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12/19/2010

6 day trip in Darjeeling – Sikkim – DARJEELING

To reach Darjeeling :

-          By air: Bagdogra airport (and 3h by jeep till Darjeeling)

-          By train: New Jailpaguri or Siliguri (and 2h30 by jeep till Darjeeling)

-          By toy train :

Departure from Siliguri: option Diesel only

Departure from Kurseong (mid-way between Siliguri and Darjeetling): otpion Diesel or steam (train 9D) but be aware that there are landslides every year and sometimes (like since June this year), the train tracks are damaged – thankfully the train was working between Kurseong and Darjeeling (3 hours): http://203.176.113.182/DHR/

 

To see in Darjeeling :

 

-          Of course, the tea plantations – but you have to chose the time properly. For instance, the tea pickers were only picking dead branches when we went !

 

-          I really liked the zoo which had only local animals (and healthy ones !)

 

-          I was bemused by the museum of High Mountain trekking. You had to be mad to climb the Everest with an electroshock machine to revive your iced feet!

 

-          And splendid: the sunrise in Tiger Hill on the Himalayan chain of the majestuous Kanchenjunga (8.598 m), considered for a long time as the highest peak of the world, before the British measured the Everest and K2. This sunrise was so gorgeous I almost forgot it was the wee hour of the morning, it was freezing cold and there were about 200 noisy Indians. The funny part is they all looked at the sunrise itself and not once at the mountains (in the opposite direction) which was the thing to watch!!