Re: Wanderlust Diary- The North Eastern sojourn || Sikkim and Bhutan || 7000 kilometers

So good to read[emoji847] have u used different tyres for snow or did u stick with stock?

Re: Wanderlust Diary- The North Eastern sojourn || Sikkim and Bhutan || 7000 kilometers

Both the RCs were running on Michelin pilot street and the R3 was running on Pirellis Diablo Rosso 2. We managed with these tyres, did not use any specific tyre for the snow.

Re: Wanderlust Diary- The North Eastern sojourn || Sikkim and Bhutan || 7000 kilometers

Great travelogue bro.... not easy to do such a long trip that too on these bikes, kudos to all three of you..., your 2 years of planning did pay off. Awesome pictures, orange and white(snow) did mix up well.

Re: Wanderlust Diary- The North Eastern sojourn || Sikkim and Bhutan || 7000 kilometers

nice shots

Re: Wanderlust Diary- The North Eastern sojourn || Sikkim and Bhutan || 7000 kilometers


Day 1(29^th September):

We woke up early morning around 3 AM. I was unable to sleep even for 2 hours whereas I found Karthik snoring off happily, so I got ready first and then woke him up around 3.30. We both got ready, got my parents’ blessing and started mounting our tail bags and tank bangs. We then filled up and reached the meeting point at 4.30AM, called up Sagar to know he was running late So we waited for around half an hour and once Sagar came we pushed off. This was the start to a 20 day long trip and we were excited to the core .

The plan for the day was to reach Vizag which was around 800 kilometers from Chennai. The whole plan for the first 3 days were to cover as many kilometres on the highways as possible and have a day of rest at Siliguri. So we did not take many breaks for photo sessions or to enjoy the sceneries too.

We stopped for breakfast at Hotel N5 toll plaza, this was the first time I actually saw a food place over a toll booth, the food there did not justify the hype given though for the place. So after a decent breakfast we got back on the road and around 400 kilometers down the road I started to feel sleepy. Any amount of loud songs on the sena did not help, so all three of us got connected on the intercomm and chit chatted for sometime.

A lunch stop, many chai stops later….

We entered Vizag limits at around 7.30PM, pretty good run of around 800 kms. within this time. Now the tough part, we actually hoped on pitching the tent near the beach at Vizag, little did we know that the place had many restrictions. We reached the beach after getting stuck in heavy traffic which had already drained all of our energy, we parked our bikes next to a temple and asked around If we could pitch our tents there, people there mentioned that it was not allowed to pitch tents here and it was very risky. So we roamed around for another 1 hour ended up at a food shop next to the beach at 8.30 PM. The people there told that there is a police watch tower at the seashore and we could ask the police permission and pitch our tent there. We waited there for another 1-2 hours eating maggi and getting high on Caffeine. The police never turned up. At around 10.30 PM we lost patience, there were no hotel rooms around too as every hotel was booked for the weekend. We were frustrated but this break and the food gave us a bit of energy, so we decided that we would get back on the road and try to find a dhaba on the highway and sleep there. We got back on the road by 11PM and pushed onwards towards Srikakulam, we thought that even if one of us felt sleepy we would stop and not risk it. Karthik and me were comfortable riding in the dark whereas Sagar found it very hard even with his fog lamps on. (Sneak peek: Sagar preferred to ride only by night by the end of the ride ) One hour down the road, playing games over the Sena, dabbing and doing nonsense we reached Srikakulam, passed the city and came to a petrol bunk with a Dhaba nearby, we asked if we could pitch our tents there and they told that they had no issues whatsoever, so after a good dinner we pitched our tent at around 1 AM in the night. Called it off a day at 900 odd kilometres.

Day 2(30th September):

We woke up to a rainy morning the next day, guess what? we had to ride through rains the whole day! We got ready and got back on the road at around 7AM, the plan for the day was to reach Bardhaman which was around 950 kilometers.

The day was pretty uneventful this day, it could have got eventful by the way Odisha traffic treated us People in the outskirts had no idea of any sort of traffic rules, even the dogs nor cows minded our horns. We had a tough time maneuvering and getting back on the highways but still we had to be very careful as out of nowhere people just crossed the road. We were dead tired and all our energy was drained by noon itself. We stopped for lunch, took a power nap and got back on the road.

Guess what time we reached Bardhaman ? it took us around 11 PM to reach Bardhaman and all on good roads the next day we were supposed to cover a stretch of road to Siliguri which was supposedly not that great of a highway. We somehow got a room with the help of a friend, it seemed like we were the only ones who were tired that day because the whole city was in full on josh because it was Durga Pooja that day. We checked into our room that day. Karthik was feeling sick and we had one more day on the road, he slept off ASAP and we called it a day at 950 kilometers sleeping to loud music and noises outside.

Some pictures from the day,
Day 3 (1st October):

We woke up at around 7 AM the next morning, we hardly had around 500 kms to cover this day to Siliguri but the roads up until Siliguri were well, not the kind of roads we had seen until then We had good roads to ride on for around 30-50 kilometers and then the nightmare started

The minimal part of the good roads that we rode on this day,

The first of the lot was a 20 kilometer stretch of no roads, it was slush and stones all the way. Shoulder pain, back pain, neck pain! You name it and we had it and in all this ruckus the group found out a very informative thing. That I did not feel sleepy on good roads, on night rides but I felt sleepy only when the roads were bad like this or when it was raining. For the next 20 days in whichever roads, one should be very careful, I could not keep my eyes open That is some manufacturing defect don’t you say ? Somehow we managed to cross the off road section and I went all out flat on the side of the road. Took a power nap and got back to face more sh**** roads.


The final stretch of 100-150 kilometers to Siliguri was good and we pushed hard and reached Siliguri at around 7PM where we were felicitated by the local people from Siliguri. We learnt that West Bengal had this campaign of “Safe Drive, Save life” and since Sagar was from Siliguri a few people had gathered to appreciate us on riding this long promoting safe riding all the way with our full riding gears. Overwhelmed but still tired, we posed for the photos, met Sagar’s friends and got back to Sagar’s house.
It was home sweet home! 2300 kilometers on the road, over a few states through which I did not even know the language and we made it to Siliguri. My first time in the North and we ate home made food at Sagar’s house After having a scrumptious dinner all of us hit the bed dead tired knowing that the next day we could wake up very late and not care about maintaining any time at all

Some pictures from the day,
Day 4 (2nd October-Day of rest):

Woke up at around 10 AM in the morning, Karthik was down with heavy fever and cold. So we asked him to rest well for the day so he could save up energy for the next hard run that was coming up. Me, Sagar and another friend of his Adri picked up the bikes for a water wash as our bikes were very dirty. Sagar’s bike had a small incident when we were leaving and the left mirror broke. To our bad luck KTM Siliguri did not have stock of the left mirror that day. So as Indians we went to Juggad mode we got a pair of bar end mirrors and retrofitted Sagar’s RC with a bar end mirror on the left handlebar alone and voila! We were set for the next run.


And that's a close for Part 1 of the log,hey wait! we missed out the teasers

Re: Wanderlust Diary- The North Eastern sojourn || Sikkim and Bhutan || 7000 kilometers

Awe-inspiring! Waiting for the rest of your travelogue.

Re: Wanderlust Diary- The North Eastern sojourn || Sikkim and Bhutan || 7000 kilometers

This promises to be a blockbuster-neat tripping guys

Re: Wanderlust Diary- The North Eastern sojourn || Sikkim and Bhutan || 7000 kilometers

WOW...What an amazing ride!

Loved the pics..

Re: Wanderlust Diary- The North Eastern sojourn || Sikkim and Bhutan || 7000 kilometers


Day 5(3^rd October ):

Day 5, we woke up at around 4.30 AM and pushed off to Bhutan. The plan for the day was to reach Phuentsholing as soon as possible, get our permits and tourist passes approved and push off to Paro. This decision costed us a day more at Bhutan Nevertheless, we got back on beautiful roads through lush green forest area, it was such a pleasant experience to start our day off with. We met Shantanu bhai who is the founder of xKmph.com, got acquainted, bid our goodbyes and got back on the road towards Phuentsholing.

Now the fun started, whoever was driving rash on the road until the border crossing, when they crossed the border they became a completely silent being We were told not to honk or overtake when in Bhutan, so we followed the same. Went up to a police officer and asked him as to where we could park our bikes and get our passes ready, he pointed us to a place and we completely misjudged that and took a wrong turn to get there To our good fortune the police gave us a warning and we were off to get our passes ready.So, there are two permits one should get to enter Bhutan,

1.Tourist permit for said days with atleast a day’s booking for the stay in Thimpu or Paro (Permits can be extended at Thimpu)
2.Bike permits

We found a Xerox shop nearby the immigration office. The proprietor helped us in booking a room and we got an agent there to help us out with the bike permits when we got our Tourist permits done. The funny thing was that we wasted around 30 minutes standing and blocking a line which was meant for work permits we were then directed upstairs which had double that of the crowd we saw below, who we had to block to get our permits signed and we thought it would be that easy sheesh! We were called in by a superior immigration officer because we were fully geared up, he granted us the tourist permits after some questions as to why we were visiting Bhutan and such and we rushed off to get our bike permits. After getting our permits, we had some Indian biryani which tasted nowhere near to Indian. We also got our currencies exchanged so that we would not have any trouble with the 2000 rupee notes. Tashi cell was the local mobile network which would work in Bhutan . So we bought a couple sims and got back on the road.

After getting our permits stamped at the first check-post we started riding towards Paro, little did we Southeners know that the climate up North would become so darn chilly. Well, what could have we expected? The utmost temperature drops that we had seen in Chennai were somewhere in the 20 degree ranges. By the end of the trip I had experienced -20 degrees too Pretty good, yeah! The road were just perfect all the way until Paro with some rough patches in between. The factor which played a major role in us reaching late was the cold weather, we just could not bear it!

We reached Paro after many coffees to ease up for the cold at around 12.30 AM. By this time, I was shivering to my bones and could not bear the cold at all; I was dizzy, had caught cold by the time we reached and was having a high fever too. I put some tablets and got to bed ASAP.

Some pictures from the day:

Day 6(4^th October ):

The next day I woke up weary and tired, it was already well past our checkout time and I was still feeling unwell and was unsure if I could ride anywhere properly. We went to a nearby sightseeing spot and we decided that we would get a room somewhere in Paro and do some sightseeing for the day.
We found a place which was around 10 minutes from the Tiger’s nest and checked into the room by 3 PM, I got into the bed took some tablets and rested the day off whereas Karthik and Sagar had left out for some sightseeing. While I was flat out, these guys had the best time exploring local Paro town, I’ll let their pictures do the talking.

By the time they got back, i was feeling much better. We chilled over a few drinks and a campfire. Sagar pitched his tent for the night whereas Karthik and i preferred to stay in the room.
Bhutan fact for the day: Do you know what is cheap in Bhutan when compared to India? It's Beer and petrol!

Re: Wanderlust Diary- The North Eastern sojourn || Sikkim and Bhutan || 7000 kilometers

Great going!

Re: Wanderlust Diary- The North Eastern sojourn || Sikkim and Bhutan || 7000 kilometers

Thts wonderful clicks and narration...keep going

Re: Wanderlust Diary- The North Eastern sojourn || Sikkim and Bhutan || 7000 kilometers

Superb travelouge and pics . Congrats Chris and Karthik for this trip, you guys enjoyed alot.

Re: Wanderlust Diary- The North Eastern sojourn || Sikkim and Bhutan || 7000 kilometers


Day 7(5^th october):

One has to always wonder why beautiful places such as these are far from our reach! But the journey there makes it special, I guess! I woke up to such a beautiful morning, I was feeling much better and was ready to take on the day


We had a minimal breakfast and headed towards Tiger’s nest, one of the main attractions in Paro. Our room was around 5 minutes from Tiger’s nest and we just thought it would be fine to ride there without our helmets as we could not lock it on our bike nor carry it on the trek uphill, mistake for the day Through the 5 minute ride at least 5-7 people would have stopped us to say we should not ride without a helmet, everyone became a cop but yes, the mistake was on our part so we returned, picked up our helmets and rode back to Tiger’s nest.


One good thing that we noticed in Bhutan was that, if we left something in some place it stays there! People just do not care to touch your stuff, they mind their own business! We just left our helmets at the entrance of Tiger’s nest next to a shop and it stayed there for around 2 hours.

Since we had to ride back to Thimpu the same day we did not push ourselves to do the trek uphill. We hired three horses to do the trek uphill and also we did not do the full trek, we settled midway for the Tiger’s nest cafeteria , yes I know we should have done the full trek but we had to push ourselves the same day to Thimpu and try to get our passes extended for Dochula pass and Punakha. We then downgraded from 40 odd horses to just one horse each but, we still got to select the colour of our horses


After trying to race Sagar uphill, we reached the destination, took some pictures and did a quick trek downhill. Came back to our hotel, packed and got back on the road, We had to reach Thimpu before 5 PM as the pass extension office closes at 5 PM. The roads were just beautiful, riding in between mountains! We enjoyed the scenary stopping and taking very little pictures through the way.


We reached the pass extension office right at around 4.45 PM but once we got in they told we’d need Xerox copies and a few more things to get it which we did not have at that point of time so we planned on getting our passes next day as early as possible and leaving to Dochula after that.
We checked into a hotel which was right around 5 minutes from the pass extension office. We went out got our chores one, bought ourselves some Bhutan booze and came back to the hotel. I should mention about the manager of the hotel that we stayed in, Ngawang Gyeltshen Deben. He made it a point to show us the best of Thimpu, the night was still young and we started it off with some Karaoke, sung to our heart’s fullest to 'Linkin Park- In the end'. I’m pretty sure some people at the bar ran away before we finished anyhow a few more songs down we decided to get out of the bar and find some place to eat, it was already around 12 AM and our new found friend took us to this awesome restaurant which was hidden inside some complex, a few knocks on the door and we were welcomed to another bar and a food joint where we were served authentic Bhutan Noodles which we could not finish fully too! We got back to our room at around 2 AM and hit the bed!

Some pictures from the day:



Day 8(6^th october):

The next morning we woke up and were the first ones at the Pass extension office, we got our passes extended for the next two days, got our bike passes extended and were on our way towards Dochula. The roads were well laid, with no luggage on our tail we enjoyed the corners to our fullest, we reached Dochula pass, clicked some pictures and rode towards Punakha.

Punakha Dzong was the main attraction there, we roamed around the place ended up in places were we were not supposed to go too We came out and just sat on the banks of the river enjoying the beautiful scenery. Out of all the hurry through out our ride, this was one moment we did not care about the time, we just rested there and there was this sense of peace! Beautiful place, lovely climate and some awesome machines to explore the place!


Back on the road, we got back to Thimpu early evening for another night of party It was a bit dull that night knowing that we had to leave Bhutan the next day, but it was Sikkim next and that’s when things got exciting By this time we had thought that the ride to Bhutan was hard, Sikkim was like, “Come at me bro!”

Some pictures from the day:

Day 9(7^th October):

The ride back to Siliguri was pretty uneventful and the plan was to just reach Siliguri as soon as possible and rest well the next day so we could be ready for Sikkim next! As usual, do you think it went as planned? Nope!

With a bit of drizzles on the way we reached the checkpoint where we had to submit our passes last.


Sagar had to leave soon as he had some personal things to be taken care of back at Siliguri, we stayed back at Phuntsholing purchasing a few things and that’s when the heaven let loose! It was pouring heavily, Sagar had exited Bhutan by then and was on his way back to Siliguri whereas we were still stuck in Bhutan, once the rain toned down a bit Karthik and I put our rain gears on and got back on the road bidding goodbye to Bhutan for then!


The rain got stronger and belted us, we eventually found ourselves stuck, not able to ride at all in a thunderstorm. Since we had to cross a reserve forest on the way back to Siliguri we planned on getting a room at Jaldapara for the night. All drenched we found a cheap room for the night with an awesome parking.


We were served some awesome fishes, had a good dinner too and got to bed. Sagar had reached by the time we checked into our rooms all drenched too! Good that we did not ride through the thunderstorm which could have been very risky for the both of us.


More to come… Next in line, SIKKIM

Re: Wanderlust Diary- The North Eastern sojourn || Sikkim and Bhutan || 7000 kilometers

Thats wonderful...make rest to come

Re: Wanderlust Diary- The North Eastern sojourn || Sikkim and Bhutan || 7000 kilometers



Day 10(8^th october):

Not honking for a long time through the time at Bhutan, I ended up not hoking at all when back in India. But we had to get back to reality Karthik and I woke up as early as possible and planned to get back to Siliguri and enjoy our day of rest peacefully, but as usual things never did go as planned, but this change of plan ended up separating the three of us and doing some parts of Sikkim with a few new buddies who ended up making this trip enjoyable in a whole different level.

So back to the log, we started from Jaldapara and enjoyed the pleasant morning ride to Siliguri, the climate was so damn good with the rain that lashed the night before, it was that pleasant morning ride which we needed after a very long time. We reached back to Siliguri within 2 hours just in time for Sagar’s mum preparing us some scrumptious breakfast. The plan was to rest at Siliguri for the day and celebrate Sourav’s birthday (Sagar’s brother). Sagar had told us that he had the passes sorted out for Sikkim on the whole but in the end we hit a roadblock, we came to know that the passes he would get ready was from Mangan which would help us in passing North Sikkim only and we wanted to ride through East Sikkim as well. So what we suggested was that Sagar would go ahead and try to get us the North Sikkim passes while he was at Siliguri and we would leave the same day to Gangtok and try to get the passes for East Sikkim the next day. We thought it would just take half a day to get the passes and we could join Sagar at Mangan after getting the passes next day.

After two hours of rest, we got back on the road to Gangtok, the roads were pretty bad with loads of traffic on the way up until Gangtok. We already had a room reserved at Cherry Guest house which was owned by Manish Da, who was an avid rider himself. We were welcomed at Gangtok by Manish sir who showed us to the room with an awesome view of Gangtok. After settling our things and getting ready, Manish sir mentioned that it would take a whole day for the passes to be issued from the Home department in Sikkim after which we should get our police passes which would be provided only at early mornings from 6-7 AM onwards. I guess we had no other go than to extend our stay at Gangtok by a day.

So, we went out the night and did some winter wear shopping which we should have done earlier. But, better late than never! Some Pizza for the night and we were back to our room enjoying the beautiful climate and the view listening to some good music.


Day 11(9^th october):

Waking up at 9 AM we rushed to the Home department at Gangtok where we filled up the forms to get our permits for East Sikkim, the mistake that we did was put a date for a later day and not the next day because we planned on riding to North Sikkim the next day and by then Sagar had confirmed that the passes for North Sikkim were ready for us at Mangan. We just had to go to Mangan and get it there. At the home department we met a few fellow bikers who were pretty much the best company we had for the next couple days from then

Meanwhile, Sagar had joined with Sonali at Mangan who was another avid rider, riding on an Apache 200 4V to Gurudongmar too. Their plan was a day ahead of us so we planned on catching up with them after riding through North Sikkim. We got back to our room and met up with Kevin by the evening who was from Kerala and was doing a solo through Sikkim and Bhutan. Since after Mangan there was no petrol bunk we had to stock up petrol as our tank ranges were not the best. At there kinds of terrains my guess was that the RC390 would give a tank range of 200 kilometers and the R3 would give somewhere around 250 kilometers. We had a distance of around 400 kilometers from Mangan-Lachen-Gurudongmar-Lachen-Lachung-Zero point-Mangan wherein Mangan was the last point with a petrol bunk. We searched for jerry cans which would fit in our claw saddlebags and we ended up finding a couple at MG Marg and 3 more at another shop.

BTW, I forgot to mentioned, our permits to East Sikkim were denied when we went to get it by the evening because we had to apply in person for the same, the day before we leave for it Nevertheless, we got the help of Manish Sir who told us he would help us in getting the permits ready the day before we ride to East Sikkim wherein we would be at North Sikkim by then.

Got back to the room and called it a day after filling up our bikes and jerry cans, all set for the next day.

Day 12(10^th October):

Woke up the next morning to find out that it was raining hard. Our friends from the Home department had already got the police permits and were waiting for the rain to tone down so they could ride to Lachen . We planned on joining them enroute Mangan. After waiting until 10 AM, the rain toned down a bit, we put our rain gears on and left towards Mangan.
The plan was to reach Lachen by evening and acclimatize there for the night so we would not have much breathing troubles the next day at Gurudongmar lake. We met up with our fellow bikers on the way, filled up to the maximum limit at Mangan. We separated from the lot to get our passes and police permits for North Sikkim at Mangan. A small incident happened at Mangan wherein an SUV tipped me off on a down slope, good thing the fall was not very drastic and just that there was some petrol spill from my jerry can and some minor scrapes on Rex. We got our permits fixed and rode upto Lachen. I should mention the roads to Lachen which was pretty good. Besides that, there are literally no roads all the way from Lachen most of it was just slush, rocks, gravel and all the off-roading one could want and our bikes were not actually meant to do those kinds of terrains .We managed to reach Lachen before sundown and boy oh boy it was cold! So damn cold that I was shivering to my bones. We got our passes signed at the Lachen checkpost, they had mentioned that we had to be at Thangu checkpost by 7 AM in the morning and we would be led to Gurudongmar from there.We checked into a hotel for the night, had our dinner and slept early.Meanwhile, Sagar and Sonali had already done Gurudongmar lake for the day and were back at Thangu valley.


Day 13(11^th October):

Woke up to a bone chilling cold morning, geared up with our thermals, riding gear, our winter wear and over that the rain coat I looked like a buffed up superhero in orange matching my bike Had to traverse though some very bad roads to reach Thangu valley where we had our breakfast and onward to Gurudongmar from there. I saw Sagar’s and Sonali’s bike parked outside a homestay there but they were not around, honked a bit, no response. So I left thinking they were not around. Sagar was not feeling all well so they planned on going back to Gangtok that day.

The last 10-15 kilometers of the road to Gurudongmar lake was well laid but it was filled with black ice throughout and with the Michelins sliding around everywhere we had a tough time getting upto Gurudongmar. The more we rode up, the more dizzy we felt. We had a Diamox tablet to tackle Altitude motion Sickness which is very common at that Altitude.

At last, we reached Gurudongmar lake, one of the highest lakes in India at 17800 feet altitude an awesome feat for us indeed. We were so damn excited and shouting our breaths out for right around 5 minutes after which AMS kicked in


Everyone started feeling dizzy and had a bit of breathing trouble, after spending some time at the lake, we rode back to Thangu valley all dizzy. The plan was to ride off to Lachung the same day but the whole lot was not ready to do it the same day. Karthik was not feeling all that good, so, Kevin and I planned on riding to Lachung the same day whereas Karthik and the others would stop by at Lachen and ride to Gangtok the next day. It was already 4 PM when we reached Lachen to pick up our belongings, my bike just hit the zero bars of petrol when I came back to Lachen Rex did 200 kilometers as planned. Filled up the petrol from my Jerry cans, looted a couple more litres from Karthik just in case I run out of petrol and rushed downhill to get to Lachung along with Kevin on his RE, before the sun sets. We reached Lachung at around 7 PM and checked into a homestay there.


The trio had separated by then I was at Lachung, Karthik was at Lachen and Sagar was at Gangtok.

Stay tuned… More of snow in the next part