Planning a Trip To Bhutan in Ertiga


Thread Starter #1
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Hi all.
Going to Bhutan by my Ertiga ZDI on 17-05-16, feeling anxious and exited as not sure about NH34 conditions, Google maps shows the best rote is through Burdwan, moregram.
I will be visiting Siliguri or Jalpaigri , Phuntsholing ,Thimpu and Paro and while returning will be going to Dooars, Lamahata, Rumtek.
AlthoughI have travelled to Kolkata Darjeling/ Gangtok Route many times before but always worry about the NH34 Condition and Jams in Malda & Dalkhola.
Keeping my fingers Crossed and praying to god that i reach in 12-13 hrs to siliguri or Jalpaiguri
 
Thread Starter #2
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Re: A trip to bhutan

My Itinerary:
17/05/16
Kolkata to Siliguri/ Jalpaiguri.( if i reach before sunset then would stay around jalpaiguri ,as Phunntsholing would be nearer.
18/05/16.
Staying at Phunntsholing and making arrangements for permit for all the passengers and our vehicles.(Few friends would be joining and they would driving down al the way from lucknow.
19/05/16
Phunntsholing to Thimpu
20/05/16
Local sight seeing at Thimpu.
21/05/16
Thimpu to paro.
22/05/16
Local sight seeing.
23/05/16
Paro to Doors
24/05/16
Dooars to Lamahata
25/0516
Staying at Lamahata or any other place nearby.
26/05/16
Lamahata / to Ramteke
27 &28 at Teen Taley Eco resort.
I chose this place as it is secluded and far from maddening crowd. That is the reason i avoided Darjeeling and Gangtok
29/05/16
Ramtek to siliguri
30/05/16
Siliguri to kolkata.
 
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Re: A trip to bhutan

Please remember that it will take you at least around thirteen hours from Calcutta to reach Sillguri, hence reaching Jalpaiguri on the first day maybe hectic. Unless of course you are a frequent traveler in this route, you may stay at Silliguri for the night and leave early. That way you will still reach Phuntsholling by ten in the morning and shall have a full day at your disposal to complete all the paperwork.
 
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Thread Starter #6
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As planned I started at 4.30 Am from My home in LakeTown.
Took Belghoria expressway to Dakshineshwar ,from there i crossed Dakshineshwar Toll Bridge and thought to go straight to NH31 Highway to go to Burdwaan, But God had different plans for me.....
As soon as i crossed the dakshineshwar toll bridge and reached The Junction where The 2 highways meet one to delhi and another to Bombay.
There was a massive jaam about 4-5 kilometers long.
My heart sank & I was just clueless what to do.
I waited for few minutes and thought to go to bombay road and then take a turn and go to NH34 from that side but again i was taken aback .This was a much bigger jam about 5-6 KMS.
It was around 5.10AM and all my plans was shattered.
No place to go or rather no road left to return ,i went to kona expressway crossing ,and went back to kolkata side.
Took AJC Bose flyover after Crossing Vidyasagar setu ,and again took MAA flyover back to EM Bypass.
Reached Lake Town crossing around 5.40.
It was a full circle of one hour and 60KMS and i was back to square one.
I composed myself and thought that GOD wants me to take the old NH 31 Route To Siliguri.
A lot has been said and written about it.
May be God has given me this opportunity to make something straight ......
From Lake town i went to Barasat and headed to KrishnaNager.
Reached krishna Nager around 8.30Am
The road mix of Good and not so good but manageable.
It reminded me of early 2000 when there were mostly two laned highways and your driving skill was put to test and u always learned ...
These days although 4 lane highways are safer comfortable and lot easier to drive ,but you dont need much skills as compared to driving in two land highways....
Coming back to my journey ,i was always in anticipation of Big Bad Road or No Road or Road full of Craters
But to my pleasant surprise that was not the case ..
The road at some streches was good and come stretches was not that good but manageable...
 
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As planned I started at 4.30 Am from My home in LakeTown.
Took Belghoria expressway to Dakshineshwar ,from there i crossed Dakshineshwar Toll Bridge and thought to go straight to NH31 Highway to go to Burdwaan, But God had different plans for me.....
As soon as i crossed the dakshineshwar toll bridge and reached The Junction where The 2 highways meet one to delhi and another to Bombay.
From Lake town i went to Barasat and headed to KrishnaNager.
Reached krishna Nager around 8.30Am
Would you please clarify the Dakhineshwar Toll bridge? I recently traveled from Belgachia to Dakhineshwar via Belghoria Expressway. I have no idea of road so asked the police patrol, the way to Dakhineswar. They told to move ahead and where in a junction one road will move upward and that will lead to Dakhineshwar. We followed but by mistake did not go to temple but crossed Bally bridge and had gone to other side of Ganga. There is no toll plaza on Vivekananda Setu[The railway bridge]. But if I intend to take Nibedita Setu which has toll what route I had to take? Please advise.[confused]
 
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Sidd, when you approach from Belghari express way, at the end of Belghoria expressway there is a junction and a board mentioning the way to nivedita toll plaza and towards dakshineshwar.
The road going straight at the junction leads to Dakshineshwar .The road on the left leads to Nivedita Toll Bridge.
 
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Thread Starter #10
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Sidd
If you want to go to NH31 then taking the nivedita setu is continent and faster but you have to pay Rs 42 at the toll one way.
If you go by the old Bally bridge although you might save money but you will find traffic and few speed Braker,s
 
Thread Starter #11
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Reached siliguri around 7.30Pm.
So it took me around 14 hrs to reach siliguri from kolkata from old NH 31 highway.
Main reason for delay,.
Jam in kaliachak, for about an hour.(The jam was massive but managed by overtaking from wrong side.)
Jam at dalkhola crossing about 40 minutes due to level crossing ,the traffic was managed well by local people.
 
Thread Starter #12
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dear Friends Sorry for delay in posting.
Started from Silliguri at around 12.30 pm As was waiting for friends arriving from Lucknow,
reached Phuntsholing around 4.00 PM.
Since the office for Tourist Permit Closes around 4PM , We decided to go for the Permit next Day,
Next day Morning we Filled up Entry permit form along with photocopy of our ID. Proof to our hotel staff who submitted them at the Counter and got a token No for us, We were told that since it was Holiday season there was a huge Rush for entry permits .
Our Token no was 26 and our no came at around 2.30 PM.
The Finger prints were taken along with Photographs of each Individual which hardly took minutes, we were told to wait for 10-15 minutes and the permit was issued to us.
Now we headed towards the Road Transport Safety Authority which is about 15mnts walking Distance from the permit office .
We gave Photocopies of RC Book(Now Card), Insurance , Tax Token, Pollution Certificate, % Driving License along with Fees of Rs 240.00
In Next 30 minutes the Permit was issued to us .
The whole process of Issuing of permit was a tire someone and was wondering if the process takes so long it will act as a deterrent for Indians Enjoying Holidays in Bhutan which also result in Impacting Bhutan's Tourism Income from Indians,Having Said that i was told unofficially that the Bhutan Government is soon Going to start online Process for Issuing of permits for the convenience of tourists to avoid delays.
We Filled up our vehicles at the Petrol Pump and started for Thimphu at around 5.Pm.

After about 20Kms we were surrounded by Dense fog and the visibility was limited to 10-15Mtrs.
We drove slowly and followed the Local TAXI who was aware of the bend & Curves of the Road.
Its was getting dark and our speed was around 25-30Km and we thought we might reach Thimpu Very late.
After reaching Chukkha the weather cleared a bit and now the visibility was better at 50-60mtrs
We managed to reach Thimpu at around 10.30PM
 
Thread Starter #13
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I had spend 2 days in Thimpu and two days in Paro.The distance between Thimpu and paro is about 50KMS.
I liked paro more than Thimpu for its natural beauty ,but having said that i always like the hills of Darjeeling and sikkim more.
From paro we started at 10 Am again came back to phunntsholing at around 3.oo pm.
From there we went to stay at Gorumara for the night as planned.
Next day around 11 we started for Lamahata which is about 23 KMS before Darjeeling.
We took revoke road and crossed coronation Bridge and turned right towards sikkim.
At Melli one road goes to to sikkim, via Rangpo and there is a small and very steep road which goes to Darjeeling via Lamahata.
It was very steep and narrow road .Its just uphill road almost to Lamahata where u have to manage in first and second gear.
Moreover the incoming traffic from Darjeeling towards sikkim is also testing one.s driving skill .
From the river bed at malli suddenly within few minutes u are among the clouds.
We stayed in Lamahata for a day and we heard that the Darjeeling was full of traffic and it took almost three hours to reach from Lamahata to Darjeeling which generally takes 45 minutes to an hour.
We stayed in Lamahata for the day and again detended next day for Rumteck as we planned .
It took us about 4 hours to reach Rumteck.
We stayed at Teentaley eco Resorts.
Next day we went to Rumteck monastery which was half a km away and to Gangtok for sight seeing which is 12 KMS from Rumteck.
Gangtok was bustling with vehicles and people's all around and we were happy that we stayed at Rumteck ,far from maddening crowd.
The biggest problem faced in Gangtok was parking the vehicles as all the parking lots were full and there was no place to park .
Somehow after about 39minutes managed to park the car near MG Road .
Came back to Teentaley in the evening.
Next day ie on 27th may 2016 started from TeenTaley (Rumteck) at 9 AM. Initially the plan was to go as far as possible and spend the night either in malda or farakka.
Reached siliguri at 12.30PM.
Took a Tea break and reached Dakhila at 3 Pm.
Luckily the Rail gate was opened and crossed within minutes.
Reached malda around 5 pm.
It was 7Pm in the evening when we were crossing Farakka.
Thought that we cover more that half way then why ti halt.
Around 10 was at maurigram crossing.
The roads were really bad for at least first 15 Kms and i was cursing myself why i took this road.
Moreover it was a small road without any traffic , all bad thoughts came to my mind about possible dacoity, breakdown of my vehicle and what not.
But after 15KMS the Roads suddenly started to change.
I was very pleasantly surprised with the condition of State Highway which was better than our old NH34.
I reached Burdwaan NH2 at around 12AM.
Took a tea break and started again to reach home.Crossed Dakshineshwar Nivedita setu at 1.00 AM and reached Home in LakeTown at 1.10.
It took me almost 14 Hrs to reach kolkata from Rumteck .
 

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