Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Very nice stuff...really liked it.
Some very nice photos too..

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Respect.. .

Amazing and inspiring at the same time.

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

nice trip, great pics.

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

8TariqKhan8 : Wow we are glued...

Only God knows when NH34 will be repaired despite it being on of the most used roads in Eastern India.
Looks like you did this in the monsoons and took the Mal- Meteli route (Tarai -Duars) route . There is another route through the other side of Jalpaiguri - Mynaguri.

Tariq - Would like to know how safe was it in Bhutan...

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo


Thanks nooblet !

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Thanks Shashank... cheers !

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Thank you.. I see you reside in Lonavla , that's a beautiful place , I was in Pune for 4 months but I didn't have a motor cycle back then , would have been amazing exploring the Western Ghats, the whole stretch is amazing , especially during monsoons

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I took the following route :

Kolkata > Bardhaman > Bolpur> Rampurhat > Farakka > English Bazar > Raiganj >Dalkhola > Islampur > Silliguri


Till Rampurhat the road is EXCELLENT NH34 starts somewhere around Farakka and that's where the nightmare starts.

If you ask me , how safe it was in Bhutan , I would say its the safest place on earth , never felt more safe ever, The people are very helpful and courteous, I met so many amazing people in Bhutan ,the way the Bhutanese treated me , it was overwhelming. I will be sharing stories and pictures of people I met in Bhutan ..stay tuned

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Tariq, do you think taking NH81 from Farakka to Purnia, effectively bypassing NH34 will help? I m planning to do Kolkata > Gangtok in March.

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

I would suggest you to take the Bhagalpur route , you will get all Highways from Kolkata till silliguri, even though the distance is 100 odd kms more but it actually takes the same time ,if not less. Just make sure you cover the Dumka region in broad day light .

Very important - From Suri do not go towards rampurhat , get off the the Highway and ask the locals the direction for "Pattabadi". its a by pass which goes around the Massanjore dam , and connects 114 A, 114 A goes straight to Dumka.

Suri> Rampurhat road is pathetic , avoid it .


ALternatively , yes taking NH 81 from Farakka will save you some trouble , but I would still suggest you to take the bhagalpur route , its faster and roads are excellent all the way till silliguri.

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Wonderful pics there Tariq! Btw can you please update us with a google map with place markers for us to understand the route easily?


Thanks

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Wonderful pics there Tariq! Btw can you please update us with a google map with place markers for us to understand the route easily?


Thanks

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Hi Tarik,

Awesome pics,

Also, please share your Trip Cost + Packing List

I just can't wait for more....I have check thrice since last 24hrs, just to check if you have updated.

Thanks for the Share....

Please update asap....

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Every pics you posted so far is pure wallpaper material .. Bull is looking best... Liked it.. Bring the rest soon.

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Thanks mate ! I will paste the route map with place markers for your reference.

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Thanks a lot Yusuf , I appreciate it ... sorry for the wait , been a liltle busy these days with work and stuff , I edit pictures and write content whenever I get some time off , I will be posting soon .

Cheers !

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Thanks Aniruddha , if you liked what you saw , I am sure you will love the rest of the log , I haven't even reached Bhutan yet

Cheers !

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

8TariqKhan8 First of all congrats for making it happen. I must say very nicely, cleanly and precisely written. To the point yet elaborated.

Pictures are not only wonderful but very lively. One could (I could at least) get the feel of the place and could connect with it. Well done buddy....please continue.

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Thanks gyan_recl350 for the kind words .. next up is drama at phuenthsholing and the ride from Phuentsholing to Thimphu, lots of greenery , twisty curvy roads ahead , I am done with editing waiting for my broadband to start working , BSNL you know !

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Earlier Posts :

Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo - xBhp.com : The Global Indian Biking Community

http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/tourer/28320-bhutan-royal-enfield-thunderbird-350-solo-post1036219.html#post1036219

Motorcycle travelogues by thousands of xBhpians from across the world.

*Long Post , might take some time for the pictures to load*


The drama at Phuentsholing..


The Indian-Bhutanese border has the small town "Jaigaon" on the Indian side and the city of Phuentsholing on the Bhutanese side.
There is a huge gate/checkpost which stands as the divider between the two countries.

I asked the guard standing at the gate about the the process I need to follow to enter Bhutan , to my surprise he kept waving his hand and allowed me to enter the country without even asking a single question or checking my id proof,etc.

As I crossed the big gate, I was already getting a feeling that I was in a foreign land , everything looked different , the people , the roads , the structure of buildings, the cleanliness, the traffic or the lack of it . Such a huge contrast and I had not even moved 100 meters inside the border , just across the border was "Jaigaon" , which is like any other small town in India.

I parked my bike, looked around for few minutes and thought I should head towards Thimphu, it was already 3 Pm and Thimphu is like 160 Kms away.

But then I started getting skeptical even though I had already entered Bhutan,why there was no checking , why I wasn't asked for permit etc.
I felt , it's better to find out from someone rather than risk getting in trouble later on.
Just across the road , I saw a few cops standing, I crossed the road and told them"I thought I was supposed to get a permit for myself and my motorcycle to enter Bhutan" they acknowledged the fact and told me that I am standing in front of the immigration office and pointed me towards the counter where they were issuing the permit.

Turns out that Indians can move freely in and out of phuentsholing without any paper-work, infact they are allowed to work and do business without a work-permit but phuentsholing is the only exception.The first check post is about 5-7 kms from Phuenthsoling on the Thimphu-Phuentsholing Highway, you won't be allowed to move any further without a valid permit issued by the immigration office at Phuentsholing.

I headed to the counter, there must be around 15 people in the queue, since it was a Sunday the office closes at 4 Pm , I thought if I waited for my turn , I am definitely not getting the permit today , I decided to speak to the officials directly , I knocked on the door they asked me to come in ,all the officials were wearing the traditional Bhutanese dress called "Gho".

I told them about my situation ,they asked for my papers, any photo id proof would actually do but I had brought my passport, so I handed it over to them , I get a question "How many people are there in your group ?" and that's when the drama started.


When I told them I am traveling solo they refused to give me permit , they don't allow solo travelers on a motorcycle because of the risk involved in the mountains, Bhutan is a scarcely populated country,you don't find many people on the road, villages and towns are separated by a good 50-60 kms with nothing but the wilderness in between , Eastern part is even more scarcely populated.

I had not traveled 1000 kms to turn around and go back home .I kept trying to persuade them but they didn't look like they were gonna change their decision.

I requested them to reconsider, but all I got was a "No". I asked them if there is any higher official I can talk to, they told me the senior officer would come tomorrow i.e Monday , the other option that I have is to get a travel agent, who could take my complete responsibility, atleast on the paper. They gave me a number , I called him up , he came to the office and I asked him how much do I have to pay for his services, he asked 5000 Nu, if I remember correctly .

The value of Bhutanese currency is same as Indian currency i.e 1 rupee = 1 Nu, Indian currency is happily accepted throughout Bhutan.

I tried negotiating the amount he came down to 4000 bucks. Still the idea of paying 4000 bucks for a piece of paper that the travel agent would submit at the immigration office wasn't going down my throat. It was already 4pm I decided to spend the night at Phuentsholing and try my luck next morning.

I checked in a hotel , had bath and decided to explore phuentsholing on foot,I had been on the road for 2 consecutive days , headed straight to the the barber's shop got a haircut and a body massage and started exploring the city.

I roamed around for a couple of hours, went to Jaigaon as well , spoke to a lot of strangers there , I told them about my situation , one of them advised me to apply for my permit with another group of bikers , now if I am lucky , may be a group of bikers might come tomorrow and I would be able to join them.

Another guy told me that the senior officers are actually very nice and if I am able to convince them ,they might give me the permit. I also had some chit chat with a Jawan from Indian BSF ,with all that information in hand , I went back to my room set the alarm for 8 am went off to sleep.



Day 3


The drama continues ..


Next morning I went straight to the main immigration office,there were a lot of people already waiting but I didn't see any bikers so I filled up the immigration form and submitted at the counter.

Turns out the Server was down and the immigration process cannot be started until the server is back up, I was getting a bit impatient because I had limited number of days , I cannot afford to waste any time.But there was no other option but to wait.
I took the "opportunity" to talk to more strangers, I started with the person sitting next to me , this guy was a Nepali guy born and brought up in Bhutan , married to a Bhutanese girl.

He was a social worker, who is currently working on the agenda of youth employment in cooch bihar,I even saw his photo on some of the hoardings in Phuentsholing and Jaigaon.Just 10 minutes into the conversation and he told me if I needed any help in Bhutan I could call him up , that was a very nice gesture .He too was into touring in his younger days , I could see he was genuinely concerned about my safety, kept telling me about the do's and dont's, he was repeatedly asking me to avoid traveling at night as there are no street lights and the roads are narrow.

As we were talking I realized that I had dropped/left my bike keys somewhere,since I was carrying a spare key , I thought there was no point going hunting for it , I was being lazy actually but this guy said I shouldn't take any risk because I would be on the road for the next day 10 days , if I lose the spare key , I would be stuck for good.

So we went hunting,we went to the petrol pump where I had parked my bike, I thought I might have left the keys in the bike itself but it wasn't there.I had gone to Jaigaon to withdraw money , since my debit card won't work inside Bhutan, I needed enough cash to last me for at least 10 days and obviously some buffer, while coming back I had bought a pair of socks , we went to the same shop and asked the shop owner if I had left my keys there , what a relief ! I had actually left the keys at that shop, he made me buy a new key ring , the one with a lock which can be attached to my belt loop. That was a good idea , the keys were securely attached to my belt loop , I should have done that in the first place


While coming back, we went to a restaurant for some refreshments ,I thanked him for the courtesy he showed towards me and then he left.

While walking back to towards the immigration office I saw a group of bikers, 2 guys and a girl , the couple was on a Royal Enfield Classic 350 and the other guy was riding a Karizma, I inquired them where they are coming from , they too had come from Kolkata, they came via Bihar route and advised me to take the same on the way back home ,I asked them if we could ride together till Thimphu so that I could tell the immigration officer that we are traveling together and I would get the permit without any problem, they totally agreed and I was happy !

Kinley - 1

I met three people with the name "kinley" in Bhutan. All three were extremely kind to me.I would love to share the story of all them.
Here's how I met the first Kinley, I came out of the immigration office, I saw a guy sitting just outside , I was a bit tired so I went and sat next to him, I said Hi and we started talking,usually I don't like talking too much,I would rather be by myself than go and talk to someone. But that's the beauty of traveling solo,you do things you don't usually do when you are at home, you leave all your inhibitions behind , you get countless opportunities to step outside of your comfort zone.Traveling solo is one of the most liberating things you will ever experience in your life, as you keep moving forward all the unfamiliar places and all the strangers that you come across become part of your story, isn't that beautiful !


This guy was a Bhutanese , born and brought up in Bhutan itself. He looked very young to me but he was already married , he actually got married to his school time girl friend and he also has a kid ,another one on the way, I don't judge people but if I had to , I would judge them by the vibes I get from them.
I liked the vibes I was getting from him , he looked like an honest, genuine person.We spoke about our lives , Kinley actually spent some time in Pune completing his Hotel Management.He was also sent to Bangalore by Bhutanese government to attend some call centre training but he left it all and came back to Bhutan ,I am glad he did.It was really wonderful talking to him.

He actually invited me for lunch , will you believe it! it's just been half an hour since I know him. I obviously accepted the invitation , he had a maruti Zen , we hopped into his car and went to a restaurant . We discussed about things I could do in Thimphu , the road condition in Central and Eastern Bhutan, he told me how/where to get a local sim card , he told me about a Bhutanese cuisine that I can try , mind you Bhutanese LOVE chilli ,its not for everyone, you better advise the cook before hand or else you might end up with teary eyes and burning lips /tongue.

Kinley left for his relative's place after lunch , we decided to meet later in the day once I am through with the immigration process.


After lunch I went back to the office it was 3 Pm and I got the good news, the server was back up ,I took a sigh of relief and waited for my turn. A Lot of people were advising me to stay the night at phuentsholing and leave next day early morning for Thimphu. But I desperately wanted to leave today itself.The lady at the counter announced my name, I walked up to her , she asked me if I was alone I told her "yes but I would be traveling with a group of bikers till Thimphu". She handed me my form and asked me to meet the senior officer "Dasho" ( Royal family member) upstairs.

I went upstairs, asked the "Dasho" if I could come in , I went inside and he started shooting questions like "Where have you come from ?" "Where are you planning to go?""How many days will you be in Bhutan?" "What do you do for a living?" I told him I am a software engineer and the next question was " Are you planning to do business in Bhutan , the engineers come from outside and they start doing business?", I told him I have no plans of doing any kind of business , I am just a traveler and the purpose of my visit is just to see your beautiful country and go back home with photos and memories.

The Q&A went for 10 minutes and he finally signed my form , I thanked him and ran downstairs to the counter and submitted my form.
Now the next challenge was getting the permit for my bike , without which I couldn't ride in Bhutan , The bike's permit is given at another office which closes at 4 pm.

To add to the drama, the printer at the immigration office stopped working.

They advised us to go to the counter near the border to get the prints.I rushed to the counter, the prints were still not coming, I don't know why,I waited desperately and finally they got the print out and I had my permit in hand , it felt like I won a lottery or something , I rushed to the office where they would give the bike's permit, by the time I reached there the office was closed, I still went inside and requested them to give the permit , but they said the officer has already left.

Another day "wasted"..

I went back to the restaurant where I had the lunch with Kinley. But he was not there , so I decided to ride till the first check post just to get an idea of what's in store for me .I was too desperate to start riding in Bhutan but the first check post is the furthest I could go without the bike's permit.

Thimphu is at a much higher altitude than Phuentsholing, more than 2 Kms above sea level.
The roads are twisty and curvy with some amazing scenery on the way. I rode for 10-15 minutes and I reached the check post. The view from the top was beautiful , Jaigaon and Phuentsholing can be seen from the top with "Torsa" river flowing along side.

It was dark, I wish I was carrying a tripod , I took a picture anyway.




I went back to the restaurant , I saw kinley waiting for me , he was carrying my riding jacket in his hand which I had left it in his car in the afternoon, he handed over the jacket to me and looked like a relieved person , he thought I might have left for Thimphu without taking the jacket.

We went hotel searching and I finally liked a place and checked in with my luggage , Kinley came to my room ,after a bit of chit chat, he told me he was going to Chukha (a small town on the Thimphu Phuentsholing highway) for work and he might leave early in the morning , so we might not get a chance to meet , I told him I would meet him in the morning, we could go till Chukkha together .

We said good byes in case we dont get a chance to meet in the morning and he left , I went off to sleep.


Day 4

Woke up at 8 am and felt like pampering my motorcycle , I washed it with water and shampoo and lubed the chain and other joints.


I reached the office just before 9 am , mind you Bhutan is half an hour ahead of India, I had to adjust my time accordingly.
This time there were no surprises , I got the permit without much problem.

I decided to keep extra copies of the permit, met this cutie at the xerox shop..





I didn't see the bikers that I had met yesterday at the office .Kinley must have left early in the morning , I was really hoping I would meet him again at Chukkha,I was too excited after getting all the permits,I didn't even bother waiting for the biker group, I embarked on the journey alone.
I went to the petrol pump and got the tank full , petrol is about 12-14 rupees cheaper in Bhutan compared to India.

Finally ,after all the drama I had to bear for 2 days , I was on my way to Thimphu.
As you start climbing up , the temperature dips down , the road was excellent , I started coming across stunning scenery , it was green all around , with clear blue skies .

After riding for about 20 kms ,I saw a group of Bhutanese officers guarding the road , most of them were young and they were wearing the traditional dress ,actually its the rule by Bhutanese Government that all officials will have to wear the "Gho" when they are on duty.They stopped me for checking my papers I had met most of them at the immigration office back at Phuentsholing , they were surprised that I got the permit, we shared some laughs and after finding my papers to be okay , they signed it , wished me luck and let me go.

Catch a glimpse of the highway ..






Torsa river can be seen in the picture below, just along side is the city of phuentsholing (where the smoke is coming from)





Another view of Phuentsholing and Torsa river.




The twisty curvy roads that I love so much





The snake running through the mountains.





The Thimphu-Phuentsholing Highway is in excellent condition. I was doing 60-70 and trust me that's a very high speed in the mountains.This was relatively a broad road.





On the way to Thimphu.




The hairpin bends.







Stream flowing down the valley.






Know what ! I actually got to meet Kinley again..

The picture below was taken at Chukha, the road- roller seen on the right belongs to the company he works for, it broke down in 2011 and they finally decided to dismantle it and take it back to Thimphu that was my friend "kinley's" assignment. We clicked a few pictures together,
then said our final good bye's and I started moving again.



'


I saw some monkeys on the trees, I put the bike on side stand and ran towards the monkeys to shoot them ( with my camera of course )

Because of the slant, the bike moved forward and the stand lifted , what happened next can be seen below

Because of the slant and extra weight,it was difficult to lift the bike back up , I had to ask a truck driver to help me out , Bhutanese are very helpful , always ready to lend a hand .





This was a small town that I came across on the way to Thimphu, I don't remember the name but I do remember that it was very windy out here.






Roads carved through the mountains.




Enroute- Thimphu.







The sun going down behind the mountains, few rays playing peek-a-boo..





Does it qualify as a selfie ?
















Approaching Thimphu , this broad road started ,I absolutely loved riding on this stretch.Good speeds were possible but I was maintaining 50-60,enjoying each and every moment of it












Chuzom - This is the point from where you can take a left for Paro,I decided to go to Thimphu instead.








Reached Thimphu.









Tashichho Dzong - Thimphu.





Entering Thimphu.














Next up - Thimphu and Paro.

Re: Bhutan- Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.Solo

Mind blowing pics Tariq bhai, simply Mind blowing , amazing , fantastic pics along with such a beautiful travelogue. Being a silent viewer i rarely do post in threads here, in Xbhp, but your travelogue forced me to post here bro, its that amazing to read. Post the rest of it soon man, waiting for it like anything.

Cheers,
Ashish.