My Expereince of Tonglu, Sandakphu and Timling

Hey All,

This mail I am writing to tell u all about my adventurous trip to Tonglu, SandakPhu and Timling. This all are Himalayan ranges. I went for this trip on 18th may night and returned back on 22nd may morning.

We cannot reach to Himalayan ranges directly. So we have to have a break journey. And via some places we reach at that destination .And also we have to take different mode of transport to reach to such a place. We took three modes of transport: Train, Bus and Land rover (It is kind of a jeep but lighter than a jeep. And is made specially for traveling through mountains and its rocky routes.

18 May – 19 may - We went to Tonglu first. For going to tonglu, On 18th night we took Darjeeling mail to go to New jalpaiguri(NJP), we reached at NJP at 9 o’clock in the morning. There we had our breakfast. And then we took a bus to reach Manebhanjay. We started from NJP at 9.30 approx. Then we reached Manebhanjay at 1.00 Pm or so. Ther we had our lunch. In bus we played antakshari. I was the caprtain of one of the team and Pamela of other. Though no team won but ppl were amazed by our stock of songs. And declared us champs. Cool na.

And then we took Land Rover to reach to Tonglu. After 6 km from Maneybhanjay we stopped at a place. After roaming around at that place we were able to see Kunchenjunga from that place. When we stopped at that place it was cloudy then the clouds started to disappear. And we re able to see kanchanjungha peak It was very nice experience. From there we started to realize that what are we going to experience in coming 2-3 days. There was no road on the mountains. It was a very bumpy ride. The path was made by cutting the mountain so no normal road but boulder king of rocks in our path. It was a test for us, coz at one side there was abyss and other side mountain. If the vehile lost its control we could have lost our lives. Jus kiddin. But the land rovers are made with such a good grip that it can’t loss control, and the drivers such trained to drive on such a road that there calculation is exact and u need not worry. After traveling for 10kms on such a bumpy ride we reached tonglu in the evening. From ther kuchenjungha was much more clearer. It was evening at it was a beatuful scenery to see. And we discovered that at the place we are going to stay, ther no light is there. Although mobile signals were coming. We were 3070 mts above the sea level. Water is also scrace there. One needs to bring watr from the downhill. Then we arranged for a camp fire in the evening there ppl were singing Bengali and hindi songs. And it was such a nice experience because with the spirit with which they were singing was commendable. After this session we had our dinner did some time pass and went for sleep. Coz next day we were suppose to get up at 4o’clock in the moring to see kanchanjungha with sunrise. But there was bone chilling clod over there. The whole night we couldn’t sleep we were shivering after taking two balnkets also. May be since we came from a high temperature to low temperature the body was not able adjust to such a temperature. And at night thetemperature was 4-5 degrees.


20 May – We woke up at 4o’clock in the morning and went to a height from where kunchenjungha was clearly visible. We saw the peak changing its colours due to sunrise. It was a beautiful moment to capture. Then after coming from there and after having our breakfast n all we started for our next destination i.e Sandakphu. It is 21 kms from Tonglu. And the ride is very bumpy and full of stomes. It is the highest peak of Bengal. We then got down of our land rover before 3.5 kms from sandakphu and started our trekking. Some ppl of our group decided to sat back in the land rover. While trekking we saw different kinds of flowers and trees. It was cloudy over there. And were literally walking between the clouds at some times. There was some drizzling also. The natural beauty which we saw was like we see in movies. Some horror and some romantic movies. I cannot explain in words what all we saw, if you see pictures may be u can get what am I trying to tell u. It was a very nice experience. After trekking for 2-3 hrs we reached sandakphu. After that we were so tired that we took bath had lunch and slept for 3-4 hrs. It was a real sound sleep. After that in the evening since the weather was not clear we dint go for sight seeing but we decided to have a small gathering in a room. Ther we sang, some ppl did mimckry etc.

Hey i forgot to tell u tha the room which was allotted to us in sandakphu was made of wood and it was a very cute room. There we had light which was a solar light. But mo mobile connections. They have made a business out of this. They took 50 rs to charge a mobile.

After our party we had our dinner and went for sleep. Ther at night we didn’t feel that cold may be because our body got used to such a low temperature. Next day were suppose to wake up at 4oclock so that we can for sight seeing. But this was subject to weather being clear.

21st may – Our luck didn’t favour us and the weather was unclear. The whole area was cloudy and it was raining. And due to that the temperature also was low. Then after taking our breakfast at 8oclock we started for maneyabhanjay which was 31 kms away from sandakphu. Since it was raining the road was slippery and we were going downhill. After crossing we mounr-tains we reached tumbling our thrd destination which was in Nepal. Over there is second largest monastery of aisa. So we went to Nepal also. And yes sandakphu it is at end of sikkim, Bengal and Nepal. After the brak we started for maneybhanjay. After reaching ther we took bus for going back to NJP coz we had to catch a train in the eveing from there for kolkata. From manneybhanjay we went to Mirik a hill station there we had our lunch and saw the scenic beauty over there. Then from there we srated for NJP which was 49 kms away from that place. In between we halted at river bank and did some fun there. And then at 6 o’clock in the eveing we reached NJP. Our train back home was at 7.40 pm. We arranged for dinner n all and waited there for sometime. N then we sat in the train tired like anything n desparately wanting to go back home.

While retrning to NJP and while going from NJP to maneybhanjay we saw lot of tea gardens on mountains i.r terarace framing. We were surrounded by mountains all over. It was great to see that. Such natural beauty is hard to see.

In conclusion I would say that the trip was thrilling and exciting. I wud say that this was a lifetime experience. I don’t think I will be able to go to this place second time. For a trip like this one needs lot of mental strength. And one should not go alone but go in a group to have fun. This kind of trip is for adventure lovers.

I have tried to put in words my experience of this trip, but how much I am successful I don’t know. I remembered u all while on this trip. And there only I decided to share my experience with all after returning. Did u all enjoyed reading the mail. I njoyd writing it. Before writing this mail I was felling very sleepy because I am very much tired. But after finishing it I am feeling refreshed.

Chalo bye TC

Eliz

Note:
Please pour in your comments and suggestions to improve my writing and grammatical capabilities.
This Mail was dated May 22, 2006, thought of sharing with you all, since it was a very memorable experience of Eliz.

Disclaimer: This post is from point of view of Elizabeth, if anyone feels hurt or disrespected by any post please revert back, Elizabeth will try to correct her ways of expressing. This is her first attempt to writing.

Regards,

Eliz
(Motto of Life - Mast Raho)