A Travel Memoir: Darjeeling and Places around

Dhotrey, Darjeeling, Dawaipani and Lamahatta

A detailed Tour experience of Eastern India

Dhotrey, Darjeeling, Dawaipani and Lamahatta

Written by Sayoni Mahapatra Chatterji

The last one week we travelled and created ample memories and today we finally got time and solace to write an extensive blog on our experience of the travel.

We travelled for 8 days total and it was wholesome in every way.

We travelled to West Bengal, India. Popularly known as Darjeeling and places around. The places around include – Siliguri, parts of Doars Dhotre, Darjeeling , Dawaipani and Lamahatta.

The mountains and the extreme beauty of clouds, mountains, hills, valleys and yes we were lucky to see the Rainbow as well.. So in this particular blog writing in paragraphs the experience of each day and its outcome.

Stay tuned till the end .

Day 1

Doars, West Bengal
Date 13th August 2024

From Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport we went to the Bagdogra airport

Then from Bagdogra airport to Siliguri town.

Siliguri town is the hometown of one of our mama who is a very awesome activist, language enthusiast and a writer.

We stayed in their house for this day.

And in the evening after a sumptuous lunch went with them to Doars.

Doars is a very beautiful place known for forest and forest safari and animals like elephants, red panda, deer and many others are seen.

But we haven’t gone for the same we went for something different.

As they are locals they know some extraordinary places to witness the beauty of nature.

As said we went through a very beautiful road which had deep dark and dense forest and tea gardens on both sides.

They knew roads which are not very popular among tourists but rather among localities.

We visited Chel river
Mahananda River
Teesta River
Teesta Mahananda barrage
Kanchanjanga view point
British Tea house amidst tea gardens.

Few hills

And many more!

We also went to a cafe known as Tea Moments where there’s a huge collection of vintage cars along with the cafe.

They make their own Muffins, cake and bread and lots more.

It happened to be our first day and Indeed a memorable day.

Day 2

Dhotrey

Date – 14th August 2024

Day 2 started with the reception of my parents from New Jalpaiguri Junction Station at around 7 am in the morning.

Then we started our journey towards Dhotrey. The first stay point of our trip.

In the journey we had the very classic breakfast at Goodricketeapot for a relaxing beautiful by sitting near river Mirik.

It’s an experience to absorb.

The tea of the place has a unique taste with a unique blend.

Beside it there is also a park which will allow you to have boating rides around the park and mountains with a minimum entry fee.

It was beautiful.

Our journey was of 4 hours and we enjoyed the view of acres and acres of land of tea gardens, mountains and countless falls.

The turns and twists of mountain roads are something so beautiful with the engrossing views.

Finally we reached Dhotrey!

Dhotre is a very small place and the highest village in Darjeeling around areas.

We entered our pre booked room and Our room had a very cosy and comfortable mountain view… We are lucky we could see in this weather of rain as experts and travellers said it’s difficult to view… During this session.

It’s so beautiful as the mountains seemed almost entering our balconies. The clouds, the cities, the areas seemed crystal clear with less pollution.

Next after having a sumptuous lunch cooked by one and only one person is a multitasker … He is the owner of the hotel, cooks, and helps everything.

Then we went for a short mountain walk and reached a monastery.
The mountain monastery has a Beauty of its own. The calmness even the walls knew.

So we came back to our homestay and The view point which was the roof of our homestay. Stayed on the roof for a while to view the scenic beauty of the mountains.

Made friends with mountain living toddlers and they are very interactive.
Then we had special Darjeeling chai

Hiked a little to the roads, monasteries and mountains.

We came back before sunset and had warm momos again made by our cook cum owner.

With tasty dipping made by him  it was so good!

We spoke we spoke so much about life and everything and had dinner around 9 pm…

The night view was extremely beautiful again!

The lightening could be seen so near and clear …my goodness… never seen anything of nature like lightening so near.

One part of the mountain was with lights …our hotel manager said it’s Darjeeling.

Yes Darjeeling, and it’s our next destination.

God is so creative and full of beauty we are lucky…indeed

Day 3
Dhotrey to Darjeeling

Date – 15th August 2024

The day started with the view of the majestic Kanchanjanga mountain which is the Third highest mountain in the world.

It is to be noted this is not the season to view Kanchanjanga. Everyone said so as it is the rainy season and kanchanjanga is viewed in the clear sky which is from October to March.

Locals said on 15th August 2024, it was after 2 months that they could finally witness the majestic kanchanjanga.

After breakfast in Dhotrey we started our journey towards Darjeeling.

In the twist and turn of the road we saw beautiful forests, mountain hills and sometimes the peep of Kanchanjanga.

Beautiful journey.

We have also seen the state Football ground of Darjeeling where Baichung bhutia  the famous footballer used to practice in his younger days.

The infinite number of falls and with these we entered the town.

The town is full of people which is not present much in Dhotrey.

The town … Starts with Ghum station the highest altitude rail  station in The world which is 7409 feet from the ground level.

We went to our hotel room.
After a basic refreshment we went towards little shopping and then to the famous MYALL area..

Here there are lots of old shops pre independence and post independence shops and Kanchenjenga view points and horses.

We sat and spent some time talking about clicking pictures as most of the shops were closed due to Independence Day Celebration.

We also bought some curios from the local shops for gifting to our known ones.

We had local chicken momo with coffee,
Mio amore fish chop, chicken rolls .

We came back to the hotel and rested for an hour and went to have dinner..the hotel where we are staying had its own restaurant.

We had a very simple dinner…

It was a very wholesome day!
Looking forward for Day 4!

Day 4

Site seeing of Darjeeling

Date- 16th August 2024

The morning started with breakfast and the day was pre decided as Site seeing of Darjeeling.

1. Padmaja Darjeeling Zoo
2. Himalayan Mountaineering Institute
3. Tea Estates
4. Tibetan Refuge self Help centre Darjeeling

1. Padmaja Darjeeling Zoo is the only zoo in Darjeeling and is famous for red panda. Other than red panda it has animals like- Royal Bengal Tiger, common leopard, gaur, yak, cheetah, blue sheep and many more.

Other than these it also had numerous birds both Indian as well as migratory.

Along with these it has a giant museum about animals , reptiles and insects.

All the animal fossils are original in this zoo. It is pretty amazing to see, learn and understand.

2. Himalayan Mountaineering Institute is the first mountaineering institute of the world started by Tenzing Norgay.

The place also has a unique Museum with all details about mountaineering and its history, the needs, the requirements and every detail.

We indeed gained lots of knowledge and most importantly the presentation of mountains, pathways is something really unique.

The place also has a small cafe which offers tea, coffee, snacks , breakfast and shakes.

3. Tea Estates of Lebong was the third destination and we could go within the tea estate and learn the cutting method, plantation method of the tea plants.

There are about 20 tea shops where they will offer you a free tea cup to taste if you like it you can always buy from them. They are actually sole runners of the tea estate owned by the Government.

4. World Tibetan Refuge self Help centre
This is the place where the Tibetans came first as refugees with abundant history the place has stories to narrate. The museum depicts the picture of their history in black and white, the first machine of carpet making was also kept there.

It has a shop which sells only Tibetan made things
The photographs of Tibetan history
The restaurant of Tibetan food
The carpet factory
The wool factory
The houses of Tibetans

This place was suggested by our driver Raju uncle.

In the evening we went to Darjeeling Mall road again to spend some time.

Overall it was a lovely day with so much learnings

Looking forward to Day 5

Pictures of Zoo

Day 5

Darjeeling to Dawaipani
Date 17th August 2024

The day started with a morning routine followed by sumptuous breakfast in the Darjeeling hotel itself.

For the 5th day our destination was Dawaipani.

It takes around 1 hour to reach Dawaipani from Darjeeling

On the roadways we witnessed several water falls, the Ghoom station

The highest altitude station in The world is 7407 feet.

Amidst the road the famous monastery of Buddhism.

The monastery is extremely beautiful with a big statue of Lord Buddha.

It’s so beautiful.

The history is also written with clarity..

After a few minutes we reached our next destination and that is DAWAIPANI.

The homestay had few rooms and was run by a family of 6.

The extremely beautiful mountain view from the common balcony is the star of the stay.

While we were engrossed in the beauty of the mountain we saw a splash of rain ..

The torrential rain was beautiful as well as scary to watch…it lasted around 15 minutes and it was followed by a rainbow! 

This is the first time four of us are witnessing such a beautiful rainbow in the mountains.

In the evening too we witnessed rainfall… And it was refreshing…locals said that sometimes cheetah  comes in the localities..and the owners of the homestays tries to scare them…

We had a nice dinner together!

Day 6

Dawaipani to Lamahatta

Date 17th August 2024

The day started with the exotic view of Kanchenjenga .

Kanchanjanga is the third highest mountain in India.

It’s beautiful and covered with dense snow

Then the day was planned to go from Dawaipani to Lamahatta.

It takes around an hour.

After a basic breakfast from Birenrai Homestay we started our journey

We reached first at the Lamahatta farms Eco park .

The park is wide and is enjoyable if you can trek . To view the lake you need to trek at least 800 to 900 metres to witness the beautiful lake by the mountains.

It is very beautiful with a mountain view, tree houses, lots of flowers and mini shops.

Next we went to Tinchulla tea garden.

The tea garden has a view and tea garden in general.

After this we had coffee, momo and chocolates and started our journey towards our homestay

Himalayan_clouds_homestay for the stay!

The wooden paneling floor, the walls , the cupboards everything seemed pretty well organised! Everything was made out of pine trees.

Indeed this journey was really beautiful!

Day 7

Lamahatta to New Jalpaiguri Junction Station with a halt in Kurseong

Date 18th August 2024

It takes around 4 hours to reach New Jalpaiguri Junction Station from Lamahatta and it was pre decided to halt in Kurseong.

In the way we have also witnessed the famous Toy train and it’s running in the track.

We went to Margaret’s Deck and had coffee and enjoyed the awesome scenic beauty of the place. That’s it!

Today we had the returning train scheduled from New Jalpaiguri Junction Station to our hometown.

Conclusion

It was a very beautiful and wholesome journey to the mountains. On one hand we enjoyed it a lot and on the other hand we felt sad about the daily life struggles of mountain people. Also the sources of income are less there . But yes I hope we can contribute a bit to their life.

Hope everyone of you has enjoyed the read . Please do reach out in case of any questions and please do let us  know how you liked the place and do you like mountains?

Write to us and let’s converse

Written by Sayoni Mahapatra Chatterji

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