Team-BHP - Amazingly magnificent & enchantingly awesome North East India

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Originally Posted by ARAY (Post 4492075)

Beautiful blog. I have already spent 2+ years exploring the NE but from Hyderabad. The diversity up there is awe inspiring. Although I had done the route on a Duster AWD but at few places took the inner state routes as suggested by local friends in the region and those proved to be more beautiful. Locals are calm and helpful most of the time. With more people going to NE and using Google maps , its learning and would be very helpful to future travellers. Versys is a tremendous tourer. Thanks a lot for sharing your experiences with us, sharing a picture from our last NE trip. (Somewhere at Sela Pass)
I would request you guys to start collecting GPS data as gpx file with any smart phone if possible. The data can be rendered in 3D at a later stage and would always be fun to share with others. Keep travelling and sharing your experiences !

Thanks for liking the t-log.

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Originally Posted by neil.jericho (Post 4492093)

Goodness gracious me, what an adventure and what a detailed travelogue! I love the fact that you have shared so many trip details and photos from your marvellous bike trip. Hats off to you two on all fronts, I have fowarded this thread to many people and I hopefully will be able to do a road trip to the wonderful North Eastern states of our country. This is probably my favourite thread on Team BHP and equals the Coast to Coast (and back?) with an Italian Supermodel thread over on the ADV Rider as my top all time travelogue reads.

Thank you so much Neil. Your kind words are too inspiring and comments like this always keep us motivated to ride/drive more.

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Originally Posted by gtonsing (Post 4495843)

WOW! I just finished reading this thread and I am amazed (don't have any other word to come even close to describe my feeling while reading this) Amazing t-log and even greater photos. Being cooped inside cubicles and having originated from the NE (Manipur to be specific) I can share some of the "free" feeling that you get when you set foot in the North East. That too, to do it as a husband-wife team, and on a motorcycle is what dreams are made of. Keep riding and keep writing! You share your world and your experiences for desktop/arm chair guys.
I have mentioned it in another t-log, I am at cross roads on travelling to the NE should be encouraged. While the beauty and lovely people definitely makes for a very good tourist destination, I am iffy about exploitation by tourists. You mentioned it in the mawlynnong village. I am sure it is pretty much the same "unwanted" development in many of the more touristy places in almost all the states you have been to. I feel the state governments, along with the tourism ministry need to have a master plan for sustainable tourism. Otherwise, we will lose this beautiful part of this awesome country to exploitation and unchecked development and turned into a messy and sad place. Wonderful trip and Amazing photos. Looking forward to more from you both.

Thanks a lot. NE is still an unexplored zone with less tourist crowds and carefully surrounded by Mother Nature. I totally agree with you that Govt should take measures to maintain the true virginity of this region and avoid exploitation by unruly tourist crowd.

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Originally Posted by atul.ktm (Post 4497536)

[b]Here is the video for Day 8 when we encounter snow in Sela Pass:

Thanks a lot for sharing all the videos, Atul.

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Originally Posted by R-Six (Post 4497965)

Wow!!! What a travelogue!! Take a bow, both of you! clap:clap: Such an epic trip and a blog to match the adventure and the fun you had. No clue how I missed this one until yesterday. Your travelogues have always been a visual treat and clubbed it with so much information that would make the experience of reading the story to a completely new level. You have raised the bar even further. If team-bhp ever started official reviews of destinations, you both would be a good fit. Ride safe, R-Six

Thank you so much.

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Originally Posted by bharatbs (Post 4514246)

Thank for your detailed travel blog to North East, we just completed a North East trip and your blog was inspirational and helped us a lot in the planning. Excellent roads in Shillong and Guwahati

Thank Bharat. Glad that our t-log helped you plan your NE trip. You yourself have covered so many beautiful places, must have been a memorable journey.

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Originally Posted by Nagesh Bhatt (Post 4532701)

This travelogue is simply awesome !! This is one heck of a trip !! I haven't seen such a detailed, long journey planned & penned & photographed so beautifully so far. You must be having a good camera gear. You guys are simply amazing daredevils to ride non-stop over 10k kms ! The entire voyage just unfurled in front of me, the beauty of the North East, narrated so beautifully ! Kudos to you, Nandita & Atul !!!

Thanks a lot, Nagesh.

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Originally Posted by goandude (Post 4540125)

Absolutely fantastic ride you two have done. Something many of us can only dream of. Written so beautifully, I took two days to read, make notes and keep following your trip on google maps. You have gone to places where even locals don't know about. I have been going to Meghalaya for last 30 odd years (wife is from there) but never heard of Kreng Shuri waterfalls! And I have been dreaming of riding the Jorabat Umiam section of NH6. It is one of the only 4 lane ghat road in India (besides the Mumbai Pune Expressway). In spite of having punctures and inclement weather during some of the days your ride timing matches quite well with Gmaps timings. Did you ever consider riding through Bangladesh? It would have cut down on your kilometers and given you another country to see.
And your attention to detail is amazing. How did you keep track of every little thing? From wake up times, to break times, to what you ate with price:eek:

Thank you so much. The Guwahati Shillong highway is indeed one of the best and scenic 4 lane ghat road we have ridden on.

While returning we wanted to come via Guwahati to meet my family one more time before riding back to Bangalore. That's why we didn't take the Bangladesh route, also we were not very sure of the permits. So didn't want to take any unnecessary risks/chances.

I do keep a note book along with me, entering all the details, important milestones, facts, etc. daywise for all trips. This eventually helps me in constructing my t-log with all information handy. :)

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Originally Posted by catchdoon (Post 4561526)

An immensely detailed travelogue. I took turns to read it thoroughly. Relived my time in Northeast [10 years] from your description & pics which are so detailed, crisp - I totally loved the post-processing on the pics. On top of all, I appreciate & admire the hard work behind writing that mammoth travelogue. So many of my travelogues are in Pipeline because I don't feel like typing all those details. Someday perhaps.

Thank you so much for liking the t-log. :) Agree, that writing a detailed travelogue is quite exhausting at times but then once penned down along with information and relevant pictures, I guess it gives a whole new perspective to the journey. Also, it helps other readers when they are planning something similar rides/drives.

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Originally Posted by Judemayne (Post 4601563)

Great journey, excellent and informative videos. Hats off to you two for the guts and grit to undertake this journey.
Keeping our fingers crossed, as my wife and I want to complete our drive to all the State Capitals by striking out, from our Bucket List, the 6 Capitals East of Guwahati. We have visited all Capitals/States, , West of Guwahati, by road from Bengaluru, to include Gangtok and Thimphu to the East with J&K (Leh included), HP, UK to the North, Guj and Raj to the West, Central-Chattisgarh, Jhakhand, Bihar, UP and MP, Odisha(Home state) and Bengal quite a few times and whole of South India(numerous drives). Though served in NE for 3 tenures and covered all States but want to drive with the wife and complete our visit to all State Capitals. Your T'Log will really help. Regards Col Jude Mayne

Thanks a ton, Col Jude. Looks like you and your better half have covered quite a lot of places across India as well. Will look forward to you entirely covering the length and breadth of India. That's Atul and my plan to, cover all possible places in India.

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Originally Posted by vjaysah (Post 4610164)

Always good to read your travelogues. What a wonderful trip you guys.
Now I am getting the itch to ride towards the beautiful NE States.

Thanks Vijay. Hope you are having a good ride towards Spiti.

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Originally Posted by ask_017 (Post 4610369)

Truly mesmerising and inspiring to read this. Little less unfortunate souls like me can only drool at the places that you have visited and that too on your wonderful machine. But I take this as inspiration to go for it some day in the near future.

Thank you so much. Hope you embark on your journey soon.

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Originally Posted by null (Post 4611210)

Had missed this post somehow, but it popped up yesterday during a search, and man!, ended up spending two days going through the writing & drooling at the pictures. I think I spent 4-5 hours all together going through it now. Must have been an experience of a life time to travel to NE and that too on a motorbike for 26 days. I have known of people flying to Kolkata or Guawhati and spend a week or 10 days around, but your trip is something beyond theirs and surely involved a lot of planning. This must have made plenty of TBHPians think of making (or made) a NE trip already. Again, an amazing trip log. Hope some day I too will, I will go on a journey like this one!!

Thank you so much. Definitely, this NE trip of our's would be memories to cherish for life. Planning for almost 2-3 months for these beautiful 26 days was worth. Also, Atul and I always feel that starting and ending a trip from home is more adventure and gives a sense of completeness towards a journey.

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Originally Posted by Shashwat B (Post 4612691)

I am super jealous after reading about your trip! Maybe a year or two later, I will drive down to the NE regions.
Looking forward to reading more such experiences of yours!

Thanks a lot Shashwat. Hope your NE trip happens soon - all the best!

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Originally Posted by Sting (Post 4619168)

What a wonderful journey, Nandita. Kudos to the both of you, made my day reading about your adventurous journey. Here's the 3000th like for your posts!Cheers,
Sting

Thank you so much :)

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Originally Posted by paharino1 (Post 4619665)

Amazingly detailed, Thanks for the superb description & pics

Apologies for replying to this late. I guess you might have already completed your NE trip. However, below are the answers to your queries:

-Is there a list of waterfalls which one must do available - ideally reachable by road + max 3-4 km of trekking as I will be with kids aged 10 & 6.

Some of the more famous ones are Nohkalikai Falls, Rainbow Falls, Elephant Falls, Seven Sisters Falls, Dainthlen Falls. Other than these you can google about it, Meghalaya is the most touristy out of the seven NE states so you will get all the information you need on the web.

-I know Kaziranga & wild life sanctuaries would be closed.

Yes, it's closed during monsoons due to flooding. However, it's open now.

- What would be a good itenary covering must do Post monsoon places in NE in 9-10 days ?

You can do the usual popular circuit of Guwahati-Tawang-Kaziranga-Shillong-Cherrapunjee-Guwahati. In this you can visit places accordingly.

- How would be the crowd this time since it is Pooja holidays ?

It's never too crowded in NE. Except places in Meghalaya, you won't find a lot of tourist crowding the popular places.

- How would be Tawang valley in the end Sept to early Oct ? I am OK to skip if needed as I have driven to Lahaul/ Spiti recently

Comparing Spiti/Ladakh/Tawang or any such Himalayan terrain is not justifiable. Every place has it's own beauty. Sep/Oct time you won't find snow in Tawang or Sela Pass. However, the colors in the valley will be really a sight to see. It will be moderately cold, nothing unbearable.

- Can we drive to Tawang valley with a self drive rented car ? If yes, what permits etc would be needed ?

Absolutely you can. Permits for Arunachal need to be taken in advance. Can be easily done online. However the permits for Bum La and Sangetsar need to be taken from Tawang DC office.

- Any other recommended self drive agencies ? I am OK with a rented car with a driver as well, if necessary

AweRides is another popular rental service in Guwahati.

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Originally Posted by swsumit (Post 4670450)

hi
amazing TL , attention to details was splendid . Congrats on a successful completion. Could you share the contact number of the guides at Dzkou
regards. sumit

Thank you so much, Sumit. Guide names and contact details below, hope you find it useful:

Metevizo Zhotso (Facebook name - Mete Vi Zo Zhts) - 87947 83651
Zhoketo Zhotso (Facebook name - Zhoketo Zhotso) - 87876 44751