Groovrgrump: darjeeling&sikkim-2

We started back soon as we had to reach Darjeeling by nightfall, but on the way down the road was blocked as one of the army trucks carrying oil skid and almost fell down but dint fall down … luckily!! But the way was blocked and we couldn’t go down so we filled up the side gutter with rocks so that vehicles could pass… all of us helped there to fill up the gutter. and it was a good experience too!!! On our way to Darjeeling we visited the rumtek monastery which is supposed to be the 3rd biggest monastery in the world and it had a golden shrine..

Next morning we went to tiger hills near Darjeeling to watch the sunrise. Generally we can see Mt Kanchanjunga and sometimes, even Mt Everest!! And that day we were lucky cos we were able to see both.. We could see the morning rays fall on the snow capped peaks of both the mountains as well as the whole range of Kanchanjunga Mountains!! It’s an experience of a lifetime!!!!

Next we went to the ghoom monastery followed by Gangamayi Park, the center of which has a pure stream running through ore rocks…we had loads of fun there jumping from rock to rock, sometimes getting wet too!! Later on there will also be local tribal dances in the park but we dint get to watch them.
Next we went to the rock garden, which is similar to Gangamayi Park. Then we went to Mirik Lake where we can do boating as well as admire the beautiful scenery around it..
We saw a funny thing there; there were hundreds of large fish in the lake, which would fight with each other for food, especially large buns. it sounds weird but it was fascinating to watch all those fishes fighting for a whole bun!! Someone commented it as fish football! Really it did look like that with all the fishes fighting it out for one bun!!
We were now rapidly descending to jalpaiguri but even here the view was beautiful as we were surrounded by

endless tea gardens!!
We reached Calcutta the next day where we had a few hours break before we came back to home sweet home!! By now we were so tired as we had such a hectic schedule but still we managed to see Howrah bridge and cross Hooghly river by boat before starting back home..