[saildrive]

Amazing Travelogue Tushar!

Read every bit of it. There are very few Mumbaikar's who have tread such exotic places....HVK being the legend, I keep reaching out to whenever I need more information on routes, precautions etc.

Nonetheless. Beauty of Bhutan was well summarized in your writeup.

I am too meek to try going (bike riding) to such locations. But am very keen to do a road trip from Mumbai (with family - 2 kids (12 & 3), wife and me).... do you think its worth the rigors from Mumbai - Bhutan and back? I have a Honda City Zx (2006) driven 66000 kms.

Also, which is the best time to head out to Bhutan....!

[igybeck]

Woah. Fantastic thread. This thread has made me think about splurging vitamin M on Harley's.

[bblost]

This is such a beautiful country.
Thanks a lot for a lovely write up on the beautiful roads in such a majestic bike.

[FuelInjector]

Fantastic photos with a good write up. Enjoyed reading it.
one question - so much greenery and forest area, arent there any wild animals in those regions?

[Vipin Kumar]

Great trip! Congrats. I wish I could immediately undertake one like this!

And fantastic photography... you must be having an excellent camera, needless to ask.

How much that spicy lunch, overall, coast you per head?

Vipin.

[swapnilkarvir]

Thanks for Sharing ! Looks like the country and the bike are made for each other. Makes me want to buy a Harley and visit Bhutan - not necessarily in the same order though.

[alphadog]

Tushar,

Great write-up on the HOG ride.
What can be better than a ride to a country which is untouched by the trappings of modernity, on steeds thats envy of passerbys and best of its kind.
Great pictures of the country with the right dose of spattering of pictures of the bikes.
Bhutan is definitely on my Bucket list of places to visit now.

[chaith.turbo]

Fantastic Travelogue Tushar.

I'm planning to drive to Bhutan this year and in process of planning it.
The immigration office looks quite crowded. How long will the process take for one person?

[Nagato710]

Tushar,
Thank you for your brilliant travelogue. Your photos are excellent. I think I saw you guys at Punakha. I didn’t realize there was a BHPian amongst.

Originally Posted by saildrive

Also, which is the best time to head out to Bhutan....!

I think the best time to visit Bhutan would be October- November keeping in mind our climatic and road conditions. Autumns are really pleasant.

Originally Posted by FuelInjector

Fantastic photos with a good write up. Enjoyed reading it.
one question - so much greenery and forest area, arent there any wild animals in those regions?

Friendly encounters, usually at night are not very surprising here.

[Rover2000]

Brilliant T-log!!! felt like a breath of fresh air. It was a breeze reading through your write up! Thanks for sharing!

[abhii176]

Awesome travelogue and lovely pictures. Bhutan seems to be a must-visit after seeing your pictures.
Good to see that H.O.G. is quite active, in fact i feel this itself is a compelling reason for me to go for a HD soon. A good active riding group does help creating a close knit riding community.

[A M]

Originally Posted by Tushar

Date: May 22nd, 2015

Roads? Broken. Spirit? Intact!
Attachment 1384840

Black Stig!!

[Ahmed]

Really loved to read your t-log Tushar. Awesome courage you have to ride to such distances. I can manage this in my Fortuner but on a bike its a different experience all together.

[Tushar]

Originally Posted by saildrive

I am too meek to try going (bike riding) to such locations. But am very keen to do a road trip from Mumbai (with family - 2 kids (12 & 3), wife and me).... do you think its worth the rigors from Mumbai - Bhutan and back? I have a Honda City Zx (2006) driven 66000 kms.

Also, which is the best time to head out to Bhutan....!

Bhutan is definitely worth a visit and if I had the time at my disposal, I would love nothing more than to ride down from Mumbai. However, the travel within India will be very taxing (considering the fact that you plan to drive back as well). Even within Bhutan, the drive will include a lot of hill driving and rough patches as well.

Would I drive down? Yes, like I mentioned, riders came down from all over India, and I'm sure they'd do it again. Just a few things:

- You will need to get together a good number of vacation days for the whole trip. I wouldn't advise night time driving, so the time factor should ideally account for that as well

- You need at least 3-4 days in Bhutan to really enjoy it.

- Have your kids accompanied you for long trips before? If they're good with traveling, that's a big matter taken care of.

- March-May would be a good time to visit.

Originally Posted by FuelInjector

one question - so much greenery and forest area, arent there any wild animals in those regions?

We didn't spot any wildlife as such, since we were mainly on the arterial roads. Had we ventured deep into the forests, we would have definitely seen the local fauna. I spotted a few glowing eyes on the way to Bumthang, but it was at night and since the road had no lighting, I couldn't tell what the eyes belonged to.

Originally Posted by Vipin Kumar

Great trip!
How much that spicy lunch, overall, cost you per head?

The official ride cost per rider (stay and meals only) was around Rs. 50k.

Originally Posted by chaith.turbo

I'm planning to drive to Bhutan this year and in process of planning it.
The immigration office looks quite crowded. How long will the process take for one person?

Formalities for you + your vehicle can take around 2-3 hours.

[gmhossain]

Tushar, thanks for putting up such a lovely and joyful travelogue! It was sheer pleasure to read!

Originally Posted by FuelInjector

one question - so much greenery and forest area, arent there any wild animals in those regions?

Originally Posted by Tushar

We didn't spot any wildlife as such, since we were mainly on the arterial roads. Had we ventured deep into the forests, we would have definitely seen the local fauna. I spotted a few glowing eyes on the way to Bumthang, but it was at night and since the road had no lighting, I couldn't tell what the eyes belonged to.

There are multiple National Parks and Wild Life Sanctuaries along NH-31C in the Dooars region. So if you are lucky (or unlucky!) you could come face to face with wild animals even on highway in this stretch! On the evening of May 24, we had an encounter with an wild elephant within 100 meters of NH-31C at Mongpong during our Dooars trip. (our travelogue is here ).

Tushar, incidentally, we may have crossed each other or may have missed by a whisker on May 25. We were heading east along NH-31C from Sevoke while you guys were heading west on the same stretch! On May 27, we saw couple of "black riders" on Harley-Davidson riding towards Kolkata from Siliguri on NH-34. I am not sure whether they were part of your group who rode to Bhutan!

Cheers,
Golam