At Hidden Forest Retreat, Oct26th

The Marigold

 Sometimes even the best of plans are laid to rest by fate. Having being denied Gurudongmar a couple of times earlier - both times due to bad weather, we had planned not to plan in advance. But such is fate. It was a glorious morning when we woke up with loads of sunshine flooding the town, the travel agency with whom we had a word had confirmed about their arrival at 9 ish. But when we woke up in the morning, the wife was having very high fever. And yes, that was it.

We had a word with the travel agent, and waited for a couple of hours but the fever  showed no signs of abating. With that, the trip was over. The 50% advance which we had paid to the travel agent stood forfeited.Whereas describing how demoralized we felt is something very personal, here is an account of how we spent the entire day.
Hidden Forest is an extremely calm and peaceful hotel to boot. Being a couple of kms downhill from MG Marg, it is not only away from the din and bustle of the town, but also near and reachable. The first impression that strikes on entering the hotel is the abundance of greenery and orchids - all beautifully laid out, vibrant and colourful.
The rooms are spread out as cottages over a huge area and have wooden flooring in the living room, a small balcony and a bathroom. The French windows usher in excellent sunlight during the day. We spent the day mostly photographing the numerous orchids and flowers.

View From the Room

The hotel does not have a separate restaurant which can fork out all different kinds of cuisines in the world. So, you have to order beforehand regarding the food of your choice. Having said that, the food is not excellent in taste, but is healthy. Steaming hot rice, dal, steamed-buttered vegetables and a soya sauce based chicken was for lunch. In the evening, I enjoyed a couple of vodka shots in the nice chilly weather. They do not have a bar but you can have alcohol bought from outside. Mostly the day was spent hill gazing. We slept off early that day and made preparations to leave the town for what was supposed to be another long drive.

One of the many orchids

27/28 - Retracing the steps:
What started off on 19th October was gradually folding up. Numerous experiences - some good and some bad - accompanied the thoughts, as I revved up the Panda. It was gradual descent from there on. With a halt at Malda, we made it to Calcutta the next day.And that is all how the Pujo diaries ended!
Thanks for reading.