).

We halted in Jorthang for our lunch after two hours of drive. I went to an ATM to refill my pocket. The Union bank ATM was out of order. Finally I went to Axis bank. The security guard asked me to withdraw not more than Rs. 1000/- since all the other ATMs in that area were down and everyone was targeting this ATM (ATM rationing J). Anyway, we got a decent restaurant there. This is the first time we could taste a dish of fried rice during the trip. I got excited and ordered for a chilly chicken as. The chickens were not very friendly for our teeth (l realized later that it was not even safe for the stomach :) . So we finished our lunch very carefully and pushed off for the rest of our journey.

View from Rinchenpong Monastery

After a couple of minutes I heard a noise near the wheels of the car. When I asked the driver he replied the silencer pipe is broken (hmm! a new twist in the story!). Rests of the passengers were pretty relaxed after the lunch and trying for a little slumber with the nice cool breeze. I resisted the idea of passing the twist to them consuming the excitement myself J. The journey went on. After a while I noticed that our driver was not using the horn even at the sharp turns of the hilly road. Eventually the left mirror of our car got touched up by a truck while we were trying to overtake it silently. Everyone got anxious on why the horn was not blown. On asking the driver replied that the horn is not working ;), the trip was getting more and more piquant. I consumed this surprise also and smiled at my co-travelers. I took the role of driver’s helper J. My job was to pull out me head at the turns and alert the driver in case a car was coming from the other side. I was counting the minutes and the kilometers desperately toward the end of the journey; we were approximately 30 kilometers away from Siliguri. Ultimately the hilly road ended. We crossed the Sevok Bridge around 3pm and stated on the plain road heading toward Siliguri through the army camps on both sides.

Traditional instruments used at the farm for agriculture and field work

Usually vehicles run at the speed of more than 70/80 kilometers per hour on this smooth strip. I got a little relaxed looking at a milestone that indicated Siliguri was only 10 km away. Suddenly we came to a complete halt with a jerk and a sound; it was a tire puncture (wow!!). Fortunately, the truck following us had an expert driver who was able to stop instantly otherwise I wouldn’t have been left here to publish this story ;). We got off from the car in the middle of the road. I asked the driver for his plan forward. There was a tire lying on the back of the car which came out to a punctured one too J. I started waving my hands for a lift (just like in the movies :), finally found a big auto rickshaw that shuttles to the railway station (it did not have permit to Siliguri though) and captured that. The auto demanded for Rs. 200/- (too less for us at that moment). So we shifted from the car to the auto with all luggages. Within 4.30pm we reached a placed called Salugara. The auto driver connected us with another auto to Siliguri, so we shifted over once more. Finally around 5pm we were dropped at the main road of Siliguri on the opposite side of the bus terminus.

Being tired physically and mentally we were looking for a place to take some rest and food. I hired three cycle rickshaws to carry us to a nearest food corner and ended up in a rice eating place (with no other snacks options). At 5pm none of us were feeling like having rice once more, so we pulled our luggages to another food corner near by. We were all tired and sweating with a usual high temperature and humidity of the plain land. Some delicious food items like paratha / palak panir etc. were ordered (ahh!! After long days). Meanwhile I called up the bus service and came to know that the departure time of the bus was delayed to 8pm (instead of 7.15pm). Ladies were excited to find some extra time and utilized it properly in shopping. Finally around 7.30pm we hired two autos (Rs. 50/- each for a drive of couple of meters) to have us boarded on the bus. Six sleepers and four sits were booked for us so we occupied our seats comfortably. This is the first time I got rid of the frustration that was hunting me all the way.

Our Sikkim trip: A comedy of mishaps (Part 7)

28th May 2010– A sunny day at last

The next day (i.e. 28th May 2010), we planned for a sight seeing tour. So a car is hired. It was a Maruti Omni van (model of 1993). I also paid an advance for a car to drop us to the bus stop (Siliguri) next day. We started the sight seeing with Rinchenpong Monastery. The road was all most made with big rocks and mud (Thanks God! It wasn’t raining that day). It was a bright and sunny day with white feathery clouds. The monastery was not a huge one but nice and clean surrounded by mountains and a big lawn in front of it.

Rinchenpong Monastery

A group of young lamas were sitting and watching the tourists. We stayed there for a while, took some photographs and restarted for the British Daak Banglow.

Greetings at the British Daak Banglow

Meanwhile I received a call from the travel agent informing that they have paid the money to the hotel owners at their Kolkata office (a little relief for me :). It was an old house built by the British surrounded by beautiful flower garden maintained well. The care-taker was not present, so we could not get in the house. We had our breakfast following that and headed toward the orange garden. It was a short drive of 30 minutes. The garden was down the hill. We stopped our car and walked down the rocky trails. The trail was inclined with an angle of approximately 45 degrees.

Red rounded pepper plant (at the farm)

My mother being a nature loving person got enthusiastic to go for it. We went down for 20 minutes to a nice farm house with fruit and vegetable garden. I tasted some natural wines that they produce from orange and ginger. They welcomed us with orange squash drinks. We bought some round shaped red chilies (exclusively produced in the hilly region). These are very healthy for diseases like gastric as per our driver. After resting a while we started climbing up. This was a real challenge for my mother.

My mother being enthusiastic :) (but tired :( - helped by our driver)

Ultimately she made it with frequent intervals and with the help of our driver. Being very hungry after the exercise we rushed for the lunch. Since it was still 4/5 hours before dark, we decided to go for Sri Badam, a place 9 kilometers away from our hotel. Sri Badam has a monastery worth seeing. But the road (in the making) was horrible especially on a Maruti Omni van.

Sri Badam Monastery

We got a thorough body message during the entire journey full of jerks and shakes. It took nearly an hour to cover the distance. The monastery was nice, located in the middle of a green agro-land. We had some snacks and tea in Sri Badam and pushed off for hotel. The car took Rs. 1600/- for the entire trip.

Flowers (Sri Badam)

Though the day was sunny, the evening got raided by clouds. We started our packing for departure next morning. Meanwhile the car rental lady informed the Mahindra Max car booked for us had some technical difficulties so she replaced it with a Tata Sumo Spacio, which is not too bad. We had our dinner early and went to bed that night.

Our Sikkim trip: A comedy of mishaps (Part 6)

27th May 2010 – Remarkable hotel service


Next morning (27th May 2010) we prepared early (11am) for our next destination - Rinchenpong. Luckily a car was ready to drop us to Rinchenpong (Quite unexpected!! I was expecting the unavailability of car will add to our comedy of mishaps). It was a 1.20 hours drive to Rinchenpong, which was covered within expected time with out any deviations ;)


The hotel at Rinchenpong is called Rinchenpong Nest and is also run by Reesham Associates. The position of the hotel is really good. One can see the peak of Kanchenjunga from his/her room. Though there is a construction going on which might cover the view sooner or later in the future. The hotel guys were very active in pulling out our luggage from the car and placing in our rooms which were at the ground floor. The rooms were better than what we had inUttarey. It had carpet on the floor (though the carpet appeared to be clean, I discovered afterward that the place below the beds are never cleaned up ;), a dressing table, table, chair and the bathroom was also properly constructed. But the rooms did not have any Televisions here as well. The hotel guys asked us whether we were hungry (of course we were) and care for any lunch. The kitchen and dinning room was on 2nd floor of the building and we were instructed to go up every time for a meal. By the way, all the hotel guys and servicemen usually stay in the kitchen (with the doors closed) along with their manager. So if you need anything you know where to find them ;)

Hotel room (at Rinchenpong Nest, Rinchenpong)

While we went up and was ready to order for our lunch, the same lucrative menu (what we had in Uttarey) was provided. From my experience in Uttarey I asked for the actual availability of the kitchen items. They might have been a little offended on me since I underestimated their menu card J and I ended up asking for the same old items i.e. rice, daal, potato fries, egg, chicken. On asking for the estimated time they said, “we will call you once the food is ready”. I was still insisting for a time so that we can plan for a site seeing trip on the same day. Finally they got irritated and said it will take 1.30 hours to serve. It was already 1.20pm and we were all hungry. So we estimated the serving time to be at 3pm and wanted to reconfirm with them. They got offended again on this and said “did we say that?”. Finally I reduced the order items with rice and potato fries only so that they can make it a little faster.

Below the bed (at Rinchenpong Nest, Rinchenpong)

Anyway, that was a nice beginning in Rinchenpong J. While they were on their mission to prepare our lunch I took a walk down the street to cool down my frustration. I went to a nearby market place within 10 minutes of walking distance from the hotel. Some hotels, small restaurants and couple of small shops were there. I went to a hotel to check their prices and found a room (similar to the ones we took in Rinchenpong Nest) with a television costing Rs. 700/- while ours were Rs. 800/-. My frustration level pumped up even more. Finally I came back to the hotel with a potato curry (since we need a side dish with the lunch :) bought from one of the restaurants in the market. There was one more decent discussion took place between my wife and the manager’s wife on an egg omelet (for my kid) while I was out in the market. My wife asked for another omelet while the manager’s wife got irritated and gave an unimpressive facial expression closing the kitchen door on her face. My wife got irritated with that and expressed her dissatisfaction with “Is this how you behave with a guest”. Finally the omelet was served with a passive dialog from the manager’s wife as “talks too much!!” (indirectly pointed to my wife).

Dinner at Rinchenpong Nest

After the lunch (unexpectedly a daal was also served in the lunch) I called up Mr. Sahadeb, the hotel manager and tipped him with 100 bucks asking for a better service. I got the idea from the great story of Mullah Nasirunddin, who went to a spa with a dirty dress and received a poor service but tipped with a golden coin. The servicemen repented and thought that if the service was better than the tip could have been even more than one coin. The next day when Mullah came into the same spa, he received a pleasant service but he tipped with only a copper coin. The servicemen got frustrated and asked him the reason for this. On asking he replied that, the golden coin was the price for today’s service while the copper coin was for the previous day ;)

I noticed a sudden improvement in the service. Rinchenpong was also a small village area but with good market places (one was just at 10 minutes walking distance from the hotel). The weather was still getting ruled by the clouds and rain. Finally we got a glimpse of the white snow peaks just before dark. It was a marvelous view. If a straight line is drawn from Kanchenjunga to Pelling (another place in Sikkim, famous for the most prominent view of Kanchenjunga) and extended toward south, Rinchenpong will fall next in that line. So it’s all most the same view of Pelling but from a distant point. We got a nice view of full-moon rays falling on the snow peaks for a while after dark but a bunch of clouds rushed in and captured the view in a while.

Meanwhile the manager came to me informing that, the hotel proprietors did not receive any money from the travel agent (i.e. Dolphin Holidays) for our reservation (though I produced the money receipt to them before entering the hotel), therefore, I need to pay the entire money for their hotels in Uttarey and Rinchenpong both. I realized that I am not carrying so much of cash to pay for the reservation for the second time. So our trip was getting more and more spicy. I called up the travel agent and reported this. They got furious on this but eased the situation saying that they will take care of the issue. One more mishap added to the garland JDuring the dinning time we really missed our chef in Uttarey. The food here tasted like the one served in poor hospitals (I guess the chef here had a similar background :).

Our Sikkim trip: A comedy of mishaps (Part 5)

26th May 2010 – Rainy and cloudy village

The next day (26th May 2010) the clouds started pulling in and eventually showers started. We had some breakfast with some puris (too oily for us) and tried going out with umbrellas and raincoats but could not go far from the hotel. My daughter got excited seeing a family of hens and wanted to catch them. My daughter (in a raincoat) feeding the chicks

We had our lunch outside in a small shop. Gradually the sky became clear and around five o’clock my wife, my daughter and I started a little trek on a nearing hill on the way to a monastery at the top while our mothers were resting at the hotel. It was a beautiful view at the top. We could see a thin line of white peaks including Kanchenjunga. It took approximately two hours for us go up and get down from the hill.

Snow line from the monastery at the top (Uttarey)

At the night we took our familiar dinner items at the hotel and went to sleep after taking some snaps of the night sky and the moon surrounded with clouds. I requested for a car at the reception pretty early in the evening to go to our next destination (Rinchenpong) next day but they could not confirm me before the next morning.

A cute stranger we met in a tea break

Hotel room (Green valley resort, Uttarey)

Hotel Bathroom (Green Valley Resort, Uttarey)

Our Sikkim trip: A comedy of mishaps (Part 4)

25th May 2010 – Try try and try again!!

Next morning (25th May 2010) we started early at 9AM attempting for destination (i.e. Uttarey) once more again. We were expecting new surprises on every turns of the hilly roads. I took some snaps of the place affected by the land slide last night. Miraculously we reached Uttarey around 2pm without any remarkable events J. While the car stopped at the hotel gate (Green Valley Resort, Uttarey) I had a feeling that the hotel was a cut out of a residential house. The hotel is run by Reesham Associates (E1/8, Sudakshina Estate B 96, Raja SC Mallick Road, Kolkata 700047. Phone-9830440463/9433119535/9830705512. Proprietors: D.S. Ghose & Mohana Ghose ). The sky was also putting on a depressing color with clouds everywhere.

This place is a village in a valley surrounded by green mountains. It’s near to the border between Sikkim and Nepal. There are three guys brought in from villages of West Bengal to run the hotel. They were very decent except for the youngest one. Before entering the hotel I was asked to produce the booking money receipt. Our rooms were in the second floor terrace. The floors were covered with plastic mat with multiple holes here and there. The beds were very similar to the ones used for carrying the dead bodies to burning ghat J (as per Hinduism). The walls were damped with moisture. The bathroom had all the necessary fittings but the construction seemed to be new and still wet so we had to use it carefully to avoid any damage. There was a notice pasted on the bathroom wall saying “the guests will be responsible for any damage” J. We had some snacks and tea from the hotel. The vegetable momo was really good. Later we found out that the chef has got a nice experience of cooking for the marriage houses. I noticed that the owner of the house is a Sikkimese who stays in the same building. He is a nice gentleman. I had a long and interesting chat with him on the trekking programs that he conducts from Uttarey. The hotel runners actually took lease from the house owner and run their business on his premises.

Land slide on the way to Sikkim (we kept the faith :)

The evening was cloudy and the night was cold with a temperature nearly 13/14 degrees centigrade. We enjoyed the weather after the burning heat of Kolkata. Night sky was clear and we could see the moon, it was just two days before the full-moon. My daughter was getting restless while missing her cartoon on the TV. Though during the reservation the rooms were promised to have TV but there was none in reality. During the dinner time, Manab Mandol (one of the hotel guys) brought a nice looking menu with delicious food items on the list. We got excited and requested for the favorite items but they are found to be actually missing from the kitchen J. So finally we ended up with Rice, daal (lentil soup), fried potato, vegetable curry and a chicken curry dish. The taste of the food was good, as if we are dinning at home.

Sensor Bridge on Dentam Valley (on the way to Uttarey)

Our Sikkim trip: A comedy of mishaps (Part 3)

24th May 2010 - A sliding experience

Fortunately the bus reached Daalkhola (a place approximately 70 kms away from Siliguri) nearly 9AM in the morning on the next day i.e. on 24th May (so we were pretty much on our schedule). Unfortunately there was a huge traffic waiting for us. The main road that we were on was NH 31 (See the route at http://www.oktatabyebye.com/travel-directions/driving-directions-from-Kolkata-to-Siliguri.html). It is a two lane road (rather highway :) with traffics including big goods trucks, rickshaws, tourist cars, buses and bullock carts etc. So we started relaxing and planning for the fall back measures for the late arrival in Siliguri (usually the tourist cars from Siliguri to Sikkim leave before 10am). It took nearly 3 hours to bypass the traffic jam. The weather was getting little gloomy with scattered clouds in the sky.

Farakka Barrage (taken in the morning from bus – pardon the shakes)

Lastly we reached Siliguri at about 1pm in the afternoon. Passengers started hurrying up to rush for their ultimate destination. I came down from the bus to unload the luggage from the back side trunk of the bus. At the very moment when all luggage were pulled out and rests of the members got down from the bus, a flush rain soaked us all, an amazing reception!! We went for a shade in a local shop till the rain dilutes. Now the hunt for a car to head for Borong (the amount of Rs. 1760/- for our reservation in Ravongla on 23rd May was already lost). A Sumo Spacio came to the rescue with a price of Rs.3000/- (the car rental of Rs. 3000/- from NJP to Ravongla was also gone). Anyway, we started our journey and halted for lunch near the Teesta bridge (before the entry point of Sikkim). The rice with boiled vegetables and potato fries tasted very nice after a breakfast with biscuits. We resumed around 3.30pm after lunch. The road was turning green with hills and rocky landscapes full of oxygen in the air that my lungs were longing for.

Eventually we found a long queue of cars and trucks after one and a half hour of driving (5pm). Some foreigners were walking down the queue toward us. On asking they said that they were walking for the last 1.45 hours from the spot where the land slide took place, another addition to the comedy of mishaps. I started believing that we can only try to head for our destination but can never be sure about reaching there. Like the famous arithmetical problem of a monkey trying to climb a bamboo soaked with oil J. The driver of our car (Suraj) used the network among his mates and found out that the slide might take 5 hours to be removed which means we can restart only after 9 or 10pm in the night and reach Borong at 4 or 5am in the morning. So we were left with two options – wait 5 hours for the block to get cleared or go back to Siliguri, stay there overnight and resume next morning. After sixteen hours of hectic journey none of us were enthusiastic about the former option so the later attracted us more. Suraj got a good bargain of Rs. 4000/- for bringing us back to Siliguri and driving to Uttarey on the next day (by the way, while we started from Siliguri Rs. 1000/- had been taken for the car in advance). Coming back to Siliguri we checked in to Anjali Lodge (an amount of Rs. 3300/- for our reservation in Borong on 24th May was lost in addition to Rs. 1760/- paid at Anjali Lodge :), a nice hotel with reasonable room rents and good AC in the rooms that helped in drying up our wet luggage and clean beds to make up the sleep we missed in the bus.

Our Sikkim trip: A comedy of mishaps (Part 2)

22nd May 2010 - Frustration

On the day of the journey (i.e. on 22nd May), everyone was very excited for the trip and waiting for the railway final reservation charts to be out on the IRCTC web site. Finally we lost the game of luck, the tickets were not confirmed. It was time to execute the fall back plans. I rushed to the nearest railway station, cancelled the tickets and got the refund out of them. As the next step, I called up the travel agent immediately to opt for the lucrative plan of adjusting the money with another trip in future. But they were unable to satisfy that since it was too late to cancel the reservations according to them which includes even the money paid for the car pick up from NJP to Ravongla (Rs. 3000/-). Everyone was upset and depressed on this event.

23rd May 2010 - Refilling the spirits

To keep up the spirit and also to save the booking money as much as possible we decided to go with other options such as car booking and bus services etc. The final option was to go with the bus service. Next day (i.e. 23rd May 2010) morning I went to Dharmatala where all the long route buses have their terminus. Fortunately I managed to book an air-conditioned bus to Siliguri (last long distance bus terminus in West Bengal before Sikkim). I booked couple of extra sits so that everyone can relax during the travel. I also booked on an AC sleeper bus for our return journey with the same bus service. The bus service was provided by Shantanu Bus Service. We boarded the bus provided from Dharmatala on the same evening at 8:00pm. The bus runners estimated for nearly 12 hours to reach Siliguri which is pretty impressive timeline though.
The bus was little old with some sits broken. Some of the AC ducts were lacking their regulators. But we had very little or no options. We found that, most of ours co-travelers were the back-benchers who had tough luck with their earlier plans or railway reservations (little healing for us :). During the entire journey we spent useless efforts to have some sleep. Most of the passengers were busy in filling up their AC ducts with paper, cloths, bus window curtain etc. The funny part was that, once the ducts were closed water drops started to ooze from them. Meanwhile the bus took some halts in two or three places for dinner, tea and bio needs for the travelers but the places were unhealthy for most of the passengers.

Our Sikkim trip: A comedy of mishaps (Part 1)

The experience described here shows how mishaps can become comedy :)

Planning for it

After a long stressful period of four month without vacation I was looking for a pleasure trip. We decided to push off for Sikkim on 22nd May 2010. Usually around this time summer vacation starts in the schools and colleges of Bengal, so one can imagine the kind of rush expected on all the tourist spots during that time. Another driving factor was to run away from the scorching heat of 40 degrees on the centigrade scale in Kolkata.
Sikkim has always been my favorite spot for short trips on the cooling peaks of Himalaya. I covered all most all of the popular places of Sikkim. This time we opted for some off-bit places like Borong, Uttarey and Rinchengpong. We had two ladies (mother and mother-in-law) of the age of sixty five and more along with me, my wife and my daughter (5 years) in our team. The hotels were booked from Kolkata pretty well in advance. The route decided was Kolkata-New Jalpaiguri-Ravongla-Borong-Uttarey-Rinchengpong-New Jalpaiguri-Kolkata.
Though we were not in a mood for a tiring itinerary rather for some rest but due to summer vacation rush we could hardly find any reservation for more than two consecutive days in a single place. So we ended up with single nights in Ravongla and Borong each while two nights each in Uttarey and Rinchengpong. Our bookings were made with Dolphin Holidays (under Dolphin Group of Hotels, 5, Keyatala Road. Kolkata-29) (http://www.asklaila.com/listing/Kolkata/Sarat+Bose+Road/Dolphin+Group+Of+Hotels/1yRUNLea/), with the entire amount of Rs. 15000/- paid in advance. The amount includes rentals for two rooms in each of the places on our route (Rs. 12000/-) and a car from New Jalpaiguri (NJP) railway station to Ravongla (Rs. 3000/-) on the day of arrival.
The railway reservation was made for 22nd May 2010 on Paharia Express that leaves from Howrah station around 10pm and reaches NJP next day around 10AM. But the tickets were in waiting list. I applied for a VIP quota to get the reservation confirmed. While reserving the hotels the uncertainty was mentioned to the travel agents and they proposed a lucrative plan. They said even if we were unable to go, they can adjust the money with any trip booked with them within next six months. So we happily started packing our things for the trip.