Darjeeling... The Queen of Hills

Darjeeling, a Himalayan district in West Bengal, is nestled among the rolling mountains with fantastic views of glistens of Mt Kanchenjunga. Fondly called as Queen of the Hills, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site that provides a perfect gateway for those who seeks to be in harmony with nature.

After roaming around in Gangtok, we come to Darjeeling by a cab in march 2011. Here we stayed at Mayfair hotel for 2 days. Here also are many worth seeing places to visit like...

The Mall /Chowrasta: Mall is the popular commercial street of Darjeeling. Hand-knitted sweaters, souvenirs, other Himalayan artifacts and antiques can easily be purchased from here. The Mall leads to Chowrasta (means crossroad, when tranlated), the square which is paradise for visitors as one can enjoy the beautiful sceans along with good street food while sitting on the benches available there. Book stores and countless vendors selling artifacts, woollens and various collectibles along the street are also available here. Besides shopping one can also go for a pony ride.

Tiger hills: It is situated at an altitude of 2,590m (8,482 ft.) and is about 13 km from town. This spot has earned fame for its incredible view of the sunrise over the Kanchenjunga, Tiger Hill and other Himalayan Mountains. From here on clear days, even the world's highest peak, the Mount Everest is visible.We reached there at 5 am by cab arranged by the hotel manager. It was very cold and crowded there. We arranged to view it from view tower deluxe room. But unfortunately we couldn't see the nature's special effects. 
One should reach there early, to avoid to be picked up by traffic jams.
 

Dunggon Samten Choling Bhudist Monastery: This is a famous monastery in Darjeeling and houses a large statue of Buddha. There is also a very big praying wheel with some holy inscription (mantras) engraved over them.

Batasia Loop : The Batasia Loop, a railway loop is a War Memorial which is in honour of those Gorkha Soldiers who laid down their lives in the service of the nation during Indian Independence. This railway loop is an interesting example of engineering. At this loop the toy train takes a very unique turn.

 








Nipponzen Myohoji Buddist Temple and Japanese Peace Pagoda: Peace Pagoda was built by Nipponzan Myohoji, a Japanese Buddhist, as a symbol of peace, harmony and tranquility. Pagora is sparkling white in color. It rises 28.5 metres from the ground level and has a diameter of 23mts. In the walls of Pagora some of the stages of life of Lord Buddha are also embedded which are gold in polish. It is built in traditional Japanese architectural style and provides a peaceful retreat and a chance to interact with the Japanese monks. It also offers views of the tea gardens and Himalayan ranges.

 

 

Ava Art Gallery: In the gallery fine arts and embroidery works of Mrs. Ava Devi are displayed.

Padma Naidu Himalyan Zoological Park: This zoo was established in 1958 with the objectives of study, conservation and preservation of Himalayan fauna. It is spread over a vast area and is on a hill slope, so one has to walk a long. The animals are well cared and kept in large pseudo-natural habitats. All of this presents an impression that we are in a small Jungle where animals are kept in cages. Some of the animals were hidden in large open area trees or some were inside their homes, so good luck or good timing is needed to be able to see them. This zoo houses many rare species of animals including the Siberian Tiger, the Red Panda,snow leopard and the Tibetan Wolf. It was clean, peaceful and well maintained. It is definitely a worth visit for the animal lovers. Overall it's a awesome place,and one will enjoy the solitary bliss of this mini jungle.

Himalyan Mountaineering Institute: We entered here through zoo and it's for free as we have already paid for zoo. This premier school of mountaineering was established by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, in 1954, to encourage and train young boys and girls for mountaineering. The museum of the institute portrays a wide range of mountaineering equipments that were used by various expedition, a rare collection of awards and other memento, documents with regard to scaling of Mt. Everest and other peaks of the great Himalayan range, specimens of Himalayan flora and fauna, a model of the Himalaya as well as photographs concerning them. One of the founding members and also the Field Director of the Institute was legendary Sherpa Tenzing Norgey who conquered Mt Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary on 29 May 1953. His statue also stands there outside the museum hall. We found this exhibition quite fascinating. Outside the museum there are some outlets for food and gifts also. It was worth a visit.

Tenzing Rock HMI: Himalayan Mountaineering Institute conducts preliminary course and demonstration on this rock. One can also try their skills in the climbing with the help of a professional. It is a challenging master piece of nature's oddity for rock climbers. On this rock the Sherpa Tenzing Norgey climbed in the presence of Lt Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru without any safety measures and without any delay.

Tea leaves gardens: There are many tea estates/gardens each producing teas of differet taste and aroma. We went to Happy Valley tea estate. It was spread over vast hill slop. We come down to the slop and got the best opportunity to cherish the beauty of nature, soothe our eyes by the lush greenery while enjoying the great aroma of tea leaves. For us these were a happening place with more surprises to unfurl. It was worth a visit.

 Mayfair hotel: It is amazingly beautiful, classy resort which is made in style of old English Architecture with good sized and well appointed, wonderful rooms. Room service was good. Food was excellent. However it was an expensive stay to be here. Nobody(staff) bothers to mention that after crossing the road we could go to a fantastic Kanchenjunga viewing point saving our 4 am trip up to Tiger Hills. Rather when we were ready at 4:00 am, no cab was managed for us that was booked one day before by hotel Manager. Then we waked up the hotel manager and he managed it instantly. Moreover there was a gift also in our package that they dint give us.Overall it was a good stay.