[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by adc

The adventure did not end as we were coming back as lower Assam had a 48-hour bandh and we were escorted beyond Dhubri by Army and Police respectively. Everything was so eerily quiet and empty...

Anyway lets get on with the travelogue - Nazim surely has been readying to unleash the flurry of some fantastic photos!

Welcome to Assam. Regarding the 48 and 72 hr bandhs (last year, someone called a 1000 hr one), I have a theory. In "Lahe Lahe" country, a 12 or even a 24 hr bandh would not even be noticed.

ADC, what about your own travelogues? Can we have a competition:- who can post the most interesting/ spectacular pics! And the narration:- seeing the same world through different sets of eyes.

Regards
Sutripta

[akroy]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

ADC, what about your own travelogues? Can we have a competition:- who can post the most interesting/ spectacular pics! And the narration:- seeing the same world through different sets of eyes.

Regards
Sutripta

Ya sutripta, I was about the write this as well.
A friend of mine is from Dhuburi and bandhs and riots are a bit common there. It is separated by bangladesh border by a river and un-social elements do enter from that area more often. Hence it has always an army or BSF covers.

abhi

[Sutripta]

Hi,
We are going seriously off topic. However, if Team AP does not want their thread to be hijacked, they better start posting soon.

Dhubri is a "official" smuggling point: people in, goods out. But riots? Your friend exaggerates.

Sutripta

[akas_chauhan]

Originally Posted by adc

Great to see you guys back online again and it was wonderful to meet you all.

The adventure did not end as we were coming back as lower Assam had a 48-hour bandh and we were escorted beyond Dhubri by Army and Police respectively. Everything was so eerily quiet and empty...



Tell me more about that, just got up after a start and stop sleep for the whole day. Was driving up from Nameri to Kolkata with again a 4-5 hour sleep break at Siliguri. Reached Kolkata around 3 am, again not before a accident jam at Berhampore!


Anyway lets get on with the travelogue - Nazim surely has been readying to unleash the flurry of some fantastic photos!

And again great meeting you guys and surely we catch ourselves again in some other trip!!

adc, We are expecting this travelogue from you. I'm eager to hear this one.

[pulsar56]

Originally Posted by planet_rocker

@ Pulsar56 - how old are you? 27?

Yes Sir. That's 100% correct.


Starting with pics of day 1. (Hyderabad - Vijayawada - Rajahmundry)
Write-up by Ravveendrra will follow soon.


Please help me in loading all this stuff!



Hmm... we managed to fit everything in the large boot of the Laura.




Did we miss anything?



The journey has begun!



Last sign - We are out of Hyderabad.



Great music all along the journey. The ipod has a story which will unfold later in the travelogue.




Vijayawada - Dinner at Taj Gateway







Mihiran's favorite spot at the hotel



Destination for the night - Rajahmundry - Riverbay resorts.



Time to get some NEWS updates and watch Football.



A tribute to Pink Floyd.
Proof that sometimes I go crazy with the camera!

[absynthguzzler]

Ah!! finally the pics start flowing from the sharp shooter . Now the memories start flowing back and anecdotes can be dotted along by the three of us :-) .

[pulsar56]

Originally Posted by absynthguzzler

Ah!! finally the pics start flowing from the sharp shooter . Now the memories start flowing back and anecdotes can be dotted along by the three of us :-) .

That's what I want!

Unless, you want to confess that you were the sharp shooter for most of the pics!

Let the flow begin.

EDIT: Rest of the pics after I complete watching the episodes of Top-Gear! LOL.

[Ravveendrra]

Originally Posted by pulsar56

...
Starting with pics of day 1. (Hyderabad - Vijayawada - Rajahmundry)
Write-up by Ravveendrra will follow soon.
....

Jeepers creepers, how come I get stuck with the dirty work?!

Thanks for posting the pics Nazim. They jogged the memory, though day 1 was only 2 weeks ago, i.e. December 19th, we have been through so much in those hectic and wonderful 16 days that it seems aeons ago and the ol' memory needed a fair bit of jogging to get it going. Now, time to get on with the story.

Flashback:

As we went into the final week before our trip, things seemed pretty unsettled. Rajesh Rawal had to drop out as he was moving back to Mumbai in that period. With Rajesh there can be no 'adieu' so au-revior mate till we meet next. Chetan and Shweta had to drop out too so that meant that the Linea would not be doing this trip. Do not fret, Chetan and Mrs. there is always a next time, especially now that the bug has bitten us.

The team was now down to 4 and the only car we would be taking would be the Laura. As the week-end drew closer it was clear that things in AP would be quite sticky on Sunday and Monday with the police hauling off to hospital fasting proponents of Telangana and United AP. The hoodlums in turn were calling for bandhs etc. at the drop of a hat. Some quick calls between the team and we were all in favour of advancing the start of our journey by half a day. The plan was that we set off from Hyderabad after an early lunch and head for Vijayawada, Rajahmundry and perhaps beyond Rajahmundry on Saturday the 19th. We were to take a call on where to stay the night as we went along.

Saturday dawned bright and clear with no bandhs in the Telangana region and Vijayawada reported that there was a bandh for shops but traffic was not being stopped. I loaded my luggage and set off to pick up Nazim. Once Nazim's luggage was in, we had serious doubts about fitting it all in as the dickie and cabin seemed pretty full - and Arun's stuff was yet to be loaded. A quick lunch at my place and we set off around 1.00 for Arun's place. At Arun's place we unloaded all the luggage and started loading it methodically in the dickie and the cabin. The space in the Laura is truly humongous and it swallowed in 2 suitcases, 7 tote bags, 2 laptop bags, 2 cartons of food & medicines, one carton of tools and spares, an ice-box as well as misc. bits like dhurries, water, car-cover, extra tool kits and jack, towing rope, jumper cables, engine sweatering material etc. The whole exercise took us about an hour and finally we had the luggage in with enough place left for the passengers to sit and lounge comfortably without your elbow being in someones ribs or knees in another person's back.

Once the luggage was in, the car settled down comfortably and the negative camber of the rear wheels was plainly visible. The GC did go down a bit but all of us soon learnt the art of taking speed breakers at an angle to avoid under-body scrapes. The luggage must have weighed at least 250 kgs and this weight did not affect the handling or ride of the car in any way. Not once did the rear break away or swing out on curves, however sharply or fast we took them. Not once on the trip did the suspension bottom out on the rebound. The fully loaded (overloaded?) Laura was equally surefooted on the smooth and the rough. The ride was very smooth and the engine had enough and more power to lug all that weight around (our GPS showed a max speed of 183). The car loped along in the 120 to 160 range when we found the roads to do it, it swallowed up the bumps and twisties with ease. I undertook this trip only because I was confident about the car and not only has it lived up to its promise but has exceeded expectations.

Several times in the course of the trip, the topic veered to: Which cars (not SUVs) could we have done this trip in? - Obviously it would have to be a saloon car as warm clothes take up a lot of space. The car should be able to takle the smooth fast roads and the bad roads with equal aplomb. The first requirement would be a great suspension set-up as the long distances over unknown roads demanded first class handling and the long hours required good ride. The engine would have to have enough power to cruise all day at fairly high speeds and it should have enough reserve power to overtake or get out of a sticky situation fast. The car should be solidly built and not develop creaks or rattles along the way. It should be capable of taking a fair bit of bashing to the suspension and underbody. The final list was - Skoda Octy, Skoda Laura, Fiat Linea, Ford Fiesta, SX4 and Toyota Corolla. Anything with a longer wheelbase was out as they would have resembled beached whales at several spots where the road is merely slush intermingled with stones. If anyone disagrees with us, please prove us wrong by driving through the extremeties of Orissa and then from Tezpur to Tawang in your candidate car.

Leaving Arun's place around 3.30, we set course for Vijayawada and the ETA showed 8.30. The non-stop run drew complaints from our juniormost team member once he woke up from his nap. He has gotten used to TBHP drives where we stop almost every half an hour. Even on his earlier trips to Vijayawada we had one or two stops - just to chill out, he however saw reason when it was explained to him that we would not be stopping often as we had a really long way to go.


The road to Vijayawada. The only time the lill chap used the flash in the car - the effect was so astounding that he quickly swithced the flash off!


After a boring run to Vijayawada replete with bumper to bumper lorry traffic we refuelled at the designated bunk just outside Vijayawada and headed into town.


At the refuelling halt at the Krishna District Lorry Owners Association bunk in Gollapudi.


Once in town it was obvious that we were in a bandh hit town as the streets which are normally bustling were almost deserted, worse, the eating joints were all closed . This meant that we had to throw our budget out and hit one of the larger hotels who would have their kitchens open. The Gateway was chosen as I have stayed (and eaten) there earlier and the food is safe. Jr. too likes the place and was in fact all set to stay there for a day or two. However wiser counsel (and the promise of snow) prevailed and a phone call to Hotel River Bay in Rajahmundry got us two rooms there. A hearty meal later we set off with Ms. Ellen of the GPS in her sing-song voice guiding Arun at the wheel to the Hotel River Bay in Rajahmundry. I took the opportunity to savour the delights of the rear seat in the Laura, something I have never had an opportunity to do till now and promptly I fell asleep.

Rajahmundry too welcomed us with deserted streets (what else can one expect at 11 in the night). Soon enough we made our way to River Bay hotel. This hotel is a revelation and is one of the best we used on our trip. The rooms are absolutely clean and quite well appointed. The food (we left after breakfast) is decent. The views of the river are breathtaking.



A view of the plants outside the reception building.


The interesting looking reception building.



Sir Arthur Cotton astride a horse.


Sir Cotton was the man who built the canals and drains in coastal Andhra.


These canals and drains are what brought prosperity to a desolate and poor region alterntively devastated by drought and floods. It is therefore not uncommon to find a picture of Sir Cotton amongst the pantheon of gods in the pooja rooms in this region. Rightly is the man deified.


My candidates for best hotels in this trip are (in order of preference) 1. Hotel KF, Tezpur, 2. Hotel River Bay, Rajahmundry, 3. Sarada Lodge, Siuri. The others in order of preferance: Hotel Alpine Continental, Shillong, Hotel Gori Chen, Tawang, Panthanivas OTDC, Rambha, Hotel Presidency, Bhubaneshwar and the Hotel Central Plaza, Siliguri.

I see that there are a fair number of questions that require an answer and will be doing so in the next few days.

Cheers,

[MileCruncher]

Wow, wonderful start, I'm all hooked!

@Ravveendrra: What is that small mirror hooked to your IRVM. Also do you have any pictures of the negative camber of the wheels?

And oh yeah, Hotel Tariffs Please

[StarVegabond]

That appears to be a great travelogue
subscribing so that i can read it later on
thanks guys for sharing

[pulsar56]

Little one's time to be trigger happy!



General Sir Arthur Thomas Cotton.



A View of the resort.



River Godavari.



Getting ready for the morning catch.







Hunt for food has already begun.



Group pic after breakfast.

[Ravveendrra]

Originally Posted by xenxer

Great Trip. Get us somemore info (pictorial info) of the place. What is the name of this place?

Tonnes of pics taken so you can expect some decent ones soon. I guess Nazim is still sorting them out. If you do not know the place - keep checking and watch the story unfold.

Originally Posted by vinaydas

one word "wow" .
one question
the live chicken was for cooking purpouse right?
this is one trip which definitely on my to do list (but im not sure about ur destination!! ).
eagerly waiting for more pics.

The chicken was not for us. We were merely carrying it for some brave souls.

Originally Posted by n.devdath

Yes, finally a travelouge in a Skoda, and that too to a desolate place like Arunachal Pradesh. Loving every moment of it. Superb pics, narration and flow. Keep it up. Glued to it.

This will go a long way in proving the mettle of Skoda on our roads and off roads.

Frankly, the Skoda was built for trips like this and has proved herself many times over just during this drive.

Originally Posted by svsantosh

Ravee,

Excellent Teaser, hope you guys are having a ball of a time.

>TBHP in Snow

>> Refreshing to see Skoda Bashing of a different Kind around here

>>> Where up-north are you guys? Ride safe, Hpy Nw Year and be back safe.


EDIT-
Arunachal??????
Wow, Shout out Loud - Hindi-Chini bhai bhai.
PS - Why Arunachal?

LOL no Skoda bashing here - we did nurse her along when the occasion demanded but, yes, she took anything that was thrown at her with cool grace.

Originally Posted by kkr2k2

One of the four, absynthguzzler(Arun) used to work in Arunachal. During one meet at his home almost a year ago(I think this meet was held in the honor of Gen. Khan Sultan visiting Hyderabad!!) Arun was showing pictures of Arunachal( arun - arunachal!!). Thats when some of the folks decided to do this trip by road. According to Arun, the best time to visit Arunachal is during November - December. And true to his words, it appears to be the best time to visit!!!

PS: At that time, DKG and Shams were talking about doing this drive on a Jeep(4x4) all the way from Hyderabad.

Wow, that is a whole lot of gyan. Seems I did not know even half of that story. Arun used to work in Arunachal but a different part so Tawang was relatively unknown to him too. I do know that DKG is planning to do Arunachal in a 4X4 and a 4X4 is a very good idea. I did not have the pleasure of attending the meet where the great Khan was present. AFAIK, someone mentioned doing a GQ run about the same time as the Bangy guys were doing it, sounded boring to me so Arun proposed going to Arunachal, I immediately latched on to the idea. I must confess that the title AP to AP caught my fancy. Not many can do it and if TG becomes a reality perhaps no one can ever do it again. This worm of an idea kept gnawing in my mind and at another meet in Club 8 or Bar 1, I popped the question. Arun, Nazim and Rajesh jumped at the idea. A few mails and posts later Chetan was in. All we knew was that we wanted to drive to Arunachal, I thought we can cover large parts of the state, no destination was fixed. A bit of reading later, I realised that we would be able to do only one part of Arunachal due to the layout of the state and routing of the roads. Of the several possible destinations I picked one at random. Seems that this choice was pre-determined by fate as later events/co-incidences will show.

Originally Posted by mitchontheroad

that is one long haul friends.
cant imagine sela pass now. i was the enfield there last march and it was difficult. after seeing your shots i know i wouldnt make it now...the bike probably. me, no way! lol
happy new year

Hi Mitch, honoured to have you here. Your account of the trip through the NE was one that I read end to end to glean info.

Originally Posted by Guite

Hi Ravveendrra,

The thing I immediately noticed is your son. Must be great for father-son bonding. How old is he? How is he taking the trip? Was it your idea or his? (I mean about him joining the trip).

He is 7. He absolutely loved the trip and he loves talking about it to his friends even more. The seed for the trip was sown by his declaration that he wanted to see real snow and go to the mountains. Road trips excite him though he does get a little bored and restless once in a while. He seems to have absorbed and learnt quite a lot during the trip. He now has some idea of how vast and varied India is.

Originally Posted by absynthguzzler

Right , before the travelogue details , pictures posted by us and the experiences narrated out, I'd like to thank Ravvs for taking my suggestion in earnest and actually making this drive possible . It was his enthusiasm that got me going to revisit Arunachal and see it as a tourist rather than a working professional. Kudos to him , junior and especially Nazim for the amazing time we have had together .

A special mention to Rav's steed the LAURA as well ! . This trip has been fatigue free , relaxing ( yes its hard to believe) and truly inspiring in making us feel safe. It would not be the same without this car as I've had stints with Scorpios , Boleros, Sumos , NHC , and the erstwhile Indica in and around Arunachal . This car has handled each and every hurdle just the same as the others would and has come out completely unscathed. I'm truly impressed. A big Thanks to Ravvs for doing this trip in YOUR TANK.

Right .. I'm jumping into bed again :-)

Thanks Arun and Nazim for making this trip possible. When do we hit the beaches?

Having driven it for 27K km, I had absolute faith in the car and its abilities. This understanding of the car's capability was what gave me the confidence to undertake the trip.

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

Wow, wonderful start, I'm all hooked!

@Ravveendrra: What is that small mirror hooked to your IRVM. Also do you have any pictures of the negative camber of the wheels?

And oh yeah, Hotel Tariffs Please

The small mirror is for keeping an eye on Jr. in his booster seat in the back while I drive. The negative camber can be seen in a few pics of the car. I guess they will be up soon.

Cheers,

[prateekm]

I undertook this trip only because I was confident about the car and not only has it lived up to its promise but has exceeded expectations.

I hope I get the same in the Laura I intend to buy

[Fordmanchau]

Ravvs sir,
Amazing write up and photos have come out wonderful as well. The River Bay Resort at Rajmundhry looks great. Mihiran must be proud of telling the story to his friends.
And yes Kudos to your skoda too. After reading so many horror stories about skoda, to hear about your drive's achievement, it was indeed a pleasant change.

[absynthguzzler]

Now that Ravvs and Naz shall detail out the trip , i shall take the liberty of the back seat - oh how i missed sleeping there :-) and jot out my thoughts as their story unfolds.

As we went into the final week before our trip, things seemed pretty unsettled. Rajesh Rawal had to drop out as he was moving back to Mumbai in that period. With Rajesh there can be no 'adieu' so au-revior mate till we meet next. Chetan and Shweta had to drop out too so that meant that the Linea would not be doing this trip. Do not fret, Chetan and Mrs. there is always a next time, especially now that the bug has bitten us.

Rajesh shall always feature as the quintessential member of Hyd t-bhp'ians. He's merely living in Mumbai :-). Chetan and Swetha were on our minds all through the experiences and wondered how the trip would have had an extra dose of quirkiness. Both of you'll are due for a holiday with the same gang soon and as Ravvs pointed out .... the beaches are awaiting :-)

Saturday dawned bright and clear with no bandhs in the Telangana region and Vijayawada reported that there was a bandh for shops but traffic was not being stopped. I loaded my luggage and set off to pick up Nazim. Once Nazim's luggage was in, we had serious doubts about fitting it all in as the dickie and cabin seemed pretty full - and Arun's stuff was yet to be loaded. A quick lunch at my place and we set off around 1.00 for Arun's place. At Arun's place we unloaded all the luggage and started loading it methodically in the dickie and the cabin. The space in the Laura is truly humongous and it swallowed in 2 suitcases, 7 tote bags, 2 laptop bags, 2 cartons of food & medicines, one carton of tools and spares, an ice-box as well as misc. bits like dhurries, water, car-cover, extra tool kits and jack, towing rope, jumper cables, engine sweatering material etc. The whole exercise took us about an hour and finally we had the luggage in with enough place left for the passengers to sit and lounge comfortably without your elbow being in someones ribs or knees in another person's back.

Refer to the teaser pics on page 1 and page 2 to get a feel of the packed boot.

The ride was very smooth and the engine had enough and more power to lug all that weight around (our GPS showed a max speed of 183). The car loped along in the 120 to 160 range when we found the roads to do it, it swallowed up the bumps and twisties with ease. I undertook this trip only because I was confident about the car and not only has it lived up to its promise but has exceeded expectations.

speedo reading was 195kmph or thereabouts.

Several times in the course of the trip, the topic veered to: Which cars (not SUVs) could we have done this trip in? - The car should be solidly built and not develop creaks or rattles along the way. It should be capable of taking a fair bit of bashing to the suspension and underbody. The final list was - Skoda Octy, Skoda Laura, Fiat Linea, Ford Fiesta, SX4 and Toyota Corolla.

The cars we noticed on the trip were the Sx4 and Dezire . No other saloon was found traversing the extremes of Tezpur - Tawang . Most and if not all cars were Petrol including the local ones. Deisels were a rarity in the saloon categories. A Hyundai Santa-Fe was spotted in Tawang along with a beacon and i guess it was allotted to a special govt person - not just a test drive vehicle. Nazim shall do the honours of posting the pics.

After a boring run to Vijayawada replete with bumper to bumper lorry traffic we refuelled at the designated bunk just outside Vijayawada and headed into town.

Over the course , we only filled Normal Diesel and mostly at BP and IOC. Quality of fuel made a huge difference in the coarseness and load on the engine. Our choices on bunks turned out rather good and only 1 IOC in Orrissa proved to be adulterated. An unwritten rule of refuelling before the half-tank mark also helped us take decisions on the fly as to how far we could push ourselves to drive. Trust me , we gained a lot of time/de-stress with this small gesture. Ah! how could i forget the "light nahi hai" episode in Dirang for refuelling :-) .

A hearty meal later we set off with Ms. Ellen of the GPS in her sing-song voice guiding Arun at the wheel to the Hotel River Bay in Rajahmundry. I took the opportunity to savour the delights of the rear seat in the Laura, something I have never had an opportunity to do till now and promptly I fell asleep.

That woman has a lot to learn and she never understood my style , sigh.

Rajahmundry too welcomed us with deserted streets (what else can one expect at 11 in the night). Soon enough we made our way to River Bay hotel. This hotel is a revelation and is one of the best we used on our trip. The rooms are absolutely clean and quite well appointed. The food (we left after breakfast) is decent. The views of the river are breathtaking.

for other travellers .... one point to note is always pick up the mineral water bottles at hotel rooms. If snacks are complimentary, pick them up and dump them in the car. DO NOT waste time and money by either stopping for a snack or even buying one with your tea breaks. Ravvs followed this principle and none of have lost weight ( Ive put on 5 kgs *beep* ) courtesy the munchies.