Lolegaon travel guide and travelogue

Wild Flower in Lolegaon

Blue beauty

I was on my way from Kolkata to Delhi once. Eagerly gazing out from the window of the plane and looking into the vast playing fields of the clouds, well I thought "Oh God...If only I could live on the clouds..."
 
This is the story of how my wish came true. This is the story of The kingdom of clouds!
 

Getting there: 
I have been waiting for this day from the 13th day of the previous month! I was literally praying to god to make time move forward and bring forth this day. We were in a Taxi, headed out to the newly made Kolkata Railway Station (The name of the place is Chitpur, by the way). It is about 20-25 Kms from the heart of Kolkata. We were again going to the beautiful Himalayas! When we reached the station, we found our train (HWH-Guwahati Garib Rath Exp) standing on Platform 5. The departure time was 9:40 PM. We got up and settled down. Our destination station was New Jalpaiguri(NJP), about 550 Kms from Kolkata. I always found travelling by train very romantic. The whistling of the old Canadian Steam engines, the chugging sound of the train and the fast clanking of the railway wheels with the steel lines, these are the sounds I could never forget. The days have changed, now travelling in AC has become more affordable. The old nonchalant ways of rail travel has given way to a more comfortable, but synthetic way. Here in the Garib Rath trains, you have to rent your bedding, so, that we hurriedly did and went to sleep.

Dew drops

 We got down at NJP at 7:30 AM in the morning. It was full of hustle-bustle of the tourists getting down there. The taxi and auto drivers were jostling and haggling with us for the fare. They were mostly interested in going to Darjeeling or Gangtok, two of the most popular tourist destinations in the Eastern-Himalayas. We told them that we will go to Loleygaon. One of them agreed for a sum of Rs 1800. It was around Rs 200 more than the usual fare but we agreed as we couldn't wait to get away from the sweltering heat of the plains!
 
Lolegaon is a small sleepy little village, engulfed in pine, oak and cypress trees. Nature has poured her magic in abundance on this place. There are also many varieties of orchids present. Its as if nature was born here. It is 123 Kms from the twin cities of Siliguri/NJP and 54 Kms from the bustling hill city of Kalimpong. The drive is around 5 hrs from NJP railway station. A variety of hotels and resorts have sprung up here, but the best of them is the govt. run wilderness and nature resort. You can chose to stay either in cottages or inside the main building. The cottages range from Rs 900 to Rs 500 and the rooms cost around Rs 900. If you want to truly enjoy nature, stay in the cottages.
 
 
There was a small hatchback car waiting for us. We were quite apprehensive, as we heard that the stretch of road was really bad from Lava to Lolegaon! We started off. Crossing the Mahananda sanctuary lets you know that you are entering the domain of the hills. After some time you take a right turn over the tista bridge and off you go into the hills! We stopped for some refreshments in a roadside Tibetan hotel, and then started off again. As the meandering road stretched before us, with tea gardens on both its sides, the cool mountain air sipped off the heat and the tiredness from our bodies.
 
The road from Lava to Lolegaon really lived up to its name! It was a stretch of around 25 Kms. On both sides of the road, it was thickly forested with huge pine trees. Moss was hanging from their branches. Suddenly from nowhere a huge entourage of clouds came charging on us from the slopes below, and we could see nothing! Slowly, the car went on. The road was heavily dented and damaged. The driver told us that it was owned by the forest department. We were rolling inside the cars like a box of chocolates being shaken! It would have been a very good idea to rent a jeep or something for loleygaon. We went on and on. The scenery was mesmerising with the clouds floating in all the time and glimpses of the thick forest around us! After a good 5 Hrs drive we reached our resort. We had booked 2 cottages (Hornbill 1 and 2), right at the edge of the resort. When we were getting our belongings from the car suddenly our eyes struck at a riot of colours! All around us, there were scores of flowers! Rhododendrons! Red, Pink White. It was as if we were standing in the middle of a kaleidoscope!
 

The resort:

In the resort, there were an assortment of living spaces. In the back, near the road, or in precise terms, below the road was the main building, offering cosy rooms. Outside there was a huge garden full of flowering trees and a weird kind of yellow grass, that I didn't see anywhere else. The whole resort was built on a mountain slope. On the upper edge of the slope there are relatively cheap cottages named "Orchid" (with a daily tariff of Rs 500). These don't have a direct view of the towering snow peaks from inside of the rooms, nonetheless they are quite cosy. One advantage of these are that the main canteen is located adjacent to these cottages, so you won't have to walk much to go for lunch or dinner.
 
The cottages we booked, are situated at the edge of a sloping hill and marks the boundary of the resort. Below them the road stretches through the forest to the DGHC Rest House, and then to an astounding view. On a cloudless day you could see the mighty Mt. Kanchendzonga peering through the mists and towering above the hills below! We reached, our cottages which were enveloped in a blanket of clouds, and we could only make out the rows of wild bushes, just at the edge of the road. Beyond that, everything was white! There were rows of pear tress beside the cottages and the space between the cottages were wrapped with various flowers. Butterflies and bees fluttered and buzzed among them.
 

Exploration:

We freshened up a bit and decided to explore the neighborhoods. It was 2:30 in the afternoon, but seemed like early morning, all around us clouds came rushing in and then disappeared up the slope. Our tiredness vanished in the awesome beauty of the place. We went outside the resort and walked up to the small village of Lolegaon. There is one tourist car booking counter, some shops and homes. There are also quite a few hotels there. The plan for the next day was to go to Rishap, some 30-35 Kms from here. The view from Rishap was stupendous, we heard. We booked a car for the next day to take us there. With mutual consent, we fixed the price to 1200, and the agent warned that it would cost 300 more if we go for sightseeing of Lava. We agreed. After having a piping hot coffee in the local coffee shop, we went back to our hamlet as it was getting colder and darker. While walking, we could barely see 20 Mts in front of us through the clouds. It was as if we were walking on them.
 
The next day the car came at 7 in the morning to take us to Rishap. We were already awake and ready. The weather was the same. In fact it grew worse as the cloud cover grew thicker. The jeep started on its way, through the beautiful Pine forests. The road to Rishap was an adventure in itself. After negotiating the "not so comfortable" road from Loleygaon to Lava, the jeep turned left just before entering the city of Lava and took the road towards kalimpong. Then at a bend near a beautiful and old temple, it took a sharp right turn and started to climb the hills of Rishap. The steepness of the climb was nearing 45 degrees. Then came the surprise, suddenly the road disappeared and a path strewn with boulders appeared in front of us. It was as if, a landfall has occurred. The driver indicated to us with a wry smile that this is the only road to Rishap! After our matchbox ride of around 5 Kms, we reached Rishap. Here also the situation was almost similar, only that the clouds didn't touch Rishap, in fact we could see them below along the slopes and the valleys. Rishap is situated on a hill top, the view of the mighty snow peaks is flawless from here. There are a few hotels here, but once you come here, you are completely cut off from the main towns. You cannot even buy a box of Matchsticks here as there are no local shops. We saw a beautiful blue coloured bird, which was playing among the mossed branches of the trees.
 
After roaming around a little while, unable to find a suitable place to rest for a few hours, we decided to go to Lava and then back to Loleygaon. Lava is a big city, with many shops and  hotels. The monastery here is truly amazing with a beautiful view and a peaceful and quiet atmosphere. We visited the monastery and then drove back to Loleygaon.
 
There was still some light, so we decided to go on walk along the forest road, towards Jhandi Dhara, the sunset point of Lolegaon. It is said that in a clear day, you can even see the mighty Everest basking in its glory from here. Alas, it was no use for us to go there, as the entire place was engulfed in clouds. On our way back, we saw some Raspberry shrubs full with ripe raspberry. We stopped and enjoyed the sweet-sour fruits to the fullest.
 
There is a beautiful temple of Lord Shiva in Loleygaon, with a statue of Gautama Buddha in front. Its an extremely rare and beautiful sight to see the confluence of the two religions like this. Canopy walk, as it is popularly known is around 2 Kms from here. It is a beautiful forested area with huge trees, and a wooden canopy is built among them. Its a pretty amazing experience walking on the canopy, among the huge moss laden branches of the trees.
 

Relaxing!: 
Next day there was nothing significant, as we decided to stay in the cottages and enjoy the clouds. One could easily spend a day in the garden of the resort, just taking photographs of the flowers. We also found some wild strawberries, which were in fact quite cute and tasty.
 

Adieu:

Then the sad day came, we had to go back. There are two shared cabs from Loleygaon to Kalimpong. One in the morning at 7:30, another at 12 in the afternoon. Kalimpong is around a 3hrs journey from here, so we decided to take the 7:30 Taxi. The fare is Rs. 80 per head. We would then take a bus from Kalimpong (Fare Rs 65 per person) to NJP.
 
Sadly we embarked upon our return journey and returned to Kolkata the next day at 9 in the morning. The heat was unbearable. Gazing out of the taxi, towards the clouds, I exclaimed to my wife "Can you imagine, from here, that we were actually among the clouds!". My wife calmly replied "When do you have office tomorrow?"
 

Wild Raspberries- Lolegaon