Tinchuley - A beautiful hamlet in the Himalays

Darjeeling, Darjeeling road trip, Fuji X-E2, North Bengal road trip, Prasenjit Nath, serene, teesta, Tinchuley, Travelogue, We and the roads, Weandtheroads, West Bengal

Tinchuley - A beautiful hamlet in the Himalays

Prasenjit Nath

Serenity is important in life.Work hard and party harder is usually the motto but sometimes you need time for yourself. And its very difficult to find that in this busy lifestyle. To escape from the city we need weekend gateways. A little holiday to a faraway place can give you enough energy to work for another few months. From Kolkata there are several places you can visit but I can assure you that you will be accompanied by several other thousands tourists. So finding the right place is very important.

In doing so we found a hamlet called "Tinchuley". Its close to Darjeeling and only few hours from Siliguri. This place is not crowded with tourists yet. Tinchuley derives its name from 3 chullas or ovens.This is because Tinchuley is surrounded by 3 hills which resemble the 3 edges of a clay oven and hence the name.This is where the river Teesta meets the Rangeet and the scenery is breathtakingly beautiful!! There are very few homestays in Tinchuley and we stayed in the one owned by Siten Gurung. His house is very beautiful, the ground floor has 3 rooms for guests while he and his family stays in the upper floor. There is a huge garden in front of the house and that is where we spend most of our time. We stayed there for 2 nights and didnt see any other tourist. Homestay was 1300 per day per person including food.

This is a ideal place connect to yourself. There are no other sound other than of birds clipping and tree leaves moving in the wind. Morning starts with a sip of Darjeeling tea. If the weather is clear you can see the sun rising from your room. Most of the food supplied by the homestay is homegrown and organic. The squash that was offered during breakfast was one of the best I ever had. Walking down the village is always a good idea. Villagers are friendly and they will welcome you. Here are some pictures of the surroundings -

The nights are quieter. At night on the opposite side of the mountains you will see Kalimpong shining with all its glory and lights. The place is not so cold in May and I think this is the best time to visit Tinchuley. In homestays dinner is served quicker and it was same here.

One can easily spend a day or two here and rejuvenate. No phones, no laptops, no horns, no pollution and no crowd makes the place one of the best in North Bengal. Ofcourse you can drive to Darjeeling and have lunch at Glenarys and come back within 3-4 hours. I would suggest to visit Tinchuley before it becomes a major tourist destination and crowded like Darjeeling and Kalimpong

This is my second attempt to record a timelapse. Once we planned to visit Darjeeling and Tinchuley I started planning for this timelapse of my own. Bought a new tripod to hold the Iphone because stability is very important. These videos are captured all over Tinchuley and Darjeeling. Have a look -