Puri - Konark - Puri - Place of Jagannath - Subhadra- Balaram

Friends,

I am back again. No this time I will not write something related to West Bengal. Promise, I will start writing on beaches of West Bengal. Now let me write something about Puri because today is the most populous day for PURI. Today Lord Jagannath will leave Puri , his own home to his aunty's home via chariots. He will accompany with his brother Lord Balarama and sister goddesses Subhadra.

 Hey this is not a religious place only. You know why? This is a place which have a long virgin beach. Lord Jagannath's temple is very close to Bay of Bengal here. So why do you like to leave a chance to meet Lord Jagannath with a beach? Also you can have a smell of 1000 Century AD. Want to test 1st century BC? Well plan for that too.

Lets have some images now:

 

You can reach Puri from any major city of India. You can reach here via BHU or Kolkata Airport as well. 

Let me tell you we select to reach Puri via Howrah - Puri express or using Duranta or Satabdi Express from Howrah or Sealdha station. You have to book your ticket in 2 advance of minimum one and half month. Here you will find a good rush always. So it is best to have your ticket as soon as counter opens in 2 month advance.

You can select this place to tour as week end but i prefer it as a relax tour. Select any 5 days frm you busy schedule and lets move.

I am going again on 2nd Aug 2014 to 7th Aug 2014. Want to go with me? Knock me.

A place where history meets beauty.

Darjeeling Tour

Friends,

Excuse my English.

Best time to visit:  September-October.

Snowing season: February

Buy: Lots of woolen garments from shop or from Bhutia market at Mall. You will meet several seller in your hotel as well. But bargain well. Offer half price that they ask for. I bought one muffler for only 50 rupees (Less than a $) or a gloves for only 80 cent.

Spots: Tiger hill, Mirik, Ghoom, Pasupati, Sandakhfu, Kalimpong, Lava Lole gaon.
You can enlarge your tour to Sikkim from here too.

I will share my experience and few images. But lets start with few images and then I will share details about this place.

Let me tell you only low budget tour destination is Darjeeling in Himalayas. From here you can plan for a trip to hill top like Mt. Everest.World famous for Darjeeling Tea and Toy Train.

Tea Garden - Darjeeling Tea

Tea Garden - Darjeeling Tea

Tea Garden - Darjeeling Tea

UNESCO World Heritage train

Ghoom-14th highest station in world and the highest in India

Mount.

Kanchenjunga -Third highest in world

A view of Darjeeling

Let me now start my experience en-route. I booked train ticket a bit late. Only one month in advance. So I selected one chair car train of Indian Railways for a over night journey. That was my bad. I should book ticket in advance or should select good Volvo Bus. But nothing was there for me as I booked last minute. So book your ticket in more than one and half month advance if you want to travel via train. That is safe journey. You can use IRCTC to book train ticket. All train going to Asam or NJP will have stopage in NJP. You need to book to and from NJP. Several trains are available from Sealdha or Howrah to reach NJP. VOLVO buses available from Dharmatala or Salt Lake and can be booked from there or via online web portals.

You need to reach NJP or New Jalpaiguri via train or Siliguri bus stand via bus. I reached NJP. Now it is car ride time. I booked SUV car for complete tour from a online portal. They charged me handsomely. SO I did not have hazard to book car from there. You can avail that service, other than that you may select local cars too. If you select share car you may drop your price. If you are lucky you may have a return-car from Darjeeling which may charge you very low if you can bargain. If you do not want to bargain you can book your car via online portal or via me.

Now it is car time. I took a break after one hours journey. The driver placed us on a small but good hotel. Let me warn you , food is very costly compare to Kolkata. You may have to pay even 100 rupees ($2) for a simple Egg-Rice or a Egg Thalia. Finally after 3 and half hours I reach Darjeeling. I was there in season time. Also I selected a hotel for Rupees 700/- per night. So quality of hotel was not good. They were very poor, not clean, no proper food arrangement. First night it was a horrible experience for me. Finally one view fetching room  was allotted and was of medium class. We stayed there and managed to get food from a neighbor hotel.

It was next day morning. I was suddenly waked up by my wife. She shouted "wow see what is there". I suddenly woke up in the morning at 4:45 AM. It was too early for me specially after a day long no sleep journey. Hey you can not believe what I saw. See the images below.

My investment for this journey completely paid for. With small and not too good hotel, with tension for my daughter and another small kid's food and health, I was almost gone. But this view just fetched me from back yard to life. What a scene it was. I never will forget that very early morning and Sun rise.

Next day it was our Mirik Tour. I missed here. You should not arrange a tour separately for Mirik. Rather plan it so that you can reach here the day you are coming back. But I had planned a bit wrong. Next day around 9:30 AM we started for Mirik , Pasupati. Too much curve and too hot scenic beauty stunned me. But the other kid was very ill as well as my relatives who were there too. Driver Pranesh advised us not to see too much outside if there is a vomiting tendency. Though there was fog but I enjoyed the route. What a journey it was. We met Border with Nepal during the visit. Road from Darjeeling to Mirik crosses a broder where the left deep down is India and right hill area is on Nepal. Indian and Nepal has no strict border. So when we were coming back  I stepped on Nepal. What a experience. I collected one 20 Rupee note of Nepal currency.

Here are few images in Mirik or en-route Mirik:

Mirik Lake

Mirik Hill

Me with my daughter in Mirik

Hey , my wife, Daughter, little kid and my mother in law is in Nepal now.

View of Nepal and Sikkim from Lepcha Jagat

Next day morning it was tour de Tiger hill. Tiger hill is a spot for viewing Sun rise. It has observatory center at summit. You have to start 3:30 AM early in night to reach as soon as you can. The early you can leave the less you have to trek. Yes if you are late you may not reach the summit. Rather you have to trek somewhere else and have to reach several other view point on this hill. I could not manage to reach early due to my driver's late arrival. I had to do a small trek to reach another hill top and watch the beautiful sun rise from there. My luck was not so good that I could see the Sun jumped from hill back. But saw it moment after it jumped.  But suddenly weather were too clear to see Mt. Kanchenjunga, Mt. Makalu or even a small view of Mt. Everest. I have bad luck that I did not have a telescoping lance in camera to catch that image.

Sunrise at Tiger Hill

I came back to hotel and managed to get some fresh food. In the mean time I visited Batasia loop. A loop just before Ghoom. Here I reached again on joy rider on world heritage of Darjeeling Himalayan Railways.Toy Train.

After a quick break fast we started for a inter Darjeeling tour. We visited 7 points including Tea estate, Tibetan Refugee Center, Monestry, Tenjing Rock (here Sherpa Tenjing Norge practiced before climbing first time to Everest). I really was moved by the living style and hard working of Tibetan Refugees. What to tell about Tea Garden? Finally this day tour ends at Mall of Darjeeling. Here you can buy anything related to winter garments in budget. Several shops are there. But I preferred Bhutia market. A lots of woolen garments were bought by me and my wife. You can buy umbrella as well. 

The day before last day was not good. My daughter failed ill. We enjoyed a joy ride this day. It was my daughter's birth day. I booked joy ride from IRCTC. It was a after noon tour. The tour starts from Darjeeling railway station and ends at Ghoom. Again they halt there for half and hour and come back to Darjeeling Station. What a experience it was. I was in a train which was declared as World Heritage Train by UNESCO.

Finally I reached Ghoom, this is the 14th highest station in world and the highest in India. We have a Museum there. You can visit some good images over there.

Finally the day came. We again started from Darjeeling to Siliguri. We had a booking in Volvo Ac from SIliguri. So finally my tour ended in bus.

Few people with whom I was very happy:

Tapas Sinha: Ask him for a good hotel booking. Only tell him that you need good hotel.
Ph: 9153215908 or ask me
Sonam Lama and Pranesh Gurung: Both car drivers. Ask me for their number.

My tour - Tarapith - Nalhati - Bakreswar - Santiniketan

To do marketing for upcoming puja celebration please visit :https://www.facebook.com/Koushikiscollection

Hi Friends,


Let me brief you why you should go Tarapith - Nalhati - Bakreswar - Santiniketan. Tarapith and Nalhati are two places which are famous for Ma Kali. According to Hindu mythology named as Puran, Lord Shiva did a devastating dance after her mistress Goddesses Sati Ma commited suicide during  daksha yagna. All world seemed to be vanished due to this dance. So finally Lord Vishnu cut the corps into pieces. Each part of Ma Sati felled in ground. There were 51 pieces. Each piece landed in one place. These 51 places are know as 51 holy Piths of Hindu religion. Here eye ball or "Tara" was felt in Tarapith and voice cord or "Nal"was felt in Nalhati.

Bakreswar is famous for the temple of Lord Shiva. Beside this you will find hot water spring filled with sulphate here. Very rare and scientific phenomenon as present here.

Santiniketan is famous for Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. He was first Asian to receive Nobel prize in literature.

No I have not covered Tarapith - Nalhati - Bakreswar - Santiniketan in one go. I have relatives in Rampurhat (The nearest station of Tarapith). So any time I go to Tarapith I stay in Rampurhat.

Let me tell you how to go there and my experiences over there.

I suggest you to start your tour from Sealdha or Howrah Station and catch a train bound to North Bengal Via Rampurhat. You can get several trains like Ganadevta, Rampur Hat Intercity from Seladha, Rampurhat express from Howrah, HWH-MLDT intercity express and several other trains going towards North Bengal and North east. You can even try to avail rains bound to Sahebgunj llop. But try to avoid them due to cleanliness and poor timing. Generally it takes 3 and half hours to 5 and half hours to reach Rampurhat based on type of train you select.

Now, to reach Howrah or Sealdha you may catch a taxi from Kolkata Netaji Subhas International Airport . It will take 200 rupees maximum.

Now I like to start from Rampurhat on day one. Reach Rampurhat and get a car hired to reach Tarapith.  You can hire a TATA-SUMO or Xylo from Rampurhat to have a tour aroun Tarapith and Nalhati. You may prefer to stay at Tarapith. So hire any car and reach Tarapith. You can get several lodge/hotel in your choice / budget.

Here comes Tarapith:

Tarapith Ma Tara temple

Tarapith temple

Bamakhepa

You will reach to this holy place from Rampurhat in 20 minutes or less.You can book a hotel/lodge from your place or ask me or mail me to arrange a tour for you. You may select Barat Sevasram Sangha guest house in very low price.
Now go to temple after a sort rest. I do not think here is any restriction for any religion to enter temple of Ma Tara. Be aware to be cheated by priests of this temple named as Punda. You should be freshed and pure with a deep bath before visiting inside temple. Avoid food before offering a prayer here. Possibly visit the temple in early morning.

Avoid Saturday and Tuesday to avoid heavy crowd.

Now take a rest at hotel and return back to burning Ghat near temple. You will see a small but very active river named as Dwarka passing by the Ghat. The burning ghat is famous for Bamdev or Bamakhapa. This person was direct son of Ma tara.

After again few rest, in the afternoon arrange a car who will take you to Atla and then Nalhati and back to Tarapith for stay in hotel.

Nalhati is the other place you may cover same day afternoon. Leave Tarapith a bit early or start next day morning to reach Nalhati. I suggest you to leave next day morning for Nalhati and offer a prayer there too. Do not eat anything and take a fresh bath before going to that place. Here you will find Ma Nalhateswari.
Offer her prayer again. Now start here to Bakreaswar.

In Bakreswar, you will find hot water spring. But the main attraction is Lord Shiva temple here. Offer a prayer with a fresh mind and fresh body. Then you can take a bath in hot water spring. Have some food in nearby small hotels. Food quality is not too good yet not too bad. From here turn your destination to Santiniketan -Bolpore.

one and half hour journey from Bakreswar to Santiniketan. So after reaching Santiniketan take rest for the day. Arrange a hotel here. Now in the next morning leave for Biswabharati University and Snatiniketan Visit. You can take a guide here. Well mannered and literate guide will tell you every story of Santiniketan. Take some food and take rest for the entire day.

Next day morning leave for Kolkata via train from Bolpore station. Again you will find so many Howrah bound train or use Santiniketan Express to reach Howrah.