Hotel Mohit

Nepali dances-Maruni dance

by mantru

It is one of the oldest and most popular dances of the Nepales. Although this dance is associated with the festival of Tihar(Tyohar) or Diwali meaning "Festival of Light", because of its popularity it is performed even on occasions like marriages. Tihar is celebrated to mark the return of the Hindu god Rama from exile. During this festival Maruni dancers richly dressed in colourful costumes and resplendent with ornaments and nose rings ceiled "dungris" go on a house to house visit. The dancers are usually also accompanied by a clown called "Dhatu waray". Sometimes Maruni dances are performed to the accompanist of the nine instrument orchestra known as "Naumati Baja".

It is traditionally believed that females should not perform this dance. Therefore, only males perform this in a disguised form wearing female dress and decorating them as females. They thus become maruni and perform the dance. this dance is based especially on the story of the pangs and agony of Sorathi Rani, a legengendary queen. (more)

I have found a small in youtube check it out.Music is great , folk songs.

For nature lovers......

by mantru

The Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park....Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park is the zoological park in the town of Darjeeling in the Indian state of West Bengal. The zoo is at an average elevation of 2133.5 m. It specializes in breeding animals adapted to alpine conditions, and has successfully captive breeding the Snow leopard and Red panda. The zoo is spread over an area of 44 hectares and attracts 300,000 visitors every year.

A zoo was established on August 14, 1958 in the Birch Hill neighbourhood of Darjeeling under the Department of Education of the Government of West Bengal with a goal to study and preserve Himalayan fauna. The zoo now contains endangered animals like snow leopards, red pandas, gorals (mountain goat), Siberian tigers and a variety of endangered birds

another place to visit is The Lloyd's botanical gardens ....
Lloyd's Botanical Garden is a botanical garden in Darjeeling in the Indian state of West Bengal. Garden code ascribed by Indian Botanical Garden Network for this garden is WB-DBG. This garden was established in 1878 when 40 acres of land were acquired at Darjeeling to form a botanic garden as a distant annexe of the Calcutta Botanical Garden.

This garden preserves several species narive to the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region, Sikkim and neighbouring regions. Also several exotic plants are preserved. The cacti and Succulent section is in a separate conservatory displaying 150 species. The collection of Orchids is also notable.

Enjoy the Rangeet valley roapway.

by mantru

At North Point about 3-km from the town, this is the first passenger ropeway in India. For reservation of ropeway seats please contact - Officer in-charge, Darjeeling Rangeet Valley Ropeway Station, North Point, Darjeeling.
You can have the awesome view of the Tukvar valley tea garden.
Regular share taxi service is available from Market Motor and Taxi Stand is to the Ropeway Station.
In north point you get to see the St Joseph school also known as north point school estb in 1888.

DHR-joy ride

by mantru

You can experience the way people travelled long time ago from NJP to darjeeling in the steam engine .The slow paced train snakes its way parellel to the roads ,stopping cars while it changes from left side to the right creating a " chuk chuk " sound,which has been described in so many nepali songs .

The short ride to Ghum is called the joy ride which is a two way ride from Darjeeling-Batasia-ghum-Darjeeling.The train stops at batasia then continues to ghum .At ghum one can visit the railway museum and then back to Darjeeling.I have clicked few pictures of them.

The tarrif is 240/- per pax.

Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

by steaminchina

"Superlatives"

This line is certainly one of the most incredible railway of Asia. It has some similarities with the Eritrean Railway (see my other travelogue). Total lenght is more than 100KM, total slope also more than 2200 meters. It is a narrow gauge line which follows the road for most of the trip.

"No tunnels"

One of the curiosities of the line is that it was built without big infrastructure. There are no big bridges, no long tunnels. The most impressive features are the so-called 'loops' where the line makes a 360 degree turn to take some altitude and some 'zig-zags'. There are also some street runnings through the villages as the picture shows.

"Diesel and steam"

The starting point of the line is New Jalpaiguri (NJP), where it connects with the broad-gauge network of the Indian Railways. As Masawa in Eritrea, it is a hot and humide place and the trip to the cool Darjeeling is a most pleasant experience (in fact it was the purpose of building the line). Normally trains are hauled by small diesel locomotives, but sometimes, steam may substitute. The trip takes normally 8 to 9 hours, so take enough provisions, there is no dinning-coach!