Photo Travelogue :
Darjeeling is quite a familiar name with Indians ~ especially, as a tourist destination ( thanks to the thousands of movies that has featured this beautiful place ); for its famous toy-train and for its aromatic tea. But, have you heard of Kurseong? It falls in the Darjeeling district itself, on the Siliguri-Darjeeling highway and one crosses it when going to the famous hill station of Darjeeling. It takes about two hours to reach Kurseong from Siliguri town, with a lunch break of 30min in between ( from my experience ). I had one prime reason to go to Kurseong ~ spook hunting. Yes! If you've have read my previous posts, you'll find that I have been visiting many spooky places so far ( all over India ), and have made it a point to include such destinations within my general trips. Kurseong provided with not just one but two such famous haunted locations ( the Dow Hill Forest and the Victoria Boy's school near it ); hence, it was in my bucket list for long. Also, its a place that I could travel to via train at night, cover within the day and be back by a night train; West Bengal, being a neighbouring state of Assam, specially, its northern highland ( gorkhaland ) regions.
I love road trips! Its another experience altogether whizzing past through various terrains in a vehicle. But, my journey to Kurseong was first to start on a train. I didn't have much time to get reservations, and also New Jalpaiguri being some 8-9 hours by train ( 6hrs in a Rajdhani ), I got a general ticket and hopped on a train. My train was at around 11pm and I had reached the station by 9pm. Since the train was starting from Guwahati itself, I wondered if I could spot it, although, it was un-announced, hoping to get a seat - as general compartments are usually packed. I asked some coolie, and he pointed that the train was waiting at a particular platform. Gleeful, with that information, happy that I'd be the first to enter the train, I went to board it. But once I got in, I found to my utter surprise people were already seated - and the train wasn't even announced, duh! Phew! I guess, some people were smarter than me, lol. Anyhow, I did get manage to get a seat.
The train left Guwahati at its scheduled time, and we'd arrive NJP in the morning. Perfect, just what I wanted. Since, it was a night train, I skipped taking pictures of the train part. My journey to Kurseong, in this blog, starts the very next morning after I reach NJP.
new jalpaiguri station ( NJP )...my to and fro base...
after a quick breakfast, I go to the Sumo stand just outside the Rly.Station...
Beware of touts at this point! There are many touts pretending to be drivers, will take higher charge, and then take you around Siliguri town, to a certain point where they will dump you into another Sumo thats actually going to the destination. The previous driver will take commission from the next driver who actually take us, and the latter driver pays the previous for bringing him customers. How do I know all these? Its because, thats exactly what happened to us. So, the real fare that should've been Rs.80/- to Kurseong ( about 150/- to Darjeeling ), I ended up paying 300/-
moi, looking ahead for my trip as I look back at what I leave behind...the busy station!
and, we head off...on the highway... ~ NH55 which is also the Hill Cart Road later...
passing by Siliguri town...
this part of road is picturesque...with tea gardens stretching for miles, on both sides...
( the view to and fro Kurseong from Darjeeling ( 32kms ) has even more tea gardens )
take a turn, and enter a secluded official compound for while with parks etc in it,
and then, pass through a forest area of Tall Sal trees ~ touching the skies above...
coming out of the forest, we pass by some more tea plantations...
crossing a toll...
and then, leaving the plains behind, we start going uphill...
through twists and turns...one can get dizzy on these narrow hair-pin turns...
views from the top...simply beautiful...
we stop at a dhaba @Norlha, for some yummy momos, pakodas and hot tea...
the journey continues and we continue speeding up...
the toy train track accompanying us all the way from siliguri...
( to know more ~ watch the song 'Mere Sapno Ki Rani' song from the film Aradhana )
reach Kurseong at last, in pic ~ the haunted Railway Station :-) The Sumo continues on to Darjeeling, while I get down at Kurseong. The 'real' spook-a-fest-venture continues ahead...
Kurseong ~ the 'Land of White Orchids', is a city and a municipality in Darjeeling district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Located at an altitude of 1,458 metres, Kurseong is 32 kilometres from Darjeeling and has a pleasant climate throughout the year. It is famous for its orchid gardens, forested hills, tea plantations, waterfalls, temples and Buddhist gompas apart from the excellent vistas. Kurseong is also home to a death road, headless ghost, haunted school, haunted buildings, mysterious forests, sinister treks, red eyes, mysterious deaths and countless other real ghost stories ( wiki ).
Address : Kurseong, Darjeeling, WestBengal
Read next part - Here! Stay tuned for all my road, rail, flight, cruise & walk trips.
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