Day 40 – Lahan to Chalsa – 3 Oct 2018
It is our last day in Nepal and today we will be driving to Chalsa, a place in Westbengal between Siliguri and Phuentsholing. Since the stay at Lahan was not very comfortable, we got up very early and got ready for the drive. The hotel restaurant was all messed up when we got in there looking for breakfast. The previous night dinner plates were still lying on the tables, and hundreds of flies lying dead on the floor, and it looked gross. We couldn’t sit inside, and decided to step out. We grabbed some quick breakfast and left the place around 8.20am.
- TOTAL KMS: 293 Kms
- TIME TAKEN: 7 hours 59 mins
- AVG FUEL EFFICIENCY: 21.5 Km/L
- ROUTE: Kakadibhitta (Mechinagar), Siliguri, Sevoke
- NHs: H01, NH10, NH17
- TOLL PAID: Nil
We reached the border of Kakadibhitta (Mechi Nagar) in 4 hours after covering a distance of 200kms. While exiting Nepal, we were supposed to return the temporary registration number and other documents, however we were not aware of this and nobody stopped us or asked for the same.
Once the borders were crossed, we could, all of a sudden, experience a homely feeling. The roads and people, the coconut trees, climate, geography – West Bengal looked so similar to Kerala! Daughter was so excited to stop for a tender coconut, ever since we left Gujarat, she never really had one. While she couldn’t survive a day without tender coconut when we started the journey, in a matter of few days, she got adjusted and never really asked for it afterwards, however the sight of the same now brought back all her excitement! We continued our journey to Siliguri which is just 20kms from the Indo-Nepal border. Siliguri was pretty crowded and it took us some time to move through the traffic. We got into a mall in Siliguri to have lunch, had never been to a shopping mall ever since we left Bengaluru. The food court of the mall, and crowd looked so familiar, but as faded memories of things we have forgotten from our daily life style. There were stalls outside the mall displaying authentic Bengali handloom sarees, it was really difficult to choose one from the wide variety of collection, however we managed to select one.
After a relaxed time in Siliguri, we continued our drive to Chalsa which was 80kms from Siliguri. The road was decent and the drive was really scenic. The tea plantations laid a lush green carpet on both sides of the road, and made the journey really spectacular. Upon reaching Chalsa, we checked into our hotel, which offered an amazing stay perfect for a relaxing night stay! We spent the rest of our day, playing in the ground with our daughter and using the swimming pool in the resort. The view from the hotel restaurant was splendid, giving a misty view of the Chalsa town. A very good and relaxed stay away from the crowd and in between the Dooars woods.
Roads N Dreams 