Hello guys, It’s been some time i said i will be writing again. To be honest, don’t have the time to write like before. So i will do one or two when i can and here the movies which inspired me to travel & i thought like me you all been searching for movies related to travelling, hiking, trekking & exploring. So here is the list of movies i watched and liked on travelling. I will update it as i get new ones.
I can’t believe It’s been so long since the last blog post, time really flies. I am really sorry that I couldn’t write as promised. Anyway, I am back with the Bhutan tour details & I am sure you will love every bit of it. You guys already know how I managed the Indian transit visa as to cut the costing of the tour I went by road.
18th September(Day 1): We already booked our Bus ticket to Burimari on SR Shamoli. Which will start at 9 PM from Kollanpur Bus Stand, Dhaka. So, I along with my friend Neon we went there 1 hour before the bus leaves. As we were waiting I met with Sumon Bhai, Tawhid Bhai & Provel Bhai (The Wildest Bunch Ever!).
19th September (Day 2): We got on the bus and in the next morning around 7’0 clock, we reached Burimari Border. Our Bus Supervisor I forgot his name but he was the best supervisor I ever came across. He was so good to children’s and helpful to elderly ones. It felt like we were going on a family trip. The immigration office opens at 9.30 so we had to wait till then and we did our breakfast at Nanir Dokan. Which was the last desi khana we would have for next 5-6 days. My bad, I couldn’t eat much! I don’t know what happened, the food wasn’t good & i lost my appetite! So here are a few points you should take note of – Supervisor will do the travel tax payment but you have to pay him 50tk extra for that & also they will take care of the immigration process to make it a little easy. Not that it’s very hard or there’s a lot of people going through Burimari Border but still for the new people it might feel like a hassle. You have to pay the Custom police tk 100 for each person as a bribe.
So, We crossed the immigration at 11.00 am and put our feet on the Indian soil. Then the Indian immigration which is actually a lot easier. They take your photo, you sign in a book and off you go with your passport. The whole process takes around 30 minutes. Then you will be shown the way by the SR Shamoli Indian stuffs to the counter which is also the money exchange point and you better exchange your money here cause we didn’t see any money exchange point after this one and they give good rates. One more thing the bigger and new your note is the better rate you get for example a $100 dollar note will get more rate than a $50 one and if it’s an updated one say one from 2013 printed it will get more rate. Anyway don’t forget to count your money twice & your bags, carry them with you to the bus and keep the token SR Shamoli stuffs provided you on the Bangladesh side ( I lost it and it was a chaos but they were professional to understand and everything was fine).
Then we got on the bus waiting for us and told the supervisor that we will get down in Moinaguri to go to Bhutan. From there we took a TomTom and went Moinaguri Bazar (10 rupees per person). You will find a few taxi waiting there just talk to about the fare and do bargain as they ask for a lot of money first time. So we hired a Mahindra taxi for 8 people (two more people who were going to Bhutan they wanted to come with us as there was no bus & hiring a taxi by themselves will cost more) for a total of 2000 rupees. So, 250 rupees each. { here is a tip – if you find any taxi waiting outside the Indian immigration who are willing to go to Joyga try to hire them you might get them for less price}. It took us around 2.5 hours to reach Joyga via Hashimara. When we reached Joyga town we had to get departure seal from the Indian immigration which is just a few minutes walk from the Bhutan Gate. If you ask people around they will show you the way. First, you will see a police/BSF standing outside the office go there put your name & details in the register book and sign. The rest of the process is same as before fill up the small form and go to the immigration officer. He will take your photo, check the documents and if everything is all ok you will get the departure seal. The office remains open until 4.30 PM & start at 7 AM. Then we had to hurry as we wanted to enter to Bhutan that day and go to Thimpu which normally takes around 5 hours+ also as the Bhutan immigration normally closes at 5/6 PM. ( though they said later it’s 8 PM but we couldn’t confirm which is correct).
It always rains in Phuntsholing. The gate that separates Bhutan from India and the town Joyga from Phuntsholing should be in front of you. Now you will your passport photocopy which i asked you to bring with you so you need to photocopy the form the Bhutan immigration people give you. ( It’s always raining in Phuntsholing so carry an umbrella if you don’t want to get wet). The immigration office is just beside the Fuel Station. The officer was really annoyed by us as he had to work longer than normal and he had a date with her Wife/GirlFriend and it was raining heavily. Now the same process you have to fill up the form, they will take your photo, enter your info in the computer and once they are done you will get entry permission seal. You need to keep in mind that – you will only get permission for Paro & Thimpu from here so if you want to go to Punakha then you have to get permission again from Thimpu. After we got the entry permission we went to have our much-waited lunch. I felt like it was an era we ate anything. So we went for lunch and boy I loved the lunch, We ordered Chicken Bhuna with Rice, Dal & Mix Vegetables. It was all in all Bengali dishes and good too.
Then I and Sumon bhai went to look for a taxi so that we can go to Thimpu. If you are too tired and don’t want to do your journey today then you can easily stay in a hotel and chill a bit. As there are a lot of Wine shops and bar around Phuntsholing town. Here’s a thing you will see when you enter Bhutan, The people are so nice, their roads are clean no noise! Yes, it’s like two side of a coin – The Joyga – Noisy, Lot’s of people, Pollution & Phuntsholing complete opposite. You just feel the change in your body. So as the others waited we went for taxi and it’s a little tricky. It was really hard to find the taxi station and as it was already 5.30 PM a lot of them weren’t interested in going. ( A piece of advice – when you go to the taxi station a lot of drivers will get around you ask them to hire them – few of them understands our language – also it’s more like syndicate in our country. So you will feel why the taxi fare is so high but stay on your ground and bargain). After around 20 minutes and a lot of bargain we did hire a Mahindra taxi for the six of us and yes if your group is too big then you will have a lot of problems. Don’t get too many people either 6( highest 7) or 4 in a taxi. It’s not that you should not go with bigger groups it’s just the more people the less space in the taxi and you are here to enjoy, relax, do sightseeing, take photos if there’s more than 6 in a Mahindra and more than 4 in a taxi it will be tough to take pictures and the whole tour might become a painful for you. We hired the taxi for 3700 rupees, so 617 rupees each.
At the first half, the journey will feel awesome. From the top of the mountain, the Phuntsholing town looks like stars of light and the roads will feel like Stairway to heaven! As you go up in the hills and the roads start to get Zig Zag you might get a headache, feel dizzy because of the high altitude. Don’t worry it’s a sickness that happens to the people who are not familiar with higher altitude. As the oxygen level decreases. (NO SMOKING! The consumption of tobacco is not altogether prohibited in Bhutan, though it is largely banned in places of public accommodation.)
We reached Thimpu at 12’o clock, We did our dinner in the middle of our journey at around 9 PM. When we reached Thimpu everything was almost closed and please try to book your hotel before you go there because we didn’t and we had a lot of problems because of that. Thanks to our taxi driver who helped us to book a hotel that time after a lot of hassle. After reaching our hotel is was already too cold outside so we just entered our hotel and didn’t bother much about anything other than sleeping.
I got up in the morning when Rakib bhai came to our room to call us. We got up and opened the window and there it was! The mighty mountain, blue clouds, a little sunshine coming through, cool breeze blowing my hairs what more do you want in your life?
So, we got ready and went to a restaurant nearby. We did have a restaurant below our hotel but it was too costly and we didn’t like the environment. Another thing is when you are traveling on a budget you need proper planning and not over spend. So we did our breakfast with Khichuri which didn’t have any spice! I and Neon tried the egg omelet and sandwich.I have some serious gastric issues so it’s really tough for me to eat anything in the morning. Then we came went to a shop and bought new Sim cards for us and came back to our hotel. We got ready and went to the get the permission documents needed for going to Punakha & Paro. While Sumon & Rakib Bhai were managing those things we started clicking some breaktaking photos around us.
You can check the full album at : https://www.facebook.com/eftykonick/media_set?set=a.1488795054469803.1073741837.100000179677666&type=3
This is done by using the Math.random() function in javaScript. If you look at the code you will understand it easily.
Math.random() variable will equal to a number between 0 to 1.
Please make sure you align and indent the code after you copy.
var userChoice = prompt(“Do you choose rock, paper or scissors?”);
var computerChoice = Math.random();
if (computerChoice < 0.34)
{
computerChoice = “rock”;
}
else if(computerChoice <= 0.67)
{
computerChoice = “paper”;
}
else
{
computerChoice = “scissors”;
}var compare = function(choice1, choice2) {
if(choice1 === choice2) {
return “The result is a tie!”;
}
if(choice1 === “rock”) {
if(choice2 === “scissors”) {
return “rock wins”;
} else {
return “paper wins”;
}
}
if(choice1 === “paper”) {
if(choice2 === “rock”) {
return “paper wins”;
} else {
if(choice2 === “scissors”) {
return “scissors wins”;
}
}
if(choice1 === “scissors”) {
if(choice2 === “rock”) {
return “rock wins”;
} else {
if(choice2 === “paper”) {
return “scissors wins”;
}
}
}
}
};
console.log(“User Choice: ” + userChoice);
console.log(“Computer Choice: ” + computerChoice);
compare(userChoice, computerChoice);
Transit! A word that is somewhat not loved by the travelers around the world. What if we didn’t need any Visa to get into a country. A World without borders! Is it possible ? Are we capable of readily shedding our borders to work together as one real society? We can just hope for that. I have been busy and couldn’t write on the blog but i am back now. I will be going to Bhutan on 18th of this month. As this is a budget tour I had to look for all possible options where i could save money. The first big one that came up was by not Flying and instead going by road. As there is no direct access to Bhutan from Bangladesh, I needed a transit visa of India. Which is a kind of a pain in the ass. I applied from Chittagong and there weren’t any details how to apply for a transit visa. But now as i already applied for the visa and got the visa today I thought of writing in detail how to apply for an Indian transit visa.
First, you need to fill up the online application form and get the document printed.
Link : http://indianvisa-bangladesh.nic.in/visa/
When apply online be careful not to put wrong inputs. Most of the information you need are in your passport.
Expected Date of Arrival – the transit visa takes around 1 week to process so give your expected arrival date 10 days later from your application/submission date but not too much difference. Select the Indian Mission in which you want to submit the document. I prefer you select Dhaka as they have better facilities and give more transit visa than others. I applied from Chittagong and i had to stay there 2 complete days just to submit the documents. There is no actual line for transit visa you have to get in the same line as Business Visa. They don’t have much problem letting the business visa submit but they don’t even let you drop when it’s your turn.
You just have to wait there not sure whether you will be permitted to submit the documents for visa. We were actually 2 persons who got Indian Transit visa within those 2 days and i was actually thinking of leaving as it’s been almost 4 hours i was waiting for my turn before i got the call from their officer to go inside.
Anyway back at it. When filling the form there might be some confusion what to input in some steps. In the section of Visible identification marks write None. If you have national id card enter your national id card no or you can just input the personal no from your passport. Educational qualification will be Higher Secondary if you completed your HSC or Studying after completing HSC. There are a lot of options choose the one according. City of Birth , Nationality , Religion , Passport Number , Place of Issue , Date of Issue , Date of Expiry can be found in your passport. For a place of issue, it’s Dhaka for all the passport but still check to be sure. For nationality select how did you got your nationality by birth or by naturalization. It means either you father lived in another country he married your mom who is from here or the opposite and you acquired the nationality.
Make sure you keep the temporary application id saved. It will help you to change the details later if necessary.
For Any other valid Passport/Identity Certificate(IC) held section input if you have any other valid passport of another country.
Are/were you in a Military/Semi-Military/Police/Security. Organization? If you are then select yes and input the details.
Employer Name/business put your employer’s name or company if are doing a job.
Past Occupation – Select what you used to do before.
Previous Nationality: for your father and mothers details even this is optional you have to select it like I did in the screenshot.
Mobile No. : Don’t enter the first 0 when entering your mobile no.
Port of Arrival in India : Select this as your want it. For travelling to Bhutan you should choose : By Road Changrabandha / Jaygaon. Which is actually the Burimari Border of our.
Port of Exit from India: Select this as your want it. For traveling to Bhutan you should choose: By Road Changrabandha / Jaygaon.
The purpose of Visit: Enter it as you want to like for business enter business I am going for traveling so I entered tourism.
No. of Entries : Select this double for Bhutan as you have to enter twice in India , If you have to enter thrice select Triple. (Say you will go to Bhutan and again back from bhutan and again to nepal then you need triple)
Have you ever visited India before? : If yes enter the details if not just select No.
Mr. Firoz Khan
Hotel Garib Nawaz
9, Chowringhee Lane,
Kolkata-700016
Phone : +91 22175452
Photo Specifications
Now enter a hotel name where you might stay if you get the visa. Just google for a hotel in your preferred location. Enter the details of that hotel. You can use Hotel.com or Booking.Com to book a hotel without any headache. Also to get the hotel information from there.
Now This is the final step : Check if all the details you just entered are correct if not modify and change it . After it’s done go to the next step and save the Permanent Application number.
After that we are finished applying you just have to print the form. For transit visa you don’t need appointment date. Download the form now , print it and attach 1 of your recent passport size photo 2 by 2 size . Remember, You don’t need e-token for transit visa . Sign below the photo and at the bottom of next page as you signed in your passport .
Now just go to the Gulshan Indian Ambassy branch if you selected Dhaka Indian Mission next day to submit the form. If you selected IVAC Chittagong then go the Chittagong branch or others.
Ok to the next and most important step.
What supporting documents you need when applying for a transit visa.
For Hotel Reservation Go to :
Now you will see a lot of hotel names and their prices. The price showing is per day price . Select one you might want to stay in.
So to next page just scroll down a little and you will find the booking option like below image. Select you room no, room type and other details. There you will find a column name Conditions – check for
So after choosing that click reserve now. And to next page, you will be asked to register on the site. Enter your name as passport, and email address correctly .
Now you will be asked to enter your mastercard or visa card details (no security number needed), Don’t worry you won’t be charged if you don’t stay. (Note : In some hotel they will give you a date before which cancellation is free but after that date you will be charged a amount.) So don’t just reserve look for the details. After a successful reservation they will email you the reservation confirmation. Print that and submit along with your other documents.
Now if you don’t have a mastercard or visa card , got to : http://www.hotel.bt/ , Select your destination and hotel , price and then from the contact page contact them using the mail and ask them to send you a reservation mail. After they send you print it and submit.
That’s all for now. I hope you get the process of applying a transit visa. The screenshots are for Bhutan Transit visa – so you just have to change few of the details when applying for other country. Most of them will remain same. I will be back with the travel blog of Bhutan after completing my journey. Please keep me in your prayers. Till then take care and good bye.
Hi guys, it’s been a long time since i posted anything. I was fucking busy with my life so didn’t have time to write. But i am back now and will be travelling to Thailand if i get the Visa. If you are from first world country you don’t actually need a visa they offer it on arrival for most of the countries but as a third world country, it’s tough to get visa of other countries. If you don’t know how to apply for a visa then there are a lot of travel agency who will make you feel alien. First, they will make you feel afraid saying it’s tough, you won’t get a visa. You don’t have the necessary documents and bullshit. Then they will say we can get you the visa but it will cost you a lot more. So don’t fall for those agencies, there are a lot of good agency who will help you and treat you like a friend and help you every way possible. But i wanted to apply by myself cause i don’t like to go to an agency and be blind to what they are doing and mostly don’t want to give my passport and other documents to them.
Now as you know i am a travel freak can’t live without travelling. This time, i am going to Thailand – the land of everything. There’s a saying that “if you can not find it in Thailand then you will not find it anywhere” . My actual plan was fly to Malaysia first then stay there for 7-9 days and explore everything . Then fly to Thailand and explore the beaches and sights. Then from there go to Cambodia by bus and stay 3 days and explore as many sightseeing as possible. But as i said it’s hard to get a visa if you are from a third world country. So first i went to a travel agency because there is no way to submit your passport for visa to the Malaysian Embassy without listed agencies. They rejected my passport saying you won’t get a visa with this passport as i have never Malaysia or Thailand or any Europe countries. I only went to Darjeeling last year which you already know. Here is my Darjeeling travel blogs if you want to read :
So my plan of travelling to Malaysia is gone. So, i asked about Thailand the agency owner said yeah it’s possible but we can not ensure you will get the visa. i came back and did some research on the internet and found that VFS Global accepts the visa and does the processing for Thailand. They also have an office in my City Chittagong. So, i did more research and found out that i can fill up the form online or offline and submit it along with the necessary documents for processing the visa.
Either you can just print the form and fill it up by hand or you can just input the details online and print it then. Though they say, you can apply for the visa online which is basically offline:3
5. Now to the next page.
6. Choose the visa category if want a tourist visa select tourist visa. Or you can also choose Transit visa if you need transit.
And for the No of Entry requested select single entry. The vfs global staff said they aren’t giving double entry at this moment.
7. Occupation this is a little tricky . Put your present work position here like i entered IT – Internet Marketer and Name of your employer where you work. If you are a student then put student in the present position and enter your university, college, school name in the Name of your employer.
8. The Permanent address as it is in your passport and enter the present address if it’s different from the permanent. Make sure you enter a valid present address so if they need they can reach to you.
9. Now Click next to move on to the next page.
10. Here first comes minor name what means if anyone underage is going with you. A person under the age of majority or another age restriction. So if anyone is going put in the details if not then just write Not Available .
11. Now enter when you are going to visit Thailand, You don’t have to put exact date just put a date when you might go.
12. Travelling by – Here put the name of the company which you will be using to fly if you are from Bangladesh then put Regent Airways or if you want to travel via other airways put their name. They offer advance booking of flight without paying the money . They give you 3 days time to pay the money (Don’t worry you don’t have to pay just book a ticket you can always change your flight or book again after getting the visa) . http://www.flyregent.com/ You can also use Thai Airways ( http://www.thaiairways.com/ ) and Jet Airways ( http://www.jetairways.com/en/in/planyourtravel/book-online.aspx ) to book advance ticket without paying.
13. The Flight No or Vessel no will be given to you after booking so enter that .
14. Duration of proposed stay : Enter how many days you will stay there. (e.g, 10 days)
14. Countries for which travel document is valid : Write ALL COUNTRIES EXCEPT ISRAEL
15. Purpose of visit: Write why you want to go tourism , transit , business or other.
16. Proposed Address 1 in Thailand( Specify Hotel Name): Don’t worry just enter a hotel name , there are many hotels around Bankok where you can stay so find one in google and put the details from there.
Also, you can book a hotel online using Agoda ( http://www.agoda.com/ ).
Here 10400 is the postal code. Bangkok is the city. Again you don’t have to pay to book. Find one hotel that offers free cancellation means you don’t have to pay if you change a hotel or any other reason.
17. Name of Local Guarantor: Here put in the details of your local guardian or relation who is very close to you. So if something bad happens they can contact him. And this needs to be someone who is not traveling with you. You father, mother or brother will be ok.
18. Name of Thai Guarantor: If you know someone in Thailand than you can put in their details here but before you put his/her details ask her. If you don’t have anyone don’t worry just put Not available write the date and click submit.
You have successfully completed filling your visa application for Thailand.
Now download the pdf from there and print it with the Barcode page.
Now you have submitted the Printer form along with some other documents.
You can download the checklist from here:
http://www.vfsglobal.com/Thailand/Bangladesh/pdf/Tourist_Checklist_280216.pdf
It’s given in detail what you need.
18. Go to your Bank and take a total of 7 months bank statement. It’s actually 6 months of bank statement. Make sure you have a minimum bank balance over 60 thousand takas when getting the bank statement it’s better if you have more . I suggest minimum of 1 lac. If you don’t have your own bank account and you will be using your parents or sponsors account then get their bank statement. If within this 6 or 7 month you don’t have any transaction in a particular month you have fill a disclaimer form which will be provided in the VFS global office just talk to them about it.
The Disclaimer form can found here:
http://www.vfsglobal.com/thailand/bangladesh/pdf/Disclaimer_Form.pdf
19. Also, ask them for a Bank solvency document with bank balance. Make sure they print it on their pad with the logo on it. Sponsors or Parents Solvency for student or anyone who don’t have a bank account.
20. Get a NOC – No objection certificate from your Office in the official pad. If you are a student get a NOC from your university, and also your id card photocopy and an application signed by the university authority saying that you are a student in that university.
21. Print a Visa Forwarding letter and sign it.
22. Photocopy the pages from 1 to 6 of your passport in A4 Size.
23. Take the printout confirmation of your Air Ticket Booking which should be sent to you in your email or you have can take a screenshot from the confirmation page. Make sure you book the return ticket as well. It should be same as you put in the main visa application.
24. Print the Hotel Booking Confirmation sent to your email. It should be same as you put in the main visa application. (Not necessary but if you have it’s good. )
25. Two passport sized photographs (3.4 by 4.5 cm) sized printed in the lab print glossy paper. Not in the printer or locally. Ask where you take your photos to get it lab print and also borderless an in white background. The photo should be taken within 6 months.
If for some reason you have to modify or change certain details from the form then you can go to the below link and change.
https://www.visaservices.org.in/Thailand-Bangladesh-vaf/vaf/VAFMain.aspx?MODE=RET
You have to enter the reference no to change the details which were given to you on the 2nd page. Or you can find it in the pdf that you downloaded. The name of the pdf is your reference no. Also, you have to download the form again with the Barcode again and print it.
To take the printout go to the below link:
https://www.visaservices.org.in/Thailand-Bangladesh-vaf/vaf/VAFMain.aspx?MODE=VAF
That’s all. take all the documents with you and go to the VFS Global office. Application Submission: 08:30 – 11:00 (Sunday to Thursday) Pay the fees 3450 taka BDT. They will check everything and start processing the visa application. The staffs of VFS are very gentle and they will help you every way so don’t hesitate to ask them anything.
So after submitting the form keep your Mobile number and your local guardians mobile no ON. They will call you from the Royal Thai Embassy office and ask few questions about why are you going there , what is the purpose , where do you live , what do you do , where is your office , where do you study , What is the source of your income and bank balance etc. Don’t afraid just answer the questions. Make sure what you say is correct don’t try to lie or hide something. And let your local guardian know about the details before so he says the same as you when the officer calls.
You can check the status of your visa from here:
http://www.vfsglobal.com/thailand/bangladesh/track_application.html
If you want to withdraw your application for the visa you can download the below form and submit.
http://www.vfsglobal.com/thailand/bangladesh/pdf/Withdrawal_Form_040216.pdf
I hope this helps, I uploaded some of my documents so you can get some idea what a NOC and forwarding letter should look like. I tried to be as brief as possible so you don’t get any problem filling out.
Will be back with more travel story from the Thailand till then Allah Hafez. Keep me in your prayers.
We went to bury my Cousin who died in an accident this Monday. So after we buried him I & Kashpeya we were to come back to Chittagong. So the next morning we got on a rickshaw which got hit by a Pickup Van & Thanks to Allah nothing bad happened. Then we got on the bus and this time it was one of the most dangerous accident ever that could have happened! Our Bus was overtaking another bus and a Big Long Lorry was coming from the other side. Then there was another truck which was being moved by the truck puller. So our bus driver thought the Lorry will slow down and he will be able to overtake and pass through both of them at the same time. But what happened was the Lorry driver didn’t slow down, Our Bus almost got face to face clash with that one. Thanks to our driver who actually somehow managed to move the bus in front of the other one and at the last moment when there is no road the bus stopped. Which led to the looking glass & side glasses of the bus being broken. If it actually clashed than a lot of people would die. Maybe I wouldn’t be here to writing this status. So what I was trying to say here is we went to bury someone else and this happened! not even a clue! nothing!
No one knows what will happen tomorrow. So just enjoy what you have today! The most important thing is to enjoy your life – to be happy – it’s all that matters.
Hey, guys, I am back with the 3rd of my Darjeeling Tour. Sorry for being late. I was really busy with my work and studies so didn’t get enough time to write. But I will finish on this one cause I don’t know when I will get time again.
Survived Cancer
Have Diabetes
Needs 13 Tablets a Day
Not Wealthy
Age 73
Backpacker!
So what’s your excuse for not travelling the world?
If you have problems like sleeping in hostels, lodge, don’t have enough money, can’t get along with people! Then I suggest you watch the documentary A map for Saturday which is about backpacking for 1 year and traveling the world as a solo traveler. You will get to know people when you travel, you will know different ways of living, enjoy unforgettable moments and most importantly when you get back you will miss those moments. When does someone ask you what you have done, what you saw there? It’s like you can’t describe it cause he doesn’t even have time for listening but the only thing you will be happy about is those memories which will be always with you & inspire you in your work, life, see the world and people around differently.
10th October(Day 4): So today we slept till 8 AM in the morning & it was really refreshing after so much hangover from the journey and all. Today we will be going on the actual sight seeing. We booked a car for sightseeing for 1000 rupees. He will take us to 6 places. The first one we went to was the Darjeeling Zoo. Which is nicely decorated. There were few animals there i.e Tiger, Bear, Lion, Wolf.Fox, Deer & some rare animals like Snow Leopards, TiWolf.The outlook of the zoo was very nice.
Inside the zoo, there is a place called Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI) . It was established in honor of Tenzing Norgay after he and Sir Edmund Hillary climbed the Everest in 1953. It has a well-stocked museum with mountaineering displays and many expedition artifacts, a boarding school for mountaineering students, houses for the trainers, a restaurant, a souvenir shop and more.Himalayan Mountaineering Institute is now a complex of various activities and units. It is said to be a destination by itself and a pilgrimage for all the climbing enthusiasts. It comprises of a residential school for mountaineering students, Swiss-style houses for the sherpa trainers.
Then we saw the Tenzing Rock just beside the road. Tenzing Rock, a gigantic natural rock in Darjeeling is named after Tenzing Norgay. Some tourists were climbing it. It’s mainly used for training. The right face of the rock can be used by amateur climbers or even tourists for climbing
Then we went to Tea Plantations . There are more than 86 gardens that produce the famous Darjeeling tea. Though there wasn’t much to see but I captured a nice video of the clouds.
Then we went to Darjeeling Ropeway. Which is a ride of 20 minutes by cable car. One of the best ways to experience the panoramic views that Darjeeling is so famous for. You will be amazed to see the spectacular view of the valley around. The clouds going through you and you are hanging in the cable car. The feeling is just splendid. You will travel from an altitude of about 7,000 ft. (or 2134m) down to 800 ft. (or 244m) where the last station and after 5-10 minutes break you will be back. You will see the tea garden from the cable car and the mountains and it’s just amazing the view from up there.
Then the driver took us to Japanese Temple & Peace Pagoda . Japanese Temple it’s a two storied white building was built in a traditional Japanese style in the year 1972.
Just beside that is Peace Pagoda that showcases four avatars of Lord Buddha. From the top of the Pagoda, you get a panoramic views of Darjeeling landscape. Though it was closed but i did get some photos of the outlook.
The next and last of our sight seeing today is Rock Garden & Ganga Maya Park Darjeeling. Which is downhill. So we had to drive for like 15 minutes or so around 10kms to reach there. When we reached there it started raining and we had to take cover in the small shops beside the garden. Also, it’s almost 1 PM and we are really hungry so I saw there were bread and eggs and so I asked the shop owner lady to make me a sandwich. You wanna know something? Don’t tell anyone ok? It was the best sandwich I have had in years. So I ordered another one and surprisingly the tea we had there were also better than all! So a few minutes later rain stopped and there was a big waterfall and you have to pay like 5 rupees as fee to enter inside the park. They built a lot of ladders over the waterfall! You have no idea what it looks like and when they did there. You can go to top of the waterfall the top by using the ladders! Though the main source of this waterfall is up in the mountain. The park was really beautiful. It was like a drawing some drawn and left it. Flowers, decorations & nature’s beauty. At 1.30 we came back to our hotel. We will leave for Kolkata tomorrow but there are many places left to visit. So we called our car driver guy who was very friendly at the time of whole sightseeing. To be honest when we asked him how much time we have to finish this places he said i won’t tell you that you can take your time! Which is a rare thing in a tourist attraction like that. So we wanted to go to Kalimpong, Mirik . So we decided that we will get up early in the morning tomorrow and pack our bags and on the way we will see Kalimpong. We didn’t saw Mirik lake cause it’s completely opposite to the road we will be going and we need more time so today we did some shopping for us from the Best Buy & near shops.
11th October(Day 5): It’s 7’0 clock here. We are off to Kalimpong. The driver didn’t came he sent someone else. So the last day at Darjeeling started. We were crossing a Sight seeing place called Batasia Loop Darjeeling we asked him to stop there so we can do a quick seeing of that. He stopped there and as we didn’t had our breakfast he even asked us to finish it there in a hotel cause we won’t find any better where we are going. If you are taking a toy train joy ride from Darjeeling, you will pass by this magnificent loop. Otherwise, take a cab from Darjeeling town and visit the Batasia Loop. It’s located on Hill Cart Road . There is no better place to get a 360 degree view of Darjeeling’s landscape including the hill town and the snow covered peaks of the Eastern Himalayas with the majestic Kanchenjunga on one side. And all this from the middle of a lovely garden with flowers around which the toy train track is laid.
Then we were off to Kalimpong and on the way there is a place called Triveni from Peshoke View Point where two rivers meet with each other. There is a story of these two rivers told by our driver that Teesta and Rangeet, the two major rivers in Sikkim, emanate from Himalayan glaciers. While Teesta resembles a young woman from the highlands — her sparkling water follows a straight path, traversing through lovely valleys and deep forests, the Rangeet meanders. Why do the two rivers take different paths from the Himalayas and why do they look different before they finally meet in the plains of Bengal and flow together for eternity. But after doing some research what i found is different. You can check the embedded post below or go here : http://on.fb.me/1p0bNgz
and : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/Rivers-in-love/articleshow/10125831.cms
A LEPCHA FOLKLORE: THE TRUE STORY OF RONGNYU and RONGEET.
Posted by DarjeelingTimes.com – Darjeeling News on Thursday, August 28, 2014
After that we were driving beside the Tista river. The road is a little bumpy there but don’t worry the rest is good. So like after 30 minutes we reached Kalimpong. I wasn’t feeling good so I didn’t enter there. But here are some photos taken by Habib vai.
You can do Paragliding in there for only 2500 rupees for 20 minutes. Don’t worry there will be a guide with you and don’t miss that cause it’s once in a lifetime opportunity.We also saw Buddha statue & park , Deolo, Mangal Dham, Dr Graham’s Homes .
So from there we headed to New Jalpaiguri. From there it took around 2 hours to reach New Jalpaiguri. Then we had our lunch and all and at 8.45 we got in our train.
In the morning we reached Kolkata and I did some shopping. Then habib vai booked a hotel for them they will stay another day and will come back by Plane but as there wasn’t any air ticket for that day and I didn’t want to stay in Kolkata so I got on a Bus at 11.30 AM and left for Bangladesh. I reached Dhaka at 3.45 AM. Then i stayed in Dhaka that day as i was too tired to come back to Chittagong.
That concludes my journey of India – Darjeeling – Kalimpong . It was a journey i will always remember. It was my first solo travel as i didn’t even knew the people i was going there with. I made up my mind within just one day that i will be coming to India and i actually did. So if you want to travel some place don’t stop cause no one is going with you or you are scared to go alone. Travel to explore the places. See the beauties of nature. What is the worst that can happen? It will take you more time to reach there, you will get lost few times or maybe you will be sick? but think what you will miss if you don’t go. you don’t know what will happen in life the next moment. So Enjoy the life! This is it for today and I hope I will be back again with another travel story of mine. I am thinking of Going to Bhutan, Nepal & Maldives. I don’t know when i will be able to but be sure if i go there i will write up about them.
Note: There are more photos of this tour in the Facebook Album if you want to see go here : Darjeeling Tour Photo Album
Off To Darjeeling : Part 1
Off To Darjeeling : Part 2
To travel is to live. When we travel places it’s not just about the place or the people it’s their culture, it’s a new way of seeing things. Different people and their different lifestyles. Their struggle for earning their livelihood and finding the happiness in little things. Their way of doing things differently & learning new things from them. Whom of you know me know that I am a travel freak. If I had enough money I would travel the whole world. Still I made some plans for travelling around the world. I try to save some money for going to new countries which started with India. Though I stayed in India for only 7 days but it was one hell of a tour.
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention to arrive safely in a pretty and well preserved body; but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ‘Wow! What a ride!’”
– Hunter S. Thompson
Clouds !
View from Maruti
So you already know I got my Indian visa few months back and I was planning to go there. Finally just few days before my visa expires I went to India as a solo traveler. I love to travel and explore places. I have been travelling a lot lately, but I never gone solo before. In all other time, my friends were with me. This time, I was waiting for Rikon vai to get his visa so we can go together but he didn’t get the visa due to some passport related problem. So I was preparing myself to go alone. As much as I was excited to go to to a new county alone, I was scared as hell! Cause I was going to India! Which is one of the biggest country and I never been to a foreign country before. So I had a lot of thoughts how to communicate with the people there, things I should avoid and so on. I know that their language is Hindi and I will be in Kolkata who speaks Bengali just like us with just a little different pronunciation. I couldn’t take many pictures on the way as I had heavy bags with me. But i didn’t miss any chance of taking pictures when i reached Darjeeling even when i couldn’t focus due to low light and heavy clouds. So if this post doesn’t have much pictures then be sure you will be flooded with pictures in the next one.
I only had two days in hand before leaving for Kolkata via Haridaspur immigration point aka Benapole Border( called Petrapole by Indian People). So I did my research on Kolkata & Darjeeling also on immigration process, things I will be needing to go to Kolkata, I read a lot of blogs on travelling to India, which train I need to get on, As I will go to Darjeeling so how to go there and which places are must to visit for sight seeing! I also tried to book a hotel there via MakeMyTrip app suggested by Adnan vai but as I couldn’t decide which one will be better so didn’t. I also downloaded some other apps Like GrabTaxi, CheapFlights and Oye. So I was well prepared for my visit to India.
7th October (Day 1): The day before my journey to India. I packed my bags. As my backpack was with Onick vaia I had to pack my clothes the other bag of mine. Which is not good for travelling. Things I packed for travelling – clothes, books for reading in bus & train, Jacket as I will be in Darjeeling where the temperature goes down below 10 degree Celsius which is really cold for people like us from high-temperature countries, torch, archived few TV series in my Cell, Camera & a Notepad. Later at night I don’t know why I posted a question seeking help in a Group called Travelers of Bangladesh to check if anyone is going to India same time so I can hook up with them. Maybe I wasn’t ready for going to India alone! So one guy named Jawad bhai mentioned Habib Bhai who was also going on the same time and Habib Bhai said I can hook up if I want to. I wasn’t sure about them as I don’t know him.So what I did was I checked his facebook profile to find out few things about him. But there wasn’t much in his profile and ammu was saying not to go with them.I was lying that I know him, I met him before but in reality I never seen him. I talked with him over the phone asking for advice what else I need, how much money I should take and all. After talking with him, it felt like he is a good guy so I asked him to buy a ticket for me & he said he will. So I will be leaving for Dhaka tomorrow.
8th October (Day 2): I got up early in the morning, I came to the bus counter and bought my ticket for Dhaka. It was TR Travels. The bus started at 10 AM. It was raining heavily and I was enjoying my journey. It was a nice feeling. It took me almost 7 hours to get to Dhaka and I was really tired when I reached Dhaka at 6 PM. I wasn’t feeling good. I bought $200 for my expenses in India. I also had around 7K BDT cash with me. I called Habib vaia a few times to check whether he got the ticket or not but he didn’t pick up. So I was confused what to do. I thought if he doesn’t pick up the call I will sleep tonight and I will fly by plane tomorrow morning which takes around $80 and only 1 hours to reach Kolkata. Where by bus It will take around 12 hours. I also found a very good deal on MakeMyTrip which was a combo offer for Flight & Hotel booking. The offer was Round Trip + 2 days stay at a 3-star hotel in Kolkata for around $180. But all in vain Habib Bhai called at 9.30 and said he got the ticket and the bus will leave at 10.45 PM. So I did my dinner. My mom was worried about me going with someone unknown and asked me to leave my camera here (it’s been only 1 month I bought this new camera canon 600D) in Dhaka. As always I refused by saying nothing will happen don’t worry. I left for bus station at 10 and it was 15 minutes away from my aunt’s place. I reached there first and was waiting for Habib vai and his friends. After 10 minutes they came and we got to know each other. Att first meeting Habib vai seemed very nice and fun loving guy. His friends Faruq vai & Hasan vai is also a good guy and this tour would have been incomplete if Faruque vai wasn’t there. So our bus was 15 minutes late and it left for Benapole border at 11 PM.
9th October(Day 3): Our bus got stuck in Ferry. There was huge jam and we had to wait 2 hours to get into a ferry. So We reached at benapole at 8.10. We were already 2 hours late. The immigration process is another nightmare. To be honest, it’s so easy a child can do it but the people, Bookies, Coolies they make it look like hell. You better go through hell but not the immigration process. But In this blog I will share every detail you need to know for the immigration process!
Immigration Process: First you need to fill up a card they will give you. Which is easy just a few basic things like Your name, father’s name, birth date, visa no: which can be found in your visa, departure date, passport no, passport expire and issue date etc. Then you need to pay the travel tax which is 500tk BDT and one-time payment.
You can it in any bank near you or in the border where you will find a small office or room with Sonali bank or other banks name on it. After you paid the tax they will give you another receipt which you need to show along with your passport to immigration staff inside. After you do that they will seal your passport and the immigration part of Bangladesh is done. Now you will go to the Indian immigration where first you have to get in line and the Coolies will ask you for money to get you in front but believe me, it’s better you go in line. Cause everyone is waiting like you. It’s selfish to do something like that always try to follow the rules. So you will go inside the immigration office and again they will check your baggage and then again you have to fill up another card like the one you filled in for Bangladeshi immigration but this one for Indian immigration another office you. They will check your passport and visa and take a picture of you. After you do that you are ready to enter into India! What do you think? It’s really easy? It’s tough? Actually it’s easy but as I said the people around you will make it look like hell. Anyway just don’t bribe anyone to get this quickly done. Do this by your own and you will be beneficial. You will see 2 types of coolies there one who are wearing red and another who are wearing green shirts. I was thinking may be some of them are Bangladeshi and the other ones are Indians. Based on the shirts as the national flag of Bangladesh is green and red I thought may be the green ones are Bangladeshi. Actually the thing is they are Trinomul & Congress supporters and yeah some of the Bangladeshi ones do wear green. So we are off to India. It’s 10.45 so it took us around 2.30 hours to complete the process.
After crossing the immigration, Habib bhai asked us to convert our dollar into rupees from the money exchange booths situated just outside the immigration office. Habib bhai converted 200 dollars to rupees. Then we booked a taxi to go to Bonga station to get on the train to Kolkata. You can go directly from Dhaka to Kolkata by bus. GreenLine, Shohag & some other bus are providing this service they will get you into a bus from Dhaka to Benapole and then after crossing the border you will get into another bus of their waiting in the Indian side. But the thing is it takes more time and the bus leaves after all the people who came by one bus crosses the immigration. So if you want to take the shortcut and save your time follow the way we are going. So it took around 30 minutes to reach the station and in the meantime we made calls to our home and let them know we crossed the immigration. You will get Bangladeshi sim working inside India for 2 Kilometers from the border so you better do this quick.
After reaching the train station Habib vai booked 4 tickets for us and the train will leave at 11.30 sharp. So we didn’t have any time to do our breakfast yet the last time we ate was yesterday at dinner. I was really hungry but there was no time to eat. So we got in the train and it was a local train which was stopping on every station. After two crossing two stations, the train became very crowded with people and it was really hot inside. I wasn’t feeling well and dizzy as well. So after crossing 6-7 stations Habib vai got down and brought some foods & drinks for us. It’s really amazing what I saw in the train. The people were sitting side by side even when it’s really tough to move an inch. They were sweating but no complains. The ladies and guys were sitting side by side which is not possible in our country. I saw some Feriwalas selling goods like Chips, Chocolates, Apples, Nuts, Lassi & lot other stuff which I don’t even know. I was thinking how they can live by selling these things cause only a few people were buying those. Habib bhai was talking with local people about what is the easiest and best way to go to Darjeeling and all. So after 2 hours 45 minutes of journey we reached Kolkata Shealdah Junction. Which is very big and crowded. Everyone was running for their desired train. So after reaching Kolkata we tried to book a cab and go to a place called Fairly palace. Where you can book train tickets in foreign quota if you are a foreigner travelling to India. But we didn’t get any taxi cab instead we got on a AC bus. Which was jam packed with people and we had to stand inside and sweating even when the ac was running. After going few blocks, the ac wasn’t working anymore due to some technical problem. So it got more frustrating for me as I had to adjust with my bags in one hand and people pushing from behind to get in front. I was really mad at Habib bhai for not taking taxi cab but what to do now! One thing I noticed inside the bus that people were adjusting with one another if there’s any room or space available they were letting other use it which is a very rare scenario in our country. Also when the ac got switched off they didn’t say too many things. The bus driver and conductor was polite as well. He took half money from the passengers as the ac was not working. The bus driver was also worried about the Black smoke coming out from the bus. He talked to the mechanic asking should he bring the bus into the garage. So they are really worried about the environment. I felt really good seeing this. So it took us around 50 minutes to get to Fairly Palace and 60 rupees for 4 people and then another 30-40 minutes to get the tickets from there. It’s easy they will give you a paper where you have to put certain information’s like your name, birth date, journey date, which train you want, passport details etc. There were other foreigners as well. So we got the ticket from there. The price was 375 rupees per person. The train will leave at 10.45 and it’s called Super Fast Darjeeling Mail. After seeing the name I had no idea why is it called super fast and I was like how fast can a train go. So then we got to a Bengali hotel called hotel Khalek. We were so hungry we ate like monsters. We bought 3 sim cards for us so we can talk to our home. I also bought a net package so I can use facebook and all. As I can’t live without internet :3 . So after finishing this we gone to a place called Goal Chootor in new market. This place was awesome :p I saw the actual form of kolkata there nice girls, peoples, couples hanging out. The hole day I was thinking where is all the nice girls and now I found them 😀 The thing that got my attention was the attitude. There were many girls and guys hanging out they weren’t even looking at each other. They were busy within themselves. I forgot to tell you we had tea and the cups were so small that I had to drink twice! As I am a tea guy and I drink a hole big glass of tea everyday. The price was higher than Bangladesh too. 10 rupees per cup. So we left from there and reached Sealdah again at 9 PM. We got on our train. And in the other compartment there were 3 more foreigners. So the actual Journey to Darjeeling Started from here.
This is it for this blog. I don’t want to make it too big. So I will write the second part of this blog till then enjoy!