Our First Stop - the virgin Loleygaon nestled amongst the Himalayas

Sunrise from Loleygaon
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We arrived at New Jalpaiguri Rly Stn early in the morning on Dec 22nd and hired a vehicle to drop us at Loleygaon - a distance of 136 kms. There is a prepaid taxi booth at the railway station which offers all sorts of vehicles as per your team size and budget ( Tata Sumos, Indica, Maruti van, Bolero, Toyota Qualis etc) at reasonable rates. We decided to take the more picturesque route thru Damdim and Gorubathan that runs thru several tea estates. Luckily, we had confirmed booking at the cottages run by the West Bengal Forest Development Corporation - which is by far the best place to stay at Loleygaon ( room rates ranging from Rs 770/- to Rs 990/- per dbl bedroom).

Mt. Kanchendzonga from Loleygaon
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Loleygaon ( in local dialect, this means a happy village) is a small little village, housing quite a few hotels and a few tiny shops and hamlets. One can cover this place on foot in barely 10 minutes !!! As we enterered Loleygaon, we were greeted by the giant statue of Lord Buddha in the Eco Tourism Park. It was chilly cold and we could see tufts of clouds and fog fleeting by -- it was an experience to savor !!! As the clouds approached us, it suddenly became pitch dark and visibility was reduced to a bare 10 ft -- the clouds had our dress all wet -- we spread out in the park and shouted each other names and tried to locate one another in the park -- and lo !!! The fog had disappeared and out came the bright sunshine !!! Early next morning, we hired a vehicle to take us to the sunrise point at Jhandidara. This was about 4 kms from out hotel and the road was atrocious. However, we were high in spirits and reached the desired spot well ahead of the scheduled sunrise time of 6.17am. There was a healthy crowd of visitors all waiting eagerly for the sunrise -- almost everyone had their own versions of stories about the sunrise -- and someone even suggested that Everest would be visible from this point !!!! However all the chirping soon died away as we were greeted with the majestic view of the sunrise -- from a tiny little diamond into a majestic red ball of fire all in a matter of minutes !!! And we soon turned our heads 180 degrees to witness the first sunrays on Mt. Kanchendzonga. At first the tip of the mountain turned golden -- and soon the hue spread out and engulfed the entire mountain range covering peaks such as Kabru North, Kabru South, Kabru Dome, Mt. Pandim, Mt. Narsingh, Nathula etc.

Pristine nature in the abode of the clouds

Inside the forest - Canopy Walk
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On our way back, we visited the canopy walk -- it a a dense forest with a walking trail and part of the trees have been joined together to form a 750 mtr long canopy. It was a lovely walk through the forests - the chirping birds, buzzing insects and fleeting butterflies, the shades of dark and light as the sun barely made its way thru the dense forests and above all the smell of the jungle -- all added an aroma to the situation.