We were in Kolkatta y’day and had a great time there which was quite unexpected. We drove around the city and saw the Howrah Bridge and the Hoogly Bridge which is indeed and engineering marvel. Additionally we also saw Victoria Memorial hall which houses some older pics from erstwhile British regime – it was a pleasant experience indeed. We had hired an AC Car fearing the summer backlash, but to our surprise it was cloudy the whole day. We then headed to the Science City into which we were taken via the Ropeway it was a small but a good experience, we roamed around the city and had a reasonably good time. We were getting hungry and fortunately we found McDonalds at Park Street and had a good veggi burger and then headed for the hotel to take some much needed rest. In the evening we went for some shopping at the Park Street and Siri cashed upon a fantastic Bengal Silk Saree with authentic Meenakari work which depicts the Ramayana.
Later we headed towards our hotel room (which was very good) and then had our dinner in our room itself. Following this we then took a Taxi to Sealdah Railway station to catch up with our Darjeeling Mail. It was a rainy evening and we were drenched as we had to run from the Taxi stand with our entire luggage to the platform. We then boarded our 1AC compartment and then quick hit the bed only to be woken up at 7 AM. The train hit New Jalpaiguri at exactly 8 AM and we were on the second leg of our fantastic journey. We hired a Taxi from NJP to Darjeeling. The ride was most enchanting and we have captured it on our new handycam as we drove through swirling curves on the Himalayas. We hit Darjeeling at about 11:30 AM and checked into our hotel “Seven Seventeen” which is a very decent hotel with a Tibetan theme. We got ready and immediately rushed for some much needed Lunch and we tried some Tibetan Vegetable Steamed Momo, which tasted more like Spring rolls – a good treat it was!. Since we were pooped by the drive we decided to hit the bed and took some rest. We plan to go to Tiger Hills tomorrow to witness the sunrise at 3:30 AM!! Later in the day we plan to check out Darjeeling.
We will leave for Bhutan on 20th Morning at about 5AM and will keep you posted!!
Bye for now!!
Siri & Aditya
