Team-BHP - Ka goes to Bhutan with a pack of wolves

As I end this travelogue, some questions that would be raised are here.

Q: Kitna hua?
A: Bhai, Mera toh 45539 ruppaiyya hua. Others were around 39-40

Q: Petrol kitne ka?
A: 16059 ruppaiyya Tel ka aur 29480 aish ka yaani Food and Accomodation.

Q: Bike ne kitna diya?
A: Arrey Yaar, yeh check karna bhool gaya mein. I did not record the quantity this time. It should be around 28kmpl overall. This was due to fact the bike was running constantly at over 6k rpm and fuel intake increases at this point.

Q: Best hotel?
A: Dharma Resort at Paro undoubtably followed by Bhutan Ga Me Ga in Phuentsholing and Anand Regency in Rajahmundry tied at second spot.

Q: Best food?
A: Surya Dhabha at Orai. A consolation prize to Sagar Ratna in Gorakhpur for serving us some fantastic and authentic South Indian fare. I never had a good experience in the North and this blew me away.

Q: What were the takeaways from this ride?
A: Aiyoo swamy, no takeaways only giveaways time time. Half saddle bag to a truck in Bagalpur, hydration pack and footwear to someone on SH in WB. Plus lot of anxiety and headache to my team during the three breakdowns I had.
And finally the responsibility to pen down the travelogue being shoved up on me.

Guys, here I dedicate this travelogue to my team of buddies, family and friends who encouraged and supported me for the ride. And people whom I did not even know and who came to my rescue whenever I pushed the panic button, Santhosh aka black12rr, Sebastian, Sheel, Rahul, Bishnu Banerjee, Vijay Rana, Parag Sachania, Ambarish, Feroz, Arif and lot more who directed us to the right way and tried their best to see we run on schedule with minimum hiccups.

And lastly and not the least, Ka, my slithering snake for taking me to the distant world and bringing back safely and in one piece while taking up all the beatings.

Ka goes to Bhutan with a pack of wolves - On a KTM Duke 390-img_20181208_134924_hdr.jpg

Hope you will had a good time in read this. Keep the questions coming up and the team is here to answer you. Bye for now.

Uday Sir, fantastic write-up! It was a great feeling to relive the wonderful half a month that we spent like a family, through your words! Thank you for the effort of summing up so many details. I'm sure we'll read this again and again in the coming years and relive the memories!

Just to add my perspective, compared to my last year ride to RJ and GJ, this was a little more rough, both on the bikes and us. While states like RJ, GJ and MH are relatively well developed, the Eastern belt of AP, WB, BR have a long way to go, in terms of tourism and overall infrastructure.

Nevertheless, everything is an experience and what's a trip without challenges! The kind of conditions we faced, due to rotten luck (Farakka closure) in Bihar helped me explore more about my own riding skill and about my bike's abilities, considering I was riding two up and with a lot of luggage.

On the positive side, got a chance to get to know my riding buddies so much better, met some wonderful souls like Sheel who went out of their way to help us and also provided us a safety net to fallback on, in case things went south.

The group was close knit like a family. All of us supported each other, be it two wheels or two legs, we were rallying behind each other. Sandhya was the "enthu-cutlet" who lifted the spirits of the entire group when necessary.

Also learnt, wherever we are, Bihar or UP or MP, just being polite to our fellow countrymen was enough to receive warm hospitality and assistance wherever requested. Every travel reconfirms what we see in the media is exaggerated, biased and the ground reality is so different. We live in a wonderful Country with so much to explore. clap:

PS: I must mention this. As Uday Sir has written in detail, he had to unfortunately split from the group on the penultimate day to get the bike fixed. However, on the final day of a 16 day ride, he rode from Nagpur, joined us at Nizamabad and then all the way to Bangalore covering more than 1100 km! This is epitome to the fact that age or the type of motorbike are secondary and it's the attitude, intent and passion that is paramount. Kudos! :)

Phew! that was epic. thanks for sharing unk9ja and kudos to the entire group on completing this successfully. sticking to each other during the problems and helping out each other. Wwll done and Hats off to you people!
Special congratulations to Suhas and Sandhya; couple on the CBR - you people are crazy! :D

What a wonderful read to start the week. I was so involved in reading that I got goosebumps when I read the last post when you returned home. It's a special feeling indeed!

The :Shockked: moments for me was the bearing without the balls and the 387kms in some 4hours on the last day when you overtook the group!

Congratulations once again!

One question. There was one photo of a sweet shelf (2018-12-16 09:42)...there were golden round balls in one plate and some groundnut kind of dish in another plate. what are they?

Uday Sir, fantastic travelogue! I was literally living the Bhutan trip with all of you through your words and pictures. clap:

A ride of this proportion with a group of people takes mega efforts to plan and as per me, there are no better people with prior experience for the job than Suhas and yourself. I'm sure both of you made it easy for Sandhya, Immy and Dileep to have a trouble free, joyous trip.

It was really disheartening to know about the niggles of your beloved Duke which until then was one of the most reliable 390s in the country, if I can say that. All well, on the positive side, it was good to know that none of the problems amplified to dent your schedule. You have time and again proven that age is just a number and if you have the will, the world is at your feet. I'm sure there are hardly any people in your age bracket who can ride for 1100kms in a day and that too on a bike like the Duke390! Kudos to your enthusiasm and zeal more than anything Sir, I hope I am this motivated when I reach my midlife crisis.

As for Immy and Dileep, I'm sure they must've learnt a lot from this trip. Covering 6300kms in a little under 3 weeks is a lot of experience that one can gain. Most of the "keyboard experts" take half a decade to complete that number! And Sandhya, well, she is an expert pillion now, having done two mega rides in a year! I hope her spirit and enthusiasm rubs onto my wife as well and she rides with me to Bhutan (which looks impossible as of now lol:)

Lastly, thanks for including my handle in the travelogue and making me a part of the pre-ride discussions. I was super bummed to have come so close to being a part of this epic trip and then sitting out due to the stupid reason of leaves not being granted! What made me real sad was missing out on riding to a different country, with people who I consider as my family. I really hope you plan another one this year and I'll make sure I participate this time.

Yet another awesome trip and an equally awesome travelogue folks :thumbs up.

In 2017 it was a cross-country drive covering the length and breadth of the country and 2018 made you take up another stupendous ride to a neighboring country. The highlight of the trip is the manner in which this was executed - As a team and each time I am sure such trips get better with the experiences (and learning) from the previous trips. Keep that coming and wish to see a lot of such travelogues in future from you all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by unk9ja (Post 4527086)

A quick call to paragsachania tilted the favor to Seoni. The network of friends is really amazing as each one chips in with very useful information.

I had to comment here since you referred my name. This 'networking' that you are referring to is what helps a lot during each of our trips, including me.

But the fact is that most of us became friends only after exchanging PMs and then our numbers while asking some queries during the days where we knew each other due to our handles and posts. So credit where its due - Team-BHP as a forum has ensured many entries in my phone book where contacts are saved with their handles first followed by their real names in brackets. I have attended 4 meets till now in the last 5 years and got connected to many for the first time too.

Uday sir - Brilliantly Brilliant Travelogue, the eye for detail is just incredible. Awesome pictures as well, Thanks for sharing :thumbs up

Based on our short conversation back in December I just knew you were riding to Bhutan, nothing more. After reading the other thread of Ashish completely (had only read it partially last week), and now your TL, it's very nice to get the perspectives from a solo trip and one with a group. The "Team" aspect comes to the fore when there were troubles with the bikes and having people around to help and also the camaraderie.

Rating well deserved 5 stars clap:

Amazing ride sir. Hope we get to ride together sometime. Would surely like to meet you after hearing about your exploits from Chethan (versys).

Your family looks more relieved than anything else :D

I have visited Indimotard for one service in the past and i know the founder members personally much before they started. They seem to focus a lot on track days and motorcycle trips in other countries. Which is not a bad thing at all. Hope they add more focus and strength to their local servicing wing.

How do you decide who sleeps on the floor amongst thd three?

Brilliant write up and an amazing attention to detail throughout the tlog. I enjoyed reading every bit of it. Congratulations to the entire group Suhas, Sandhya, Imran and Dilip as well for completing such a long ride and sticking by the side of each other always. This is really good to see and read the way you had each others back always. Cheers to that !!

Hats off to you Uday sir, for your fighter spirit and never give up attitude. Even when you were facing so many niggles related to your bike I remember you offered me the side sensor bypass for my Nepal circuit at Paro when we met. :)

I am glad you completed the ride successfully.

Couple of questions :

1. Have you investigated why the front brake pads came out all of a sudden?
2. Since the group took both the routes (via Chindwara and via Seoni), which one would you prefer going forward?
3. How close was Gorakhpur's Dosae and filter coffee with what we get here in terms of taste ?

Another incredibly amazing thread detailing the adventures of TBHPians on two wheels! Hats off to unk9ja for penning down the wonderful journey in such detail. What I loved is that you have taken the honest approach of talking about all sides to such a travel, the highs and the lows when many others would have glossed over the negatives and only written on the positives instead. And you have added just the right photos to complement the story telling. The picture of Mrs Added Flavour being surprised by her birthday cake is a perfect example.

Much love to the whole gang (all of who I have known for the last few years except Dilip) for embarking on such a long journey when most people would be happy to instead just head out to Goa for a few days and wind up the year. May the journeys continue in the coming years and hopefully I too can join you guys on one such mammoth trip.

Im a little surprised by the Indimotard service experience, a small mistake from their side had quite serious repercussions on your adventure but thankfully everything worked itself out in the end.

But overall, what an adventure. What an inspirational thread.