April 27 | Our only prep day at Guwahati was a day when some political outfit called for a bandh!

After a long time, today was a very lazy morning, we did not have anywhere to leave for early, so we slept in till about 11AM. Though i still got up at around 9AM and sifted through all the pictures, this can be quite a tedious task, so if possible start doing it before you get back home, it’ll definitely help.

Today was the day we had blocked between our two tours, the first one we completed yesterday which was to Kazironga, Cherrapunjee and Shillong with Zoravar, Anoop and Dhruv; tomorrow Sushant and i will take off for Kurseong, Darjeeling, Pelling, Gangtok, Tsomgo, Nathu la and Kalimpong, on the bike. We had planned to get some checks for the bike, buy a few essentials for the trip and generally take it easy today, but instead it turned out to be a long day.

Transporting the bike in a train definitely has its casualties, and it is essential to keep a day before starting off on the trip to get these fixes done. In our case the back-rest and tail indicator lamp was broken. Also, getting a basic check of the bike would only do well.

Lunch today was at ‘O-Ram Restaurant’ a local boy after his Hotel Management degree has started-up armed with recipes from his mother and grandmother. He told us about how he pays special attention to cleanliness end professional service standards. We agreed to him on most counts; the food was decent, the place was clean and he did present himself and the set-up well.
We were not sure if it would rain on the way, so getting some cover for the bags was critical and for which we had to search and search and search, finally got something which is probably the most easily-tearable plastic i have ever come across. But anyways, beggars can’t be choosers so we went with it. Also, on the journey, it is good to carry some ready-to-eats, we are carrying cuppo noodles.

By the end of the day, we spent a few hours at the Cyber-cafe planning the trip. Anyone biking should make sure to do this well in advance; decide on the average number of kilometres to be covered each day basis your comfort level, we had decided to do about 150-200kms a day, accordingly fix your stop-overs and the routes. It is critical to have a destination each day; it gives you a clear picture of how much is to be travelled in a day.

Our route will be the NH31 going from G’hati-Bongaigaon-Alipurdwar-Kurseong. This meant, this would be a three day trip and tomorrow we had to head to Bongaigaon. We did not bother with the stay, because we were sure we’ll find a place when we get there. Remember to figure your exit from the place where you’re staying, because directions in maps are more macro, they may not give details of exit from within the city or road to the highway. We asked the manager and he gave us two routes with crystal directions.

Tomorrow’s a big day.

Morals: Basis your comfort, decide average number of kms a day. Have a destination for each day, don’t just take-off, else you may pass through someplace that would’ve been a good halt and moved ahead to find no decent place. Have a good day’s rest before taking-off. Have everything in the bike fixed and checked.