Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Thread Approved.

Cheers!
VJ

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Welcome to xBhp Tariq bhai

Not a photographer these are really beautiful pics.
Post the whole log soon..

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Lol I think you are good at both (First pic is fabulous). We are waiting.. Start Riding.

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

That's a nice start Tariq, and the travelogue seems interesting, waiting for the rest of the course..

P.S : you could have posted in the "Who are you" section as well, introducing yourself.

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Khan bhai please let's roll

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo


Thanks Nadeem! I had gone for a short trip , hence the delay , I will be posting tonight

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Sumitro , I will be posting tonight .. cheers !

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Thank you Sal for showing interest.. I didn't find the 'Who are you section" , will update it , once I find it .

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Thanks thedreamer09 , I am glad you liked it !

Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

The Background :


First time I actually saw Bhutan was through a video posted by the channel "newsX" on Youtube covering the Royal Enfield ride to Bhutan in 2012 ,it was a 25 minutes long video and it really got me going , I just loved the idea of riding in the Himalayas on a motorcycle and Bhutan sounded like an unexplored , magical,mystical place .

I had "liked" the Royal Enfield page on facebook and they were promoting the ride in full swing, they had this beautiful picture of the Tatsang monastery which looked really fascinating to me, I really wanted to join the ride but It was something way outside of my comfort zone,so I just let it be.

This is the video.

Living Cars: Royal Enfield Tour of Bhutan 2012 - NewsX - YouTube


This is the picture.





Fast forward almost 2 years and I had already done some solo trips on my motorcycle.

I was having this very strong urge to go on a long ride,I started looking for destinations on Google maps.I thought about Ladakh but I wanted to ride from Kolkata to a place, I didn't want to take flights or travel by train, since I could only manage a leave of 12 days , riding from Kolkata to Ladakh was obviously not feasible.


I started looking for another destination , I wanted to go North, somewhere in the mountains, I looked at Nepal , Darjeeling,Sikkim ,Bhutan .. BHUTAN!! My eyes got locked up on that country , the decision was taken instantly , the mind was made up ! and as Glen Hansard says "When your mind's made up , there is no point trying to change it".



The Pre-trip planning.

If you are planning a trip of more than 3000 kms to a foreign land and that too solo, you better be a jack of all trades.

I wasn't!

So the learning started...


First and foremost , the motor cycle itself , you need to know how to fix a punctured tyre ,a broken chain link ,you should know how to top up the engine oil , how to tighten the breaks,how to tighten the chain, how to fix a broken accelerator cable and clutch cable ,that's a bare minimum.

I was carrying the following spare parts :

2 Tubes
1 clutch cable
1 Accelerator cable
1 bulb ( headlight)
1 bulb (tail light)
10 (chain links)
2 spark plugs (used).


While I was getting my bike serviced for the trip I tried to keep a keen eye on what the mechanic was doing ,had a few discussions with him, I gathered as much knowledge as possible,got my hands dirty as well ,even though I didn't get a chance to do all of above but I was confident , when the time comes I would be able pull it off, I wouldn't have an option anyway.


Strangers are your friends when you traveling alone,I started talking to random strangers on the road , now this was the last thing I would do but I had to, I needed to get comfortable with strangers, I would simply walk up to a stranger and strike up a conversation. First few times it was kind of awkward, but I eventually started enjoying it, in fact loving it .


I always wanted to buy a DSLR, I had some savings and I had the perfect excuse , so I went for it ! when I got hold of the camera 2 days before the trip ,I didn't know what to do , did my research on how to operate a DSLR,went through some basics of photography and I was good to go.


I wasn't sure which route to take for Kolkata - SIlliguri.

a) Kolkata > Bardhaman > Bolpur> Rampurhat > Farakka > English Bazar > Raiganj >Dalkhola > Islampur > Silliguri (NH 34 - West Bengal)

b) Kolkata > Bardhaman> Bolpur > suri >Dumka > Bhagalpur > Purnia > Dalkhola > Kishan ganj >Islampur >Silliguri ( Via Jharkhand and Bihar)




Even though I was aware that NH34 is in tatters, I chose the former route because I didn't want to travel via Dumka, which I am told is inhabited by maoists.

That was a big mistake I must admit , NH 34 is like the surface of the moon from South to North Bengal,it was much worse than I had anticipated,add rains to that and it becomes a nightmare.

I came back via Bihar route , I didn't mind getting kidnapped/killed by maoists but I didn't want to go back on NH34, that's how bad it was !




The Journey begins ...


I had planned to leave home at 4 in the morning , day before, I went to my mechanic for a final check up of my motorcycle , few of my friends came to meet me, we shared some laughs, they wished me luck and I came back home.

It was 11 pm , I still had some packing to do , I put "Daft Punk- Get lucky" on repeat and started packing , once the packing was done it was already 2:30 am , I thought about sleeping , but I was too excited to go to sleep , so I decided to listen to music and chill.


4 in the morning I loaded my luggage , I have a Viaterra claw , which is extremely easy to load/unload and I was on my way to Bhutan !!. .. Hell yeah !



Day 1 - A tough ride ! from Farakka it started raining heavily ,I have been repeatedly saying NH 34 is a nightmare, I rode for almost 16 hours and I could only reach till Raiganj, which is like 400 kms from Kolkata.


It was 7:30 pm and I was completely wet and extremely tired I wanted to reach silliguri on the first day itself , my mind was saying keep going but I decided to call it a day, which I now feel was a wise decision. I checked in a hotel which had just opened a week back , so everything was brand new ,it felt comforting and the room costed me just 300 bucks for a night.I slept like a child. Sorry guys , I didn't get a chance to take out my camera , it was raining all along, so no pictures on day 1.


I spoke to the locals at Raiganj and they told me not to take the conventional route i.e highway to Dalkhola which connects to NH31 , they told me about a bypass which goes through the villages and meets NH31 at Islampur , I was soo happy that the nightmare would finally be over.



Day 2 - Woke up early ,it was still raining and I still had about 12 kms to cover on NH 34 ,maximum speed possible was 30 kms/hr so the last 12 kms felt like 120 kms and finally a right turn came from where the bypass started.

It was a beautiful single lane road , no traffic , no pot holes , no trucks and a lot of greenery around, and the post -rain weather added to the charm,after the tough ride on day 1 , this was like a breath of fresh air .






This stretch was beautiful , if I had taken the Bihar route , I wouldn't have been able to ride on this beautiful road , there is always a brighter side to almost every situation.








As I rode , the clouds started to clear up a bit , and I got to see some Sun.









Approaching Islampur , I stopped to clean/lube my chain, NH 31 was waiting for me , I wanted my machine to be in perfect shape for the Highway, within 5 minutes I was mobbed by the people from the nearby village , a 6ft 2 guy wearing all this weird gear , looking like a robo cop, the way they were checking me out I felt like an alien who just landed from outer space.






A picture of me








Here's a picture of the tea gardens from Islampur, the weather was beautiful and the air was smelling like tea , I took off my helmet , took a deep breath and felt a sense of gratitude, I felt glad I was alive.







I didn't want this stretch to end but after a couple of hours of riding, the single lane met the 4 lane NH 31, it was smooth as silk . I was remembering yesterday , such a huge contrast from massive potholes , nonstop rain , slush, speeds of 20-30 kms/hr to the buttery smooth highway , no rains and speeds of 80-100 kms/hr.

It was liberating , to say the least.











As I was approaching Silliguri , the terrain started changing , I started coming across tea gardens , in no time , I had tea gardens on both the sides and the air was filled with the smell of fresh tea leaves.






I don't know why but whenever I see tracks , I can't help but take a picture , there you go ...









I was doing 90kmph constantly and in no time I reached Silliguri , called my folks to inform them about my safe arrival , I decided to reach the border city of Bhutan i.e
Phuentsholing on the same day itself , after a short break of half an hour , I started riding again.


I came across this bridge in Sevoke , it was not allowed to stop on the bridge but I couldn't leave without taking a picture , I quickly took out my camera , took a few shots and started moving again .

Here's the view from the Sevoke bridge.







The terrain was changing by every passing kilometer, I was really enjoying the ride, streams coming down from the mountains , long straight roads passing through the jungles, monkeys on the trees and sometimes on the road as well, it was getting really exciting.


There were small hoardings on the road requesting people to not disturb elephants if they come across one. I was hoping I would come across one , but sadly I didn't

Here's the road.




Well,I didn't come across any Elephant on the road but i did see an Elephant bathing in the river ..







Streams coming down from the mountains.
















I finally reach Phuentsholing- Bhutan.

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Remembering my days of North Bengal seeing this wowww Picture Thanks Khan Bhai.

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

My respects to you bro... absolutely fantastic t-log and you sound like an out and out explorer too... a pleasure reading through...

Love it Tariq bhai...

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Beautiful Pics
Beastly Bike
And obviously a very sane rider !

My head was having all these thoughts about Bhutan Trip from last 3 days and here is your thread
(Don't know why I was not coming on xBHP !)

Bro :
1. Please add rest of the story here only in this last post via EDIT.
Because adding more posts between others post adds a bit of problem and we might miss your Travelogue !

2. Please write up the Necessary things also needed before and while Traveling / crossing border and while being in Bhutan !



*I'm waiting for more. Reading each Word this time ! *

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

You're welcome Sumitro_d.

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Thanks Vykier, I am glad you liked it .. cheers

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Thanks Sird, both your points noted , I am still new to xbhp ,still figuring out how things work here.
I shall provide as much information as possible.

Cheers !

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Hi bro, u r both a good writer & photographer too. Loved ur travelogue n pics r really great... Keep coming...

Sent from my Lenovo P780_ROW using xBhp Connect mobile app

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Great pictures Tariq Bhai. Waiting for more

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Thanks Sirish_G ! .. hope you enjoy the rest of the log too

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Thanks Mohsin ! more coming up soon ...