In December 2020 I had to visit my hometown, Cooch Behar, for a few days. Travelling for some family matters, it was a solo journey and truth be told that induced certain amount of boredom too. While returning, I got a day’s window to spend in the hills. The untraveled destinations that ranged in my mind were: The Tinchuley Hills and The Rishyop/Kolakham area. In the end I decided on the later. I had started from Cooch Behar early morning on the first day and travelling the route of Gorubathan, Lava, stayed the night at Yuru Retreat, Delo. The next day I went to Ramdhura, Rishyop, Kolakham and descended to Raiganj and later onwards to Kolkata. This account is a brief account of those few hours spent in those beautiful villages.
Itinerary
17-Dec-20: Cooch Behar to Delo via Gorubathan
18-Dec-20: Delo to Ramdhura, Teesta View Point, Rishyop, Kolakham, Changey Falls to Raiganj
19-Dec-20: Raiganj to Kolkata
17-Dec-20: Cooch Behar to Delo
It was around 8 ish when I bid my parents good bye and cranked up the car that was washed the previous day to get rid of the layers of dirt. I had called up Yuru Retreat a couple of days in advance to book a room. The resort folks didn’t ask for any ‘advance’ to confirm my booking. From Cooch Behar one has to take the road through the towns of Falakata – Birpara – Dalgaon Tea Estate – Binnaguri – Chalsa – Malbazar for the most convenient route to reach Kalimpong. Malbazar was reached in slightly over 2 hours. The turn off is at Malbazar and there I tanked up the car at Roy & Cousins fuel bunk, which seems to be very popular with local vehicles. Upon fuelling up, I had breakfast at the next door Tea Shop. After which, parking the car, I went to fetch some money from the ATM because the thought of withdrawing cash at Cooch Behar had totally escaped my mind. Malbazar was the last place where I could hope for an ATM because up in the hills the ATMs are quite undependable (which was vindicated later). However to my poor luck none of the 3 kiosks which I tried worked. And all I had was Rs 2,500.
Two days later when I reached home in Kolkata – I still had Rs 2,000 which goes to speak that Debit cards are accepted at most places even in the hills now. All I had to spent in cash was for entry ticket to Neora Valley National Park, road side momos, tea, maggi, an – the taste of which is best savoured only when you are there in the open air with the sun casting its glow and clouds breezing past.
A narrow slip road from Malbazar connected us to Gorubathan from where the sprawling tea gardens commenced. Sometimes there was the sun that was soon overtaken by the fog once we crossed the railway lines and started climbing up the hills – Eastern Himalayas yet again!
The road was a well paved one – smooth, black top. And the sceneries beautiful! Comprising of streams, tea gardens, blue hills, grey and blue skies. The stops were frequent to admire and shoot. I lost some 30 mins due to traffic jam at a place called “Sombarey Bazar” but beyond that there were no problems. The Eagles were screaming through the audio player, birds chirping on the trees and beyond that there wasn’t a noise. Only sometimes you could hear the exhaust screaming while climbing through the curves. Almost 4 years back I had been to Samabeyong Tea Estate at Lava and had taken the same route, but beyomd Phaperkheti the road was very bad. This time though most of the road was metalled except for some portions where was in progress.
At Lava I made a stop to have some tea and momos and also called up my home. With video calls, showed them the blue skies and bright sunshine whereas in the plains it was mostly foggy during that time.Again tried for some cash at the ATMs but none were working. Though I was assured by Yuru Retreat that they accept debit cards. I took my nice shots of the road during the journey and breaking almost every 15-20 mins I managed to reach Yuru around 4 in the afternoon. If, I hadn’t made the stops, it doesn’t take more than 4.5 hours to reach Kalimpong from Cooch Behar.
Upon reaching the hotel found that there was a power cut due to which hot water wasn’t available to take a bath. But the manager was kind enough to arrange for a bucket of hot water. I had some tea and sandwiches – the sandwiches were quite heavy but very tasty with ham and cheese. I spent the remaining sunlight hours roaming around the resort and its vicinity. Heavy fog had started to roll in and visibility was greatly impaired, so much so, that the Teesta Valley wasn’t visible. At night I ordered some Rice, dal and chicken curry. Without a doubt I found, at the resort to be very tasty.
18-Dec-20: Delo to Ramdhura, Ramitey View Point, Rishyop, Kolakham, Changey Falls to Raiganj
Today was supposed to be a long day. So, I packed my bags and left sharp at 8 in the morning. Of all the times, I find the mornings in the hills to be the most sacred. The sun shining down in all its glory. Kanchenjunga wasn’t visible though. I made my way to Ramitey view point. The road condition, again, excellent. I stopped at a tea shop for a morning cuppa at Ramitey view point. However both Teesta and Kanchenjunga was obscured by fog. Anyway headed further through the beautiful village of Ramdhura – it’s a lovely village where one can definitely stay the night. The cleanliness of these villages is to be appreciated. Driving further down the road I reached the Ramitey View Point but again without a view. I did take some photos but those were so hazy that I chose not to upload here.
Returned from the Ramitey viewpoint and merged back to the main highway. The destination, now set to Rishyop. Having heard from some friends that Rishyop was a 4X4 route until very recently I was quite skeptical if the Swift will be able to make it. But was surprised to see that the road was a newly laid piece of asphalt – slightly steep and narrow – but very much doable. So, stopped at the turn off to Rishyop had tea and maggi and and went off. I did get a gimpse of Kanchenjunga – but it was a faint sighting. I took a photo for the memories. Again Rishop, being calm and peaceful, can be a night’s stop to unwind from city life. But if you choose to stay in Kalimpong or Delo then you can very well visit these places for a day trip. Certainly its not offbeat because there are a number of hotels and resorts that have grown in the areas – all of which advertise the sighting of Kanchenjunga as their main USP. But there is not really much one can do in these places excepting for soaking in the sunshine and watching the snow mountains. One can see the tall pines and oaks that are so typical in these parts. These are so dense and thick that the roads remain in permanent shadow and casts a chill even when the sun is out there shining bright.
A little distance from Rishop is Lava and from Lava I took the road to Neora Valley National Park. Now the destination was set to Changey falls which was around 14 kms from the entry gate. The road was initially good, but after a couple of kilometers it changed to boulders. Manageable but it was one bumpy ride until I reached Kolakham village. Instead of stopping at Kolkakham I proceeded straight to Changey Falls. The entire route till the base of Changey falls isn’t motorable. So parked the car at the designated spot and walked the rest of the way. It was, I believe, less than a kilometer. Took some videos on my mobile and retraced the path. Uphill walk was quite tiring.
While returning saw the beautiful pine trees in the distance that was sight to behold. Stopped at Kolakham – saw cabbage being cultivated. Again the similar sight of clean homes, flower lined road sides and the road that seems to have slipped in between. But little did I notice that the clock was now striking 2 PM – all the treks and detours and tea breaks had taken their toll and I didn’t have my lunch.
So, tucked the camera in the camera bag and commenced the downhills journey. Packed 20 vegetable momos from a road side shop and sped downhill. Now day light hours in the winter is curtailed and it was not even 5 when the sun disappeared casting the twilight glow and I had only crossed Bagdogra. But more troubles lay in store in the form of fog. As soon as I crossed Ghoshpukur, thick fog appeared that impaired speed and visibility. At Dhantola the civic police volunteer told me not to take the road because fog was wrecking havoc in the villages. So, I knew of another Dalkhola bypass and took it – the one via Nischitpur. And every word of what the volunteer had said was true. Even this seemingly small distance of 8 kms was under a shroud of fog. I had a Scorpio as a leading car for much of the distance due to which I made good progress but after a turn there were no more vehicles. I was absolutely blind and stopped my car for a good 15 mins. Then I found a motocycle coming from the opposite direction who told me that NH34 was only a kilometer or so. So, trusting my instinct, the trees on the road shoulders I tiptoed till there was a light pole. However, in the melee I had ended up in the NH34 jam (the correct way would have taken me over the under construction Dalkhola flyover from where I could have escaped the jam) and I lost a good hour. Fog on the highway was much less now and I called up Hotel Badshah at Raiganj to stay for the night. At Rs 699 this was steal with clean bed, hot water and good food. Reached the hotel at 10 in the night and slept off around mid-night.
19-Dec-20: Raiganj to Kolkata
Not much to write about really. Started from Raiganj at 8. Breakfasted at BP Morgram and reached home around 4 in the afternoon after a routine stop at Hotel Hindustan where I packed up some Biryani and Butter Chicken for home.
