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.