Varun. Nice write up,further read awaited. glad to see N650 proving its mettle.Owning one soon. the CBR owner with PB65 regn is from Mohali where i stay too. Would love to join you guys for your next trip

Reminded me of my ride to Sikkim and Bhutan had wasted 2 days for the entry passes to Bhutan had entered from that big gate you noticed
Even my partners were given a hearing for taking pics of the gate at night they had been hauled up by the soldiers and questioned . I was relaxing at the hotel at that time.

Its altogether a different experience doing it on a 650 mine was and still is a humble unicorn.

Nice trip bring it on

Thanks flyboy1.. More coming up shortly Wish you many safe miles on your upcoming monster
That's Atul with the CBR. He recently shifted to Lucknow. You are more than welcome to join us buddy We are looking forward to up-coming June for the next big ride. Fingers crossed !!

Thanks drifter I don't know where you read it or misread it.. But we didn't click any pictures of that gate. We simply went ahead and had a chat with those army men standing nearby. I did repent later on for not clicking even a single picture of that gate.. But now I know I was lucky You can say we were very tired when we passed it both the ways! Lazy us

Identification Documents carried by usSir, it is a sincere request, kindly do this for us since we have a long tour coming up and we will get late.exclaimed the officeTo sum up the procedures for all of you planning to go there in the near future (Please take this as a personal guideline as this is to the best of my knowledge):

Identification Documents Required according to preference:Photographs: At least 3. Save time.. It is precious and can give you breath taking views while riding in the day light.

Documents for your vehicle:

Registration certificate/ Insurance letter/ Pollution check

P.S.: Carry 2 to 3 photocopies of all your documents to save time.

If you carry your Passports: Go straight to Bhutan Immigration Office and arrange for permits on the first floor. Declare cigarettes if you like, on the ground floor. Once done, head to the RSTA office for Vehicle permits. You can always visit the Indian Consulate who will help you in whatever queries you have.

If you do not carry your Passport: Go to the Indian Consulate Office, fill in the forms and get the approval from the senior officer on first floor. Head to the Immigration Department for Permits. Declare Cigarettes if you like and head to the RSTA Office for vehicle permits.

RSTA Office closes by 1600 hours as far as I remember.

Well written and nicely presented travel log
Really liked your writing style..... neat and contains the right amount of humour.
And the fact that it features a Ninja 650, makes it extra special....
Waiting for more......

for a moment we all thought that the trip is over lets head home

Thanks for this very informative post. Please put up this text in your first post, so that someone looking for info can find it on the first page itself.

Cheers

awesome write up mate . Well are you a mate ???? ... 3rd mate / 2nd mate / chief mate ... can guess that you are a mariner ... good job bro ... riders like you are an inspiration to many ...

Thanks a lot for the appreciation man ! Glad you liked it.. I shall post more soon

yes.. But I remember when all of us were waiting for Atul to return from the RSTA office.. He came running, jumping all excited .. That moment onwards it was a treat !!

Thanks Monk.. Noted.. Will do the honors soon

2nd Mate
Glad you liked it
A word on inspiration: it is xbhp which gave me the inspiration to begin with, when I returned to the world of bikes last year when I bought my CBR250.. I have been a rather silent member in here. Have been reading so many logs and getting the inspiration on a regular basis. !! Had we got another 3 to 4 days in our pockets I was willing to explore the whole of Bhutan before returning.. But maybe that calls for another visit to Bhutan

nice to know and to find a shippy brother here .... i am with wilhelmsen as 3rd mate ... keep the blog alive ... i am waiting

nicely written log waiting for more pictures
nice to see another shippy im a JE

Great Log Varun!

Very nicely written & with ample of rightly placed photographs.

I have also been thinking up to visit North East in Aug or Sep this year. I am from Lucknow too. Have met Amber in GIR meet, but not you. Maybe I can catch up with your group for small rides.

And would be glad to know your plans in near future of such trips, I might wish to join, if i am allowed.

regards
Parry

Day 4 Cont.

First of all: Sorry to all my readers for this long wait. My aim was to finish this log before the new year came in. I was busy with the vacation time and soon I had to get back for my duty on ship.. Now that I am settled in here I shall continue this log slowly and steadily.. Unfortunately, due to lack of a good internet connection, my log from now on would not be decorated with a combination of Pictures and words together.. So the text and pictures will come in separately by separate members.. I shall take the log forward while Atul (my co rider) will upload the pictures for us Kindly bear with this.. Thanks for being patient.

Excitement was at its peak now! Tummy was crying for food.. The heart ignored it .. Roads were tempting.. Thimpu was calling .. It was already 1500hrs and the sun would set soon.. Not much day light left to accompany on this leg.. Desperation to ride ahead as much as possible during day light was what I felt from within.. I didn’t want to miss out those beautiful and breath taking landscapes! But, we didn’t have any option.. It was our sensible decision to eat at the first decent restaurant on our way. Only a few kms uphill and we fuelled up our rides. Next stop would be the first check post. We couldn’t spot any other 2 wheelers though. Hardly any !

At the Check Post: Usual checking of all documents. Driver’s License numbers were noted down and our permits updated in their files. People smiling and we gestured J Moved ahead with our journey.

The roads were in excellent condition and the rating of sceneries only went one way and that is UP !! Though Atul and Ajay were not very much excited about the scenes they saw (since they have been to the Dream land of Leh/Ladakh) But I didn’t hesitate to stop every now and then to click some and smoke some :P . And they didn’t mind it. Shadows started creeping in and signalled us to HAVE SOME FOOD YOU CRAZY BIKERS !! ITS EVENING TEA TIME ALREADY .. So without any delay we stopped at the first restaurant we saw. Again.. it was next to a brilliant scenic spot. We were busy clicking and the food was already served.. Ahh.. a blessing ! We didn’t really know what it exactly was but it tasted fine.. pretty good actually.. all we knew was that it was some sort of chicken curry with rice and another gravy.. now the chicken was so spicy I almost had tears in my eyes ! haha.. so that ugly looking gravy came to rescue.. it tasted blank ! added it up to the rice and chicken and then came to know its purpose ! i hope you know it too by now J

Slowly and steadily the darkness was coming in. We enquired about the route ahead and were told that there is a stretch of a few kms wherein the roads will be very narrow.. sort of a single lane? Yes. Moving on.

It became dark and within no time we were cruising in to the hills of Bhutan with a smile on our faces J .. Started getting cold.. We were wearing quite some winter protection.. Yet it was up to such an extent that it was getting unbearable! So the next stop would have to be a long one!

We had heard about a patch of about 10 to 12 kms of stretch on this route wherein there is FOG all the year round 24 hrs a day! We were not really searching for this one yet and neither did I recall exactly which leg it was on.. Aahhh there it is .. right where I am right now.. Cannot see anything.. Nothing at All !! Scary? Yes. Exciting? Now i’ll say YES! Nervous? Yes I was! I could feel the water vapour condensing and droplets tickling me, lol. But it was not a time to fool around. Parking lights were switched on. I was leading, followed by Atul, Ajay and finally Ambar. Speed? About 20kmph.. Stuck close to the white line at the edge and kept moving. Almost dead speed when we saw oncoming traffic! Some how it felt safe! One good thing I observed was that for this entire stretch we were on the side of the hills and not the valley. Pitch dark.. freezing temperatures.. no honking.. all we could hear was our steeds steaming through and the cold soft breeze. And ofcourse, if any one of us rode close to Ajay we could hear songs !! Soft rock at times, Techno and house, Hindi.. That guy was surely having fun !!

The nightmare finally ended after about 12 to 15 kms and we spotted some small stalls. I was expecting maggi and I do not know what they were selling We stopped close by. We didn’t talk to each other. Everyone of us simply started unpacking our bags hunting for sweaters/warmers/etc.. I felt like a Robot for the first time in my life! Took me a good 10 minutes to warm up. Wore as much more as we could. Shook hands and it was time for some chit chat!

Next leg was a little eventful though. There was this sedan which was following us after we overtook him. A pimped ride I must say. Could hear some good bass while overtaking.. Neon lights.. spoilers.. ‘you name it and it was there’ types. Few young guys having a good time I suppose. So we expected some action.. But to our surprise, that guy didn’t honk even once. Neither did he want to overtake us. Kept following us with safe speed and all was well ! Try to correlate this to our country! People take it as an insult if they are being overtaken by a BIKE? Hahaha.. I have no further comments.. No offences please. That is just my personal experience speaking. I have more of the same incidents, but in WB, UP and Bihar, which will be narrated in the later stage of this log!

We waved him goodbye while we stopped for our next butt break. There was some talk-time left on the sim card given to us by the embassy guy.. Used it to update our families back home. FYI, I use Vodafone prepaid which comes with pre activated international roaming and have used it in many countries. I was confident about Bhutan, but it didn’t work there. So it is advisable to borrow a sim card from the Indian embassy or buy one before you commence your journey into the hills. Its always good to stay connected.

And the roads go narrow. Well yes.. pretty narrow. A single lane on the hills. The roads never seized to tempt us. Even with those narrow lanes it was so much fun and moreover, safe riding. Traffic was minimal. Let me say a few words about the traffic sense in Bhutan. My two thumbs up for the sensible and safe driving/riding in Bhutan and the immense road sense that they actually apply. Nothing like this have ever come across in my own country. Feel sad about it but as I usually say ‘ye Hindustan hai meri jaan’ (this is India my friend).. A big issue in our country being, while on the highways people use high beam and only high beam! Only a handful of sensible people use the dipper to provide ease for oncoming traffic which goes almost blind had the dipper not been used. Again, this comes from my personal experience and the roads I have experienced so far by car and bike. Whereas in Bhutan what initially was my biggest fear of night riding became like a tender gift of ease! Imagine two Headlight beams approaching each other (both on high beams) from opposite directions but far from a turn after which they will face each other. The turn approaches and I am not joking when I say that the timing was perfect, just one second before those beams would make each other blind, they go on low beams! Well this was not experienced just once, but for the entire trip. Be it a trucker, sedan, suv or a two wheeler. I Loved it!
Another very fascinating observation which was first noticed by Ambar and he brought it to our attention immediately, was the signals given by motorists for the tailing vehicles to overtake or not! It was very simple and very safe too. If you are tailing a motorist and he switches his ‘right indicator’ on, then it means it is dangerous and not advisable to overtake him. When he switches his ‘left indicator’ on, that means you can now overtake safely, and to top it up, the guy will pull over to the left with the indicator to make it even safer for you to overtake. Now in our country if the motorist ahead of you switches on his ‘right indicator’ that means you can overtake; which can be dangerous if the guy ahead intends to make a right manoeuvre and you mistake it for being a signal to overtake him!!! So there’s a loop hole in the system which we follow. (Atleast on the roads I have been to. Don’t know how it is down south).

Coming back to the next leg. You should guess by now who was having most of the FUN.. Yes it was Ajay. We noticed, his music was guiding his riding style.. Well, if he overtook us and started leading, you can pretty much guess the music going on.. Trance ? or maybe Techno :P.. He slows down and signals us to take the lead, some romantic or classic rock maybe? Hahaha.. And Boy was he banking? All of us were very impressed by the way he was banking from side to side at constant speeds of about 40 or 50 kmph.. As for me.. I had driven on the hills many a times but did not have much riding experience on them.. I suppose I coped up well though.. I was enjoying for sure.. but at the same time being cautious. And since it was only 2 weeks on the big machine I dare not experiment without precautions!!

The narrow lanes ended and we were greeted by wider, straighter and safer roads! We could make good speeds on certain stretches. And Boy did we zoom past!! In no time we reached another restaurant where we took our break. The door seemed closed and we thought we would just relax a while and move on and did not realise the restaurant was open until someone walked past the door and we saw people sitting inside. A hot cup of tea was the need of the hour! Well not exactly a ‘cup’ but a MUG of it was served and we enjoyed it alot with some chips and cookies. We came to know that our destination for the day was not too far from here. After about half an hour of relaxing we started our last leg for the day.

Knock Knock Knockin on Heaven’s Door!! I think I sang this atleast 10 times continuously with surround sound of the wind inside my lid.. Another Checkpost came.. Same formalities done with.. Carried on.. And my log book was still empty: still we had not seen a single two wheeler on the roads except for our rides! So from this Checkpost if you go straight you head towards Thimphu, and on the left was the road to Paro. Thimphu was our destination for the day.

Ah.. there it is.... IS that ? Yes it is... Oh boy.. yay !! Our hands went up as though we won a race! But yes the feeling is beyond words can express. We had made it to the Huge Gate which welcomes you into Thimphu. For me it was my longest destination by road ever! Yes an achievement to add to my Travel Book! Stopped at the gate.. Click.. Smile.. Click... Gangnam Style !! Yes Ambar did the Gangnam Style out of excitement! Right at the centre of the road infront of the gate! No traffic at all.. you could easily take a quick nap without any disturbance !! hahaha..

As we entered the gate and proceeded forward we could see the city approaching.. Roads were very well lit here on.. Speed limit of 50kmph being posted every few metres.. Even Speed sensors were there on the road which display your speed for you to keep it under limits. Slowly and steadily we made our way through the market which was shut by now. It was already past 10pm. We could see a lot of ‘Hotel’ signboards but no entrances were to be found! Anyhow our search continued and we came to a crossing where we spotted a Ninja 250 with TBR parked. Besides it were some cops and a couple of locals. I approached them and tried to enquire about Hotels. The conversation:

Me: Good Day Sir, where could we find a Hotel?
Local: Hmmm.. Ye kaun sa bike hai? (which bike is it?)
Me: Ninja 650
Local: hmmm... kitne ka hai? (how much is it for?)
Me: Sir, hotel bata do kaha hai? (Please guide us to a hotel)
Local: Kitne ka hai bike?
Me: Around 5.6 lac
Local: Hahahahahaha.. (turned away laughing and came back) To ye kaun sa hai?(pointing at N250)
Me: Woh N250 hai.. Iska chota bhai! (Younger bro of N650)
Local: Naaah.... (Referring to my bike) Yaar 1.2 lac mei mujhe bech do (pls sell it to me for 1.2 lac)
Me: Hahahahahahahahahaha... Sir, Please guide me to a hotel which would be open at this time.
Another Local: (Had a good view of my bike) Ye max to max 1.5 se upar ki nahi ho sakti... (It can’t cost more than 1.5 lac)
Me: Ok sir.. Thanks for your input.. See you later!

Well that was fun !! Apparently they didn’t have any bikes bigger than 250 in there (told to us by a another local we met at the hotel)

Well.. After going through the market again.. Due to the One way roads in there.. We finally came across a Hotel which seemed to be open.. We just made it in time before the guy was calling it a day.. Arranged for some food from a 24hr shop, for which a local guy was very helpful and he rode along with Ajay to the shop for food while we started taking off the luggage and winding up stuff for the night to follow. Tied bungee cords to all the bikes’ front wheels and hence the setup was as such, if any of the bikes was moved, my Alarm Disc Lock (Oxford) would start screaming.. tested it, Covered my bike... It was time for drinks and dinner..

First Destination, Mission Accomplished !

P.S.: I am not blessed with a good internet connection so the pictures would be uploaded by Atul in the coming few hours ?? or anytime soon!! Stay tuned!!

Coming up Next: Trip to Paro and back! There was no luggage involved.. No deadlines set.. Only one criteria: Enjoy the ride And hell yeah thats what we did! The pictures will talk more for this day!

Hey Parry.. Glad to know you like what you see
I am pleased to know you are also from Lucknow. We shall definitely catch up once I am back (currently sailing). Regarding the GIR.. I would never dare to miss that grand opportunity, but unfortunately, I was on ship at that time too !! A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do

I shall be back in April/May.. We shall meet up and ofcourse you are more than welcome to join in for our weekend runs and then on the big ones

take care and ride safe !
Varun

some things ill like to add:
1: people are very very helpful
2: 3 things to follow in bhutan while riding/driving:
a: traffic limit is traffic limit, not just a board with a random number on it so follow it carefully
b: follow the directions carefully ie one way is one way not a two way.
c: always wear a helmet both rider and pillion 2.5k is the fine for no helmet for one and 5k if both pillion and rider is without one. (dont get confused if the people there call it "TOPA")
3: do not smoke in public the fine is 1.7k if you get caught, trust me i burned my penis while peeing, while hiding the cigarette.
4: toyota hilux is one awesome looking truck.