Darjeeling travel guide

Located in the northeastern section of India, which is very close to Nepal and Tibet (and neighboring Indian state of Sikkim), Darjeeling is in the rolling hills of the Himalayas. It was originally just a small village, but because it’s such a lovely place it became a popular hill-station and it has now grown into a town.

Darjeeling is peaceful, located in a beautiful area, and a breath of fresh air from other dusty and hectic parts of North India. Along with Sri Lanka, Darjeeling is particularly famous throughout the world for its production of tea.

Below you’ll find my Darjeeling travel guide, packed with lots of useful tips from my 5 day visit. Here’s what is included:

1. Arriving and Leaving
2. Where to Stay
3. How to Get Around
4. Things To Do
5. Food and Restaurants

Enjoy your visit!

Arriving and Leaving Darjeeling

1. Arriving and Leaving

Train to New Jalpaiguri Railroad Station – The closest railroad station to Darjeeling is New Jalpaiguri, known better as just NJP. There’s not much to do in the town, but just outside the station, you’ll find jeeps going straight to Darjeeling, Gangtok, or a number of other towns in the mountains.

Note: I took the train to New Jalpaiguri (NJP) and because my train arrived late at night I decided to spend the night there before taking a jeep to Darjeeling the next morning (this is a wise idea as it’s not safe to take the drive at night due to the dangerous mountain roads, if there even is a service).

If you need to spend the night, we spent one night at Hotel Holydon (600 INR per night) – just a 30 Rupee bicycle rickshaw ride away from the station – in the daytime it’s just a 10 – 15 minute walk from the railway station. Not the nicest hotel, but it works for a quick night sleep before heading on to Darjeeling.

If you’re coming from New Delhi, you can also get a train easily to NJP.

Jeep (called a Tata Sumo) is the way to get from NJP railroad station to Darjeeling. A seat in a shared jeep cost me 200 INR per person – but price may slightly alter depending on season and time. Just make sure you pay the same amount as the other passengers in your vehicle. It takes about 4 hours by jeep to reach Darjeeling, and luckily the driver stops a few times to stretch and use the bathroom.

Where to Stay in Darjeeling

2. Where to Stay in Darjeeling

Hotel Capital – During my entire 5 day visit to Darjeeling I stayed at Hotel Capital. Our double room was 800 INR per night and we had a nice spacious room, very warm blankets, and hot water most of the time. It’s in a perfect location and I thought it was a good place to stay, but they do charge 10% service charge at the end… to my surprise.

Click here to check out many more places to stay in Darjeeling.

3. How to Get Around

Walk – For the most part, it’s pretty easy to walk around the central areas of Darjeeling. If you decide to visit the Himalayan Zoo, you can take a taxi, or it’s about a 45 minute walk to get there. Getting from the bottom of Darjeeling town to the Chowrasta area is all easily accessible on foot.

Tata Sumo Jeep – To get to places like Ghum or to Tiger Hill for the Himalayan mountain sunrise you can either take a shared jeep or a taxi.

Things to do in Darjeeling

4. Things To Do in Darjeeling

Darjeeling Himalayan Railway – The Toy Train, as it’s more commonly known, is a classic steam powered locomotive train that runs on a narrow gauge track. The “Joy Ride,” is a round-trip ride that leaves Darjeeling railroad station and goes to Ghum and back. It’s a touristy ride, but it’s pretty cool to ride on a steam powered locomotive. I believe you can book your ticket online (that is when the site is working), but I ended up just going down to the railroad station and purchasing my ticket about 1 hour prior to departure which was at 10:40 am. Costs 270 INR per person for the Joy Ride.

Tiger Hill – One of the most famous things to do in Darjeeling is to wake up early in the morning, take a jeep to the top of Tiger Hill, and watch the incredible sunrise over the tips of the snowy Himalayas. I didn’t actually make it to Tiger Hill (I was just too cold), but I’ve heard great things and I’m sure it’s worth the effort if you’re interested.

Himalayan Zoo (known in full as the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park) – The zoo is famous for housing many native Himalayan animals and animals that live in high altitudes. The highlights included a white snow leopard and the famous red pandas. It was alright, not the nicest or most well maintained zoo I’ve been too.

Himalayan Mountaineering Institute – Located at the back of the zoo (above), is the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute. Along with being a functioning mountaineering training center, the museum is pretty cool to browse through and includes lots of things from mountain expeditions.

Mahakal Temple (Observatory Hill) – Just a 10 minute walk past Chowrasta Square, and straight up the hill, is the Mahakal Temple. At the top of the hill there’s a great view of the mountains, a cave, a Hindu temple, and lots of monkeys. Just like in Kolkata and other cities in India, be careful with scams and people asking you for donations.

Happy Valley Tea Estate – Darjeeling is one of the most famous cities in India, and the world, for growing tea. You’ll see endless rolling tea fields on your drive to Darjeeling. If you’re interested in seeing the production of tea in the area, you can visit the Happy Valley Tea Estate. I just wish they would have had some of Grandma’s curry.

Enjoy The Beauty – To be honest, more than any of the other attractions that I visited and listed in this Darjeeling travel guide, just the natural beauty of Darjeeling is what I enjoyed most. Walking around the motorless Chowrasta square (The Mall) and then exploring walking only lanes was what I enjoyed doing most.

Food and Restaurants

5. Food and Restaurants

Singalila Restaurant – After getting out of the jeep from NJP, I was extremely hungry, and this is the very first restaurant I ate at in Darjeeling; It proved to be by far the best. Serving a combination of Nepali food and Sikkimese food, the motherly restaurant prepares some serious home style comfort food and caters mainly to locals, especially taxi drivers. Everything I had at Singalila Restaurant, including the chicken curry and beef curry with sides was outstanding.

Full rice meals with choice of meat curry is about 70 – 90 INR, and you can ask for as much rice as you want!

Hasty Tasty – In Darjeeling I ate at Hasty Tasty a number of times, mostly becuase it’s in a good location and it’s convenient to eat there. Their food, which is all vegetarian and included both Indian and Chinese, is alright, but not the best. The masala dosa was decent and they have both a north and south Indian thali.

Kalden Cafe and Restaurant (Chowrasta Square – then down the lane past the pony stables) – Specializing in Tibetan fast food, you’ll find momo dumplings, fried chowmein noodles, curry, and rice. The restaurant is cosy, very small, and the food is decent (though not nearly as good as Singalila). I had veg momos (24 INR), fish curry and rice (55 INR).

Glenary’s Bakery – Nicely situated on the walking road heading up to the Chowrasta square is the famous Glenary’s Bakery. They have all sorts of baked good and sweets as well as a full menu of sandwiches. I particularly liked the butter chicken roll (40 INR), the chocolate cake, and the chicken sandwich (80 INR). In India things don’t open early, so it’s nice that Glenary’s opens at 6 am. I went nearly every morning to use their wi-fi early in the morning before the main breakfast rush.

Coming from Kolkata, Darjeeling was a breath of fresh air and a chance to take peaceful walks and enjoy the incredible scenery. It’s a very pleasant town to spend a few relaxing days in.

Thanks for taking a look at my Darjeeling travel guide, hope you have a great time visiting!

Darjeeling Travel Guide – Things You Need To Know is a post from: Cultural Travel and Street Food Around the World | Migrationology

And to try Bengali cuisine, I headed to a famous restaurants known as Bhojohori Manna.

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(If you can’t see the video, click here)

The entire Bengali seafood feast was outstanding, I really loved each and every dish ordered.

The crab curry, laced in spices, was probably my absolute favorite, but the fish, the prawn, and even the banana flower vegetable were all spectacular.

If you ever visit Kolkata, India, you can’t miss eating at Bhojohori Manna!

VIDEO: Bengali Seafood Feast is a post from: Cultural Travel and Street Food Around the World | Migrationology

Dragon Bridge in Yangshuo

Dragon Bridge in Yangshuo

One of the destinations I loved visiting while biking in Yangshuo, China, was Dragon Bridge. It’s a beautiful place to relax, take a swim, and just enjoy the atmosphere.

Can you spot the wedding couple at the top of the bridge? It’s also popular for wedding photography!

PHOTO: Dragon Bridge in Yangshuo is a post from: Cultural Travel and Street Food Around the World | Migrationology

Where to eat in New Jalpaiguri, India

There’s really not much to do in New Jalpaiguri (known by train code as NJP), India, except it’s a big train railroad junction – sort of the station that connects North India with Northeastern India.

After spending time in both Darjeeling and Gangtok and I had to go back to NJP. And apart from waiting for your train, the only other thing to do is EAT!

So if you find yourself waiting in NJP I would recommend checking out Hotel Subhankar (not really a hotel), a restaurant just across the parking lot from the railroad station.

Sitting down at Hotel Subhankar for lunch (and waiting for my train)

I ordered their thali which was delivered on the all familiar metal pan with a variety of dishes each full of some kind of vegetable curry and dal.

Being quite hungry we also had a few sides of chicken curry which was wonderful.

A thali – full set meal

This is my favorite way to pass time while waiting for a train in India…

Egg curry at NJP

One of the best things about eating thali’s at normal hole-in-the-wall restaurants throughout India is that they are happy to serve you as much rice and vegetable dishes as you want – until you’re stuffed – no extra charge.

But since we were still hungry we then had the boiled egg curry, a pair of boiled eggs that were deep fried and stewed in a lovely greasy curry sauce.

Thali with chicken curry runs 80 Rupees ($1.47).

Stomach satisfied, I was much more happy to board my train to Varanasi!

Hotel Subhankar

Here’s the restaurant. It’s just outside the NJP Railroad Station, across the parking lot from the exit. If you happen to be on your way to Darjeeling or Gangtok and arrive to NJP Railroad station, and need lunch, this is a good spot!

Delightful Meal at the New Jalpaiguri Railroad Station in India (NJP) is a post from: Cultural Travel and Street Food Around the World | Migrationology

Nagaland Food

Nagaland, located in very Northeastern India, is a state that’s just north of Myanmar and just south of China and Bhutan.

There are sixteen main tribes in Nagaland, each with similar yet unique traditions and practices. While food from each tribe overlaps, there are also certain dishes that are specifically known from a certain tribe. Rice, pork, chicken, dog, insects and worms, vegetables, and famous chili sauces are essential in the Naga diet.

After a 30 hour train ride on the Kamrup Express from Kolkata, I was ready to eat; Nagaland food was calling my name!

In Nagaland, as my local friends mentioned, it’s most common to hang out at homes of friends and family. So not that many locals go to restaurants for meals, but eating at home or eating at friends’ homes is still very much a part of their culture.

That’s part of the reason why you won’t find many restaurants serving traditional Naga food in Nagaland. There are quite a few restaurants serving North Indian food or Tibetan momos (similar to mandu), but real Naga cuisine is harder to come by.

For real Nagaland food, it’s best to eat it at someones home.

Butchering pigs in Nagaland

In Nagaland many things are still done traditionally. Since I was visiting a friend, and we were celebrating a marriage in his family, I was treated to watching a number of pigs butchered for the occasion.

The huge pigs were chopped up using traditional long handled Naga knives on top of a stilted bamboo slaughterhouse.

Our pig was fresh, and for an entire week we kept eating from the same pigs, meal after meal, happy stomach after happy stomach.

Eating Nagaland food in Nagaland

Since it was winter, and quite chilly at night, we’d normally eat all our meals around a fire, eating and drinking hot tea from bamboo cups.

A normal Naga food meal would include rice, some kind of meat (either dry or pork with bamboo shoots), boiled vegetables, and spicy chili sauces. Just like Sri Lankan food or Indian food, meals are eaten with your hands.

Some of the dishes reminded me of Burmese cuisine while others even tasted similar to Northern Thai dishes, yet all the foods were uniquely Naga.

Dried Pork

Dried Pork

A traditional Naga kitchen is outdoors because a fire is one of the most essential components of cooking. Hanging above any Naga kitchen fire will be pieces of meat (both pork and beef), that slowly dry out and smoke high above the flames.

After weeks or sometimes much longer than that, the meat is ready to be consumed. For one meal we just ate some of the smoked pork, and another time we enjoyed a stew made from the meat.

It was crispy on the outside, a little like jerky, but just saturated with an intensely delicious smokiness. It was so good along with rice.

Smoked Pork Stew

Smoked Pork Stew

Just as good as the plain smoked meat, was the smoked pork stew. The dried smoky pork was chopped into bite sized pieces before being boiled in a thin soup that included potatoes, tomatoes, and chillies.

It was salty, and so smoky that I could almost taste the fire – a great thing in my books!

Nagaland Pork w/ Dry Bamboo Shoots

Nagaland Pork w/ Dry Bamboo Shoots

One of the most famous Nagaland food dishes is dry bamboo shoots cooked with pork. This was one of the first dishes I had as soon as I arrived to Nagaland, and I was thrilled.

In Nagaland, just like in Thailand or Korea, they are serious when it comes to pork. So you won’t be eating thin strips of bite sized pork, they cook with huge chunks of pig. Often the pork is quite fatty, often big cubes of pork belly mixed in. If you’re a pork lover, you’ll have a blast in Nagaland.

To make this dish, the pork is fried with the Naga signature dry bamboo shoots and lots of chilies. The bamboo gives the pork a lovely aroma and unique flavor. I thought it was wonderful.

Nagaland Food – Boiled Vegetables

Boiled Vegetables

With nearly every meal I ate in Nagaland, we had a number of different boiled vegetables – most of the time cabbage, long beans, and melon. Vegetables are most commonly boiled without any seasoning.

The boiled vegetables accompany the meat and rice and also go with the different chili sauces (more listed below). Boiled vegetables are a big part of Nagaland food.

Bamboo Steamed Fish

Bamboo Steamed Fish

Bamboo grows everywhere in Nagaland, and it has many different uses. One of the common ways to cook is using tubes of bamboo.

Cooked by Grandfather himself, fish were stuffed into a hollow tube of bamboo with a few light spices and then placed in the ash of the fire to cook.

After the fish were cooked, they were simply emptied out of the bamboo into a bowl and ready to be served. They were quite plain and boney, but I could detect a nice hint of bamboo flavor in the fish. Along with some of the chili sauce, they were really good.

Roasted Intestines

Roasted Intestines

Since pig is such a huge part of Naga food culture, you can be assured that nothing is wasted, and internal organs happen to be some of the most prized possessions (and rightfully so, they are some of the most flavorful).

These roasted intestines were amazing, like naturally cured strips of bacon combined with sausage!

Beans Mix

Beans Mix

This healthy earthy mixture included beans, tomatoes, peas, cabbage and all sort of other natural Nagaland ingredients. It was a delicious concoction that wasn’t overly strong in flavor, but more of a garnish for rice and intended to be eaten with other stronger chili sauces and curries.

Bitter Melon

Bitter Melon

Being a huge fan of bitter melon, I was happy to see a big bowl of it for one of our meals in Nagaland. They were the little Indian bitter melons.

I think they were just boiled, as they were quite shriveled up with little flavor other than their bitterness, but the chili sauce again is what made them so delightful.

Chicken Glutinous Rice Soup

Chicken Glutinous Rice Soup

Few things are as pleasing a purchasing a live chicken at the market and eating her just a few moments later.

We went to the market in Dimapur, chose a nice little chicken, a free range village chicken that is, and went back to the house. The chicken was cooked in a glutinous rice sauce. Just like many other Nagaland foods, it wasn’t cooked overly spiced, but it was served along with some chili sauced which provided extreme flavor.

I particularly loved this chicken glutinous rice soup. It was extremely soothing, similar to eating congee or Thai joke, and it was warm and comforting… and the chicken was tasty too!

Kongshia Lon – Eel Chili Sauce

Kongshia Lon – Eel Chili Sauce

Of all the Nagaland food I was able to sample on my weeklong visit to Nagaland, it was the different assortment of chili sauces and garnishes that I enjoyed most.

This eel chili sauce was excellent, dry eel pounded with lots of chilies, garlic, and salt. I was quite satisfied with just a spoonful of this eel chili sauce and rice.

Nagaland food – Crab Chili Sauce

Crab Chili Sauce

Another great combination was the crab version. It was a little runnier than the dry eel chili sauce, but this was also very good. I was surprised how non-fishy it tasted.

Naga Ghost Chili Sauce

Naga Ghost Chili Sauce

On my last night in Nagaland, a friend cooked up a feast that contained dishes specifically from her home village in Nagaland. This blend of ingredients (I’m sorry, I honestly don’t know what all was in here) was miraculous.

There were only 4 Naga ghost chillies (the world’s hottest chili) within this sauce, and that was enough to make it tear flowing spicy. It wasn’t a long lasting hot chili spice though, it was more of an extreme sharp pain in your mouth that didn’t last too long, but really added wonderful flavor.

The entire chili sauce tasted kind of like mashed beans mixed with all sorts of herbs, onions, garlic and the Naga ghost chillies.

Though in a week I was barely able to scratch the surface of Nagaland food, what I was able to try I really enjoyed.

Let me know if you can recommend any other Nagaland foods!

Nagaland Food – An Overview of Delicious Naga Cuisine is a post from: Cultural Travel and Street Food Around the World | Migrationology

Watch the video now…

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(If you can’t see the video, click here to watch it on YouTube)

Kolkata is not exactly a morning city. I woke up at 7 am to look for breakfast numerous times only to locate a few tea stalls and some old bread.

But Territy Bazar (or Terreti Bazar) is a totally different story.

The Chinese Indian market in the early morning is buzzing with fresh produce, animals being slaughtered, fish mongers, and delicious Chinese Indian street food.

VIDEO: Territy Bazar – Dumplings and Soup for Breakfast is a post from: Cultural Travel and Street Food Around the World | Migrationology

Pakistani Pakora

Pakistani Pakora

A pakora is a deep fried fritter included in Indian food, Sri Lankan food, and Pakistani food in a variety of variations.

These homemade Pakistani eggplant pakoras were wonderful, and the local family who served them to me said that they especially enjoy eating them, along with tea, on a rainy day.

PHOTO: Pakistani Pakora is a post from: Cultural Travel and Street Food Around the World | Migrationology

Kolkata’s Mullik Ghat Flower Market

One of the top things to do in Kolkata is to visit the always colorful and chaotic Mullik Ghat flower market.

The market takes place just below the magnificent Howrah bridge, and is located adjacent to the Hooghly River.

Waiting for customers

I took a taxi to get to the market and arrived mid-morning, but I think the market is virtually open and busy 24 hours a day.

Walking to the flower market, right underneath the Howrah Bridge

Yes, it’s a little dirty, but the colorful chaos of flowers, transporters, and shoppers was an incredibly interesting scene to witness.

Men walk through the market bearing strands of marigold flowers

Some people run, others walk fast, some squat on the side or in the middle of the walkway, and others lay or sleep on top of flowers or in the middle of the market. Anything goes in Kolkata.

This is one of my favorite photos!

Some of the people and sights I saw really reminded me of Cairo, an ancient land that made me feel like I was in a history book rather than in 2013.

Howrah Bridge and the Hooghly River

If you take one of the small lanes to the river, you’ll get a great view of the impressive Howrah Bridge, one of the worlds busiest pedestrian bridges.

Making a purchase right from his back!

While there are roses and other flowers, nothing dominates the market like orange and yellow marigolds, which are widely used for religious rituals.

Marigold vendors at the market

The marigold trade is huge, and they are often sold in long strands.

Loaded down with flowers, and ready to go

One of the best things to watch when you’re at the flower market is transporters getting buried in countless strings of marigold flowers to deliver somewhere. It looks like a giant flower dress.

The always busy Howrah Bridge

If you visit the Kolkata Mullik Ghat flower market, be sure to walk over to the Howrah Bridge to get a great view. The amount of pedestrians, and what they are all carrying, is incredibly amusing as well!

PHOTOS: Colorful Chaos at Kolkata’s Mullik Ghat Flower Market is a post from: Cultural Travel and Street Food Around the World | Migrationology

Grandpa breaking the banana leaf

After spending time in Kolkata, I had an opportunity to visit a friend of mine in the Northeastern Indian region of Nagaland.

Eating pork is a big part of the local culture, especially around holidays and celebrations. I got to taste many different Naga food dishes, including lots of pork, fish, and some incredible chili paste sauces (similar to Thai nam prik chili sauces).

But one day, we got Grandpa to show us the real way to cook and eat pig intestines, the Naga way!

First, he grabbed a fresh banana leaf, which would later be the serving platter for our hot roasted intestines.

Pig intestines on the chopping block

The intestines took to the chopping block and were sliced into 3 – 4 inch chunks.

Preparing for the roast

Grandpa then heated up the fire until we had a nice flame going.

Making skewers for the intestines

Grabbing some bamboo, grandpa then sharpened some skewers before piercing each intestine on the skewer. Prep work done, we were ready to cook these Nagaland intestines!

Cooking the intestines in flames

Forget about slow roasting them over hot coals, in Nagaland, intestines are placed directly into the flames so they cook fast, char on the outside, and drip with grease – that’s the way!

They didn’t take much longer than a few moments, and a couple of the intestines even caught on fire as grandpa blew them out. When the intestines were fully cooked, grandpa placed them on the banana leaf and they were ready to be served.

Piping hot pig intestines – don’t you want to grab one?!

He sliced them into smaller pieces before we dug into these natural pig sausages.

They were very fatty and had the flavor of a gamey pig. That being said they were pretty delicious, especially when sprinkled with a bit of salt.

These were even more delicious!

The next day we had the small intestines, cooked in the same way. These were even better, like crunchy pieces of pork jerky that melted in my mouth.

Similar to Korean soondae, they don’t look too good, but they sure are marvelously tasty!

Video

Here’s a quick video of eating these pig intestines in Nagaland!

Do you like intestines?

Roasting and Eating Pig Intestines in Nagaland, India is a post from: Cultural Travel and Street Food Around the World | Migrationology

Thank you for watching!

(If you can’t see the video, click here to watch it on YouTube)

You may remember this delicious Indian street food stall that I wrote about a few weeks ago. And finally, here’s the video.

Camamc Street is a business office street in the heart of Kolkata, India, and everyday for lunch people pour out of their jobs looking for a delicious satisfying meal.

Nope, I didn’t come from the office, but I was ready for lunch, that’s for sure.

I chose a rice and curry stall that served specifically Bengali food. I was first served a nice plate of rice which was then topped with catfish curry, some cauliflower, and daal on the side.

The food was flavorful and the ambiance was pretty fun too!

VIDEO: Fish Curry and Rice on Camac Street, Kolkata, India is a post from: Cultural Travel and Street Food Around the World | Migrationology