Travel around Lataguri || Sightseeing around Lataguri || Doors Travel || Travel across North Bengal|| What to see in Lataguri || Tea Garden in Lataguri|| Places to See from Lataguri|| Jungle Travel India||
While in Lataguri, after sparing a dry and comfortable visual treat of the jungle safari, rain God blatantly ushered on us for next 2 days. The heavy rains in the evening, then throughout the night was elysian yet there was a slight eerie feeling of those witchcraft movies though (excluding Harry Potter of course).. Funny! I know!
SO as I was saying, we got lucky enough to do the open jeep safari with all comfort but the sightseeing wasn’t that perfect like. But again, I can’t complain.. that’s what, hill-stations are all about, erratic rains, then a washed-out look of the landscapes, change of plan every now and then, still taking pictures while it’s drizzling with the impossible urge to stay dry!! All these are annoying at that moment, pleasing at the next because of the beautiful remarkable beauty around you and these all make good memories..
So our tour started with a dry note and very pleasing warm weather but it hardly lasted.. as up the mountain we went, roads were getting quite risky, and as we started descending and towards the hotel, weather started laughing at us again!!
One crucial point before I start with the stops, the best part of the entire North East trip was and I will repeat this many times (maybe I have already mentioned this before) it’s the road trip.. keep looking around.. it’s greenery all around, green is the ultimate yet the most adorning beauty of nature. the long stretch of tea gardens.. and It’s so difficult to explain their beauty in words.. imagine a thick spread of soft bouncy green carpet rolled out at both sides of the road and it’s spread across long and long.. it’s enthralling. There’s no comparison to this beauty and the feeling was all the same throughout this trip.
Murti:
Started with Murti, it’s one of the towns from where the Murti river is flowing and the town is built by the river and named after the river itself. There are hotels available here, so one can stay in Murti town as well. By the river area, there is a viewpoint overlooking the river. No need to mention that If you want some refreshments, there are few shops available catering to tourists mostly.
Apple Stone:
What’s this now!! So the car stopped in front a tall (like one large piece of hiking object) huge size rock. It is supposed to have resembling the shape of an apple, which I could hardly notice because of the rain (I was more into protecting my budget yet precious buy, my new DSLR), but it’s not just the rock, the river is flowing down the mountain, by the side of the rock, under the bridge and then on and on.. don’t ignore a photo stop here.
Jhalong:
Jhalong is a small mountain village and there is a viewpoint of course. The main attraction of Jhalong is, it’s the India-Bhutan border area. So one side of the mountain is India and the other is Bhutan. Point to mention, apart from Jio, no other network works here once you are within the territory of Jhalong. The road is little narrow and moving upwards as hairpin bends curve around the mountain. Hence if it’s raining, one has to be OPN careful. We could hardly stand here because of the rain. It was foggy of course because of the weather and the rain was getting hard on us to stand there.
Bindu:
Bindu is another village town, again bordering Bhutan. This place is a little touristy, there are few shops selling local products, especially Bhutanese chocolates. Now when I say chocolate, don’t have high expectations, just buy some as you can’t ignore the number of shopkeepers and the lucrative colourful chocolate wrappers .. they are okay to pass the time in the car and share with everyone. By the way, Bindu is also the viewpoint area of the river, a small dam in the mid of natural green. My words may be repetitive, but nature is always new as fresh no matter when and where!!
Samsing Tea Garden:
Aahh.. what do I say? You just pass 100 meters and the next stretch of the tea garden will look more beautiful, then the next stretch of 100 meters will be more beautiful than before and it will just be like this every time. We had stopped at so many tea gardens, our driver always used to stop at a secluded one so that we could walk, have our own time and every time the tea garden would look better than before. Nature puzzles you with all good success. But I loved all of it.. I dream of them with my eyes open anytime..
You know when the green looks the best, right after the rain.. so even if rain was ruining our trip a bit, at the tea garden I had to thank the rain God for this ‘wet look’ with all my heart…
Sunthalikhola:
Due to the weather condition, we had to take this place off the plan.
However, as per the driver, once you reach Sunthalikhola, you have to hire another car to access the 2-3 viewpoints. Outside cars aren’t allowed inside.
You know.. after all these, what is the most beautiful part? The compact generous greenery throughout our drive, the small villages emerging all of a sudden in between the quiet mountains, the mountain houses.. they are mostly small in size but exceptionally beautiful; the people their small markets, home run eateries.. you can’t call them restaurants actually.. so there is the house, a small shop selling regular stationery- mostly food items, a small eating area for tourists, beside that a kitchen which is used for both home cooking and tourists at the same time.. they serve simple home food, it’s a cosy feeling. So keep your eyes open to see everything than just the stops where your driver knocks to get down to take pictures.. be in that moment, live it and your travel is a success.
Let’s wrap for now.. As we headed back to the hotel, we stopped for lunch at a local restaurant, the food was fresh and very tasty and very affordable. Point is, don’t shy out from local small family restaurants on this route, you won’t be disappointed.
That was Lataguri.. next stop is.. hold on hold on.. all in good time.. till then take care and be back soon..
TurtleGotWings 
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