My Honeymoon Trip To Darjeeling – Part 2

Before starting the post, I would like to thank you all for appreciating my previous post and suggesting me with valuable ideas. This time I have come up with larger pics to make the post more interesting. I hope the posts fits your expectations.

13 Oct – As the day was scheduled to visit Tiger Hill (wiki) , we wake up early at 3:00 am, got ready and took the taxi to Tiger Hill. It was an amazing experience as the whole Darjeeling city was still bathing in morning night and it was a little cold too. We reached Tiger Hill by around 4:00 am and to my surprise, there were around hundreds of visitors who have also woke up like us to peep the glory of  the beautiful sunrise and there were many nearby locals selling hot tea and coffee. We waited in the cozy room upstairs in the observation deck and after about an hour God Sun showed his first ray from behind mountains and clouds. It was a thrilling, unforgettable and once in a life experience when the darkness was over taken by beautiful orange Sunrays. Some lucky people also have the chance to see Mt. Everest, which is only 225 km from here, from this place if the sky is clear but as we were unlucky at the moment, we could not. That whole memory is still fresh in my mind. We were so happy as if we had seen the sun for the first time in our lives.


On our return from Tiger Hill, we visited Dali Monastery, had some pakoras and tea outside the monastery and headed towards Batasia Loop (wiki ) where the Toy train tracks spiral around over itself through a tunnel and over a hilltop. A beautiful garden with colorful flowers is there with a memorial to the Gorkha soldiers of the Indian Army who sacrificed their lives after the Indian Independence in 1947.

After the afternoon nap and lunch, the next points we visited were Japanese temple, Peace Pagoda and Rock Garden. Rock Garden was the second place I loved after Tiger Hill. It is a terraced garden about 10 kms away from the main city. You pass through lush green tea gardens to reach there. A marvelous waterfall flows from the hill top and garden is built on both sides of the waterfall climbing up the hill. It is really a wonderful experience visiting this place. Ganga Maya Park which is near Rock garden is also worth visiting but at that time it was closed due to some renovation.

14 Oct – It was our last day in Darjeeling which we decided to spend in shopping and just roaming around the streets of Darjeeling. To start the day, we visited Mahakaal temple. This is a place for worship of all faiths and you will witness prayers being chanted by Hindu priests as well as Buddhist monks.

We had our breakfast at Keventers, one of the famous food points of the city. Then we did some shopping and bought ladies shawls, pullovers, jackets and souvenirs for gifts. In the evening we visited Nightingale Park. I was little surprised to see that there was an entry fees for the park. Well, it was a great place again and once lights were turned on it looked more pleasant. We enjoyed watching people dancing on local language (may be Nepali) songs which we could not understand a single word of. We had our dinner at Glenary’s, another authentic restaurant of Darjeeling. It has a bakery shop at ground floor and restaurant on the first floor. We enjoyed our food in that famous place during our last night.

15 Oct – Our flight was scheduled at 2:00 pm from Bagdogra and the last points to be visited were Jorpokhari, Pashupati Market and Mirik Lake (wiki), which were on our way back to the airport. The return road was different from one we took while coming to Darjeeling. We checked out from the hotel early in the morning, got into taxi for the return. To our surprise, the view of Kanchenjunga was crystal clear that day, which was not so visible during our three days of stay. We said good bye to Darjeeling with heavy hearts. We reached Jorpokhri after almost an hour, there was nothing much to see but a small pond, a garden and an amazing 180 degree view of Darjeeling in the lap of Kanchenjunga. I was more excited and eager to reach Pashupati Market which is the gateway to Nepal and a famous shopping place. We spent around one hour shopping for some woolens and cosmetics which are available at very cheap rates. We reached Mirik passing through small villages, tea gardens, tea factories, enjoyed boating in the lake and admired the surroundings. We reached airport on time, boarded the flight and landed back to Delhi in the evening along with reminiscence of Darjeeling.