TID 159: Best of Sikkim, Darjeeling & Kalimpong 11 days (oct 17-27, 2008)

Dear Santosh,
Thought you might like some feedback on our Sikkim tour.
We all thoroughly enjoyed a well organised and executed tour with one exception that I will talk about later. The guide Naresh and driver Tenzing were both excellent. The driver for north Sikkim, Tsiling (not sure if spelling correct) was also very good. Naresh was friendly, courteous, efficient and knowledgeable and came up trumps in our time of crisis (see below). Hotels in Darjeeling, Yuksom, Pelling, Gangtok and Kalimpong were all very good – nice rooms, heaters where necessary, good friendly service and excellent food. Which brings me to the hotel in Lachung, the Fortuna.
I appreciate that in India we can always expect the unexpected. However, having had such good hotels before Lachung, the Fortuna was a bit of a shock. As it was a last minute booking because of problems at the Sonam Palgey, I wondered if you or any of your representatives have actually visited this hotel previously. I do realise that this area is in the early stage of developing for tourism and that is one of its charms. However I did make a note of some things that it should be possible for the hotel to improve.

On the positive side, the bathrooms were good and had efficient hot water heaters. The food was good as I have mentioned above and the boy who provided room service, Prakash, couldn’t have been more helpful.

I look forward to your comments on the above.

To end on a positive note, the discomfort in Lachung didn’t spoil what was an exciting and wonderful holiday thoroughly enjoyed by all of us.

Thankyou.

Regards,