Map created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging
Will be riding to apna desh today. Woke up early and had maggie what else. After settling the bills and filling up fuel i had just about 150 Rupees! The start was scary as the road construction work was going one with some mud roads in store. Negotiate them slowly and its going to be winding mountain ride all the way to the border for around 180 KMs. Since these mountains are in lower range compared to previous days the greenery around was much more greener as in dark green. Take my time and stop at places where i can get the valley view. This stretch is mainly business section so there are nothing but trucks on the road. They are polite enough to stop and give way even to a bike with just half a touch at the horn. But they were intruding with the pix session. I have to hurry up taking pix else the truck will pass and will have to over take again!
This time had many rough patches of road as mainly trucks ply. On the way just checked out the Shangrila temple from outside. The Monks were doing all the basic works like gardening and cleaning. Could here the Lama prayers as well. Did not find a place to have food. Just carried on slowly catching eyefull of the mountains. The path literally cut out of vertically rocks. Use my roots horn generously on the blind turns. Made it to Samdrup Jongkhar by 2 pm. Made the last entry before the town and they did check my baggage. My immigration permit was kept as i am exiting any way. It got way too hot and switched to Mesh jacket and boy O boy the road till border was a night mare. As a joke Dantek had put a brand new board wishing Happy journey and the next 15 kms till the gate were a royal pain. May be they put the board too soon.
Get to the border and the city not as flanking as Pheuntsholing. Before i knew i was at the Exit gate. Some pix in and some more outside from Indian soil. Just when i was about to leave a Bhutanese guard told me to make more entry. But my immigration permit was held back at the previous check post. He was pretty insisting. Any way i had copies of the permit and went into the office. A friendly officer just chatted. Every one does say that i must have had a good experience with people as people of Bhutan are very nice. And to every person who says that, i sadistically tell about my phone mugging. May by most people of Bhutan are good but i seem to have caught up with a rare outlaw. Bid byes. I changed the phone's sim to Indian. The guard really wanted my Bhutan sim. But i politely refused saying that i need it. Wondering why should he want the sim so bad when he can get one for 20 rupees! and started my ride. And the change in the environment was not so pretty. Not really happy to get back into the country. The sense of insecurity gripped me and then i realised that the 150 rupees i had was of Bhutan currency and now i literally had no money! Have to get myself to Guwahati and encash. Did not want to stop any where for money in the unknown place.
Could see the ruggedness of roads the people, saw a dog going under a truck right in front of my eyes, A cycle guy got so distracted at see me, my bike that he fell off!! Good that he was a few feet away else i might have been blamed :D Not long before i see a convoy of vehicles going towards Bhutan. Bhutan vehicles are army escorted from Raigang to Samdrup jongkhar. There ever present army. Man are the well built, each sporting a rifle. Plenty of army trucks making rounds. Dared not to take pictures. Was really expecting to be checked every now and then but that did not happen.
Then on roads become too good and pretty wide ones. After some time came to know there is a 4 lane project going on. Towns every 10 kms and finally made it to outskirts or Guwahati by 5pm and i get checked by the cops. Show the passport and tell em about my travel and they let me go. Get inside the city and find that my fone does not show any network! Changed to another sim and still the same. Thought may be the Bhutanese sim did something to the phone! Searched for PCOs and called my friend Pinaki for directions for his house and i get there after some time.
Now again just like in Bhutan, it hits me, What next? no plan at all. Arunachal is what i know so Tavang it is. Will try to get permit, get bike serviced and fix fone tomm. But Guwahati is quite a big city than i thought and and i know things will be slow.
This time had many rough patches of road as mainly trucks ply. On the way just checked out the Shangrila temple from outside. The Monks were doing all the basic works like gardening and cleaning. Could here the Lama prayers as well. Did not find a place to have food. Just carried on slowly catching eyefull of the mountains. The path literally cut out of vertically rocks. Use my roots horn generously on the blind turns. Made it to Samdrup Jongkhar by 2 pm. Made the last entry before the town and they did check my baggage. My immigration permit was kept as i am exiting any way. It got way too hot and switched to Mesh jacket and boy O boy the road till border was a night mare. As a joke Dantek had put a brand new board wishing Happy journey and the next 15 kms till the gate were a royal pain. May be they put the board too soon.
Get to the border and the city not as flanking as Pheuntsholing. Before i knew i was at the Exit gate. Some pix in and some more outside from Indian soil. Just when i was about to leave a Bhutanese guard told me to make more entry. But my immigration permit was held back at the previous check post. He was pretty insisting. Any way i had copies of the permit and went into the office. A friendly officer just chatted. Every one does say that i must have had a good experience with people as people of Bhutan are very nice. And to every person who says that, i sadistically tell about my phone mugging. May by most people of Bhutan are good but i seem to have caught up with a rare outlaw. Bid byes. I changed the phone's sim to Indian. The guard really wanted my Bhutan sim. But i politely refused saying that i need it. Wondering why should he want the sim so bad when he can get one for 20 rupees! and started my ride. And the change in the environment was not so pretty. Not really happy to get back into the country. The sense of insecurity gripped me and then i realised that the 150 rupees i had was of Bhutan currency and now i literally had no money! Have to get myself to Guwahati and encash. Did not want to stop any where for money in the unknown place.
Could see the ruggedness of roads the people, saw a dog going under a truck right in front of my eyes, A cycle guy got so distracted at see me, my bike that he fell off!! Good that he was a few feet away else i might have been blamed :D Not long before i see a convoy of vehicles going towards Bhutan. Bhutan vehicles are army escorted from Raigang to Samdrup jongkhar. There ever present army. Man are the well built, each sporting a rifle. Plenty of army trucks making rounds. Dared not to take pictures. Was really expecting to be checked every now and then but that did not happen.
Then on roads become too good and pretty wide ones. After some time came to know there is a 4 lane project going on. Towns every 10 kms and finally made it to outskirts or Guwahati by 5pm and i get checked by the cops. Show the passport and tell em about my travel and they let me go. Get inside the city and find that my fone does not show any network! Changed to another sim and still the same. Thought may be the Bhutanese sim did something to the phone! Searched for PCOs and called my friend Pinaki for directions for his house and i get there after some time.
Now again just like in Bhutan, it hits me, What next? no plan at all. Arunachal is what i know so Tavang it is. Will try to get permit, get bike serviced and fix fone tomm. But Guwahati is quite a big city than i thought and and i know things will be slow.
The view from the Druk hotel where i stayed...
This kid was staring at me all the time hehe..
The prayer wheel in the square and the white Druk hotel in the back ground...
Thats the road i came from yesterday...
Very welcoming roads...
Thats all the money i was left with...
Nice views along the way...
The lost Shangrila!!
Monks going about their daily chores...
The winding roads... really wonder how the engineers decide the path...
At the La, forgot the name of the La...
The height there...
Actually it was much higher 3 KMs from there...
Then its up and down gradually going down...
Now who made the road through the farm?
The last good valley view...
Road made by cutting the rocks...
Road on the steep mountains...
At a view point...
And Hindu temple in Bhutan...
These workers have these barriers to protect their homes from occasional falling rocks from the mountain opposite to the road.
The indian kids this time. Boy were they happy to see their pic, the literally ran around in joy after that...
The road work by Dantek...
The last Bhutanese checkpost before border...
The Assam planes...
I am india now.. looking at the border gate i exited..
The last Bhutanese cop!!
Gifted with these roads in between, well what do you know, this is a part of 4 lane project going on there...
The long bridge crossing the river into Guwahati...
The Kerala cop who checked my panniers thinking if there was something bad in them...
4 comments:
Kerala cop?? did you tell him that your bike has gone to his home town,where ever that is :)
may this help you for Shillong..and the rest of the NE.
http://www.north-east-india.com/meghalaya/shillong.html
http://www.north-east-india.com/
and some more.. :)
Some Important Destination from Shillong
Shillong is 3719 km from Thiruvanathapuram, 3025 km from Srinagar, 2502 km from Shimla, 487 km from Agartala, 2698 km from Ahmedabad, 3120 km from Bangalore, 2148 km from Bhopal, 1731 km from Bhubaneshwar, 2947 km from Mumbai, 1251 km from Calcutta, 2383 km from Chandigarh, 727 km from Darjeeling, 2134 km from Delhi, 725 km from Gangtok, 100 km from Guwahati, 2554 km from Hyderabad, 520 km from Imphal, 514 km from Itanagar, 2164 km from Jaipur, 410 km from Kohima, 1610 km from Lucknow, 2929 km from Chennai, and 3266 km from Panaji.
Hehe no prabul they were not really in socializing mood :D
Thanks for the links Arun. Will be helpful for my future travel :)
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