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| Hilly Ridge : Pristine Kanchenjungha from Ahall |
Well it's been sometime since I last wrote about anyplace or anything. This time it is that time of the year when I get to go different places(Hey its winter season!).
This time I managed to get up from the couch and go board the train to Jalpaiguri and then from there I took a car to Maneybhanjan.
Here's the trip plan I thought about:
- Day 1 - Roam about Maneybhanjan
- Day 2 - Roam about Tonglu and Tumling
- Day 3 - Roam about Ahall
- Day 4 - Travel to Phalut
- Day 5 - Return back to NJP
So on 23rd December, 2020 we reached Maneybhanjan from NJP. The car took 2200 bucks from us to drop us there. On the way we stopped at Kurseong. Ofcourse we took photos like all other people!
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| Foggy valleys : Magnificient view from Kurseong |
Funny thing is our car broke down when I was travelling after crossing Kurseong! Imagine the car was travelling with only first and third gear!
Maneybhanjan
The base camp for scaling Sandakphu and Phalut. It's a very unique place and probably the last place where you will find cheap food and clothing! Why it's unique? Well here you will find both Nepalese and Indian police strolling about and guarding the area. It's the start of the borderline between Nepal and India!
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| Shadow Valley : Maneybhanjan amidst shadow from hills during sunset |
I started to roam the area and managed to find the landscape unique in every sense and quite different from Darjeeling!
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| Picturesque Tree : Trees getting ready for winter |
The people are awesome, they joke around you and they welcome you with open arms! Though keep in mind you need to order food before hand because everyone goes to sleep by 8:30 pm.
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| Busy hills : Night light in the hills |
After eating roti and chicken from Pradhan Hotel which by the way was so amazing I almost repeated the dishes once more until I checked my wallet which was near empty, I started to walk around and found the night in the valley so quiet and beautiful that I wished I stayed there!
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| Valley of light : Night at Maneybhanjan |
Early morning next day at Maneybhanjan we went to see the sunrise which ofcourse we couldn't see from there as it lies between mountains and hills and is too low.
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| Morning Frost : Early morning at Maneybhanjan |
We were visited by some local dogs on our quest to the top of the valley.
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| Searching for peace? |
We had a micro trek down to the edge of the valley while the furry friend looked upon us from above!
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| Man's best friend : Furry friend looks on |
Tumling & Tonglu
We started our journey from Maneybhanjan early morning. It took us 30 mins of waiting and 12000 bucks to get us a bolero to climb up the stairs of Sandakphu!
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| Stairs of heaven : Climibing up to Tonglu |
While Tonglu is in India, Tumling is in Nepal. You are going to tresspass into Nepal more than you can imagine!
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| Tumling to Tonglu : Scenic route |
We trekked from Tumling to Tonglu which was around 2km uphill. Uphill walk was not so easy, we gasped for air!
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| Majestic Range : The Kanchenjunga Range from Tonglu |
I set up my camera and moved it towards Kanchenjungha range and waited for some amazing hide and seek games of the majestic mountain and cloud.
Cloud bearning mountains : Hide and seek of cloud and mountain
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| Powerful winds and mountains : The Kanchenjungha Range |
On one such occasion I turned my camera towards Tumling and found the clouds wanted to engulf Tumling from one side! Here have a look!
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| Snake route : Tonglu to Tumling |
Till sunset we waited and waited for some good shots!
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| Rising above clouds : The Kanchenjunga range |
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| Far into the horizon : The Kanchenjunga range from Tonglu Nepal border |
After a very busy day at Tumling and Tonglu, and I almost suffered a Hypothermia attack while filming the sunset, I gathered my courage, drank some hot tea and ate some good food at our homestay and we set out for Sandakphu next morning!
Sandakphu and Ahall
We started our journey for Ahall at 8pm in the morning and we went through Gairibus, Kalipokhri, Bikeybhanjan. Here's some shots while we were travelling
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| Bolt from the blue: Almost clear sky at Phatak near Tumling |
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| Greetings from Himalaya : View from the right side of the car |
Here comes the holy pond which is named Kalipokhri which stays as it is even in the coldest of the months!
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| Land of Holy ponds : Kalipokhri(Black water pond) |
While I was busy filming the iconic pond, I made sure to include the iconic Land Rover in the blog. No wonder we say "Old is gold!"
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| Old is Gold : Iconic Land Rover in Singalila National Park |
Finally after a long ride,we reached Ahall. It's like heaven on Earth. Have a look!
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| Heaven above Earth : A view from Ahall |
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| Gold Clad Mountain : Sunset view from Ahall |
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| Golden peak : One of the peaks of Kanchenjungha Range |
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| Two sides of the same coin : Sunset greetings on one side of peak |
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| Purdah System : Hidden in purdah of cloud,Everest Peak |
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| All the colors of sunset : Colorful views of from Ahall |
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| Streams of Cloud : Kachenjungha Range after sunset |
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| 'Foot'full of clouds : Landscape view |
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| Sunset shot from Sunset Point : A view from sunset point |
Some night shots at Ahall
We stayed on during the sunset and even endured the night to get some nightime shots. Have a look! By the way, it was -5 degrees at night and there was that "killer wind" blowing just like "Kalboishakhi Jhor"
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| Starstruck at 11,000 feet : Stars greeting us at night |
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| Eavesdropping Kanchenjungha : Kachenjungha in the backdrop |
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| Valley of Light : A valley amongst Clouds |
The night was horiffic to say at least. It was so cold and windy. We could hardly sleep and next morning we were very eager to leave Ahall and come back to Maneybhanjan but we had still one day left and we were going to Phalut. Early morning our driver came to take us to Phalut!
Phalut
We travelled for 20kms until we reached near the peak. The road was extremely dangerous to say the least but some how amongst minor detours around valleys and frosty waterfalls we made it to Phalut. Wait! We also did a micro trek up to the top of the peak. Here's some of the views from the peak of Phalut.
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| Colorful Kanchenjungha : The Himalayas |
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| Guardian of the sky : Everest Range, All the World's Tallest Mountains in one frame |
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| The Hermit amongst hills: Random shots at Phalut |
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| Vanishing in thin air : People on Phalut peak |
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| Cloudy stroll : Walk on Phalut peak |
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| Vanishing peak : A Cloudy day at Phalut |
So the day ended with some Maggi noodles from GTA Trekkers hut and then we slowly traced our way back to Ahall. It was the end of our journey and next day we would be back to Maneybhanjan in no time. While coming back we noticed that it was crowded with trekkers ranging from 5 year olds to even 50 year olds. The journey from Maneybhanjan to NJP was also eventful as our driver almost killed us on National Highway by driving wrong way!
Anyways it was a great journey, one I would always cherish! Nonetheless I will be back Sandakphu! This time as trekker!
Locations: NJP, Maneybhanjan, Tonglu, Tumling, Phatak, Gairibus, Kalapokhari, Bikeybhanjan, Sandakphu, Ahall, Phalut
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