[bblost]

I have always wanted to visit the North East states of India. Had read a lot about how beautiful and amazing they are. Many plans were made but they never materialized. So when I got a chance to travel to Assam, I literally jumped on it.

This was a drive organized by Honda as part of their Drive to Discover series.

The North East sojourn was planned over four days with some 1300+ kms of driving. We were expecting both the new Civic and the new CR-V. This trip allowed me to enjoy both the vehicles over the beautiful and enchanting roads.




Team-BHP has participated in a couple of previous Drive to Discover trips:

• bensb29 drove the Brio across Kerala in the D2D-3. Read more. (In a Honda Brio : Kochi - Munnar - Thiruvananthapuram)
• Rudra drove the Amaze up the east coast to Chennai. Read More. (Amazing Discovery Drive: Thiruvananthapuram to Chennai in a Honda Amaze)
• I drove the Mobilio across the forests and hills around Bandipur and Coorg. Read More. (Honda Mobilio Drive: 36 Hairpins, Bandipur Tiger Reserve & Namdroling Monastery)
• I also drove to Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Longewala and Tanot last year. Read more. (Honda Drive to Discover: To Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Longewala and Tanot)
• .anshuman drove across Madhya Pradesh and Khajuraho. Read More.
• Rudra went to the land of the Thunder Dragon. Read More. (In the land of the thunder dragon - Driving Hondas from West Bengal to Bhutan!)

[bblost]

Assam is beautiful. Even as the flight starts its final descent to the runway, the abundant greenery and lush rice fields grab your eyes. We had arrived a day earlier and spent the day holed up in a hotel as it was raining. The rain was quite temperamental. It kept shifting from sunny to rainy every few minutes and vice versa. It was a clear warning on the days to come. We were asked to be ready early in the morning. There was a ferry to catch at the Nimati River Ghat (300+ kms away) and the deadline was given as 3:00 PM

Day 1 : June 22, 2019.
Started from: Guwahati
Ended at : Majuli
Highlights : Ferry on the Bhramaputra

I woke up fresh and ready. A quick breakfast and I am introduced to my ride for the day. A Petrol Automatic Civic. We are usually paired with another journalist for the trip. Luckily he was a photographer more interested in clicking pictures rather than driving. The silly grin when I understood that I did not have to share driving was very difficult to hide.

A quick walk around the car and a couple of minutes to set it up for my comfort. The driving ergonomics were spot on. I liked the dashboard but the console was very busy and distracting. The paddles on the petrol automatic were never used. The car / CVT did not feel under powered given my relaxed driving style. But this car deserves a peppier engine with a more responsive gearbox. It however was the best car I drove during this trip. Handles really well.




We stopped for a quick lunch at an old colonial style hotel called the Wild Grass Lodge. Maybe its the fertile soil or the more organic style of farming practiced here but the vegetables taste is simply mind blowing.




There is a tiny camera embedded in the left hand side rear view mirror. It gets activated when the left turn indicator is activated. You can also manually switch it on when driving. Its a very useful feature especially when driving through heavy traffic or idling at a traffic light. The coverage is adequate and saves you from over enthusiastic bikers.


Most houses have a garden around them. It makes you feel like you have been transported back in time. The modern looking car is not exactly out of place in these idyllic surroundings. The suspension of the new Civic is completely different from the old one. We scrapped the bottom only once during the entire trip.



We arrived at the Ro-Ro (Roll on, Roll Off) ferry named in honor of the legendary music maestro Bharat Ratna Shri Bhupen Hazarika. This ferry cuts the travel distance between Neemati and Majuli from 423-km to just 12.7-km. The ferry takes approximately an hour to cover this distance. It has space for sitting down and even a toilet.



The sun was setting down as we reached Majuli.


Assembled together before we started our relatively short drive for the resort.


Most of the houses are built on stilts. The Bhramaputra floods almost every year. These stilts help the houses stay above the water line and are the first line of defense against the floods.


A very spartan bed with a solid mattress. Just perfect to sleep early and I did exactly that.

[bblost]

Day 2 : June 23, 2019.
Started from: Majuli
Ended at : Debrugarh
Highlights : The sheer beauty of the landscape.

Among the items setup for breakfast, was this simple meal made up of uncooked Poha (Flattened Rice) topped up with fresh curd and garnished with jaggery.
Having grown up in Tamil Nadu, it was oddly familiar as the Thair Aval. But this is relatively bland and Thair Aval is never eaten for breakfast.
But this is exactly what I needed for breakfast. Always eat the local food as its best for the climate over there.


Did I mention weather. It was hot and humid. Very hot and very humid. The sun was trying its best to burn my head, while the humidity kept me quite hassled.


When some of the best auto journalists are parking their respective cars.


My car for today was a Diesel Manual Civic. This is the first Honda Diesel, which I was able to drive without getting irritated by the engine noise. After a couple of hundred kilometers, I finally gave up the driving seat to someone else. The regret started soon enough. The rear seat was uncomfortable. There is not much in terms of under thigh support. The seat is also extremely flat and my car was in the hands of a spirited driver. This meant that every few minutes, I am at the mercy of inertia.










The roads were extremely beautiful and for the most part the tarmac was fine. The car held its line and as long as you are not pushing the engine hard, its quite a comfortable car to drive.







The lunch was a delightful vegetarian treat. The rice was served in packets made of this leaf, which also served as it plate.

Apart from the rice, there was this roasted tomato curry, bitter gourd, some local greens, pumpkin mashed, a salad, eggplant fritters and an eggplant curry.

[bblost]

Day 3 : June 24, 2019.
Started from: Dibrugarh
Ended at : Kaziranga
Highlights : Getting lost in the Tea Gardens

Wake up, Clean up, Drive. This is how heaven must feel like. There is no surprise I was thinking of heaven as Dibrugarh is known as Ti-Phao in Ahom Buranji. It translates to "Place of the Heaven". The Ahom language is the forgotten language of the Ahom people , who ruled Assam between the 13th and the 18th centuries.

Dibrugarh is also the Tea City of India. Before coming to Assam, I always imagined that tea was grown on terraced hills like they have in the Nilgris. But here tea is on large farms. Most of the farms are owned or leased by large corporations.

My drive for today was a 2WD CR-V. It has nice road presence and the rear seat is much better than the Civic. Driving in my normal sedate manner, I am sure I can go all day without needing any breaks. Its a decent highway mile cruncher.








For navigation we were using Google Maps. Lunch was arranged at a resort in Nagadera. One wrong turn after another and we were soon in the middle of a tea garden. The ground clearance of the CR-V gave me the confidence to continue driving on that narrow path between the plantations. We had to keep the speed under 20 kmph. The recent rains had left a bit of slush and water filled potholes. But the CR-V took it all in its stride. Because it was a 2WD, I had to be particularly careful to avoid getting bogged down in some deep mushy pit. But luck favors the brave and the foolish. We covered those 10 odd kilometers in about an hour. Although the last team to arrive at the resort, we still had some hot food waiting for us.



I have lived in Hyderabad for more than 15 years. The Bhut Jhalokia was something I hence had to try. I am in love with its heat. The burn comes slowly and then envelops your entire mouth. But the best part is that the burn is only felt when you are eating it and the chilly does not cause any burn on its way out.

[bblost]

Day 4 : June 25, 2019.
Started from: Kaziranga
Ended at : Guwahati
Highlights : The new CI Showroom from Honda.

The weather in June is Humid and Rain. Either you are wet because its raining or because you are sweating. But this weather makes for some really beautiful flowers and very tasty vegetables.




Honda is redesigning their showrooms and coming up with a new workflow process for the service centers.
In their words:

The key highlights of the new network identity include a brand new exterior design with bold and impactful logos offering a distinctive look so as to stand out in the urban environment. The large red colored entry portal is a very eye catching element which brings out the unique aestheic appeal of the Honda dealership which cannot be missed even in a fast moving traffic. The reduced glazing from the previous design helps in reduction of heat and enhancing energy efficiency.

The first showroom to adopt this new model is at Tezpur, Tezpur is a city about 175 kms from Guwahati and has a population of a little over a lakh. But its also the largest city in this region and is the base for The IV Corps (Gajraj Corps) of The Indian Army.




My drive was the AWD CR-V. This is the much better variant of the CR-V. It is almost fun to drive and we were driving through some very heavy rainfall.


The North East is one of the most beautiful places in our country. The only thing bigger than the Brahmaputra are the welcoming hearts of the locals.




Disclaimer: Honda invited Team-BHP for the road-trip. They covered all the travel expenses for this driving event.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[SamitMukherjee]

Beautiful Travelogue
Being from the North-East, I can completely relate to the greenery and beauty you mentioned.
You could have visited Sivasagar, which is a historic city and was once the capital of Ahom dynasty. It is just an hour drive from Jorhat while going towards Dibrugarh.

Civic's lane watch camera is a good feature, but need to see its effectiveness at night.
Also, I was wondering, how effective these LED headlights will be in fog.
Good to see both Men and Machine enjoyed the drive together.

[supremeBaleno]

Nice travelogue, bblost !!!

And scenic pictures too. At a glance, it could be any place in interior Kerala too. Other than the homes-on-stilts, most of it is in common to Kerala.

Having spent 7 years in Assam and visited most of the places you drove through, it was nostalgic.

As SamitMukherjee mentioned, Sivasagar would have been an interesting place to visit.

[ajmat]

Very well done BBlost, hope you enjoyed the food also!

[bblost]

Originally Posted by SamitMukherjee

Beautiful Travelogue
Being from the North-East, I can completely relate to the greenery and beauty you mentioned.
You could have visited Sivasagar, which is a historic city and was once the capital of Ahom dynasty. It is just an hour drive from Jorhat while going towards Dibrugarh.

The itinerary is managed by the organizers and its a little difficult to change for individuals. However I am smitten by the beauty of this place and am definitely riding back very soon.

Civic's lane watch camera is a good feature, but need to see its effectiveness at night.
Also, I was wondering, how effective these LED headlights will be in fog.
Good to see both Men and Machine enjoyed the drive together.

I did not encounter any fog but did drive thru the dark in both the Civic and the CR-v. The headlights were more than adequate.
But I am used to the very pathetic lights on my bike and almost every car is better than them.

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Nice travelogue, bblost !!!

And scenic pictures too. At a glance, it could be any place in interior Kerala too. Other than the homes-on-stilts, most of it is in common to Kerala.

Absolutely. It is a little strange when you realize the old saying that the more your travel the more you find the same is so true.

Originally Posted by ajmat

Very well done BBlost, hope you enjoyed the food also!

The vegetables were a delight. But anyone with restrictive diet has to be a little careful as meat is very popular and served in every meal. Meat may or may not be kosher depending on where you are.

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by bblost

Highlights : Getting lost in the Tea Gardens[/b]
…

For navigation we were using Google Maps. Lunch was arranged at a resort in Nagadera. One wrong turn after another and we were soon in the middle of a tea garden.

At one time Google maps of the NE were a hilarious work of fiction. Now, though much improved, still not good enough to be used as the only source of road information in the NE. Its still a work in progress.
This is important because Ladakh seems to be done and dusted, with more and more of the initial Ladakh crowd now opting for Bhutan and the NE.

The itenary could have been better planned. Great that you enjoyed Assam.

Regards
Sutripta

[busydrive]

Thanks for sharing this bblost. Childhood memories stirred up fresh.
I come from Silchar, Assam which is 300 kms south of Guwahati. This 300 kms still takes 10 + hours. Roads have improved a lot in Assam from what I used to encounter during my days more than 20 years ago. I had been to these places Sibsagar, Kaziranga, Dibrugarh and roads were pretty bad those days. I remember getting stranded during landslides for 10 hours on the road once between Shillong and Jowai. But those are gone history and now a days you can drive down pretty comfortably to most of the places. Most are wide highways.
A tip for people planning Assam "driving" holidays - you can use Zoomcar which has a site in Guwahati city an properly tagged in Google maps. The approach is in a narrow lane and the compound where they have stationed themselves has a crazy approach but then this is a proper site and not one based on app. You get most of the popular cars available in Zoomcar catalog. A word of advise though - keep sometime buffer as I have seen mechanical issues with some of those cars and the people employed there were getting those fixed. They have a mechanic as well in the team employed there.
Sorry about going a bit off the track. Wanted to share an information which I felt will be useful.

[deepikins]

Super write up! Almost as if I was right there with you ! Oh wait ! I was there ! Brilliant pics ..

[vikramvicky1984]

Originally Posted by bblost

Attachment 1887972

I see an Innova in the background, part of the covoy (backup car)?\

Originally Posted by bblost

[b]Day 2 : June 23, 2019.
Among the items setup for breakfast, was this simple meal made up of uncooked Poha (Flattened Rice) topped up with fresh curd and garnished with jaggery.
Attachment 1887985

If you want it again, ask for dahi-chura with gur, staple food in east India too. One can add some mango pickle or dum aloo too. Let know if you want to try it at home- need to soften chura, that's it

Beautiful scenes, look forward to more details on the performance of vehicles.
Thanks alot

[bblost]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

Great that you enjoyed Assam.

Regards
Sutripta

Absolutely loved it and am so heart broken looking at the devastating floods that have hit it in the past few hours.

I implore everyone to please do all you can to help.

Originally Posted by busydrive

Sorry about going a bit off the track. Wanted to share an information which I felt will be useful.

Thanks a lot. That is very useful information.

Originally Posted by deepikins

Super write up! Almost as if I was right there with you ! Oh wait ! I was there ! Brilliant pics ..

Thanks a lot for all your help and guidance.

Originally Posted by vikramvicky1984

I see an Innova in the background, part of the covoy (backup car)?\

Nope. It was not. We had a beautiful Gurkha:

If you want it again, ask for dahi-chura with gur, staple food in east India too. One can add some mango pickle or dum aloo too. Let know if you want to try it at home- need to soften chura, that's it

I am used to the softened Chura with Curd. But the jaggery was a brilliant touch. In fact I made the same for my dinner last week.