Zuluk and The Old Silk Route

The momos and noodles at Lingtam are fulfilling. The weather’s clean. Sun’s hot. Forests are verdant. The dust has settled in the valleys below and from now on it’s supremely beautiful. Everyone is smiling and I can sense that.there is a lot of happiness around!

We are on the Old Silk Route and on the way to Zuluk.

The day before..
After a 12 hr drive from Kolkata and spending overnight at Marina’s Motel (try their Chicken Steak, trust me, you won’t regret) we start through heavy traffic and construction blitzkrieg. Once you cross the blitzkrieg, the flavours of North Bengal gradually spread out. Besides the highway are green fields and tea gardens. An occasional tea shop of bakery biscuits in thick glass jars which are on the verge of being fungi infected appear at distances. Tea is made to order and extra sweet unless it is specifically mentioned.

Lungthung, sunrise point. Early morning.

Sunrise on Kanchenjunga

Kupup Lake. Interesting fact that I heard during my stay in Zuluk was, the Doklam tri-junction is barely 5 kms from Kupup. 

 The road crosses the Sevoke railway line and it is then that the true feeling of being in the hills takes shape.

Blue contour of a series of hills look soothing to our tired, city souls. Found a lot of variations of similar photos during the trip. During early morning, the hills look dark and blue. And as the day progresses, mists rise somewhat slowly and light increases abruptly and the contours become more prominent.

Due to a very late start and short winter days, it is complete darkness when we check in to the Silk Route Reteat, located exactly in the middle of Algarah and Pedong. The rooms are excellent, elegant furniture and lighting.We are surprised and delighted. The day was cloudy when we had started and the weather forecast mentioned chances of rain and thunderstorm. But looking at the sky that is presently burning with a million stars, that seems remote, at least as of now. While listening to the cicadas..and a dog barking occasionally amongst the forests of the Pedong valley, sleep comes rather quickly.

Blue contour of a series of hills look soothing to our tired, city souls. Found a lot of variations of similar photos during the trip. During early morning, the hills look dark and blue. And as the day progresses, mists rise somewhat slowly and light increases abruptly and the contours become more prominent.

Blue contour of a series of hills look soothing to our tired, city souls. Found a lot of variations of similar photos during the trip. During early morning, the hills look dark and blue. And as the day progresses, mists rise somewhat slowly and light increases abruptly and the contours become more prominent.

This was shot as the blue hour receded and golden hour approached. A half purplish-orange sky; remaining half blue. Kanchenjunga still untouched by sunrays. Non-living things - thats what the mountain is and so is the sun; but when they interact they breathe in a life of colours.

Had an excellent lunch cum breakfast at a nondescript restaurant neat Chalsa. Yummy Aloo Paranthas, Gobi Masala and Chae. For supreme culinary satisfaction, great food needs to be coupled with great hunger. And here we had both.

Cherry Blossoms.

When I wake up in the morning, sunlight has poured through gaps in the big glass windows. Theres no question of sleeping any further.

Every trip comes with an objective…the objective in general, is to have a “good time”. Moments like these - like walking under the tender autumn sun, watching the overnight dew on flowers and clean, blue skies..Or driving on swinging mountain roads cut through the deep forests of pine and junipers with the window pulled down. Switching and turning. And then a short break at a shop perched on the mountain side, just under a cherry blossom selling tea and cigarettes and momos for breakfast – moments like these are what the traveler desires.


Had an excellent lunch cum breakfast at a nondescript restaurant neat Chalsa. Yummy Aloo Paranthas, Gobi Masala and Chae. For supreme culinary satisfaction, great food needs to be coupled with great hunger. And here we had both.

This lunch, reminded me of a dinner..quite a few years back when we had settled for dinner at a real 'truck driver' dhaba. Whitewashed walls, peeling off, with some residue of a light blue colour. A big dusty courtyard that was concluded by a few charpoys. A half raised wall of a few bricks separated the inside of the dhaba were some tube lights and some yellow filament bulbs hung loosely by some wires and mostly dark. The wind was warm and we had ordered Tandoori Rotis and Chicken Curry and beverages. The chicken was served in a steel bowl and the rotis along with quarter sized onions were served in steel plates. Humongous proportions (for the price) were served. But famished souls that we were; we wrapped up the contents in no time.

That dhaba didn't have a dedicated nameplate and had it not been for the hunger we would never have stopped by it. Only a red lettering over the Tandoor that said 'Sharan Dhaba'. Believe me, that was the best road side food that I ever had. Nothing ever has come close to that yet.

In the Dooars. 

Trying to photograph the same, over emphasized, over described, over photographed object can be a risky as well as a boring. Risky: since any error will definitely be noticed and boring because everyone has been there done that. But for (most) Bengalis without a view of Kanchenjunga, no meal in the hills can ever be digested. Personally, I am still trying to learn the art of photographing mountains. Even 60 year olds will be amazed and in turn wake up their offspring and say 'Hey, look at that majestic mountain!'. This, sentimental connect is difficult to be described. I believe we have some unexplained cultural and genetic connection Kanchenjunga (even when the fact is: Kanchenjunga wasnt climbed first by a Bengali ; neither does it lie in West Bengal  )

The old silk route that in the past had been an active nerve center of trade and that presently skirts along the Neora Valley National park is supremely beautiful. Mornings are fresh but in the mountains, that freshness is a whole now definition - Its Invigorating.

Beside the road you will invariably lush green plain lands and tea gardens. Cross the plain lands, you will find forests. Sometimes a stream will gurgle out of the forests and cross the plains. In autumn you wont find the stream; instead you will find a dried, sandy river bed. In the monsoons, the same river will flow like a raging bull. Once you cross the forests, you will notice gradual undulations of the land - thats the beginning of the hills. The hills of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Bhutan. On a clear day, you will even find the Kanchenjunga range overlooking like a guardian over all the pre-described elements.

Lone cherry blossom that we found at a turn near Rhenock. A better lens would have enabled to picture the car, the road, the tree standing over the car in the midst of swift, blue skies. 

Breakfast at the Silk Route Retreat, Pedong. Tea, Toasts and Omelettes. 

After a breakfast of toasts and omelets and tea, through roads woven from forests and meadows and knolls and an occasional view of snow peaks far away the road descends and the roar of the Reshi river grows prominent by the minute. The last mile towards the bridge is in atrocious condition.

The permits are issued from Rongli and the deteriorating road condition is obvious. Theres a stretch of around a kilometer where you can see a lot of pines, deodars and conifers just before reaching Zuluk. During deep winter, these stretches are rendered invisible due to the fog.

We reach the Snow Lion Homestay Zuluk and after an early dinner, it’s time to sleep.

The next morning, rather night, I start the car.

Cold and dark that it is, with only the huge silhouette of the mountain standing like a monolith ahead and beyond it stars gleam and glitter through the night sky. From Zuluk, the turns are sharp and the road rises swiftly high above. And through the darkness, the lights from Zuluk grows dimmer, until they disappear. But, we are running late and an orange seam, that separates the darkness of the hills below, and skies above has started to appear. It takes 45 mins to reach Longthu.

After spending around an hour, sipping ginger tea and photographing the spectacle we leave further for Kupup Lake. The mountains are brown and orange and yellow. Traces of green appear, but very rarely. Sometimes one can see rhododendron bushes sprouting from the mountain sides.

At Rhenock, I make a call to The Sood’s Garden Retreat and with the accommodation for the night confirmed, it’s a slow and gradual descend. Food is good, rooms are luxurious. The just ordered sandwiches are tasty. In the evening we go for a walk towards Gompu’s. A sumptuous meal is ordered for lunch. Rice, Yellow Dal Fry, Butter Chicken. Even though the butter chicken is cooked quite differently, its tasty. Food portions are generous too. A happy and fulfilling journey that is reaching conclusion.

House at Pedong

Random shot. Brown and orange and dry meadows, waiting for the winter snow. The meadow descends into the Nathang Valley.

Next day when it’s time to start for home. But some thoughts remain:

1. Like this journey, where no booking was done (who knows when there might be a flare up). All hotel bookings were done over the phone and that too on the date of the journey of a couple of days in advance. And since there weren’t any high expectations arising out of it, we were surprised about how refreshing the journey proved to be!

2. And when we signed the Guest Register of the Silk Route Retreat, we saw that the last guest had checked in sometime in mid-October. Wonder how is the hotel industry surviving? Everything seems to be calm. There wasn’t an untoward incident to speak of, but some sort of palpable tension in the hills are proving to be a deterrence for tourists.

Random shot. Brown and orange and dry meadows, waiting for the winter snow. The meadow descends into the Nathang Valley.

While crossing the SH-7, we stopped at a small shop for a break. Cultivation fields were visible. But since the monsoonal harvest is over the green paddy fields are now brown.

Time for a new harvesting season! Time for newer journeys!