Re: The land of the Thunder Dragon: Bhutan!

Log Approved

Cheers!
VJ

Re: The land of the Thunder Dragon: Bhutan!

Lovely pics. Waiting for the rest of the log and the pics.

Re: The land of the Thunder Dragon: Bhutan!

Nice,,,, awaiting the rest with baited breath.

Re: The land of the Thunder Dragon: Bhutan!

Prologue:

April 2014: We 3 friends were trying to make the most out of our laziness- sitting in a hotel room at Gangtok, Sikkim. It was just the previous day we had been to Nathu-la. Relaxing, for the next day we need to return back again to the monotonous morning to late evening work. My mind started searching for the next holiday destination, during the Durga Puja. We were getting extended weekend from 1st to 5th Oct and some trip can be easily done within that time. Bhutan it is!

September 2014: I started out: are you guys still on for Bhutan? Both of them had the excitement missing! Their parents' won't let them be away from home during the pujas (its celebrated religiously, same as in Bengal). Final plan was chalked out, but that would need us to take leaves! It was approved from our offices and the date was fixed as 5th to 10th October.

Day 1: 5th Oct:

The route was decided as the same we took for Gangtok: Guwahati- Nalbari- Bongaigaon- Kokrajhar- Alipurduar- Hasimara, take diversion towards Phuentsoling.

That's the farthest of all among the routes from Guwahati to Bhutan, but looking at the security conditions of other routes, we proceeded for it.

We had made a calculation that when we had left at 5am from Guwahati, we had reached Gangtok by 8pm, covering 550 kms. Phuentsoling is way lesser at 350kms and we can start our day easy. Started off at 5:30am, picked Nilotpal (R15) from Tihu, 110 kms from Guwahati and by 11am we were in Kokrajhar, covering well above 200 kms. The 4 laning is almost complete till Bongaigaon. The Kokrajhar district part is the worst with lots of diversions, gravel in most of the parts. We stopped by a dhaba for breakfast. These dhabas can offer good tandoori roti and dal tadka!!





After an hour, we took the horrible road again and reached the WB border at Srirampur. Roads opened up to 4 lane again and the rev happy bikes could now breathe!
4 checkposts manned by 2-3 policemen each and taking our lead was the R15 with his Race Concepts exhaust, went past it screaming at 120kmph! Followed by the Duke 390 and me trailing, the look on the police's face was worth watching! Just when the sound of the R15 appears from around 100m, the cops would look at the approaching traffic, and its gone! Confused, they try looking back at the other sounds and by then we were gone too!

It was 12:30pm we stopped for some rest after the speed run.









The route towards Hasimara (NH37C) passes though the Dooars forest, scenic with some good roads.







By 4pm we were in Phuentsoling. The first reaction I had after we stepped off from India was "Sh**, we are in foreign land with our bikes, who knows what the rules of this country are!"

To my surprise, the locals were too polite and helpful to show our way to the parking lot and necessary places to visit for our permits.

The immigration office is just at the entrance, we made our permits but due to heavy tourist rush, it took almost 2 hours for the processing. And for those 2 hours, our bikes were there unattended, out of sight with gloves, helmet and all just kept on it. Not a single thing was touched. The parking attendant smiled when we asked about it and said "if anything would go missing, I will end up in jail". We paid him happily, double the parking charges and decided to go back to India and retire for the night, coz tobacco is banned in Bhutan and we didn't want to end up having problem on the first day itself! Later we realized its easy for foreigners.
Due to the heavy rush, most of the hotels were having "No Vacancy" board in their entrance and finally we found a decent room, suitable for 2 persons for 650 bucks.

Re: The land of the Thunder Dragon: Bhutan!

Nice so far. Waiting for the rest.

Re: The land of the Thunder Dragon: Bhutan!

Day 2: 6th October:

The city of Jaygaon was gearing up with school children, office goers and tourists by the time we woke up!
After breakfast, we checked out and reached the RSTA (Road Safety and Transport Authority) office in Phuentsoling by 11am.

We need to take permits for our bikes here to ride further into Bhutan. Procedure is simple and permits are issued within half an hour.

Procedure is:

An application citing the names of the tourists, address, purpose of visit, duration of stay, places to visit and vehicle registration numbers needs to be placed along with a copy of the entry permit issued by the Immigration Office for every individual, vehicle RC, Insurance, PUC and DL. It involves 2 rooms to be visited 5 times on the 1st and 2nd floors along with a visit to the accounts department to pay the entry tax of Nu.70 and get the permits.

To mention here, value of both Indian currency and Bhutanese is same. Indian Rupee is accepted.

We were done with it and was about to leave that I realized my bike's key is missing.

Search operation turned negative and we moved with the extra key.

Within 4-5 kms is the 1st checkpost. They check the vehicle and individual's permits.

And after that..... its all you need... take corners, practice fast-in, slow-out or vice versa, test the roll-on acceleration or simply admire the beauty, cruising along. Let the photos do the talking!



At the RSTA Campus, for the key!









Hills and Maggi... everywhere!











We met many bikers on the way, some having completely organised tour with backup van and all.

It was around 6pm we reached Thimphu.



The welcome is really amazing -- A board saying max speed limit is 50kmph and after 100m, a digital board displays your speed! Cops were present shortly after that.

We reached the business hub of Thimphu- Norjin Lam. While I awaited at the parking lot, my co-riders went to search for a hotel.
And they came with... tragedy I would say! A room 10feet by 8feet, without any windows, a double bed and a TV, attached bath for 1050 bucks!
All hotels were full. The streets were filled mainly of tourists than local people!
Somehow we managed to get some sleep.

That was only for 1 night as we shifted to a better, larger 4 bedded room the next morning as the transit tourists left.

Re: The land of the Thunder Dragon: Bhutan!

Yes, we need to learn some little things from Bhutan.

Re: The land of the Thunder Dragon: Bhutan!

Fantastic; how was the climate?
How did the bikes fair? - the R15 with RC exhaust at such an altitude, any fueling issues?

Re: The land of the Thunder Dragon: Bhutan!

Its really amazing how people respect tourists. So co-operative, friendly and humane! They don't even blow horn when the vehicle in front stops to drop a passenger! And traffic sense is something we should be really ashamed of. Will post a detailed note soon!

It is the best season to visit. Rains got over and winter was yet to arrive. Bright sunshine in mild cold weather. Next best is April.
Bikes were all good!! The R15 along with the P220 has done far worse locations like tawang, nathula, gurdongmar! In Bhutan he had put on the db killer as sound pollution is an issue there!

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Re: The land of the Thunder Dragon: Bhutan!

Day 3 : 7th Oct:


The day started with relocating our room. Being on a vacation mood, it was an easy going day. But tension followed us here too.


Nilotpal was scheduled to visit the Malaysian Grand Prix along with a team from Castrol. It was in morning that he received a mail saying the original passport need to reach Mumbai the day after, for visa purpose. The passport has just made its maiden visit to any foreign country, although without any entry stamps on it and now he needs to send it for some real stamps! Decided to cut short our trip by 2 days and skip central Bhutan. Some other time!!


Went for a spin around Thimphu by 3pm.


This is the expressway with 50kmph speed limit.










Some monastery









There it is.. Thimphu in the valley!




Local shopping, walking around in evening was the end of the day.











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Day 4: 8th Oct

We decided to visit Paro that day. The route is same as the return from Thimphu to Phuentsoling till Chuzom, where the road to Paro goes right for 30kms.

The encounter:

Having such blissed roads, its hard to keep the right hand in control. Some corners, good speeds and suddenly you see a cop with a speed gun, right at the exit.

My speed was roughly around 90kmph. Bhutan's highway limit is 50. Braked hard to bring it till 70 and I see the cop pull out his wireless. In the next turn were a bunch of cops, forming a human barricade and waved us down. He turned on the wireless to ask about my speed and the other one replied as 70.

In a recap of some article read on net, it said its better to pay the fine than use the Indian mentality of offering some Gandhi.

Assured of having served a bill, the cop came over to ask about our details, trip plans and all.
"60 pe chalega toh control pe rahega, 70 pe jayega toh uupar chala jayega" -- Thats all. Quite surprising!

It was till Paro we religiously kept it below 60kmph! :P











I decided to change the bike's oil here. Did it myself as only car mechanics were available there.
However, they gave a place to spill some oil.

Few pointers for Paro:

> Only international airport in Bhutan
> Airstrip is located in a valley, only a handful of pilots are permitted to land there.
> It feels like the wheels of the plane will touch your head while ascending or descending- Its that close.

Some glittering chrome from a distance... As we neared.







The famous Tiger Nest Monastary



Nope, we couldn't go up there. Reasons:
> We arrived quite late at 11am. Trekking uphill is 3 hrs and return is another 2.5 hrs. Time crunch.
> Horses will take you up, but still 4000 stairs to climb. And return by foot. Body won't permit.

Returned back to Thimphu by afternoon and the evening was spent fooling around!






























Day 5: 9th Oct:

This was going to be a tough day to ride. Nilotpal would need to reach Guwahati anyhow that day. Me and Partha decided to go slow and stay back at Phuentsoling. Left at 9am from Thimphu, we reached Phuentsoling at 12 noon. Looking at the speeds we were doing, there was no looking back to halt in Phuentsoling. Submitted the permits back the the checkpost, we started off. Guwahati in a day. Time no bar, be it midnight or early morning the next day, but the passport should reach the courier office by 10:30am (cutoff for same day delivery, intercity).

As we enter India, it felt really disgusting. Such crowd, mannerless traffic, honking all the way, poser boys trying to race with us, not allowing us to overtake.

Without any stop, we sped off along the same route as we went. 390 was doing around 150, R15 around 125 and me trying hard to maintain 90, occasionally bursting upto 130.

Bypassed Aliporeduar, made it near WB-AS border by 2pm.

There are dhabas lined up for being a border area with checkposts, where thousands of trucks pass through, transporting materials for the whole of North East.

Had our stomach full as we were only on a cup of coffee, 2 glasses of juices and some cakes since we woke up.

The people having their bottles open in the dhaba tried figuring out what that bike was... One is Pulsar, one is Yamaha, the other???

Here, the DB killer was removed from the R15. That was when we had the throttle at the max.

The same thing happened at the checkposts again. The look on those confused policemen is really funny. All above 120kmph, crisscrossing barricades.

It was nearing dark, the tinted visors was not supporting the view. Maintaining around 90kmph, there appeared an unsuspecting pothole and a heap of soil. The bike went on air, somehow managing the handle by the finger tips. The R15 also followed the sequence. The place wasn't safe enough to stop, change visors and take some rest, that when it was dusk. Somehow managed to reach Bongaigaon by 6pm. A tea stop, changed visors, bikes were inspected. As the time went by, traffic was sparse. Trucks, in the slowest lane, we went ahead without any trouble.

9:50 pm, we safely reached home. 1270 kms done.

Thimphu to Guwahati done in 13 hours.

Leaving Thimphu







Rehydrating!





Riders and the rides:

Partha Saikia on KTM 390 Duke, Guwahati

Nilotpal Kalita on Yahama R15, Guwahati

Vikrant Deka on Bajaj Pulsar 220, Guwahati


Full set of pics on fb: http://goo.gl/fnFpDc

Re: The land of the Thunder Dragon: Bhutan!

Congrats on your first International ride!:thumbup:

Some questions:
1. Why was the P220 struggling at 90kmph?
2. Hope no one suffered any bent rims in the pothole incident?
3. Can you mention some distances?

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Re: The land of the Thunder Dragon: Bhutan!

Thanks!

The 220 wasn't struggling. I restricted myself at 90, which was hard to maintain on such wide open roads! Also, the sleeping mat was tied up across the seat. High wind blasts folds it up! And 6000 rpm is a sweet spot for the 220, with ample standby power, offering some good mileage figures!

My rim is already bent up in city roads! However, nothing happened on that pothole. Forks were good too, for both the bikes!

Distances-

Guwahati to Phuentsoling: 350kms.

Phuentsoling to Thimphu- 150kms.

Thimphu to Paro- 60kms.

Re: The land of the Thunder Dragon: Bhutan!

Great. Bring it on!

Re: The land of the Thunder Dragon: Bhutan!

Our paths must have crossed on the 8th, I was on my way from Paro to Phuentsholing around the same time.

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