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.

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.

April 25 | Will do this Any Given Sunday!

Because of the late night, we slept in a little late today and got out of bed only at 9AM. Zoro’s dad had fixed Horseback rides for all of us. These were army trained horses, but the ones who could not make it to the best of the best ones that are used during parades and other sports like Polo etc. Not just well trained, these were also well fed horses, almost as big as the stallions, they towered in front of my stout frame. We went to the open grounds and mounted ourselves on the horses and while Saigal and Zoro pretty much got the drift of how to handle these sturdy machines, i got off the horse-back in a matter of fifteen minutes, I could barely manage to balance myself. After this we also visited the Shilong Peak from where we could look over the entire city and realized that the city is actually HUGE.

The rest of the Sunday was spent unwinding and recovering from all the activity in the past week. Tomorrow will be our return to Guwahati.

April 24 | A lesson in Bio-Engineering

Normally starting the day at 6AM is a task, but in a place like Cherrapunjee, i felt like the more time i spend inside the room, i would be wasting my trip. After a quick wash and breakfast, we started our trek to the ‘Living Root Bridge’ (LRB).

I don’t claim to be a regular trekker, but most treks start with climbing UP to the destination, this one was the opposite, we started with walking down. While it was a walk down, it was nothing like an easy walk. No exaggeration, but a few parts of the path were almost 50 degree slopes with stones along the way to hold ourselves while going up and down these paths. We had been given staffs to maintain balance while walking down.

Our guide for the trek was this local who called himself ‘Bat’, he told us a few things about the LRB and also told us a little about himself. Trek guiding for him was more of an interest and not a source of income, he basically is into cultivating Beetle Nuts and spices. The may look very unassuming, just like the people from the north-eastern mountains, but he could walk up and down this trek in less than quarter of the time that most people took and he did this twice a week. We all had our shoes/boots, staffs, caps etc for the trek, but he came in a simple track suit along with slippers but still he was far more nimble as compared to anyone of us.

The LRB as Bat told us are over 100 years old andhave come to be known as a marvel in Bio-Engineering. The only one of its kind in the world, the first LRB was made by an man called Staton, unfortunately, he could not live long enough to see the completed bridge but his achievement is recognized and covered by channels in Japan, India and a few other places. Many documentaries have been made profiling the LRBs across the forests of Cherrapunjee. We went to the LRB called ‘Ummunoi’, and as seen from the pictures, the structure is a marvel of nature. Basically 100 years back when the villagers felt the need to cross the many streams, Staton started growing trees on the banks of these streams and over time tied their roots to each other. In the past 100 years, these roots have grown thick and got entangled to create these natural bridges. They are extremely sturdy and can handle immense weights. The one seen in the picture is a single bridge, these are similar bridges with two levels, while we could not see them, it can easily be imagined that they would’ve not fallen short of awing us even further.

We spend sometime at the LRB, taking dip in the stream and clicking random pictures. After about an hour, we started our walk back up, it was an eye-opener of how we lack any stamina. After getting back to the hotel, we had a shower, wound up lunch and left from Cherra Resort. If you visit Cherrapunjee, choose this place to stay over any other, there are clean rooms and they are great hosts.

The skies had decided to make up for yesterday’s fog fiasco and managed to remain clear through our drive back. We went back to the first stop we had made on our drive up and got to see the valley in all its glory. An unbelievably beautiful drive!

We got back to Shilong, chilled for sometime at Zoravar’s after which we left to explore the night life in Shilong. At first we came to this pub called ‘Cloud 9’, it was a great place about two years back, but now has become a den for the oldies trying to be young. After some quick checks, we discoverd this underground bar called ‘Tango’. The evening was a bob Marley special with a live band performing only reggae. After listening to them, i was wondering, what are these guys doing performing at an underground bar, they should ideally be promoted and their music distributed. I got pretty pasted and was tired as well because of which, i was unable to sustain there for too long and decided to walk back to the car. I personally remember telling one of the boys that i’m leaving but they claim i just disappeared because of which they spent a lot of time looking for me all over the place. Zoro seemed a little miffed and when they came back to the car, his gesture said all of what he wanted to say without uttering a word. But guess, i understand and hence don’t blame him for getting angry. We got back home gorged on home-made food and crashed at about 3AM.

Moral: Wear proper trekking boots while heading to LRB. Carry rain-sheeters but not umbrella, difficult to manage an umbrella. Carry extra trunks, its a nice dip in the stream under the LRB. Never give-up on a foggy sky, it can clear just as suddenly as it appears. Shilong has a great music culture, remember to visit ‘Tango’ if you are in town.

April 23 | My Camera’s first fall :(

In school when they taught us about the rainiest place on earth, i thought who would ever want to stay there? How can there possibly be any population? But today i take back my words, Cherrapunjee has managed to awe me today like no other place has. Read on for more about the place and experience.

A great host in Zoravar’s dad, Mr Amarjit Singh; made us comfortable enough to have a good night’s sleep which made it convenient for us to leave at 6AM. We had the super-drivers who took us to Kazironga as well, Shankar Ram and Jai Prakash, they drove us in the siren-armoured jeeps to the destination. Along with them uncle also sent Kuttan who was in charge of keeping us well fed and take care of, he also doubled us as a pseudo guide, telling us about the places to watch out for. While the distance from Shilong to Cherrapunjee is only 56 kms, we had multiple pit-stops on the way, because of which we reached our destination by early evening.

When we left, we were excited about going to Cherrapunjee, but didn’t have a clue about what we will get to see, hence there was immense anticipation. We crossed the streets of Shilong and when we reached the foothills of the hills, we could see Kuttan getting a little disappointed. He told us that the hills looked covered with fog, but we kept our fingers crossed, hoping it’ll clear out by the time we get to our destination. In this fog laden mountain, our first halt was at ‘Duwan Sing Syiem View Point’. Kuttan told this point overlooks a beautiful valley and without the fog, one could see a never-ending valley and the stream pass in the valley. But because of the fog, we could not see a thing except white clouds of humid air. Nevertheless, we walked around and had a cup of chai before taking off. The way things had been planned, our next stop will be where we were to have our breakfast, this place was at one of the curves along the valley and the area had been developed for visitors to park and enjoy the view, while the view for us was still missing, we had a great snack and cup of tea that Kuttan along with the crew at Zoravar’s house had packed. Since we had the time, we just walked a little down the valley, which is where we spotted our first fall, it was nothing big, but the fact that we could see the water, we were happy. Next we stopped at ‘Noh ka li kai Falls’. The board there claimed that these were the fourth highest falls in the world, but again the dense fog cover made it impossible for us to see anything beyond 10mtrs. Having come all the way, we just thought of hanging on and waiting for the sun to shine and the winds to clear the fog, but instead it rained! While the five of us were looking for someplace to cover us from the rain, we see humble Kuttan run to us with five umbrellas, it was heart warming.

Even after an hour and half’s patient wait, we could not see the falls, but we still did have a great time there. It seemed like the ‘Jaal Mudi’ (Local version of the sukha bhel) from the pretty Assamese girl got to Sigal’s head making him a laugh riot. In the same time, we supposedly got threatened by a mountain goat for occupying his area; the picture will give you a hint of how one goat made three men almost pee in their pants. Here is also where my camera had a fall. The sound of the fall was more dreadful than anything else i have heard in the longest while.

By now, we were getting really frustrated with the fog and lack of visibility but Kuttan assured us that the next stop could be enjoyed irrespective of the weather around. We stopped over at the Mawsmai Cave, this is a natural cave about 250mtrs long with some parts in knee deep water and pathways through cracks a meter high. It was quite an experience to walk through the cave. Being ‘young’ thrill-seekers, we also explored parts of the cave that are not on the suggested route for tourists, we had to stop and retreat after the cracks started to become too small to pass through. It was about 2PM and the excursion made us hungry.

For lunch we came to ‘Thangkharang Park’. One end of this park is a sheer drop across which is the Bangladesh border. We actually saw foreign land! Although it was completely flooded, Kuttan told us that when it rains heavily, it almost looks like a water body right up to the horizon. While we were looking across the drop, the guys set up lunch for us and again, we were wowed by all the arrangements and the spread. While the clouds had slightly cleared, it was still hazy and not a clear sight.

Uncle had instructed us to reach the hotel at Cherrapunjee latest by 4PM because it gets dark early in this part. We were running exceptionally late, but had one more place to visit. This was ‘Hot Treb Koh Ramhah Falls’, this was by far our best waterfall sighting since morning. What was even better was that, there were two and not one water falls; the first one had a bridge constructed over the stream from where we could almost see the sheer drop of the fall, second was a fall with stronger currents. Here is where Zoravar has a great fall and all of us men could not put Zoravar back on the ground again.

While each of the above spots was beautiful, it was the drive that really blew our mind. Be it the complete lack of visibility on the road or the weather itself, the peeks down the valley or the steaming cuppo noodles along the way, the amazingly sweet people we met on the way or the royal treatment we got from Kuttan and his crew, all of it made it a great day and to an extent compensated for the spoil sport clouds.

Now sitting at Cherra Resort sipping on pepper flavoured tea, i’m wondering how much i would’ve enjoyed spending time in a nice quaint house in Cherrapunjee more often, thereby contradicting my thoughts in school.

Moral: Carry rain-sheeters even if you are driving to Cherrapunjee, you will want to step out very often on the way. Carry food, there are no great places to eat on the way. Charge your camera batteries before leaving, you will find many places to click pictures. While entering the caves, carry a plastic bag along if you are taking your camera in.

April 22 | Experienced the fear of being on ground and the that of safety at a height

If sighting the rhino from the gypsy was not enough, we took an elephant back ride safari starting at 5AM in the morning. Mohan our guide came to the Hotel Emerald early morning to pick us up. We went back the Kazironga National park, but this time from a different entrance and entered the park on elephant back, instead of the gypsy. The five of us on a single elephant seemed a little cramp and my concern was that, if the rhino will be sighted on the left of the elephant, i will not be able to turn around and hence felt this will be such a waste of time, but i was in for a huge surprise.

The ride lasted all of 35mins, but we managed to sight nothing less than fifteen rhinos from very close proximity and close here meant as less as 30feet away! Our first sighting was a mother rhino with her little one; they were grazing and seemed pretty unfazed by the elephant’s presence. Later the guide told us that as wild life specialists, they are more worried when they sight a baby rhino than when they see an adult, and this is because the protective instinct of a mother is far more aggressive than that of protecting itself. Had anyone got off the elephant at this instant, he/she would be in for some serious damage from the mother. One-horned rhinos are the most aggressive of all breeds of rhinos and they not only attach by hitting its target, but also bite and tear the target apart. Nevertheless, we got some great click from the safety of the height.

Next, we saw two rhinos chilling in the pond, they seemed to be playful but even then, i felt vulnerable and could be rolled under the charge if i ever got off the elephant. While the guide had told us that rhinos are solitary creatures, they seemed pretty social this Thursday morning. As mentioned earlier, we sighted not less than fifteen to twenty rhinos during this safari. Frankly, i could go on about all the rhinos we sighted but that’ll be monotonous, so i’ll leave that to the pictures.

After the safari, we fed the elephants with bananas and then went to the lake front for some black-pepper flavoured tea, it was the first time i was having this, but relished it enough to ask for three cups in a row. While all was fun during the safari, the pollen in the air during those 35mins had affected breathing patterns of our host Zoravar and what made things worse was that he was out of his inhaler, so we had to get out sooner than we would otherwise would’ve stayed.

Once back at the hotel, we wound up breakfast and took off for Shillong. And then we realized something weird and if i may call it, we were struck by bureaucracy! Kazironga-Shillong-Guwahati are in a triangular path, which means no place comes on the way while travelling to the third, but certain rules made it essential for the jeeps to go to Guwahati to fuel-up, which meant we had to go around the perimeter of the triangle instead of just going directly to Shillong. Hence, we came back to the transit camp, had our lunch here and then headed to Shillong.

On the way we passed many small villages with small schools and beautiful backdrops to the road, but often we would see either some construction activity or factories bellowing smoke and particulate matter that messed the air, wish people and the government could do something to maintain the sanctity of the beauty of this stretch.

A few kilometres before Shillong, we stopped at ‘Bada Pani’ which is one of the biggest lakes i have ever seen. It was a beautiful sight and this is in spite of the fact that, the water levels were really low. Just after we left from there, we saw the sky turning orange in twilight, had we been at the lake, it would’ve made for one of the most beautiful pictures i clicked on the trip.

Anyway, we got back to Zoravar’s house, had a few drinks at his place, had our dinner and crashed.

Moral: Remember to be at the park early morning, later it gets extremely crowded that reduces the number of sightings.

April 21 | Our first wild life sighting

The day started with covering 230Kms from Guwahati to Kazironga. Our drives were two govt red-light and siren armoured jeeps; the kick of travelling in one is like no other, one can see people make way for the official vehicles and the power is addictive. For a brief moment, i was regretting not having even attempted the IAS.

The journey by itself could’ve been much more scenic, but the dark thick cloud cover spoilt a lot for us. We started in the morning at 7AM a time when it should’ve been bright, but the clouds played spoilt sport. On the way, we passed many small villages and smaller Kendriya Vidyalayas, brick kilns, tumtum loaded with people in every inch available, skinny rickshaw-men pulling fat aunties and potholed roads. Had we to do this part riding, we would’ve had a tough time. But overall, it passed peacefully with the journey peppered with chai breaks and discovering Uncle Chips in the local stores.

On our way, we spotttted our first Rhino, it was distant, but the excitement of sighting the first Rhino even before reaching the reserve made us greedy and ambitious, we believed a story that tigers are sighted at Kaziranga and started hoping that we will spot one, but more on that when we talk about the safari. We reached Hotel Emerald; a nice little place with open areas for kids to enjoy, a building for the eating area and another with the rooms. We settled down, had lunch and relaxed for a while.

At 16:30 an open gypsy came over to pick us up, they took us to the park. Enter Kazironga!

Entering the park somewhere reminded me of the movie Jurrasic Park, obviously the facilities where not a speck as compared to the movie, but it had the feel. The guide, Mohan was a kid studying for his B’com exams. He started working at the park when he was all of 15 spending time with other senior guides and his dad who worked at the park, now he intends to complete his graduation and study wild-life in a lot more detail. Mohan first pointed at elephants, mostly tamed, then deers and started explaining the difference between the Hog and Sambhar deer. Just then, Zoravar started telling us about his last visit here and where he spotted the first rhino, and ‘Shazzam!’ the rhino was there. Our first sighting in such proximity. We were all excited and clicked pictures from every possible angle, this is when even the rhino got bored of getting clicked and moved out. Post this, we kept moving and spotted many more rhinos, exotic birds, turtles, otters, deers and more. By the second hour, rhinos were not as rare and they had lost the novelty charm but one thing remained, its capacity to keep people scared and hence at bay, Rhinos find their mention even in the ‘Big Five’ of the African forests. The ‘Big Five’ are known to be the fierciest animals and includes animals like Lion, Elephant andWild Bulls. Kazironga has 78% of the one-horned rhinos, who also happen to be the deadliest of all rhino breeds.

Now that we were homeward bound, we saw something that only a few get to see; we saw the rhino’s mating ritual! This was from a distance but because this was a rarity, the jeep turned around and tried to take us close but the noise disturbed the giants and they disappeared into the tall grassland.

When we got out of the park, we had a hot cup of chai with local brand of biscuits, one of them especially gained our attention, the wrapper was designed like the 50:50, but the brand was called 60:40.

We got back to the hotel and generally chilled, we had an early morning next day.

Morals: Carry proper lenses to shoot wildlife, else you’ll hardly capture anything at all. Avoid getting too late, sightings are even more difficult as the sun sets. Carry rain-sheeters for yourself and the camera. Get binoculars, it helps. If possible read up about rhinos and migratory birds. Mar – May is good to sight rhinos and Oct – Dec are better for migratory birds.