[jaunthead]

Dude what a tlog!
Many superlatives come to mind. But one that sticks is Breathtaking! - the writeup, the adventure, the pics.
Welcome to tbhp.

[//M]

Bhutan, Sikkim and Lower Mustang Valley in one go on a solo motorcycling trip from Bangalore - I am sure this would have been a journey of mammoth proportions comprising of millions of stories !

Congratulations for completing this adventure.

I have a few queries though.

• Is mid-November a good time to do Mustang Valley on a motorcycle?
• Any idea if it is possible to ride your personal motorcycle to Upper Mustang (Lo Manthang and Kora La)?
• If the answer to the above question is yes, any idea how many days does it take to cover the stretch from Muktinath/Kagbeni to Lo Manthang?
• Fuel availability and quality of fuel beyond Pokhara?

[hemanth.anand]

Absolutely awesome Aashish_390. Congratulations on completing this circuit and thank you for sharing such a nice travelogue . Have browsed through it for now. Will read it in detail once again. How were you able to take so many photos of you and your bike with less selfies? were you handing over your phone/camera to someone there? I somehow fear doing this

I was aware and updated about Uday (un9kja) and his travel. I was waiting for his travelogue and as soon as I saw your thread, I thought you were with his. But when I saw "Solo", I knew it was a different one. Good to know that you did meet him

Once again, thanks for sharing it and that too so quickly (just 10 days)!!!

[Romins]

Originally Posted by Aashish_390

"If you’ve been putting off a trip because you’re waiting for someone to go with — stop. Just go. Don’t let others hold you back from your dreams. Trust me, along the way you’ll make plenty of friends — from other solo travelers who thought “Screw it, if I don’t go, I’ll never go” to locals interested in meeting new people. You’re never alone when you travel.

I just read the opening line. You nailed it man! I realized this a decade ago. Today I have many local friends at Bhutan and all over Northeast.

[R-Six]

Absolutely amazing! What a way to start your journey here on Team-BHP. Doing solo weekend rides are quite common, but taking up a month-long ride covering multiple countries on a bike takes a lot more than what we call courage. Hats off to your spirit.

I liked how you planned the entire ride, a mix of both long days on the saddle, shorter ones and rest days instead of piling miles every day.

How were you able to take so many photos of you and your bike with less selfies? were you handing over your phone/camera to someone there?)

I had the same question in my mind.

Ride safe!
R-Six

[gunin]

Wow!!! What an adventure man. I finished reading through your log in one go- it is that well narrated. And beautiful pictures to boot. I especially enjoyed your ride in Nepal as very less information is available about those places. Thanks a lot for sharing. Rated a well deserved 5 stars.

[Chillout]

Wow, unbelievable isn't the word, one needs sheer guts to even plan something like this , to pull it off is just incredible. Invest in a camera attached to your helmet and that will take all videos and pics for you. I am sure the trip will always stay in your memory, however always feels nice to see the pics later.

Kudos to you and looking forward to your next adventure

[HappyWheels]

Wow! That was one great ride report!

There are many who keep planning and wait for the right moment to take such a trip and there are few like you who go about and just get it done.

Well written crisp report with the right amount of photos, in my opinion.

For such long tours, am pleasantly surprised that KTM's are being used, rather than say a Enfield.

Shocked at the suspension giving away. Get your axle checked, especially the bearings.

[Aashish_390]

Originally Posted by Added_flavor

I was really tempted and even mentioned this to the other guys on Sena when we were heading towards Lucknow from Siliguri.

Thanks Suhas. It would have been great to meet up again somewhere in Nepal.

I remember telling you guys about how niggle free the ride was that night and the very next day the suspension gave up.

Originally Posted by aabhimanyu04

Pardon if I missed in your post if you considered changing tyres or were you on stock metz?I am considering to change to a used button tyre on the rear of my R3 just for this ride, do you think that is worth taking the effort?
PS- That agv k3 is slaying in your pictures <3

Thank you aabimanyu04, my bike was running on Michelin Pilot Street Radials which are street tyres. If you have an offroader it will certainly make things easier for you.

Originally Posted by //M

I have a few queries though.

• Is mid-November a good time to do Mustang Valley on a motorcycle?
• Any idea if it is possible to ride your personal motorcycle to Upper Mustang (Lo Manthang and Kora La)?
• If the answer to the above question is yes, any idea how many days does it take to cover the stretch from Muktinath/Kagbeni to Lo Manthang?
• Fuel availability and quality of fuel beyond Pokhara?

Thank you //M.
1. Mid November is a great time to visit Mustang.
2. I think you can, I remember seeing an SUV scaling places in Upper Mustang here on the forum. However, there is an entry fee of USD 300 (afaik)
3. Distance wise it is not much, but as I mentioned I covered 70kms in 7 hours so you can calculate accordingly. Also, Upper Mustang is way extreme and its completely for serious adventure junkies.
4. Quality of fuel is OK however the fuel bunks are really shady throughout Nepal. Noticed a few modern pumps coming up but 80% of them are really shady. However, the fuel is just ok. I am not really sure on the availability of fuel after Beni.

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Absolutely awesome Aashish_390. Congratulations on completing this circuit and thank you for sharing such a nice travelogue . Have browsed through it for now. Will read it in detail once again. How were you able to take so many photos of you and your bike with less selfies? were you handing over your phone/camera to someone there? I somehow fear doing this

I was aware and updated about Uday (un9kja) and his travel. I was waiting for his travelogue and as soon as I saw your thread, I thought you were with his. But when I saw "Solo", I knew it was a different one. Good to know that you did meet him

Once again, thanks for sharing it and that too so quickly (just 10 days)!!!

Originally Posted by R-Six

I liked how you planned the entire ride, a mix of both long days on the saddle, shorter ones and rest days instead of piling miles every day.

I had the same question in my mind.

Thank you Hemanth and R-Six. Out of the 126 pictures there are 10 which have me in them. Out of those 10, one is a selfie, couple of them were taken by a friend who joined me for a couple of days from Kolkata and rest all were taken by strangers. I know its a little embarrassing, but as a solo traveler you see a lot of people interested in interacting with you to know more about what you are upto. That's the moment when you need to cash in.

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

For such long tours, am pleasantly surprised that KTM's are being used, rather than say a Enfield.

Thank you HappyWheels, I feel any bike which has been kept and maintained well can be used for adventure rides. I have covered a major chunk of the country on this baby duke and it has never let me down in the 60,000Kms i covered on it in last 2.8 years.

[unk9ja]

Awesome travelogue, Aashish. Nicely compiled and crisp. And Thanks for sharing the details wherever it is critical.

Yes we missed taking out a photo when we met in Paro.Looking forward for new adventures in the coming months.

[Samba]

What a ride man!

Kids with Duke do illegal street racing and stunts.
Men with Duke do their daily commute with some weekend rides.
Legends with a Duke go for such solo trips.

Hats off to your guts and passion for pulling out such a mega solo trip. Am running short of words on how to convey my feelings!


Rated 5*. Beautiful presentation of an awesome trip.

[ramji_or]

Dude! What a trip! Reading your adventure would definitely kindle the spirits of even a non-biker to try out. Bookmarked the thread with a hope to plan a Bhutan ride of my own, this is such a wealth of information!

[dicor]

Amazing trip Aashish. Enjoyed every picture and word of your travelogue.

The washing bay of KTM looks very unorganized and dirty. Is this a temporary setup or is it normal standard for them?

I am vegetarian so I had tried Bajpayee Kachori at ganj. It was quite amazing. In Nagpur you could have tried Tamatar Pohe / Saoji cuisine although you seems to be rice lover.

Thanks for sharing wonderful trip log.

[saratjyo]

Marvelous travelogue! Awestruck on seeing you do the Mustang ride solo. Was just thinking what would have been the situation in the river crossing if there was an Enfield in place of the Duke. Would love to do this trip once in my lifetime. Hope this dream will come true for me one day. Keep riding safe !

[strawhat]

Spellbinding!

Such a majestic trip report and surely an adventure of a lifetime. You literally transported me to all those places during the read. Hallmark of a bloody good writer.

Covering the length of three countries in such a short period that too on a bike is no mean task. The extreme conditions you braved reminds me of my Nov 2016 Gurudongmar lake trip. I still feel the chills down my bone. As if it isn't painful already, the wind adds to the 'experience'. An open ride in such weather is a far fetched dream for me.

In a not so distant past, just going to those places was an achievement. Slowly we have seen people taking their cars. Now we see a solo bike ride. Have we seen enough already!!! Legendary.

I take my hat off.