Preparation and Day 1
One day, I get a call from my friend Shreekar, "Wanna go for a bike ride?", he asks. "Sure, when and where?", I shoot back! This was the modest conversation which started off our bike trip in Bhutan. Luckily for me, Shreekar had called me many months before the planned date. This allowed me to mentally prepare all parties concerned (read family) that I would be going on yet another bike trip.
The trip would be of five people; Shreekar, his three friends and me. The "players" as I usually refer to us trip-goers were:
Mrudul; Pulsar 150 cc.
Shreekar; Hero Honda 100 cc.
Shantanu; Apache 150 cc.
Dushyant; Unicorn 150 cc.
Aditya; Suzuki GS 150 cc.
The planning was under way; all the usual stuff, helmet, jacket, gloves, medical kit, etc. We also took charge of individual responsibilities; who would get the medical kit, the air pump, how much 'bakarvadi' would we need; is 2.5 kg enough?
With a simple map of Bhutan, the plan was to drive in from the west, Phuentsholing) and exit from the east, Samdrup Jongkhar. The return flight would be from Guwahati.
Although not new to biking, what was different this time was that we would be in a foreign land; without easy access to on-road facilities like vehicle service shops, hotels, etc., which we could only get in the "next" town. :) Also, the Himalayan mountain terrain would be a new experience for three of us.The road and weather report for Bhutan was 'all-good' as the driving conditions were reported to be safe and the roads were known to be in excellent condition.
Shreekar; Hero Honda 100 cc.
Shantanu; Apache 150 cc.
Dushyant; Unicorn 150 cc.
Aditya; Suzuki GS 150 cc.
The planning was under way; all the usual stuff, helmet, jacket, gloves, medical kit, etc. We also took charge of individual responsibilities; who would get the medical kit, the air pump, how much 'bakarvadi' would we need; is 2.5 kg enough?
With a simple map of Bhutan, the plan was to drive in from the west, Phuentsholing) and exit from the east, Samdrup Jongkhar. The return flight would be from Guwahati.
Although not new to biking, what was different this time was that we would be in a foreign land; without easy access to on-road facilities like vehicle service shops, hotels, etc., which we could only get in the "next" town. :) Also, the Himalayan mountain terrain would be a new experience for three of us.The road and weather report for Bhutan was 'all-good' as the driving conditions were reported to be safe and the roads were known to be in excellent condition.
We had scheduled our trip for mid October; when the
monsoons would have ended and the winter not completely set in. After a few changes in the schedule, we finally settled for the 9th of Nov as the start of our 'bike trip'. Tickets were booked, and all of us were geared up for some really nice biking.
The real trip was to begin from Siliguri; where we would courier our bikes a week before our flight. The idea was that we synchronize our flight and the day the bikes reach the courier warehouse. Everyone was on-board with the decision that renting bikes was just too costly. Also, being familiar with one's own bike is a big advantage.
As per the plan, we "couriered" our bikes 10 days before the journey (2 days buffer for courier delay). We had packed all the essential winter wear knowing that we could face temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius in the mountainous regions.
Our flight was Mumbai to Siliguri, via Delhi. We left Pune on the 8th night, to catch an early morning flight from Mumbai (at around 2 a.m.). All the excitement had the obvious side-effect; lack of sleep! We decided to catch up on some of that on the flight!
The real trip was to begin from Siliguri; where we would courier our bikes a week before our flight. The idea was that we synchronize our flight and the day the bikes reach the courier warehouse. Everyone was on-board with the decision that renting bikes was just too costly. Also, being familiar with one's own bike is a big advantage.
As per the plan, we "couriered" our bikes 10 days before the journey (2 days buffer for courier delay). We had packed all the essential winter wear knowing that we could face temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius in the mountainous regions.
Our flight was Mumbai to Siliguri, via Delhi. We left Pune on the 8th night, to catch an early morning flight from Mumbai (at around 2 a.m.). All the excitement had the obvious side-effect; lack of sleep! We decided to catch up on some of that on the flight!
The Delhi airport was quite a sight, all spick 'n span! While some of us were in search of the the most affordable breakfast (while waiting for our connecting flight to Siliguri), the others decided to start polishing our photography and "photo posing" skills!
As we boarded the flight for Siliguri, all we could think about was when we would pick up our bikes from the warehouse and get started with our journey. The flight landed on time and reaching the warehouse was quite easy. From here on it was just a matter of taking charge of our bike and pushing off towards Bhutan.
Unfortunately, filling up the bikes with petrol and getting the haversacks all tied up, seemed to be drag on forever. The daylight seemed to slip away from us and it kept getting darker as every minute passed.
Starting from Siliguri in time was going to be a key factor, and we were just too late to start our journey. The light got so bad so quickly that we did not dare push on to the Indo-Bhutan border. We decided to take a night halt in Jalpaiguri (old) at the Hotel De L' Pretom.
All of Day 1 photographs at: Biking in Bhutan - Day 1
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Day 2: Reached Bhutan
After an unexpected delay on the first day, all of wanted to get going as soon as possible. Only the mandatory things like a very-huge breakfast and tying of the haversacks was holding us back from pushing off. It was 8:30 am and we were still not on the road. There were huge improvements, though, haversack-tying skills were down to just 30mins from 45mins ! :) By 9 am we were finally off, next stop "Pheuntsholing"!
The scenery was a very 'lush green' and people took the necessary halts to capture the fresh green. This was a nice change since having left Jalpaiguri city.
In some time, we were passing a river bed which made for a good opportunity to start clicking away!
All of us could hear an approaching train, and Shreekar was waiting for the "train on the bridge" shot; which came out quite good. (It'd better have been, as his was a DSLR !!! :P)
By 12 o'clock we were again on open road and heading towards mountains, which we could see in the distance. As the roads were excellent, the distance didn't seem much.
We soon reached encountered our first "proof" that we were indeed heading in the right direction. (No! No cliched jokes about Devdas here.)
Jaigon would be the last town on the Indian side of the border, before crossing over in to Bhutan. We were thrilled to see the Bhutan gate and entered Bhutan making like a motorcycle convoy.
Although this was a time for a mini-celebration; having riden into a different country for the first time, there were too many logistical things to be taken care of. Needed to get the travel permits done and the vehicle permits as well. Delay these, and we would be stuck in Phuentsholing. And that wasn't all, the next three days were going to be government holidays, so it had to be done on that day itself!
None of us realized that we were in a different timezone; 30 minutes behind local time. We should have adjusted our clocks then and there. This was going to be a really costly mistake as we reached the Bhutan RTO fifteen minutes late, thinking that we still had 15 minutes before their scheduled closing time.
After a thorough confusion as to where exactly we would have to go in the building, our only hope was a "higher ranking official", who had still not left for the day. This officer had the authority to stamp our vehicle papers. So we all waited!!!
After a mind numbing wait of over one-and-a-half hour there was no sign of the "higher official" exiting his office. When he finally did, it seemed as if he was leaving! Yikes!
Aditya decided to act, and started following the officer explaining to him the predicament that we were in. The officer wasn't leaving, just taking a "nature break"; which Aditya never realized, as he followed him right up to facilities. "Too late!!!", we thought. Had he not seen the sign-board, we were sure he would have followed him inside!
After another nerve-wrecking wait, the officer heard us out and agreed to sign and stamp our bike papers. We were indebted to Aditya for his tenacity, with which he kept explaining (over and over) to the officer the "three days holiday" situation, which would have been a trip-killer for us! We were also very thankful to the RTO official who listened to reason above all and took a judicious decision. This was going to be just one of many such pleasant experiences in Bhutan over the next 10 days!
We were extremely happy and relieved that the vehicle papers were stamped and in order, yet there was a mild disappointment that we were still in the border town with no real "Biking in Bhutan" being done.
The delay turned out to be blessing in disguise. As we decided to spend the night in Phuentsholing, people could take care of much needed vehicle/travel logistics. Mrudul had to get his helmet visor replaced; no such thing available Pheuntsholing! It was a trip back into India (Jaigaon) for him. Shreekar's bike needed one of the indicators to be fixed; Bhutan traffic police are very strict about such things!
All in all, an entire day spent at the cost of bike permits! "Good deal!", all of us agreed, as we went for dinner and then retired for the night.
Day two had not turned out exactly as expected, but it was a good learning experience!
All of Day 2 photographs at: Biking in Bhutan - Day 2
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Day 3: Phuentsholing to Paro
The day began nice an early; around 7 o'clock. Although 7 o'clock was "an early hour" for some, we were all raring to go to Paro, not knowing what all we were going to experience.
Phuentsholing being at the foot of the mountains, it was going to be all the way up from here! Up into the Himalayas!!! Yay!
The roads were much better than before, each one of us relishing the amazing scenery and the vast expanse of lush green mountains. Every other turn confronted us with images which wallpapers are made of! Never had I been so enthralled by the mixture of mountains, fog, greens and good roads! This was the time to disconnect from everything else in the world and be immersed in biking!
We thought that the whether was a bit chilly, but boy, were we wrong !! The cold here was nothing compared to what we would be experiencing in a few days time. We were going to travel through snow-laden mountain tops which would make this look like a pleasant summer afternoon.
Some sights left us gaping, not sure whether to smile or be worried! :o
The ride had the unexpected "temperature changing effect" on all of us, requiring us to stop quite often! :P :) Yet, we covered quite a lot of distance within quite a short time.
We had covered quite a lot of distance through some amazing mountains. Post lunch as we approached Chukha district, Shreekar and Dushyant went a bit ahead, leaving Mrudul, Aditya and me behind. "Not a biggie!", we thought as we could easily catch up them in a few minutes. But we were in for a surprise! As we ascended the hill near the dam construction site, the road got bad, and asphalt turned to mud! Rain from the day before wasn't exactly being very helpful! Shreekar's Hero Honda Splendour was extremely nimble through muddy patches, due to it light weight. Within moments Shreekar and Dushyant had disappeared up the hill and around the bend.
As we followed them, we noticed that we were now onto road which was being freshly laid out. This brought with it a new suprise; piles of "stone chips" dumped by the roadside and trucks manouvering on a narrow hillside, missing each other by centimeters rather than inches. Just as suddenly as we had went from mud to road, we went from "speeding up the hill" to a complete standstill!
We were right in the middle of a "traffic jam" in the hills of Bhutan!!! The piles of "stone chips" had made it nearly impossible for the traffic to move in either direction! We experienced about an hour of a mind-numbing wait, hoping for the traffic to clear! Soon there was hope, in the form of a couple of blue SUVs; Bhutan police included. They quickly took charge of and untangled the mess, coordinating the traffic flow.
Out of the traffic jam, we caught up with Shreekar and Dushyant, who were patiently waiting at the next check-post as all the official travel documents were with me!!!
Out of the snarl we were on our way to Paro, being just as click-happy as before! Soon we were at the Chuzom junction; from where one road heads towards Paro and the other continues to the capital; Thimphu.
The last stretch of road towards Paro was quite uneventful, except for the sudden onset of the night. I had never seen evening turn into night so quickly! It was as if someone just turned off the light, not to mention the sudden drop in night temperature, which no one had accounted for!
As the others paired off in search of lodging, I stood guard next to the bikes. The wait for about forty minutes was quite boring, the dropping temperature not being very helpful. While waiting for others I took the opportunity for some night snaps, trying my hand (shaky due the cold) at clicking some snaps of the moon! Nothing extraordinary given the small point-and-shoot and no special lens. Very useful nevertheless as it kept me from freezing off!
Day three ended with getting lodging at "not such a low" price after a bungled bargaining attempt! :) An eventful dinner which consisted of an agitated discussion with the hotel cook about the "tastelessness" of the food was not what we were happy about.
We rationalized that even though the food was not that good to taste, at-least it was filling.
With that philosophical thought in mind, we went off to sleep. The next day was going to be a visit to places around Paro, especially Chele-La; the highest motor-able road in Bhutan.
All of day 3 photos at: Biking in Bhutan - Day 3
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Day 4: Paro Stay
The previous night we had enquired about Chele-La and how to go there, etc. and we were informed that tourist taxis would be available in the morning. We were pretty relaxed in the morning and were looking forward to visiting the Tiger's Nest; not knowing much about Chele-La (except that it was pass).
The early morning in Paro was quite a sight; open road, hardly any traffic and the perfectly shaped rectangular buildings (reminded me of buildings from Age of Empires)
As some of us were making arrangements for the tourist taxi, we decided to capture some photographic sights.
I decided on some quite different subjects for my 'still-life' photography !!!
As we started our day's journey, Shreekar indulged in some small talk with the driver. We came to know that first we would be visiting Chele-La, then a monastery (Drukoyel Dzong) we couldn't quite catch the name and /then/ Tiger's Nest. The driver also mentioned the name of some other monastery (no recollection what the name was!)
On the way to Chele-La we got to click some extremely amazing "wallpaper grade" photos. A meandering road through lush green trees is such a captivating sight, that it makes me immediately think "WALLPAPER!!!"
The journey up to Chele-La was not of much other sights excepts just tall trees and colorful bushes. As we approached the top, Aditya pointed out that he could see snow higher up on the mountainside, which we ridiculed to no end! We were soon to be on the wrong end of a "See! I told you so!" as it indeed was snow.
Our enthusiasm about the snow was not shared by our driver as he mentioned that the snow was not expected until the second week of December. We didn't quite grasp the reason behind his dejected "early snow" remark just then. We were to realize it in a few days time!!!
Chele-La was also quite cold and I was thankful that I had the muffler in addition to the sweater and the jacket.
Besides the "snow" and it being the highest point on the Bhutan road, there was nothing
extraordinary around Chele-La. as there is nothing much *at* Chele-La.
What did (quite literally) take our breath away was the sight of the snow covered mountain tops to the north.
For some peaks, the clouds seemed to be hugging them like a blanket while others peaks looked quite majestic; the Sun's rays reflecting a glistening golden yellow off their snow-capped tops!
We took turns clicking group photographs; Shreekar DSLR was not quite sure about the light conditions and kept setting off the flash! Shreekar had to hear quite a bit about his "night blind" camera, which he accepted (and tried to justify) in good spirit!
The return journey from Chele-La was when the others decided to catch some shut-eye(!).
Mrudul was unable to sleep as he gets car-sick! (A biker getting car-sick, who would've imagined that!!!)
After Chele-La we were to go to 'Drukoyel Dzong'. This was a big mistake; nothing really to see except ruins of a Dzong from years ago!
Even though we knew that we still had to visit TaktSang (Tiger's Nest), we took things a quite slow, a bit "too" slow (in hindsight!). We were not (yet) aware how soon it got dark and and by the time we realized, it was too late!
Reaching the Tiger's Nest in the dark would be of no use so all we could manage were some really really long shots; using the special "300" lens of Shreekar's DSLR.
As we had been unable to visit the TaktSang Monastery, we decided that we might as well visit the second monastery! Shreekar and Mrudul were always on the lookout for ceremonial and traditional photographs. I usually would be checking out the flora!
By the time we returned to Paro it was quite late and the Paro Dzong was closed for the day! We could enter the Dzong campus but not go inside the Dzong, so we decided to do that bit in the morning as the next day was going to be only upto Thimphu.
The extremely low light conditions was where it was quite clear why the DSLR's lens cost so much! We got time to click some awesome photographs using the high end cameras and some quite unbelievable photographs using the teeny-tiny point-and-shoot (after changing the exposure settings of-course). (The third photo below which looks like a daytime photograph is clicked at the same time as the other two)
As we settled in after dinner, we discussed that it had been quite an eventful and "touristy" day! We also felt that the "high" ;) point of day had been "only" Chele-La, as we never got anywhere near the Tiger's Nest! The next day, it was off-to-Thimphu!!!
All of day 4 photographs at: Biking in Bhutan - Day 4
