If you want to cut the crap and just want to know how we went watch this video
Monday, April 11, 2022
A few days ago I saw a post on social media, I think on the RCB forum in facebook, that one side of the Dalkhola bypass has been opened for small vehicles. To those interested in the road to North Bengal, particularly the self-drive enthusiasts like me this is a huge piece of news.
Dalkhola, those who know, used to be a nightmare to cross while going to Siliguri from Calcutta. At one point of time people from the city even used to take the Dumka Bhagalpur Purnea route, which is a massive detour, to avoid the hell hole of Dalkhola. After the Dumka Bhagalpur stretch became an even bigger nightmare going via Botobari became the norm.
For the last 8/10 years I avoided taking any of these detour routes and chose not to go by road to North Bengal till I got confirmed report that the main NH 34 has become completely 4-laned, particularly Dalkhola.
But when I learnt that the Dalkhola bypass has been opened I immediately wanted to go for a drive to NB. Monisha agreed readily and we are set to start on Wednesday, April 13th. Hopefully on Wednesday we will reach Siliguri. Thursday we go to Rongtong and Friday and Saturday we spend in Lamahatta. Sunday we come back, hopefully in a day. Leaves have been applied for and sanctioned too.
Those who do not know, Dalkhola is a very small town on the road to Siliguri before Kishanganj/Islampur. And its only claim to fame is the jam that it creates on the way to Siliguri.
There is a level crossing here. The railway line being extremely busy, the gate stays closed for most of the time leading to serpentine queues of trucks running into several miles now. The road through the town itself is very narrow, leading to nightmarish conditions when you try to cross this place. People detour 50/60 Kms to avoid this bottleneck.
The bypass construction has been mired in various problems for several years now. Hopefully things are changing now. At least half of it is done.
In preparation for the journey on Wednesday, today I filled diesel in the vehicle near our office. The warning sign had come on. A little over 46 litre at Rs 4598. Come to think of it !!! A few years ago this would be less than Rs 3,000. I also added a bottle of LiquiMoly additive that was lying idle in the boot for a long time (a few years perhaps).I will have to get the tyres pumped up too from the Deshapriya Park fuel station by today or tomorrow. I keep 34 psi in them. The tyres are as good as new. Must remember to put the tyre pressure gauge in the glove compartment before leaving home. Now that I have the air pump in the car, I do not carry the puncture repair kit any more.
The Route
I have been to North Bengal on self drive twice before. But those were eons ago. Lots of things have changed in this time. In fact I have consciously avoided driving to North Bengal in the last few years because of the chaos I hear it is now. On my first trip I had taken the usual NH 34 via Barasat, Ranaghat, Krishnanagar etc and came back via Moregram and Panagarh. Both were very smooth drives except for the rains on the way back. I cannot remember what I did for my second trip, which was to Bhutan. I have been hearing horror stories ever since and stayed away from this route.
Now even the name of that highway has changed. I think it is NH 12 now. And four-laning of the road is on in full swing there. In certain sections work is complete, in certain other sections work is incomplete and the state of those stretches is nightmarish.
After lot of back and forth research about the route and decisions about which route to take I have zeroed in on the following route. Take Nivedita Setu to go to Dankuni. Take Delhi Road to Mogra. Take the new flyover to take the Kalna Katwa Road to Nabadwip and then cross the Gouranga Setu to go to Krishnanagar and then follow the main highway to Siliguri.
Baharampur is still a bottleneck because the by pass is not complete yet. There is a suggested shortcut to reach the bridge over Bhagirathi via Haridasmati, rather than go through the main city. Let me see how I feel on Wednesday when I reach there.
I found a facebook group called Motorists of Murshidabad. They seem very enthusiastic and helpful. They asked me to take the short cut. The group admin even shared his personal number and the route detail.
We hope to reach as far as Siliguri on day one. If there is enough day light when we reach, we might go as far as Rongtong. Otherwise we will stay on in Siliguri and proceed towards Rongtong the next morning. In case we cannot make it to Siliguri on day one, on the second day we go to Rongtong.
Keeping my fingers crossed and hope I can reach Siliguri on day one itself, as we always have in the past.
This is indeed a very convoluted route to go to Krishnanagar, I agree. But regulars suggest this route only, for good road surface all through. Apparently, Barasat to Krishnanagar is a hell hole now due to ongoing four-laning work. So is Kalyani Expressway. On the other hand Delhi Road and the Assam Road to Katwa are in much better shape. In fact Mogra has a brand new bridge now. So let me see how this route is. If I find them to be good going to Katwa will become much easier. Part of this route used to be our regular route to Katwa in the late 90s. We used to take Kalyani Expressway and would go via Jeerut and Kalna etc until it became undrivable sometime in 2006 or so.
Monday, April 18, 2022
So I am back after a refreshing trip to the hills. We came back last night in a straight single drive from Lamahatta to Calcutta that took me about 14 and a half hours. We started at 5 am and reached at 7.20 or so in the evening. While going we went as far as Raiganj on day one and next day to Lamahatta. We did not stay in Rongtong, as planned.
This was a video we made while driving down Hill Cart Road between Sonada and Tung
The Road Condition
We took the route as described before. Calcutta to Magra to Nabadwip to Krishnanagar to Siliguri and onwards. We came back via the same route.
Calcutta to Magra now is a breeze via old Delhi Road due to the fact that it has become a 4 laned road with a wide boulevard in the middle. After Mogra one goes to Nabadwip via Tribeni, Kalna etc. The road surface is brilliant but there are bumps and barricades to kill speed. The road through Kalna even has a traffic light and a median divider !!!
Nabadwip has a level crossing to cross which was a pain on both sides, that is, while going as well as while coming back. Krishnanagar is about 15 Km on the other side of Nabadwip. This road is in good condition. So, while going except for the Nabadwip level crossing it was a very smooth drive.
The 4-lane highway - erstwhile NH 34 and now NH 12 - starts a little outside Krishnanagar. This little bit of the highway that is still under construction is a real pain. In monsoon it will be a hell hole even though it is just a kilometer or so.
After the point where Krishnanagar 4-lane starts it is more or less 4-lane right up to Siliguri. At least that is the general impression. But there are many buts. There are many short stretches where the 4-lane is incomplete. Either there is no 4-lane or only half the road is complete. These stretches can be real pain if the truck traffic is heavy.
In Raigunge there is no such scope. You have to go through the town. But this bypass might be finished soon as it does not involve any major bridge. The Baharampur bypass will take time as it involves making a bridge over the river Bhagirathi.
While passing slowly through Raigunge I decided to take a chance at the government tourist lodge in front of Kulik Bird Sanctuary. We have stayed here before. They had plenty of rooms available and we took one of the rear rooms facing the garden because the road facing rooms would be noisy due to the busy highway. Food at this lodge is simple. The AC and geyser both work flawlessly here. Monisha even used their kitchen fridge to store her cold drinks.
We proceeded towards Siliguri the next morning after breakfast.
The next big bottleneck used to be Dalkhola, as I have explained before. Apparently the Dalkhola bypass is now ready. It indeed is ready, or at least one side of it, to the extent that the bypass lets you cross the major jam area of the level crossing. However, at least 2/3 kilometers of the road from the place where the bypass ends to the T-junction and beyond is in terrible condition.
The unfinished parts are not much when compared to the full distance. However, I am mentioning those parts because small cars with low ground clearance will find it difficult not to scrape their bottoms.
Those who are used to the GQ will find this road quite unfinished. The real finished part is the Malda bypass. It is complete in all respects. I think l paid some Rs 1000 in toll tax, possibly in six places.
Before Bagdogra the road is a little incomplete where I took a wrong diversion and ended up being in Fasidewa. This turned out to be a bypass for Bagdogra and is actually a much shorter route to Siliguri. The road condition was excellent though it's a narrow road but without any traffic.
Siliguri to Jorebungla to Lamahatta
I took the Hill Cart Road to go to Kurseong and onwards to Jorebungla and then turned right on Peshak Road to reach Lamahatta. Commercial drivers take the Rohini route to go to Kurseong. It's a 12 Km saving as I measured while coming down, when I took the Rohini road just out of curiosity. I quite love the heritage Hill Cart Road. They have concretised the Pagla Jhora Section now and hopefully the small spring is not a problem any more, even in monsoon.
There is another route to go to Lamahatta from Siliguri. You drive towards Sevak and onwards to Teesta Bazaar/Peshak from where you turn towards Lamahatta. We did not choose this because Darjeeling hills to me is all about the old Hill Cart Road. I love it.
After Rongtong, we stopped near Kurseong Tourist Lodge for tea. This is a heritage sort of stopover when you are going to Darjeeling. However, to our utter disappointment we found it full with tourists and were shown a waiting area where there were a few families already waiting ahead of us, which meant it might take us a long time to find a table. We beat a hasty retreat and went to the taxi stand instead where there is a tea and snacks shop called Zimba. We had two quick teas and pushed off.
I must say - the quality of tea in the general street side shops used to be superb in Darjeeling. Nowadays it is no longer so. They sell very ordinary tea in these stalls. A few years ago they would sell authentic Darjeeling with full aroma. That culture, like all good things, is sadly gone.
Before Sonada but after Tung there was a massive traffic jam with vehicles stuck on both flanks of the road. In the mountains, as indeed anywhere else, you cannot do anything much about a jam. You just wait it out. That's exactly what we did. But I must say, the police constables are everywhere when there is a jam and they do their best to clear it up. It's not that everyone is on their own and there is a free for all. It's a very disciplined jam in the hills.
The Sonada station looked in a terrible state of disrepair. The Gorkha agitators had once set this heritage station on fire. God only knows what level of illiteracy makes one destroy such heritage of one's own in the name of political agitation. I can understand even a political killing (though I do not support it). But I cannot understand such senseless destruction. Because it serves no purpose. The Sonada station did not harm anyone. The government also does not seem too keen to restore it. I think another station is also burnt out - either Mahanadi or Chunabhatti. I am not too sure.
From Jorebungla to Lamahatta is a 14 kilometer mostly downhill ride through the lovely Tukdah forest. We had gone as far as 3 Mile during our cycling trip in 2019 from where we turned right towards Mungpoo. Now, we went straight ahead and reached Lamahatta after 6 Mile, just before Lopchu.
The Return Journey
We took exactly the same route to come down to Calcutta on Sunday, except that we chose to come down via Rohini just to check out the road. It's a boring new road sans the heritage value of Hill Cart Road. Of course Hill Cart Road is much narrower. Rohini also has very sharp switchbacks that a new driver should be careful about.
On this route I love to drive with the train line next to me or playing hide and seek with me. Also, I love the little stations like Sukna, Rongtong, Tin Dhariya etc that you miss on the Rohini Road.
While I took two days to go up, I came down in a day, driving almost non-stop to reach home after 14 and a half hours.
The Trip
This was our first road trip in a very long time. Since our daughter was born about 19 years ago, this was also the first time we were travelling without her. So naturally we were missing her. Although she just sleeps on the rear seat during the drive or is seen absorbed in her phone, we missed her presence.
Instead we walked ahead towards Lamahatta Residency and found a wide forest trail on the right hand side. We walked for a kilometer or so along this path. It's a quiet trail where we saw only a Chestnut Crowned Laughingthrush but heard lot of other unidentifiable birds.
I also walked up and down the concrete steps behind the tourist lodge where we saw a lot of birds. A grey headed canary flycatcher took up a lot of my time and attention. They have lots of crossbills here that often come to the watering hole that they have set up behind the property. There is also a hide of sorts where they store logs and one can photograph the cross bills from there.
In terms of bird photography it was nothing much but the place certainly has lots of birds. I loved the quiet of the place and the general tourist-lessness of the area. The Eco Park attracts lots of low grade tourists. Their vehicles have nowhere to park. So they park along the side of the road often creating massive traffic jams. However, once again the traffic policing along the road was excellent.
We were guests of Lamahatta Resort. But we did not have any room for ourselves there on the first night. So we were put up in the small hotel next door for the night while our vehicle stayed parked in the larger Resort. The hotel next door is called Kanchenjungha View. Its rooms were relatively small and they did not have any generator. Food was home cooked and ordinary.
The standard menu of these homestays is rice, daal and chicken curry, which can be boring after a day. They charge on a per head per day basis inclusive of food. I think it is exorbitant pricing but this has become the norm it seems.
The Lamahatta Residency looked and felt like a better hotel. Next time, if at all there is a next time, we will stay here. Because we were very disappointed by the kind of music that was played by the Resort on our first night there.
They played DJ and karaoke music for some guests - youngsters, presumably from Calcutta - who decided to have a bonfire coupled with uncouth loud music. The next day we decided to move out but then the hotel management promised that there won't be any more DJ music which is why we cancelled the plan.
