[enginesoul]

Me and My friend, who are friends since we can remember, were having casual talk on what to do on December holidays (thanks to US based MNC It all happened in 2017). The silly thought of driving all the way up to Leh became serious even before we knew and completed the tea in hand. We have Polo and Punto as our daily driver cars which are hardly 1 year & 6 ,months old respectively. By the end of that day we already had a draft plan with the approvals of our better halves. In a day or two, we almost had a plan which we thought as perfect plan. But FATE had different plans, Leh road was closed to due to heavy snow fall, so we started looking for alternate places which will take us to Himalayas that’s when we read about Nathu-la pass. But in every forum, there was a caution that we may or may not be allowed based on weather condition to see Nathu la pass and we decided to take that chance.

See, plan was very simple:


Our plan was brief and google maps friendly and decided to take Polo as Punto had some issues with tires and also, we thought 1.5 engine with 90HP is better than 1.3 74 HP (now we know that does not matter).

So, we started

1. Morning stretch was from Bangalore to Kalahasti. We decided to stay at one’s place so that we can start early in the morning but as happens always with friends we kept on talking without sleeping before we realize it was 3 AM in the morning and we decided to start. Car was filled to the brim, literally, thanks to Polo and its boot capacity.

After initial stretch of almost 500KM:



2. The difference between plan on paper and on road was realized when we were on en-route to Vizag. We somehow thought we will make it to Vizag in one stop. We had nice Andhra meal in this ‘hotel on top of Toll’ N5 food plaza, which was really amazing. This is real nice utilization of real estate. Due to the lack of sleep on previous night, I almost dozed off at the steering wheel and before I could realize, right wheel at the front hit the median, thanks to the quality alloy wheels no damage was caused to the car and immediately we switched driver seat. So, I highly recommend as and when you feel sleepy even if you can drive, please take rest. Then we decided to stop for night at Ongole. On the way, I somehow drove over a big rock kept as median in the road.

View from Hotel:


3. When we reached, Vijayawada, I got it checked in local VW service station and they were very helpful and quick and assured there are no worries. By admiring the cleanliness of Vijayawada (of course it was almost 4 years back) we reached Vizag.

On the way to Vizag:


4. One thing about Vizag, apart from beach, is it's cleanliness. We thoroughly enjoyed drive on the ocean beach and visited regular tourist spots.

Submarine museum:


5. From there, we started straight to Chilika lake. One the way, one thing we really liked about Orissa were its roads and the trees on both sides of road. Though they were not majestic like national highways, but they have their own charm. Toll collection might seem unconventional as they appear from nowhere or in some cases, they were sitting under roadside tree. We stayed in a govt owned tourist place in Rambha had couple of boat rides and more than anything it was calm and relaxing.

You can find few wild life in the lake:


Dairy with pen on left had all the details of plan


6. Puri, Konark were completed on the way. The govt appointed tourist guides here are must because without guide we can’t make sense of any structures. We saw a huge well kind of thing and assumed that it was for water for those who worked at temple site but later got to know that it was for storing cooking oil for workers.

Sun temple:


Encroachment was obvious but no action from govt agencies:



7. From here on, we did not enjoy driving till we reached Sikkim. As we started approaching Kolkata there was no road manners on highway. People were driving, riding on all the four lanes on highways in both directions. We reached Kolkata and stayed there for couple of days to see Kolkata city. Enjoyed street food in Kolkata and just for fun drove couple of times on iconic Hoogly bridge.



Historical Church:


8. From Kolkata, it was 600 KM to Darjeeling and we happened to be vegetarians. We were driving on highway all along but never found one decent vegetarian hotel. In Farrah barrage you will feel the true might of Ganges.

Ganges at Farrah:


Due to bridge collapse on highway, we were required to take detour and Polo handled it well but in few instances due to low GC it belly was scraped but nothing serious:



9. Some of our friends have suggested us not to stay in Darjeeling but to stay in near by teas states as Darjeeling has become crowded and costly. We stayed in nearby guest house in a tea estate for new year and we were taken care by Nepali origin family and with the help of guest house owner we have visited all nearby places in TATA sumo which he always drove as Range rover. He had a small family with two kids and that family was real nice to us and took real good care and times like these challenge our idea of selecting hotel by star rating.

Guest house owner family:



10. From here we reached Gangtok by night and admired the neat, clean and horn free Sikkim. We were woken up by hotel guy and almost in anger I asked him why he is doing that, by this time we have forgotten that while booking the hotel I had asked him to provide us the room facing Himalayas. I apologized and opened the curtains of window to witness one of the beautiful sight golden looking Kachenjunga.

K2 view:


one of many religious places:


Buddhist temples:


11. We happily roamed around in Gangtok and generally Sikkim every time admiring its natural beauty and the cleanliness, mindful driving which is difficult to find in India.

Pelling city:



12. One more memorable place we visited in this trip was Nathu-la pass. Its admiring to see our soldiers working at such high attitudes with extreme weather.

Driving in and out of clouds:




View of Himalayas from Gangtok:


Polo reached Sikkim without a sweat, literally as it was freezing cold

My family:



My friend and his family:



This has taken around 20 days for us and we had almost clocked 7000KM and it felt like we wasted lot of time in toll booths. I would recommend Polo among all hatchbacks in India. Cruise control came very handy while on long stretches of highway. Torquey diesel engine pulls cleanly from 1300RPM in any gear and on long drives Polo’s stability is fantastic this in-turn results in comfortable journey in the backseat. During all this, there was not a single glitch, squeaking or heating even when we drove it continuous for 10-12 hours.

[Aditya]

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

[thetank]

Wow!! Difference between dreaming and doing!! Great travelogue. Wonderfully written with nice pictures.

[indrasis_gun]

Very crisp and beautiful travelogue.

The barrage is “Farakka” Barrage.

[catchjyoti]

Beautiful travelogue here. Couple of suggested edits below.

Historical church = St. Paul's Cathedral
Farrah barrage = Farakka barrage

[COMMUTER]

That your dream drive was penned in a tea break had me wondering whether you two were single when you drove. I was pleasantly surprised to find it to be other wise. You people have great taste, polo and a punto.

Congratulations to you. You are a bunch of inspiration!

[sanky]

Very nice travelogue. It will be Farraka Bridge I think not Farrah bridge

[nutcracker]

Awesome. What top speeds did you hit?
What do you feel about the handling and dynamics of the Polo?
What's your take on the suspension?

Just a month back I did an 1800km trip on my Polo 1.5 (Delhi to Jaisalmer and back). I never figured my Polo to be a enduro touring car, even after owning it for 6 years, but I think personally feel that the Polo is a damn versatile car, willing to handle anything one might throw at it with grace and grit.

[enginesoul]

Originally Posted by nutcracker

Awesome. What top speeds did you hit?
What do you feel about the handling and dynamics of the Polo?
What's your take on the suspension?

Just a month back I did an 1800km trip on my Polo 1.5 (Delhi to Jaisalmer and back). I never figured my Polo to be a enduro touring car, even after owning it for 6 years, but I think personally feel that the Polo is a damn versatile car, willing to handle anything one might throw at it with grace and grit.

Suspension is well judged, we hit many twists in Sikkim and it was fun to drive there because of its steering heaviness. Its my personal opinion that as car was loaded to the brim handling was much better and car felt planted to the ground all the time

[RoadAtlas]

Wonderful travelogue, refreshed many fond memories, thank you. Can you please explain a bit about the process to get the permit?

Last time we travelled (Dec 2018) and tried to obtain permits for Nathu-La pass from Gangtok, the authorities made it very clear that they are not issuing permits for Non-Local four-wheelers any more.

We could travel to Tsomgo Lake and thereafter through Old Baba Mandir to Gnathang valley, but could not drive to the side-road to Nathula. Have the rules been changed?

[enginesoul]

Originally Posted by nutcracker

Awesome. What top speeds did you hit?
What do you feel about the handling and dynamics of the Polo?
What's your take on the suspension?

Just a month back I did an 1800km trip on my Polo 1.5 (Delhi to Jaisalmer and back). I never figured my Polo to be a enduro touring car, even after owning it for 6 years, but I think personally feel that the Polo is a damn versatile car, willing to handle anything one might throw at it with grace and grit.

Originally Posted by RoadAtlas

Wonderful travelogue, refreshed many fond memories, thank you. Can you please explain a bit about the process to get the permit?

Last time we travelled (Dec 2018) and tried to obtain permits for Nathu-La pass from Gangtok, the authorities made it very clear that they are not issuing permits for Non-Local four-wheelers any more.

We could travel to Tsomgo Lake and thereafter through Old Baba Mandir to Gnathang valley, but could not drive to the side-road to Nathula. Have the rules been changed?

It was the same when we went to Gangtok. When I was booking the hotel in Gangtok I have asked the owner of the hotel arrange both permit(you need to send your IDs) and 4*4 vehicle for us and its true that only 4*4 are permitted beyond army checkpost. But funnily enough we saw this wagonR driving without any issues at such high attitudes and slopes.

[Vipin Kumar]

Excellent route, and a long one. Polo's ride quality also must be very good, even without full load in the boot

Congrats on your will to execute it!

We would have liked more pictures from Nathu La etc.

Did you people skip Darjeeling while returning to Siliguri?

[enginesoul]

Originally Posted by Vipin Kumar

Excellent route, and a long one. Polo's ride quality also must be very good, even without full load in the boot

Congrats on your will to execute it!

We would have liked more pictures from Nathu La etc.

Did you people skip Darjeeling while returning to Siliguri?

I can find only those many pics of Nathu La which I can share here.

We didn't skip Darjeeling but stayed outside Darjeeling, in a tea estate.