Lava Rishop Trekking Route

Lava to Rishop trekking was a good experience for all of us. I had previously trekked to Ayodhya Hills, Purulia almost 6/7 years back. But here the terrain was just magnificent.




A Rishop trip is almost incomplete if you do not trek through this stretch of 4 kms.

Chandannagar Road Trip - Sacred Heart Church

It was a smooth drive (courtesy: National Highway 2) to Chandannagar, a French colony 45 kms away from Kolkata.

The Sacred Heart Church of Chandannagar (l'Eglise du Sacré Cœur)

The church stands for over two centuries to mark the beauty of the architecture during the French period — a good place to visit for the historians and tourists alike. The remains of the Church of St. Louis is also an attractive tourist spot.

Wild Flower from North Sikkim

On the journey from Gangtok to Mangan, I stopped near a waterfall and was able to capture these wild flower.

Gangtok Backpackers - Incredible India

Local carrying huge load on their shoulders at M.G. Marg, Gangtok, Sikkim

Bakkhali, West Bengal Travel Tips

If you are looking for an easy escape from the ever increasing hustle bustle of the city of joy without emptying your wallet much, then Bakkhali is an ideal weekend destination. Located just 130 kms away from Kolkata (Calcutta, India), Bakkhali can be reached within 4 hours easily by road. It is a beautiful beach covered with white sands and less crowded than popular sea beaches around Kolkata. Hotels are plenty and reasonably priced; all you need to have a very strong bargaining capacity. There is not much to do at Bakkhali, but witnessing a sunset on the beach with your loved ones can be an unforgettable experience. Hope this Bakkhali Weekend Travel Tips will make your journey more enjoyable.

Day I - We took a 7AM direct State Transport bus from Esplanade Bus Depot, Kolkata to Bakkhali. It charged us around Rs.70 each. An interesting part of this journey was crossing the river near Namkhana on a barge. The bus itself is transported from one side of this river to the other on this barge. The process was a bit time consuming but gave us the opportunity to have a quick walk around the place and to take some interesting photographs of fishing boats and other port related activities. The bus finally reached our destination around 11AM.

We booked a paddled van from the bus station to look for reservations in different hotels. Fortunately or you can say, unfortunately we got accommodation at a hotel just 5 minutes walking distance away from the bus station and a 10 minutes walking distance away from the beach. The room was big enough with two double beds letting four of us having our own share of space. We paid Rs.500 for the room and it was a decent bargain.

By 1PM, we reached Frazerganj port to experience the amazing boat ride on the Bay of Bengal. A paddled van took us to the port from our hotel within 20 minutes. We bargained with one of the boatman and finally hired an entire motorized boat for ourselves. The deal was to take us to the confluence point which was around 2/3 kms away in the sea. The sea was a bit rough and with mangroves on one side and endless horizon on the other, we didn't need anything else to get high. But we enjoyed our chilled beer, which at that time had almost lost its coldness, thoroughly. We convinced the boatman to take us to some solitary island for some extra bucks. And voila, he agreed. We traveled couple of more kilometers further and landed on Mousumi Island. The beach was quite muddy but there were absolutely no people around us. It was more like having a share of our own private beach. We returned around 3:30PM to Frazergunj Port. The entire journey cost us around Rs.400 (for boat) and Rs.150 (for the boatman).

After having lunch near a small roadside hotel, we headed for the Bakkhali beach to enjoy the splendid evening. The sunset was brilliant on the beach, and with decreasing sunlight the water level started increasing. It was a well spent evening until we decided to return to our room around 8:30PM. Before that we bought a chicken and gave it to a restaurant to cook it for ourselves. You can buy your raw food (meat/ fish) and give it to any hotel for cooking at a very reasonable cost. The food arrived in our room around 10:30AM and we had a ball having chicken curry with roti and to accompany there was the deadly combination of rum-coke. Day I ended very quickly as we were too tired to do anything post dinner.

Day II - We again headed towards the Bakkhali beach around 8:30AM after having our breakfast. After spending around two and half hours in the water, we finally came back to our hotel. We left the hotel at 12PM and headed towards Henry Island by a mini van. Henry Island can be reached within 15-20 minutes from there. We also explored the Beach of Henry Island which was entirely people-less at that time. Finally the same mini van took us to Namakhan around 2:30PM. The Bakkhali-Henry Island-Namkhana journey cost us around Rs.300. We crossed Namkhana and took a direct train to Kolkata. We were home by 6 in the evening.

Important Bakkhali Weekend Travel Tips and Suggestions

* An ideal weekend destination but can be very crowded during peak seasons, holidays.
* Hotels are very cheap but you have to bargain a lot.
* There is no ATM in Bakkhali
* Use lots of sun cream and body protection solutions while out in the sun.
* The water at Bakkhali is not really good.
* It is advisable to take your own transport.

It is an ideal place for your weekend travel. Enjoy it with Bakkhali Weekend Travel Tips and make it a more memorable journey with the travel photography. Traveling is good, but with good company, it becomes better.

Sunrise at Rishop

Glimpse of the rising sun through the Buddhist prayer flags at Rishop, West Bengal.

Trip to Gurudongmar Lake -North Sikkim

Gurudongmar Lake at North Sikkim situated at a height of 17,000 ft.

Gurudongmar Lake or Gurudogmar Lake is one of the highest lakes in the world, located at an altitude of 17,100 ft (5,210 m). It lies in the province of North Sikkim, India, only some 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) south of Chinese border.