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It’s almost 7 months since I completed this trip. I always wanted to write a travelogue but then I never really had the time. A few days back, the boredom one gets out of the routines of work life came back to haunt me. Never to be blamed, this boredom has always inspired me to do something special. This ride was one such inspiration!
Trip Details:
Bikers:
Praveen (Me) – Pulsar 180 UG4; Harish Kumar (Harry) – R15;
Kiran Kumar – R15
Dates – Oct 5th till 21stth (Total Riding days - 12)
Photography:
This log has collation of pics taken by all the three of us. Due credits to Harry who is quite brilliant at Photography.
Cameras: Nikon D90 (Harry's), Nikon Digicam (Kiran), Myself (Sony Cybershot HX9V)
Route taken:
Chennai (NJP Express) --> New Jalpaiguri --> Darjeeling --> Gangtok --> Phuentsholing (Bhutan Entry) --> Thimpu --> Paro --> Trongsa --> Trashigang --> Samdrup Jhonkar (Bhutan Exit) --> Rangia --> Kaziranga --> Guwahati (Flight Via Kolkata) --> Chennai
Total Kms: 2300 kms
My biking history before this trip was nothing but a few one day trips to parts of Western and Eastern Ghats back in my native (Coimbatore). So when my colleague first told me about this idea of doing a 15 day bike trip, I felt an immediate rush and instantly agreed to tag along. The thought materialized and soon we worked on an itinerary and simultaneously begun the preparations for this trip. Harry is an avid and a very experienced biker who has done lots of such trips including Leh, Ladakh. He took care of the planning part and he also helped me greatly with the preparations for the trip. The initial plan was to send the bikes to New Jalpaiguri and ride till Darjeeling, go to Sikkim and enter Bhutan via Phuentsholing, do a cross country tour of Bhutan and exit via Samdrup Jhonkar, go to Shillong and then reach Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh and finally head towards Guhawahti to pack the bikes back to Chennai and fly back from there.
We had hardly three weeks before the trip and the preparations were in full swing. I had almost finished buying things that were there in the checklist. It was exactly 15 days before the trip when I tripped while climbing down a fleet of stairs and ended up twisting my right ankle badly. The doc told me it was a near fracture and that the trip would be something impossible. I was advised to rest for 2 weeks. Though I had a strong feeling that it won’t be that bad and that I would definitely recover in time for the trip. Despite the doctor’s advice to apply POP I opted for the regular gauze dressing with normal plaster on the top. I returned home and saw the breaking news about a major earthquake that had hit Sikkim and other north eastern states. It was a disastrous sight. More than 100 people had lost their lives and reports said that Sikkim and surrounding areas were totally cut off by a series of landslides that followed the quake. Something was not right. This was the exact same route we had planned to take and now it was totally in ruins. Touring there would be the last thing one can imagine. I was totally devastated and down that day. There were some proper signs that I should not do this trip. The next day I did not get the courage to tell Harry about my injury and the thought that had set in at the back of my mind to call off the trip. But I never could bring myself as this has been my dream since ages.
When in doubt, follow your mind is a popular saying. I just did that and there were no regrets whatsoever. It really turned out to be one helluva ride!
To be continued….
Some teaser pics..
Trip Details:
Bikers:
Praveen (Me) – Pulsar 180 UG4; Harish Kumar (Harry) – R15;
Kiran Kumar – R15
Dates – Oct 5th till 21stth (Total Riding days - 12)
Photography:
This log has collation of pics taken by all the three of us. Due credits to Harry who is quite brilliant at Photography.
Cameras: Nikon D90 (Harry's), Nikon Digicam (Kiran), Myself (Sony Cybershot HX9V)
Route taken:
Chennai (NJP Express) --> New Jalpaiguri --> Darjeeling --> Gangtok --> Phuentsholing (Bhutan Entry) --> Thimpu --> Paro --> Trongsa --> Trashigang --> Samdrup Jhonkar (Bhutan Exit) --> Rangia --> Kaziranga --> Guwahati (Flight Via Kolkata) --> Chennai
Total Kms: 2300 kms
My biking history before this trip was nothing but a few one day trips to parts of Western and Eastern Ghats back in my native (Coimbatore). So when my colleague first told me about this idea of doing a 15 day bike trip, I felt an immediate rush and instantly agreed to tag along. The thought materialized and soon we worked on an itinerary and simultaneously begun the preparations for this trip. Harry is an avid and a very experienced biker who has done lots of such trips including Leh, Ladakh. He took care of the planning part and he also helped me greatly with the preparations for the trip. The initial plan was to send the bikes to New Jalpaiguri and ride till Darjeeling, go to Sikkim and enter Bhutan via Phuentsholing, do a cross country tour of Bhutan and exit via Samdrup Jhonkar, go to Shillong and then reach Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh and finally head towards Guhawahti to pack the bikes back to Chennai and fly back from there.
We had hardly three weeks before the trip and the preparations were in full swing. I had almost finished buying things that were there in the checklist. It was exactly 15 days before the trip when I tripped while climbing down a fleet of stairs and ended up twisting my right ankle badly. The doc told me it was a near fracture and that the trip would be something impossible. I was advised to rest for 2 weeks. Though I had a strong feeling that it won’t be that bad and that I would definitely recover in time for the trip. Despite the doctor’s advice to apply POP I opted for the regular gauze dressing with normal plaster on the top. I returned home and saw the breaking news about a major earthquake that had hit Sikkim and other north eastern states. It was a disastrous sight. More than 100 people had lost their lives and reports said that Sikkim and surrounding areas were totally cut off by a series of landslides that followed the quake. Something was not right. This was the exact same route we had planned to take and now it was totally in ruins. Touring there would be the last thing one can imagine. I was totally devastated and down that day. There were some proper signs that I should not do this trip. The next day I did not get the courage to tell Harry about my injury and the thought that had set in at the back of my mind to call off the trip. But I never could bring myself as this has been my dream since ages.
When in doubt, follow your mind is a popular saying. I just did that and there were no regrets whatsoever. It really turned out to be one helluva ride!
To be continued….
Some teaser pics..
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