April 27 | We almost went to Bhutan!

The plan was to cover 170kms to camp at Bongaigaon tonight. We started at 5:45AM after a good cup of chai and directions from the manager. We reached Jalukbari, which is a prominent junction; we had to take the route towards the Bhramaputra.

I think it was in my mind, but the sheer thought that we have left on our bike-trip, everything around was looking more beautiful; the trees, the rocks, small water bodies and even the people. At such time, it was pointless to keep tuck the camera into the bag, so instead i got it out and kept it inside my jacket. This way i had the camera everytime i thought something looked beautiful. When we reached the Bhramaputra, they told us we could not click the bridge across the river, am guessing it is to protect these mega structures from attacks, so we respected the prohibition.

On the way, we kept asking people for directions, and all directed in one direction, so we continued without bothering much about looking into the map and comparing town names we are crossing. At one stage when we asked, they told us all the towns we were mentioning are on a different route. To be honest, this did cause some panic but the locals directed us to our ultimate destination. It is because of this, i mentioned earlier, do not depend on Google Maps, and buy a complete road map. We experienced at multiple instances that were seemingly crossing cities on both routes which is physically impossible. Either the maps had to be wrong or we getting the city names wrong, the latter seems a little difficult considering we are at the place asking people the name of the place where they have their livelihood.

We were assuming our average speed will be around 50kmph, but after the first 3hrs were realized that we were doing only about 30kmph. What happens is that because of the direction asking halts and bad roads, one tends to lose substantial time which we had underestimated.
The NH31 as a road is quite a mess right now, most of the stretch we covered was under construction and we had to keep taking diversions and dealing with pot-holes, it was quite a pain. By 9AM, we had covered about half the distance and decided to take a breakfast break. Our first pit stop was a small dhaba at Chandra Nagar, Pathsala that served us some omelette, paratha and chai, it was a decent meal. To wash up, we had the hand-pump to go to; initially i could not understand how to get water for myself, if i pump, water will flow while i’m not there, but then the guy from inside came to help me out. There were many locals around and a few among them were women, it almost looked like they had come to a loud party; women while at work were wearing jarring red lipsticks, it was quite a sight.

Enroute, we saw many cars and busses with Bhutanese number plates. Initially we thought it must be a one-off but later realized there regular transport services operating between the two places. This made us wonder if we can get into Bhutan from this route; it would be a detour, but a very interesting one. Reaching Bongaigaon, we immediately logged on to find out some details. We found the number of someone who operates bike tours in the north-east; he gave us a clearer picture. The route from Bongaigaon is a purely trade route. The entry from this side does not require papers but is restricted only to a certain market, if one wants to enter Bhutan; the entry is from places closer to Siliguri. So we dropped the plan, we were almost certain to go had this been a free entry point. We were only 30kms from the Bhutanese border!

Now is when the enthusiasm of the first day kicked in is. We asked a few people about things to do around Bongaigaon only to be disappointed decided to instead save a day of travelling and cover our second destination today itself. Alipurdwar was about 137kms on the NH31C, it seemed extremely doable and we were back on the road after lunch. Even this stretch was pretty messed up; diversions after diversions kept pulling our speed down which made the destination seem farther.

On the way, at about 4PM chai time, we stopped at a small village on the highway. Many truckies take a break here and so did we. After having our chai when i paid up, i was surprised to see the guy returning the change in Bhutanese currency! He told us in many parts of the North-East, Bhutanese currency works just like ours. One Bhutanese Ngultrum is same as one Indian Rupee. I gladly accepted and when he saw me take it with excitement, he got out the fresher notes of different denomination. The bunch there was super cool; when they realized we are riding for a long time and that the bike is from B’bay. Out of extreme curiosity, they asked us many questions about our trip, where all we’re headed and how’s the city like etc. We spent a good half hour generally chatting and finally took a picture with the locals and the bike.

The NH31C is almost like a straight line with an East-West orientation and were headed westwards; this made it look like we were heading straight into the sunset which was a beautiful sight. We tried clicking pictures but the asphalt on the road and the pollution made things extremely hazy. To avoid traffic and bad roads, we kept taking the half finished roads that had not been opened for traffic as yet, and till most time it did us good until once when we had a near fall. On one such stretch while i was riding the road abruptly ended. Unlike all other roads there was no soft slope of rubble at the end of the concrete block. But thanks to some insane luck, just at the part where our bike was going off the concrete, there were a few sack of rubble lying, this eased our decent from the concrete. A feet or two on either side and we would’ve had a broken fork and a bad fall to bring an abrupt end to the trip.

Alipurdwar town is much farther ahead from the Alipurdwar check-post and there is a prominent junction from where we took a left to reach the town. The drive was beautiful with tree cover on both sides of the road and traffic similar to the ones experienced in Goa. We checked into a place called Hotel Elite where we stayed in the suite! It was the cleanest option and not too expensive, Rs 1K for a night.

At the hotel, the kid who put our bags into our room was the typical super smart ambitious kids from smaller towns, just like ‘Centimeter’ in the movie 3 Idiots. With a name like Uttambrahama, he hardly looked like a boy doing odd jobs. He had ready replies to anything we asked and was extremely resourceful with whatever we needed. He earned himself a healthy tip :)

Tomorrow we leave from Siliguri in the morning.

Morals: Don’t depend on Google Maps, they can be a little wopped, its best to buy a detailed road map and regularly inquire with the locals. Get the face mask for cleaner air, the roads a full of smoke and asphalt, too much of it inside can make you sick. Keep the camera handy, there’ll be many opportunities to click pictures. Cover all bags to protect from both, dust and rain, use a tarpaulin cover, it is sturdy and durable. Remember that bike trip is recreation, so do not be in a rush to reach your destination, take breaks, it’s fun talking to locals and hearing about what they think of us travelling on bike from such distances.