Detailed review by shangri-lady
shangri-lady
San Diego, USA94%
What a relief to breathe the fresh air of the hills coming from the heat of the Indian plain! To be honest, down at the Bazaar, where our taxi stopped, there was quite a lot of pollution emitted by countless diesel vehicles jamming the roads. Yet, after we made it up the steep alleyways and stairs to the upper parts of Darjeeling, we left behind smoke, dust and dirt reaching a public open space which the locals call "Chowrasta". As far as I could track down this is Urdu meaning "four roads crossing" which perfectly pictures the setting.
Prior to our departure, my uncle who was in the tea trade in his younger days urged us to stay at the Bellevue Hotel while in Darjeeling. The hotel can hardly be missed, it's one of the most prominent buildings framing Chowrasta. That's where we got our room for the coming days and we never had to regret. Later only we came to know that, meanwhile, there are two different hotels bearing that name. The story of this "duplication" as told by the local folks sounds like a contemporary version of the tales of Milarepa, the popular Tibetan poet-saint: After father had died, the greedy uncle with mean trickery got hold of his nephew's inherited wealth. Luckily, modern Milarepa did not have to resort to sorcery. Anyway, my uncle's detailed descriptions made it easy to verify that we had chosen the proper Bellevue.
We were given a quiet room to the garden at the third floor. It consisted of a spacious main room, a smaller anteroom which was perfect for our luggage and a simple but convenient bathroom with shower. I could not check in-depth but I assume this anteroom was originally intended for the attendants of well-to-do Sahbs and Memsahbs. The interior work of the rooms is mainly woodwork. Considering what we had met in India before, we found our room to be outstandingly comfortable, warm, dry and comparably clean. This does not rule out occasional traces of dust. Except for a few short outages, we always had power. There was always plenty of hot water. WLAN right at the room (complimentary) was another pleasant feature. My mate had taken along her netbook, so, we really seized the opportunity of unlimited web-access.
The employees (exclusively male) treated us (exclusively female) with pleasing gentleness and discretion, another difference to certain encounters at the plain. They were exceedingly helpful and absolutely trustworthy. When we left for an overnight trip to Kalimpong, they padlocked the door of our room (in addition to the already present lock) to make sure our belongings were left untouched to our return.
The Bellevue Hotel is crowned by a striking Pagoda-roofed attic housing a small Lha-Khang (temple). The adjoining terrace is open for anyone and offers a breathtaking panorama including the Himalayan summits to the North. This is a spot that makes one feel in levitation. Just the Observatory Hill across Chowrasta with its Hindu and Buddhist temples on top extends still a bit higher. But, that's o.k. After all, this is the seat of the gods!
Bellevue Darjeeling9
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