AskDarj began in the most Darjeeling way possible — through conversations.

For the past few years, our founder Tenzee Lhawang Bhutia has been running a backpackers’ hostel in the heart of town. And like every local who hosts travellers, he was asked the same questions daily:

Where should we eat?
What should we see?
Where are the hidden spots?
What are the real taxi rates?

Instead of repeating answers endlessly, we built AskDarj — a WhatsApp-based AI travel companion designed to feel like “a local in your pocket.”

Think of it as Darjeeling’s localized ChatGPT — but trained on hyperlocal data and lived experience, not generic internet lists.

Today, AskDarj helps travellers find: cafés, restaurants, viewpoints, lesser-known spots, hidden trails, taxi information, shops, essentials — and even verified emergency contacts and official numbers sourced from the local Administration.

The interface is simple: Send a WhatsApp message → get a local answer.

AskDarj started as a one-person experiment, but quickly grew into a team: Saharsh Thapa, Sudama Chettri, and Satyanand Thapa joined to build the technology — while Tenzee focuses on local curation, branding, and community.

Darjeeling is our testing ground. If it works here, it can work anywhere in the Himalayas.