[rameshnanda]

Use the below links to get to respective chapters directly.

Index (Page 2)

Chapter 12 - Kaziranga National Park
Chapter 13 - Cherrapunjee
Chapter 14 - Dawki
Chapter 15 - Return journey to Chennai

[rameshnanda]

Kaziranga National Park

12 Oct 2017, Thursday
I was asked to come to the FASS for delivery after 9am in the morning. So, I decided to checkout from the hotel and heard to the FASS, take delivery and head directly to the Kaziranga National Park. After the complimentary buffet breakfast provided by the Ginger, we checked out and reached Mahesh Motors service by 9.30am. It took almost an hour for them to complete the billing and the delivery process (including a short test drive). Car was back to normal and was completely happy with their work. Immediately after the delivery, I tanked up and proceeded towards the Kaziranga National Park.

It is a 4 lane road for around 100 kms from Guwahati. Just before Nagaon, we stopped at a highway restaurant for lunch at around 2pm. We ordered Assamese thali and the food was very good. Actually exceeded our expectation. After Nagaon, it was 2 lane road but was good. There was some construction activity going on for around 30 kms but nothing to worry about the road condition. While we were 25 kms from our destination, the park area started and we were able to spot the Rhinos at few places. We had few breaks. An elderly couple from Kerala exchanged their pleasantries with us after looking at the registration number on my car . They flew in to Guwahati and they were on an Innova.

It usually starts to get dark after 4pm, and we reached our resort (Wild Grass Resort) by 4.30pm. They had snacks and tea available for all guests and we enjoyed it as well. I discussed the plan for the next day with the manager there and he suggested to take the Elephant Safari early in the morning and then a Jeep (in a Maruti Gypsy though) safari afternoon. We had to be there for the Safari by 5.30am at the pickup point which is again 20 kms from our stay. He promised to send a guy with us to guide and take us to the pickup location. We planned to start at 4.30am.

One of the best thing about Wild Grass resort is their food. The dinner we ordered was very good and it was such a relief. We crashed early at 9pm so that we can be prepared to leave for the Safari by 4.30.


Planned route to Kaziranga




Parking area of the Resort




Wildgrass Resort




13 Oct 2017, Friday
As planned we woke up at 4am and got ready by 4.30 to leave for the Safari. Our guide person came at 4.45 and we left immediately in my Linea. After 25 mins drive, we reached the Safari pickup point. While waiting we again met the elderly couple from Kerala. They were also there for the Elephant safari. We have never experienced Elephant ride and we were very excited about it. The moment I got into, I realized it is not going to be easy for me to shoot (D800 with 70-300 VR) and also take care of my Daughter seated next to me. I did manage somehow.


Early morning shot at the Kaziranga




Parking area at the Elephant ride site




Entrance






Daughter excited for the ride




Elephant ride point






About to get into our ride




Shots of single horned Rhinos during our ride
















Family from Kerala




More shots of Rhino






Eye of the Giant




Elephants returning after the early morning ride








We returned back to the Resort by 7.15am and we ordered our breakfast. Great food again. We fixed 1pm for our next safari in the Gypsy. We had time till 1pm to relax in the resort. Ordered our lunch at 12 and great food as usual. Our guide and driver arrived sharp at 1pm to pick us up. In the entire Kaziranga National Park, its Gypsy everywhere for the safari. I couldn't spot another vehicle. Unlike the Elephant safari, our Jeep safari was a muted one as it became very rare to spot Rhinos. We returned back to the resort by 4pm and we were ready for the Snack and Tea. One thing we would never forget about Kaziranga National Park would be the Rhinos, Elephant ride and the Food.

Snack at 4.30, more time to relax and dinner at 7.30 and we ended the day at Kaziranga. The plan for next morning was to drive to Cherrapunjee.


Shots from the Gypsy Safari










Odo before leaving Kaziranga

[rameshnanda]

Cherrapunjee

14 Oct 2017, Saturday
Plan for the day was just to drive to Cherrapunjee and retire at our home stay there. The total distance is around 300 kms. We started leisurely and checked out from the resort by 10.00. We bought fresh tea packets sold at a Tata Tea outlet on our way. Drove very sedately and was able to near Guwahati (Jorabat) by 1 pm. We saw a decent looking Vegetarian restaurant (Barcode Restaurant) and decided to have our lunch there. Nothing great to talk about it. After the lunch break, filled Diesel and continued to drive towards Shillong (from Jorabat). It was well laid 4 lane road except at Umsning where the bypass was under construction and had to drive through the small town with horrible road. Reached Shilling by 4.30 just to witness the super traffic jam. Shillong is very small town with narrow roads and gets jammed very easily. It took almost an hour to get past the town and drive towards Cherrapunjee. It became very dark after 5 and have to drive through thick fog at times. Local cabbies were flying even with that fog. I didn't take any chance and drove slowly through that terrain and finally we reached our home stay (Pateng Homestay) at Cherrapunjee by 7pm. The caretaker lady at the home stay was very helpful and she also took order for our food as well.

Planned route from Kaziranga to Cherrapunjee




Odo after reaching our Home stay in Cherrapunjee




15 Oct 2017, Sunday
It was all mountains in all direction when we came out of our room at the home stay and we could even see a waterfall. When I enquired, only then I learnt that is temporary waterfall after the overnight thunderstorm, and that would stop in few hours. Cherrapunjee is general is very foggy and clears up quickly as well. Weather changes in no time.

My plan initially was to spend 3 nights at the same home stay. One day sight seeing at Cherrapunjee and the next day to Dawki and come back to Cherrapunjee. After driving on the mountain roads, I did a slight change to my plan. The next morning, I planned to checkout and drive to Dawki, do boating and stay somewhere in Dawki itself and then drive back from there.

At Cherrapunjuee, our plan was to visit Nohkalikai Falls, Seven sister falls and visit the Mawlong village for the Living root trees. Nohkalikai Falls was not far from the place where we were staying. We reached in less than 30 mins. We skipped the breakfast at the Home stay thinking we can have it somewhere near the Falls. But, we could only get Maggi Noodles.


At the parking of Nohkalikai Falls






Shots of Nohkalikai Falls





We met a family from Tamilnadu. The Gentleman is in Defense and lives in Nagaland. He took a picture of ours after knowing that we drove there all the way from Chennai.




A Shop




On our way back from Nohkalikai



Unlike Nohkalikai Falls, Seven Sisters Falls was very crowded. May be we beat the crowd since we went there much early. Adding to the fact that it was Sunday, we could see tourists all over. More than 80% of the vehicles are ML registered and rest are AS registered. Only mine was from TN.


Seven Sisters Falls parking




Some shot of the Falls








Lunch break near the Falls



After visiting Nohkalikai and Seven Sisters, and having lunch I decided to drive to the Mawlong Village to see the living root tree. But, after reaching there I learnt that there is a 3 hour trekking we need to do to see the living root trees. Time was 2.30pm and it will become dark after 2 hours and also with 2 kids, we immediately dropped the idea of taking further steps. Instead we decided to get back to the Home Stay and enjoy the food prepared by the caretaker elder woman.


On our way to Mawlong Village








At our Home Stay




Near our Home Stay at Cherrapunjee




Linea at dusk




16 Oct 2017, Monday
Due to change in plan, we checked out from the Home stay in the morning and planned to reach Dawki by noon. It is around 80 kms from Cherrapunjee. I have to drive 30 kms towards Shillong and take a deviation at a point and 50 more kms, we would reach Dawki. On our way back visited another falls (Dainthlen Falls) before continuing to drive towards Dawki.


Some shots at the Daiñthlen Falls

[rameshnanda]

Dawki

After the short visit to the Falls, continued my drive towards Dawki. Had to deviate from the road leading to Shillong for Dawki. We took couple of more breaks on our way to take a glimpse of the beautiful mountain ranges. We never imagined this kind of landscape in Meghalaya. It is much more beautiful than we thought.

Our destination was to Shnongpdeng Village which is farther 8 kms from the Dawki. I located a home stay and the guy confirmed the availability as well. He also told that we could take the boating from the Shnongpdeng village instead of doing it at Dawki. The roads were mostly good and well laid but the final 10 kms to Dawki was a nightmare to my Linea. Brought back the Bhutan memories briefly but was able to manage it. We decided to have our food before going to our home stay. We couldn't find any good restaurants around it which was surprising. However, we decided to have what ever is available and took chance at a small road side food stall. Food was not bad at all. Note that the food stall was just few hundred metres away from the border check post to enter Bangladesh . I then tried to locate the home stay and it became very confusing without any signs on the road. Finally we reached the village and the owner/caretaker guy received us from the check post entering the village. The place was not great but nothing to complain about. He was very warm and helpful. After refreshing ourselves, we headed towards the boating station.


Route to Dawki (Shnongpdeng Village)




Near Mawkhong View Point




Another view




Linea




Another shot of the mountains




Odometer after reaching our Home stay at the Shnongpdeng




At the Shnongpdeng Village




Boating Station at the Village




Busy Fishermen while we are on our boat




More shots from our Boat ride








Our Boatman




My Daughter




Some shots from the hanging bridge located at the Village
















Linea parked at our Home stay




We were pleased with our visit to Dawki and everyone enjoyed the boat ride. The whole landscape was completely different from what we have been to. People were very friendly too. The caretaker/owner guy took the food order from us and he got the food prepared from his home. Very good food we had that evening. Indeed it was very good way to end the final day of our road trip before heading back to Chennai.

[rameshnanda]

Return journey to Chennai

17 Oct 2017, Tuesday
Here starts our return journey back to Chennai. I planned to do the return drive in 3 marathon drives. From Dawki to Siliguri (650 kms), from Siliguri to Bhubaneswar (1000 kms) and from Bhubaneswar to Chennai (1300 kms). I wanted to leave from Dawki as early as possible as I planned to reach Siliguri for that nights stay. We left by 7am and decided to have breakfast somewhere on way. After driving around 40 kms. we saw a decent restaurant by the road with many cars parked. We decided to break there for the breakfast. We got hot aloo Paratha and Egg sandwich. Then continued my drive towards Shillong and had to face the traffic jam at Shillong again. It took around 30 mins to get past the traffic and had another break at the view point of Umiam lake.


Planned route to Siliguri




Some shots of the Umiam Lake






It was nice fun drive towards Guwahati from Shillong. As said earlier, it was very good 4 lane road with all twists and turns. After reaching Jorabat, filled the car at a BP pump. Time was around 1pm and kids became little restless as well since it was completely a downhill drive from Shillong to Guwahati. Decided to break in Guwahati for lunch. Located a decent restaurant with the help of Google on our planned route. I couldn't remember the name of the restaurant but the food was average. We had rotis and rice with dal. Started my drive again towards Siliguri. The planned route from Guwahati was through Bongaigaon, Hasimara and Nagrakata. I was told that there would 4 lane road initially for around 200 kms from Guwahati and then I will have to drive through 2 lane roads.

The drive was good until the 4 lane road lasted. Then came an under construction stretch which became very painful for Linea with huge potholes and boulders. We decided to skip dinner and manage with the available snacks. While nearing Siliguri, just after Sevoke on the mountain stretch, suddenly heard a big thud noise which I felt like something from the mountain has hit my car. However, I did not stop as the roads were narrow and completely dark as well. Just continued to proceed towards our Hotel in Siliguri (Hotel Elan Sky view). It was 10.30pm when we reached the Hotel. Surprisingly, the Hotel security identified me again (we stayed at the same place in our onward journey) and he was little shocked to know I drove all they way from Dawki that day to reach Siliguri. I quickly inspected the car for the thud noise which occurred sometime back. I couldn't see any visible damage/dent on the car. We then checked in and crashed immediately.


Odo after reaching Elan Sky View, Siliguri




18/19 Oct 2017, Wednesday/Thursday
Day started late for us. My actual plan was to start the second leg of return journey at around 1.30 pm and do a marathon drive (1000 kms) to Bhubaneswar. We got up late and headed straight to Haldirams for breakfast where they serve idly and dosa . After sumptuous breakfast, came back to our hotel and I asked for a late checkout at 12pm with the front desk and they agreed. After resting briefly, packed our stuff and checked out from the hotel exactly at 12. Tanked up the car and then we decided to go to a nearby mall and spend sometime, have Ice cream and then start the next leg of drive from there. City Centre mall was the one we visited.

At the City Centre, Siliguri





After spending an hour at the mall, we decided to skip the lunch and start as we had very heavy breakfast in the morning and now, Ice Cream. I still had confusion on the return route. I was not too happy with the onward route which I took from Kolkata to Siliguri. An alternate route was suggested by J.Ravi sir and decided to take chance with that route. Planned the route to be, Siliguri - Purnea - Bhagalpur - Dumka - Asansol - Bankura - Medinipur - Balasore - Bhubaneswar. The only concern I had on this route was driving on the unfamiliar roads of Bihar and Jharkhand after midnight. Still decided to go with it. Drove sedately and it was 8pm when we reached Bhagalpur and we all were hungry as well. Took chance at a restaurant within the city and it started raining heavily. Regarding the road condition, it was fine until we reached Bhagalpur. The city roads (???) were nothing short of a war field. Potholes everywhere.

My worries went upwards after the rain started. How would the roads be with those potholes and water? Even after finishing our dinner, there was no sign of rain going away. Also, note that this was Diwali eve and all city roads were very busy. With no option, I started from there and headed towards Dumka. Here's when we got into a big mess. It was 2 lane road and we completely got stuck with the heavy traffic jam with hundreds of trucks waiting on both direction. Rain stopped but the traffic did not clear at all. We were completely stuck there for around 2 hours. We were able to move only after 12am. I maintained the speed at 80 as the 2 lane road was not great. After Hansdiha, the roads were under construction and have to take frequent diversion. After Dumka, filled the car at a Reliance pump and continued to drive towards Asansol. Felt sleepy around 4am and decided to stop and rest for sometime. Did the same and by the time I woke up it was 6.30am. Roads were good again after Asansol. We got very good tea and breakfast at Raniganj and continued to push towards Medinipur. Got into the 4 lane road again after Medinipur (It was such a relief that it is going to be 4 lane road all the way till Chennai) and stopped at a Highway Restaurant for lunch.


Planned route to Bhubaneswar




Lunch break after Kharagpur



After the lunch, did not break further and pushed all the way till Bhubaneswar. When we reached Ginger Hotel, it was 4 pm and was raining in Bhubaneswar. Since it was a Diwali day, I guessed our preferred Restaurant in Bhubaneswar, Hotel Priya might be closed. Tried calling them but none answered. We had our dinner at Ginger itself and crashed soon.


Odo after reaching Ginger Hotel, Bhubaneswar




20/21 Oct 2017, Friday/Saturday
I was up at 8am and after refreshing quickly, had the complimentary breakfast from Ginger, came back to the room, called the lobby and requested for late checkout and then crashed again. The plan for the final leg of the journey was to start at around 2pm from Bhubaneswar and reach Chennai the next day. I got up at 12, refreshed, packed our bags and checked out from the Hotel. It was still raining in Bhubaneswar. We drove straight to Hotel Priya and fortunately they were open. Ordered south Indian meals and we also ordered and packed food for Dinner as well. Started the drive at 2.30pm and I was able to maintain speed steadily at 100-120. We reached outskirts of Vizag by 8pm, was able to locate a COCO IOC pump on the highway and tanked up the car and we took our dinner break there.


Before our final leg of the trip




Planned route




After the break, continued the drive towards Vijayawada and I started to feel sleepy at around 4am when we were still 40 kms away from Vijayawada. Just on time, came a toll plaza. Parked the car at a safe location just after the toll and I slept. Woke up by 6am when the sun started to rise. I wanted to push quickly and pass Vijayawada before traffic picks up at the City. We were able to quickly pass the city and then stopped at a reliance pump to fill and refresh ourselves. We were not ready for the breakfast yet and planned to drive till Ongole and try at the Food plaza which is located above the Toll Plaza.


At a Reliance pump just after Vijayawada



We broke at the NS Food Plaza for the breakfast. They had south Indian buffet breakfast and it was tempting as well. So, we went with the buffet option. It was such a disappointment after trying their food. None of the items can be even rated as Average. It was that bad. Not sure if we went there on a wrong day or it is their normal way of cooking. Only good thing I can talk about this place is that the washrooms were neat and clean.


From the NS Food plaza near Ongole




Odo reading after reaching home




It was 12.30pm when we finally reached our home in Chennai.

Home Sweet Home

[rameshnanda]

Additional Information

- Total Kms for the entire trip stood at 7668 Kms

- I used the Fastag Issued by SBI. Worked in most of the Tolls but the cash line was empty at most places. Fastag line has long line with Trucks. And the way they were processing the Fastag is nothing less than Legacy Processing

- Food option in Bhutan is very minimal and very expensive. We struggled to get breakfast one morning even in Thimphu. No need for me to mention about the options along Bumthang and Trashigang

- Fuels were cheaper in Bhutan. The cheapest we got was at Phuentsholing (few rupees cheaper than Thimphu)

- Indian currency is widely accepted throughout Bhutan. They happily take Indian Currency and give back ngultrum for any change

- Most Bhutanese have impression that all Indian Drivers are bad. When I was parking at the RSTA office in Thimphu, a person came at me and said I did not enter through the proper gate and also said, this is not India. While I did not knowingly violate the rule he was still furious at me. Actually there were no signs/instructions to follow as well

- Kaziranga National Park opens fully on November 1st each year. They opened it partially in October when we visited

- Food at 3 places we can never forget for bad reasons. A South Korean Restaurant in Thimphu, Barcode Restaurant near Guwahati and the NS Food plaza in Ongole

- Some places where we had awesome food was at the Wild Grass Resorts at Kaziranga, Home Stay at Cherrapunjee, Breakfast at Ginger Bhubaneswar

- On the whole felt AP and Assam has better roads. West Bengal had the worst road

- The route from Kolkata to Siliguri is always a topic when we travel to North-East. I tried the route through Morgram for onward and through Bhagalpur for return. While the condition of the roads are very dynamic in nature, I found the route through Morgram is slightly better

- In this trip, my Linea went through the states of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Bihar, Jharkhand

- I found the reason and impact for the thud noise happened near Siliguri only after reaching Chennai. There was a small dent on the bonnet. It must be a stone from the mountain

- Gear used for Photo- Nikon D800, 14-24, 24-70, 70-300 VR, Sony A6000 and iPhone 5s and 6s. Viofo A119 as Dashcam

- I would like to thank Mr. J. Ravi who helped me with the Itinerary, Route suggestion, and other general information on what to except from the long trip

- Thanks to Sundhu Kumar, who kept calling me and getting updates through out the trip

- Special thanks to the Fiat Team, Mr. Mangesh Kodalkar (Head of Customer Service, FCA) for quickly coordinating and arranging the replacement parts, Mahesh Fiat at Guwahati, Sakthivel (Service Manager) at True Sai, Salem for providing on call assistance

- Where would be my next road trip ? Spiti Valley Probably.

The End

[Eddy]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing.

[CliffHanger]

What a travelogue to start the weekend! Engrossing, with amazing pictures and narration.

Thanks for sharing, Ramesh. Look forward to hearing your experiences in one of the meets!

[V.Narayan]

Thank you for your detailed log and beautiful scenic photos. You do have a knack for composing your photographs.

[BlackPearl]

An adventurous trip to say the least! Beautiful photographs and a detailed narration. I went through all of it at one go. I shudder to think of the mental situation while driving the Linea from Gangtey all the way to Trashigang and Samdrup Jhongkar. Thankfully you had not read my travelogue, otherwise you would not have planned for this drive in your Linea and we would have missed out on a thrilling narration

The link to my Bhutan travelogue - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...olero-4x4.html (Throwback to a bygone era - Bhutan in a Bolero 4x4)

I like Bhutan so much that I could not stop myself from reminiscing about our trip and posting a few pics, please pardon me.

Phobjika Valley


On the way to Mongar


On the way to Trashigang


Near Trashiyangtse


Two things I would like to mention -

1. Please remove the picture of Farakka Barrage as it is not allowed to take pictures of the barrage.

2. I would beg to differ about the following point that you have mentioned. I absolutely love Bhutanse food and there are lots of options as well!

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

Additional Information
- Food option in Bhutan is very minimal and very expensive. We struggled to get breakfast one morning even in Thimphu. No need for me to mention about the options along Bumthang and Trashigang

[superbad]

One word which comes to mind after reading this - epic. A roller coaster of a ride. Full marks for courage to plan such a long drive with family with small kids, that too in a Linea (which doesn't have too many service points) & tackling the worst of roads in the sedan. Photographs are beautiful. You take great portrait shots , keep up the great work.


I hope you won't take this the wrong way but some more research & discretion from your side would've made things more easier for you & your family & made the overall trip more comfortable. For eg, things like e-permit, paper permit, vehicle permit etc which are major documentation hassles, could've been done with more research. Also driving at midnight in some parts of the country that too with a family, can take a downright nasty turn. Also driving for 24 hours straight is also not advisable although if your family is comfortable with this, then no issues. Would encourage you to consider these things.
But all in all, a great travelogue.

[NPV]

Ramesh - just one word to describe your awesome trip experience shared with us in this travelogue - E-P-I-C

Hats off to your detailed planning and execution! And great travel spirit in the family to complete such a trip, the young ones deserve a lot of praise.

Also to remember all the minute details more than a year after the actual travel takes the cake

[rameshnanda]

Originally Posted by CliffHanger

What a travelogue to start the weekend! Engrossing, with amazing pictures and narration.

Thanks for sharing, Ramesh. Look forward to hearing your experiences in one of the meets!

Sure. Thank you.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Thank you for your detailed log and beautiful scenic photos. You do have a knack for composing your photographs.

Thanks a lot, Narayan.

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

An adventurous trip to say the least! Beautiful photographs and a detailed narration. I went through all of it at one go. I shudder to think of the mental situation while driving the Linea from Gangtey all the way to Trashigang and Samdrup Jhongkar. Thankfully you had not read my travelogue, otherwise you would not have planned for this drive in your Linea and we would have missed out on a thrilling narration

The link to my Bhutan travelogue - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...olero-4x4.html (Throwback to a bygone era - Bhutan in a Bolero 4x4)

Thanks for the link.

You said it right. I actually can't describe the situation I gone through on those 2 days. Only those who have driven in that route would get it. You know now.

I would definitely return to these places again but in an SUV. While I faced huge trouble with the road condition, I love that part of Bhutan. I want to explore further.

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

I like Bhutan so much that I could not stop myself from reminiscing about our trip and posting a few pics, please pardon me.

Absolutely no issues. Beautiful pictures indeed.

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

1. Please remove the picture of Farakka Barrage as it is not allowed to take pictures of the barrage.

I didn't know this. Sent a note to Mods to remove it.

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

2. I would beg to differ about the following point that you have mentioned. I absolutely love Bhutanse food and there are lots of options as well!

I should have put it better. Actually, we too loved Bhutanese food. The problem we faced few times was to get proper restaurant around the place where we stayed in Thimphu and while driving far east Bhutan.

Originally Posted by superbad

One word which comes to mind after reading this - epic. A roller coaster of a ride. Full marks for courage to plan such a long drive with family with small kids, that too in a Linea (which doesn't have too many service points) & tackling the worst of roads in the sedan. Photographs are beautiful. You take great portrait shots , keep up the great work.

Thanks a lot.

Originally Posted by superbad

I hope you won't take this the wrong way but some more research & discretion from your side would've made things more easier for you & your family & made the overall trip more comfortable. For eg, things like e-permit, paper permit, vehicle permit etc which are major documentation hassles, could've been done with more research. Also driving at midnight in some parts of the country that too with a family, can take a downright nasty turn. Also driving for 24 hours straight is also not advisable although if your family is comfortable with this, then no issues. Would encourage you to consider these things.
But all in all, a great travelogue.

Actually, I did very extensive research on the Visa process for my Daughter as she is an US Citizen. However, all the e-Permit goof-up was by the Tour operator. The mistake on my part was that I reached Phuentsholing late afternoon. Ideal time would have been in the morning. And I wouldn't have wasted a day. However, lessons learnt.

All your other points are well taken.

Originally Posted by NPV

Ramesh - just one word to describe your awesome trip experience shared with us in this travelogue - E-P-I-C

Hats off to your detailed planning and execution! And great travel spirit in the family to complete such a trip, the young ones deserve a lot of praise.

Also to remember all the minute details more than a year after the actual travel takes the cake

Thanks a lot NPV.

[bullet_chacha]

Well well well!

What a journey!

Bhutan is always fantastic. I truly respect your courage for taking your family to Eastern Bhutan on a relatively humble Linea. I've seen Hiluxes failing on that terrain. This brings back my memories of #Thebigone!

Do check out the below link.


https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...dventures.html (Chronicles of a Lone Biker | The Big One | Bhutan 2017 | Dominar 400 Adventures)

Few things I would like to agree with you:

1. "This is not India". I've heard this phrase! Government officials and police officials are outright hostile towards us. This is what I felt after my journey.

2. Food: Not like expensive, but yes, you're lucky if you get something to eat at a Restaurant even at 3! This is exactly what happened with me in Kuruthang (Punakha). This has a mention both in the travelogue and vlogs.

3. Roads: Ufff. The less said the better. Imagine me riding solo in 1.5 ft. slush with all the luggage and no one to help in case of a mishap. Punakha-Trongsa-Mongar tooke 2 bloody days to cover, just because of the road conditions

[Surprise]

Rated 5 starts. Wow! what a travelogue Ramesh.

Delayed by an hour for such a long trip at the start, getting stuck at the toll within 20 kms of the start for hours, Heavy rains & check engine light slowing down the progress, Poor stay experience at Bardhman as you run into second day, Getting hit from behind for no fault of yours & negotiating with them to settle, Getting stuck at permit office inspite of extensive ground works, Getting stuck at pitch dark finding out way to reach resort at a place where there is no signal reception, Getting stuck after Trongsa & have to pulled out to get out of the mess, Warning of risks driving the mountainous regions with such worn out brake pads & the time it takes to get the spare...Oops!!, Driving down at unfamiliar roads of Bihar and Jharkhand after midnight with rains lashing - All this with family (2 kids). Hats off to you.