Darjeeling and Gangtok
 

My daughter in laws family says that there is unrest in northern India. We were planning on visiting Darjeeling this December. Any thoughts from anyone else?

“Northern” India is a huge area and December is very far away. There is and has been unrest along the north eastern border with Bangladesh for many years, and there is always tension along the borders with Pakistan and the PRC. You generally cannot go into border areas without a permit. Darjeeling is not anywhere near those areas and I don’t believe Gangtok, while further north and closer to the PRC and Bhutan borders, is near any of the border areas where special permits are required. I am not aware of any disturbances in either place, but you may want to check news reports yourself, I find that http://news.bbc.co.uk is a very good source of news.

There was a bombing about a month ago in Jaipur, I would have thought you would have read or seen that on the news. There were also some protests in Delhi about 2 weeks ago by a tribal community agitating for certain rights, I was there during that, and other than traffic disruptions in some of the suburbs and on some railway lines, there was no significant disturbance and no injuries to tourists, etc. I don’t believe there are any continuing protests.

I travel to India 1-2 times a month, and I would say that no one should have any concerns about travel in Inda, but you may want to read the US State Department info http://travel.state.gov/, clicking on "International Travel" from the centre menu, then choosing "Consular Information" from the left menu, then choose India; or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the UK or Australia which may have different information, see http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/ and http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/

Cicerone has missed this:
There is major drama going on in Darjeeling, Sikkim right now.

Run a Google search on 'Darjeeling' then click to 'news'

It's been going on for days. Indefinate 'bargh' [strike] All tourists have evacuated, roads closed, out and in.

That's what you friend is talking about..

I did Darjeeling a few years back in 1997. My wife & I were totally put-off by those Gurkha origin badmashes, with a distinct communist ideology. I had to call the police to get rid of a man, who insisted that we stay at a particular hotel, though we had confirmed bookings elsewhere!
We loved Calcutta, though.

We are considering going to Nepal later in the year and I was discussing travelling there with a Napali colleague (who lives in UK)just yesterday. Her brother lives in south Nepal, her mother and sister just outside Darjeeling. She told me there is unrest now in Darjeeling and that the political situation is not good all along Nepal-India border and in Nepal. I guess as a tourist it may be less of a trouble, but people living there are concerned....we are still lookign at our options.

Remember too that the political situation in Nepal bears no relation to the political situation in Darjeeling. Two different countries. Two different situations.

Really, the best is always to jump to Google News and check out the daily reports IMHO.

Oh, I forgot - Sikkim,Gangtok et al are not suffering political unrest at all - it's just that, with the roads closed on the Indian side between Bagdogra, Siliguri and Darjeeling nobody can get either in - or out of Sikkim.

compared with the unrest in Nepal for the last couple of decades, we see a fairly good situation right now. What interferes with visitors are the strikes - which for the moment are not happening. Go. Nepal is great & the people so badly need visitors. For the Nepal-groupies, I have to mention this - you may have read that the King has been booted out of the palace, but the foreign press has not reported on the refusal of his mama to leave the palace (in her 80's). The "authorities" have decided to build some walls around her and leave her there for the duration.

Thank you so much for your comments. I will investigate the links that you have suggested. We will be visiting Mumbai, Goa, Kolkata and Dehle/Agra. Part of the time we will be with family in India, and part of the time we will be on our own. We are very excited to visit India. We would like to take presents for the family members who live in India. Do you have any suggestions of what would be appropriate? Thank you!

Anatole, as I understand it, it is not the King's "mama" who is not leaving the palace, but the former mistress of this king's grandfacther. They did not move her from the palace because she has no remaning family and no where to go. I read an article about it in the NYT and a number of wire services picked it up.

Anybody travelled recently to Darjeeling? I have reservations for mid-November and am getting worried. The hotel op says the agitations were in June and everything is cool now and there will not be any agitation in the upcomming 'high' season and thereafter but I have read blogs elsewhere that said differently.

This is a long planned nostalgia trip to my childhood place(14 years since last visit); first time with kids; and I want their first impression to be just right.