We have been in love with the mountains for many decades, and the Darjeeling Sikkim belt has been one of our favourites. Every year we end up answering the call of the hills, and some best moments of our life is spent there. While we enjoy the hill towns like Darjeeling, Gangtok or Leh, it is the pristine villages that have much more attractions for us.
It was September, and the rainy season was dragging on in the country. We had planned to be in the Darjeeling hills for about a week. Our plan was to spend three days in Darjeeling town and another few in a small place nearby preferably a homestay. Rummaging through the online travel sites, we stumbled on to Lamahatta Oak Retreat. The Tripadvisor reviews suggested that their first floor room Juniper provides a fabulous view of Kanchenjunga, and we wasted no time in contacting Ashis, the manager of the boutique place to book the room for three days.
Continuous rains greeted us in Darjeeling. Our three days there went off in playing hide and seek with the clouds, though we managed to have a good time at our pet food places Glenarys, Keventers and Kunga. We had been to Darjeeling many times before, so sightseeing as such was not an agenda. We preferred long walks through the hilly roads, and the markets, sipping tea at the numerous cafes in the vicinity and eyeing the local produce. Then on a rain soaked morning we set out for Lamahatta.
Lamahatta is a village located on the road that connects Darjeeling and Kalimpong at a height of approximately 5000 ft. The village is about 25 kms from Darjeeling, to reach it you have to come down to Ghoom and then take a left turn near Jorebunglow. The road was pretty good, and soon we reached Lamahatta Eco Park, a popular destination for sightseeing. We had no problem locating the Lamahatta Oak Retreat, which is located on the main road itself almost opposite the Eco Park.
The two storied place has a café named Lamahatta Café and one room on the ground floor, and two rooms on the first floor. The rooftop gives a nice view of both upper and lower Lamahatta, including a dense pine forest on the other side of the road.
Our room Juniper was on the first floor. As we entered the room, we were happy, as it met the expectations we had gathered from the Tripadvisor reviews. On two sides of the room there were huge glass windows. It is from these windows that we will get a magnificent view of Kanchenjunga a day later, sitting on our bed itself. The room had a nice collection of books of diverse tastes – right from a book on Ikigai to one by Harold Robbins. The weather was still quite cloudy, so we went to have a coffee in the café downstairs. It was surprising to find very good quality black coffee at Lamahatta Cafe. Ashis told us that they get their coffee from Baba Budangiri off Chikmagalur in Karnataka. After some coffee, and a walk down the village, we settled down for a pre-ordered Nepali lunch.
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| Nepali Thali (top), Nepali style Pork (Middle) and Chicken Curry |
The Nepali thali here was completely comfort food, the meal that we loved so much that we repeated another day. The Chicken Curry with local Rai saag and the Aloo Dum were so so good, and I requested Ashis that we wanted to try some local pork. That was not on their menu, but on a subsequent day, he organized Pork Curry with rai saag from a neighbouring hotel. The rai saag from the hills have a totally different taste than what we get in the plains.
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| English Breakfast |
Our package included breakfast, lunch and dinner, and for the latter two, there was choice of Indian, Nepali, Continental and Oriental food. We were not keen on Indian and Oriental, and over the next three days exhausted their continental menu, apart from trying different versions of Nepali thali. I would wholeheartedly recommend their Grilled Fish in Butter Sauce and Fish N Chips. The Chicken Schnitzel worked out well too.
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| Fish N Chips (Top) and Grilled Fish |
One evening they served Pizza for us with one half farm veggies and the other half chicken. I was really surprised to note that the pizza was at par with some of the better Hyderabad places.
The English Breakfast served was decent with eggs, sausages etc. I only wondered why they did not have pork items on their menu.
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| Roast Chicken (Top) and Chicken Schnitzel |
The second evening finally ended our wait, and we could see glimpses of Kanchenjunga emerging out of the clouds. And the third morning it was out in full glory.
We had visited Lamahatta, Takdah, Teesta and Tinchuley in one of our earlier trips, so did not bother to go around for a sightseeing trip. Instead we preferred long walks, both in the morning and evening through the quaint village, and relaxing with a book back in our room. In fact, in the three days I was there, I did the whole book on Ikigai that they had. The staff was really helpful, especially Ashis and a young lady who used to come from the local village below. She helped us procure some local radish and squash vegetables that we carried back to Hyderabad.
We had a little setback on the last day. We were supposed to start back for Siliguri at noon, but a flash strike by tea workers regarding their Durga Puja bonus got us stranded till 7 pm. Though our check out was in the afternoon, the retreat management was gracious to let us continue in our room till the strike got lifted in the evening.
I have brought back many fond memories of Lamahatta. The retreat that is run by GetBengal is an ideal place to relax for a short or long getaway.
Address: Lamahatta Oak Retreat
9th Mile Road, opposite the Eco Park, Lamahatta, Tukdah Forest, West Bengal 734213
Phone: 93823 42597
