Re: North by North-East: Katoom goes to Sikkim and Bhutan

Travelogue Approved

Please do complete it soon. Looks good !!

Re: North by North-East: Katoom goes to Sikkim and Bhutan

WOW!!
Bring it on..!!

Re: North by North-East: Katoom goes to Sikkim and Bhutan

Superb start!
Bring on the rest.

Re: North by North-East: Katoom goes to Sikkim and Bhutan

Thank you Full effort is being put to finish it!

Thank you gentlemen


PREPARATIONS

The first thing I wanted to get done was the pannier rack to hold the saddle bag stable. This was done from scratch and I
rode the bike home to Mangalore as a test run. Seemed good, came back and did a paint job with aerosol spray cans.
Next was to get hold of some essential spares. I dint want leave to many things to a chance factor.

-Installed new clutch cable for the sake of peace of mind.
-New brake pads on the front - old one was totally worn out.
-Hazard warning lights installed - did this myself as I do not trust mechanics.
-Spares bought - spark plug, side stand sensor, throttle cable, few nuts and bolts, headlamp bulb, brake and clutch levers,
brake and gear shifters(alloy, hence delicate). I wanted to carry a spare battery, keeping in mind the mess during the
Spiti ride but the service center folks said not to worry. This would haunt me dearly later!
-Bike had just undergone the third free service. But went to the service center couple of days before the train journey to
get the chain adjusted and re-torque all the nuts.
-Packed a minimal set of tools - Allen key set, few spanners, digital tester, wire, pliers, adjustable wrench, chain lube,
WD40, electrical tape and few important nuts and bolts.

My personal items included:
Sunscreen SPF50, 6 shirts, 3 denims, sleepers, loads of undergarments, shawl, leather jacket, first aid kit, toilet kit, DLSR, GoPro borrowed from the clutch baba Suraj, riding gear.
So it was Rynox saddle bags and a tail pack for all the things to go in.
Carried all bike documents in original and my passport, keeping Bhutan permits in mind, along with few photographs.

Need to mention a special thanks to Vasant again for getting me an EQ train ticket, just like during the Spiti ride
I owe you one brother!

My riding jacket's zipper had gone kaput so borrowed Gaurav's and also his tail pack. Decided to leave behind my tank bag
as I wanted maximum freedom at the handlebar area. Thank you Karlitoz
Its become a tradition to borrow one of his things - the pannier for the Machismo during Spiti ride. So Gaurav you need to
thank me for taking your things places!

Anjan dada saved my ass by helping with the permits for North Sikkim and Zuluk beforehand. I did not want to reach Gangtok and then get into this babugiri, wasting time.
Manish bhai, xKmph founder member and rider from Gangtok for getting the permits done, all the help while in Gangtok and arranging for my stay there at his marvelous guest house.

Cheers to you all!

Re: North by North-East: Katoom goes to Sikkim and Bhutan

Great start
Keep it coming!

Re: North by North-East: Katoom goes to Sikkim and Bhutan

Superb so far.

Re: North by North-East: Katoom goes to Sikkim and Bhutan

So far so good...bring in some clicks...:thumbup:

Sent from my GT-I8262 using xBhp Connect mobile app

Re: North by North-East: Katoom goes to Sikkim and Bhutan

woow man i just today came in from bhutan ride itself,,,,,,, ,, whole bhutan specially road leading to Paro is exceptionally beautiful and man o man any biker's paradise ,,, just the dream like twists and turns are there,,,,,,, amazing,,,,,, bring it on man,,,,,,

Re: North by North-East: Katoom goes to Sikkim and Bhutan

nice pics...post the rest of it.

Re: North by North-East: Katoom goes to Sikkim and Bhutan

Nice start waiting for the rest..

Re: North by North-East: Katoom goes to Sikkim and Bhutan

It's raining Bhutan this season, and I am enjoying the ride.
Awe-inspiring start to say the least, wonderfully penned down. Bring it on, mate!

Re: North by North-East: Katoom goes to Sikkim and Bhutan

THE START

I somehow want to start the log with the ending - the return ride from Calcutta to Bangalore. Perhaps because it was
monotonous, tiring, challenging and somewhat eventful at times/places. Do I sound like Christopher Nolan? No, not really

It took three days to reach Bangalore:
Calcutta-Puri. Approx 720kms. 10hrs.
Puri-Rajamundry(AP). 630kms. 11hrs.
Rajamundry-Bangalore. 880kms on the odo. My longest for a day on the Katoom. Took 16hrs.
Last 200kms consumed close to 5hrs, thanks to the rain and the blinding headlamps in two lane roads.

Did not click many photos during this part of the ride since my only motto was to munch kilometers and reach Bangalore
safe and sound by Oct 25. This part took a real toll on me, testing the perseverance and endurance. The only part I
greatly cherish in this leg is the stay at Puri, Orissa.

120ish kms from Calcutta, I started hearing loud noise from the front sprocket area. Until then I was ripping hard and had
covered the distance in about 90mins, including the fcuked up city traffic. Stopped for a smoke and spoke to Partho at KTM
Calcutta. Finally I decided to visit the Kharagpur service station which was about 14kms and there was received like a
star wars character! People always had the same questions, how far, how long, where to, where from, wow blah blah.
The mechanics spoke to Partho and were able to see that a metal shroud behind the front sprocket was scraping the chain,
thanks to the Sikkim's beating and also that the chain was too tight at couple of points. Gave them my chain lube and
after 30mins took a test ride and was satisfied that I can move on. After this I constantly did 100ish kms non stop
stretches as the roads were good. Whenever I stopped, did some body stretches and every 400kms or so, lubed the chain,
along with my lube - chai and sutta.

Once I took the deviation to Puri from Bubaneshwar, the two lane road which was well marked and paved greeted me.
The evening mood at 6PM was pleasant and I could feel the coastal flavor in the breeze.
But the last 15kms to Puri was bad with too many diversions owing to the road construction and I was now feeling the exhaustion of the long day.
3kms before reaching the small town of Puri, I stopped for a tea and could hardly see anything.
Loads of dust and grime on the face, thanks to the sunscreen and tons of dead flies on the helmet's visor.
Not to mention the sore butt - it was a miracle that I could still sit on the sit but then every pothole or road irregularity made me curse,invoke god. Terrible torture!

Then I found the beach road, as usual pestered by tourists so kept riding on alongside the beach until the crowd vanished.
Now the tar disappeared and I had to ride on sand mixed with mud so salsa time on the Katoom again
Inquired couple of good looking resorts but they were too expensive and in the end, saw a huge, architectural beauty almost styled in the likes of a palace.
I told myself, Sid, you have earned this stay so even it meant expensive, just bargain and get hold of a room. No more energy to find another place.
The lady at the reception told the tariff was Rs7000 per night. I just replied 'AND?'. She continued and said there was a diwali offer of 50% off. Discount my ass!
I told her that I cannot petty bargains and wished to hear the last quote on the room and it turned out to be Rs2500(again, was so damn tired that I actually heard this as Rs1500).
Agreed to it, two servants ran off towards the bike to get the luggage.
The room was GREAT. Absolutely gorgeous with a balcony facing the beach.
Alright, my finance has gone for a toss but this one night, let me relish the completion of Sikkim and Bhutan!

Got a shower, called up the restaurant for some food and a bottle of whiskey. The whole day my Katoom drank loads of fuel now it was my turn
Spent about an hour on the beach and that really calmed me down.
I have this inexplicable attraction and connection with the waves that I totally get into a state of serenity.


My hotel at Puri@RHS corner


Next day's plan was to ride to Konark sun temple, which was 35kms far and then visit the world famous Jagannath temple.
After which I would ride about 100-150kms towards Bangalore.

It so happened that the next morning once I started the ride towards Konark, the handlebar seemed extremely stiff and at low speeds could hardly turn it.
Hmm, puncture is not a possibility since I had filled both the tires with slime but then perhaps too low air pressure.
Blew the tires up at a shop and rode on but the issue was not solved. Once I reached Konark, went to a good puncture shop and asked him to test for a puncture. He confirmed that there were none and topped the blow again. So now my accusing finger was on the cone set which had taken a severe beating in the Sikkim leg. I had no optins so just visited the Sun Temple. Beautiful place but ASI had placed frame structures for the repair work which meant I could not take good pictures.
To add to that, I had not taken any breakfast and was getting severe dehydration. So just clicked couple of pics for the heck of it and rode back to Puri.
With this whole set of drama, the time was almost 12.30PM. Got a quick shower and called up the pandit to say that am coming to the temple in 15min.

There was a car that was about to leave off from my hotel and I asked them if they could drop me off at the auto stand.
It turned out to be a good chat with the father-son duo in the car and they were very appreciative of what I was doing.
After an auto ride and a 20min walk, reached the temple. Huge crowds owing to the day - Diwali.
Took the darshan ticket, panditjee took on a guided walk and after 2hrs I came out of the temple.
I usually am not a person who prefers going to temples for the only reason being the crowd, sweat, business minded darshans and the fellows who pick pockets.
Am happy praying from where I was, irrespective of the place and time.

But this darshan was actually good and just thinking of the fact that I was at a place where people stood about 2000years ago as well gave me goosebumps!
The huge, magnificent triangular flag on the top of the temple's ~200 feet gopuram was fluttering constantly and my eyes would involuntarily get drawn towards them.


Konark Sun temple



The only shot I could get of the magnificent Puri Jagannath temple. Such a shame!
BTW, the flag on top is about 14foot wide, incredible, isnt it?



This was a surprise. The panditjee just gave it to me without asking. So yummy and made of malai with some rasgulla kind of sweet in the milk solution.


So it was 3PM when I came back to the hotel and just told myself - Sid, you are so screwed and yes, you gotta stay here for tonight as well.
Because, the checkout time was supposed to be at 1 and I still had to eat something(nothing since the last night) and pack the bags.
How hard was it to understand that this move royally labeled my finance as literally in-debt.
I calmly accepted it and went over to the reception and told the guy about my decision and also to round off the room charges to a lower figure, which he did.

Went for a 3kms walk along side the beach in the evening and it was really refreshing.
The body had lot of aches and cramps. This break meant some recovery and liver had seen too much of a free time anyway
This is when I noticed a bunch of local women giving out loud, high pitched howls and throwing some coins to the sea.
Well, this is interesting, I thought and hence asked a person who was on the beach, next to me.
What he told me is incredible - the howls and the coins is a spiritual act which meant thanking the sea
and this would attract the waves real close towards the persons who do this act.
As strange it might seem, I did notice a sudden rush of the waves towards me when these ladies gave the shout but then I did not connect it with them.
I think there are so many things which cannot really be proved but cant be denied either.


Look at the Mahindra..



Dusk walk(not brisk walk) alongside Puri's beach..



My cockpit




Tashi finds a girlfriend at Vizag!!!


As I said earlier, it was Diwali and the staff at the hotel were bursting loads of crackers and I enjoyed looking at their laughter, clicking pics of the fireworks.
They requested me to join them and when I went downstairs, one of the rocket almost got me
My mind issued a red alert, so got the bike keys and parked it further safe.
The last thing I wanted was a rocket burning my Katoom down and stranding the ride in a manner which could be a xBhp first.
What the hell would I say - I could not ride back home because a damned rocket blew the Katoom? Would be hilarious, at my cost of course!







Happy diwali at Puri...


I never thought Puri as a destination but this two night stay really changed my perception. It is a beautiful place and has good number of attractions nearby. Unfortunately, my plan of riding along the Chilika lake and also taking the shortcut by loading the bike on the ferry across the lake could not be done.

When I rode off from my mahal, the manager said hats off blah blah and wished me luck. I did not know where I would be staying for the night or how long I would be riding.
I felt like a wanderer, no goals, no timings but only determined to reach back Bangalore on Oct25th.


Sunrise while I rode out of Puri..



Early morning sunshine, towards Bhubaneshwar.



Bye for now, Puri


As usual, did 100+ kms between every chai breaks. That was the only way to munch so many monotonous miles.
While at Vishakapatnam, I noticed that the whole place looked like a ghost town due to the aftermath of
HudHud(screw you by the way, you spoiled all my pictures from Gangtok to Zuluk and made me shiver and got me drenched).
Trees uprooted everywhere, the ones which survived, had no leaves; most traffic lamp posts dint exist;
road signs had vanished; many of the fuel pump's roof tops had been air lifted. Terrible.


En route Vizag..


Thought of visiting the KTM service center and get the chain adjusted.
Also had the cone T-set freed up a bit as the bike was really struggling to turn.
I now knew how the old school truck drivers must have felt when cornering in the ghats with trucks that lacked power steering

Thank god it was October and the cyclone still had a shadow of its trail and the afternoons in Andhra was not so hot.

So after many more hours of riding, I reached Rajamandry in AP and had covered close to 600kms that day. So decided to call it a night.
The next day would be my last riding day of this expedition and it was a mammoth challenge - close to 900kms to reach Bangalore. I chose not to think about it.


The D-DAY

Wake up Sid, it's 4:00AM and you got about 900kms to ride. Back is hurting, ass has almost lost its mind, every bones ache but you gotta do this.
Hooked up the USB charger to the accessories socket since I had forgotten to charge my mobile, reason being I got sloshed the previous night

Had a lemon tea at one of the shops( this has now become my routine - first tea in the morning would be black) and rode off on the murderous roads across the mighty Godavari river. It took 2hrs to complete 60 odd kms before I found the four lane road. All this while, I only asked people "Where does the four lane roads start" and it was so funny because I stopped asking for the name of places!


Lemon Tea!!

After that it was the usual three digit cruising and I neared Tirupati to get lost in the lanes and probably did a couple of parikramas around the holy seven mountains.
So much for earning good karma! It was time to use the smartphone GPS and got out of the labyrinth to get on to my sweetie pie, darling four lane road(you need to understand my emotions at that time after riding in horrible, torturous and bone rattling roads for weeks ).
Meanwhile I had completed around 630kms and had to lube the chain. My usual routing is to tilt the bike's rear end using the pannier rack and
then spray lube on the naked lower part of the chain. But now I had a problem - the weight of the saddle bags and tail pack was too much and the bike
would not lean on the side stand at all. God damn. So I did what one must have seen, from a distance, as hilarious - spray lube, move the bike some distance,
go back to get the lube tin, spray again.
This continued until I was sure that the entire length of the chain had been lubed.

In the mid of all this drama, I attracted couple of punks who wanted to race. My normal reaction is to slow down absolutely and let them get the ego boost.
Likewise, did the same and in due course after some time had to overtake him. Then it started again and I lost it. Enough of this nonsense while I had many hundreds of kms to cover. So I just dropped a gear and whacked open the throttle and kept on riding for the next 50 odd kms.
The son of a gun dint turn up so I think I won the race
Problem with these people is that they take granted the nonchalance for inability and do not understand a tourer's perspective.

So when I stopped after this episode, took off my riding jacket to let some fresh air onto the stinky, sweaty shirt.
Two kids around 8yrs old walk up to me and one of them starts literally pointing at all my tattoos to the other.
I almost imagined Shah Rukh Khan in Swades showing the constellations to the kids in the song sequence 'Ye tara wo tara'.
Took some effort to suppress my laughter and patiently explain them what each one meant.

After Chittoor I got the dreaded two lane road and some light showers too. To add to it, it was dusk and I had another 200kms to cover.
By now I was sure that it would be around 10PM when I reach home. Rode like a man possessed with so many morons driving with high beams
and not switching to low beams on finding vehicles in the opp. lane. Only stopped before Kolar where again I find my darling four lane roads.

But my exhilaration was very short lived. There was this 1min rain that totally, comprehensively and absolutely drenched me. Yes, shorter duration than a Maggi noodles would take to cook but it had me - the biggest droplets hitting with such intensity. I was scared as hell for my camera bag was tied on top of the saddle bag and the tail pack too was not covered with rain guard. So after riding for 200meters found a school on the left hand side.
There was this ramp on to the inner perimeter of the classroom verandah at about 4feet high. Just had to blast my way into the shelter shivering like a crow. Wrapped the cam bag with a polythene, put another huge polythene on the tail pack(damn me, I did not recall which saddle bag had its rain cover).

After 15mins, the rain reduced and I decided to move on. As incredible as it might sound, there was no hint of rain after a kilometer! WTF, so the almighty wanted me to have the last dose of fun factor, certainly seemed like that.
That's how, gentlemen, I reached home, 1.5hrs later shivering all the way and tired as hell. The joy of looking at huge sign announcing "Bangalore" was boundless.
It was a moment of sheer relief, gratitude, sense of pride and sudden realization of exhaustion. I had covered 880kms that day, the longest on the Katoom.
I only remember drinking one peg of my favorite whiskey after a shower and then, 30min later I blacked out on my beloved arm chair



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Thank you so much

Thank you!!


Thanks, all coming in due course


I know what you talking about mate. That place is a wonderland. Everything seems so perfect. Thank you!

Thank you, just updated, with a twist :P

Thank you!!

Haha, thank god, it really dint rain in Bhutan though - HudHud just couldn't reach there!
Thank you so much for the kind words

Re: North by North-East: Katoom goes to Sikkim and Bhutan

nice man,,,, carry on,,,, it will get only better when u go backwards in ur travelogue,,,,

Re: North by North-East: Katoom goes to Sikkim and Bhutan

Amazing pics and log my friend!