Darjeeling Archives - Pout Pretty

Experiencing Old World Elegance At Cochrane Place, Kurseong

May 11, 2017

The first time I walked into Cochrane Place a year back, I felt like I was transported back into the 1900’s. This heritage resort situated on the outskirts of Kurseong was the residence of Percy John Cochrane, the magistrate and barrister of Kurseong town from 1866 – 1944. Back then it was known as The Hermitage because it was actually a nunnery before Percy Cochrane made it his residence. The building was later acquired by the Arora’s who own the resort now and they remodelled The Hermitage to the present day Cochrane Place. Thankfully, the remodelling did not discard the past and the stately British colonial home still looks pretty much like what it was nearly a century back.

Cochrane Place

The Cochrane Place management was very kind to invite a few of us Kolkata bloggers to the resort last week and as always, it was a wonderful experience staying there. We took a flight from Kolkata to Bagdogra airport and from there, it was a two hour journey uphill to Kurseong. Definitely take the Pankhabari road to go up. Yes, you have to bear the sharp turns and hairpin bends but the view more than compensates. The Teesta river, the misty mountains, the tea gardens will be your companions throughout the journey and companions do not get better than them!

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A Tea Lounge With A View – Margaret’s Deck, Kurseong

March 10, 2017

It was turning out to be a super hectic day with back to back meetings, plenty of deliverables, heated discussions and the added pain of a bad headache. In the midst of all this, the phone call came in. A sweet voice at the other end said “Dolon di, I am calling on behalf of Goodricke. We have opened a new tea lounge called Margaret’s Deck in Kurseong and we would love to invite you there for a tea and food tasting experience along with a few other bloggers”.

If you know us Bengalis or anyone from Kolkata, you will know how passionate we are about three places – Kurseong, Kalimpong and Darjeeling. The mere mention of them brings a huge smile to our faces. We start dreaming of the hills, the mist and of course, the momos! And that is what happened to me as well. The tiredness was gone in an instant, there was a spring in my step and the lines “the hills are alive with the sound of music” started playing in my ears.

Margaret’s Deck Kurseong

Tickets were mailed, bags were packed and on the 11^th of Feb, two very sleepy bloggers (Poorna of Presented By P and myself) along with the moderately sleepy Anushka of MSL and the super enthusiastic Rangan Datta, boarded the flight to Bagdogra from Kolkata.

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Jewelry Shopping in Darjeeling – What I Bought

July 27, 2015

Darjeeling Jewelry Haul

Earlier this month, I went for a short summer vacation with my parents to one of my favorite places in the world, Darjeeling. There were some alarming news items regarding land slides and deaths in Darjeeling but we brave souls paid no heed and marched on. I was joined by fellow bloggers and friends Poorna and Shikha and we had a gala time. Darjeeling has lovely food and when you have a food blogger in the midst, you know you will be going to the right places. We had the best cheese momos at Kunga, the best cheese pies and liquor chocolates at Glenary’s, the best breakfast and hot chocolate at Keventer’s and the best Darjeeling tea at Nathmulls. Apart from food, Darjeeling is also famous for something else. Jewelry. To be specific, Nepali and Tibetan jewelry and we three girls kinda went crazy shopping.

One of the best shops for jewelry and curios is the 100 yr old Habeeb Mullick, located on the Chowrasta Mall. A trip to Darjeeling is incomplete without visiting that shop and it is stacked with curios, artifacts and jewelry. Go in there just to look and you will end up coming back with at least 3-4 pieces if not more. While there are other shops selling very good stuff, I did not really have a lot of time to explore. I just went to Habib Mullick and Nepal Curio House, another treasure trove of Nepali curios, antiques and jewelry. I did not go completely crazy and buy a ton of stuff but I didn’t do too badly either 🙂 .

Here are some pictures of what I bought. You will find a lot of coral, turquoise and lapiz lazuli in Tibetan and Nepali jewelry and practically all the designs are closely linked to Buddhism. In case you are curious, the painting is of Tara, a female Bodhisattva. The silver cylindrical pendant is engraved with eight auspicious symbols popular in Buddhist Tibet and the turquoise ring has a vajra that moves and it is supposed to calm one down in difficult times. Not everything here is silver and exorbitantly priced. Couple of pieces are in German silver and quite cheap. Let me know which ones you liked 🙂