Motorcycle Tour of Sikkim - Ride to the Unknown

 The trip was a desperate getaway from work. I had just been working on a project that had to be completed before the end of 2017. I had completed all my tasks in the project on the 21st and later on got to know from my boss that I had to take 5 mandatory leaves before end of 2017 and I had exactly 6 days.

I grabbed the opportunity immediately. It was time for another long road trip, into the unknown. I had no plan in mind, but I knew it was time to get close to the North East part of India.

Day 1 - December 22, 2017:

The day started late and I got stuck in the traffic towards Whitefield. Took almost 2 hours to reach Hoskote. I continued riding till Cuddapah via Madanapalle. The road between Madanapalle and cuddapah was very bad and ridden with potholes. After crossing Cuddapah, riding through a small forest route, I reached the highway that connects to Addanki. A day full of riding with little to see and experience.

Route taken - Bangalore - Madanapalle - Cuddapah - Badvel - Addanki - Vijayawada Distance covered - 660 kms Time Travelled - 14 hours.

Day 2 started pretty late with the motorcycle being serviced. It was time to meet a friend from school, after 24 years. Vijayawada to Narsipatnam was a breezy ride. I left vijayawada at 2 PM in the afternoon. I phoned Dr LakshmiKanth Poolla, my school friend from Narsipatnam, and informed him about my arrival. I had 330 kms to cover, and had to deviate at Tuni. Narsipatnam was about 40 kms away from the East Coast Highway, a sleepy little town.

Being a long and busy highway, and a dangerous stretch until Rajahmundry (Rajamahendravaram), there was a lot of truck traffic.

I reached Narsipatnam at 7:30 PM, went to the friends house, met their family and finally settled down at a hotel for a few drinks and some chat time with my long-lost school friend. He introduced me to his political inspiration, who was staying at the same hotel in an adjacent room.

We decided to take the road to Lambasingi, about 30 kms away. Lambasingi is considered the coldest place in south india between November and February.

Meeting Lakshmikanth after many years, we went to Lambasingi and spent the wee hours with a few drinks and the amazing food offered by the villagers. This place is known for its chillness in december till february and people throng this place just to experience it. We had some good food. Lakshmikanth, being a doctor and running his own hospital in Narsipatnam, was well known among the public.

It was a long night. We clicked pictures with a group of people who offered their warmth alongside a bonfire. By the time we left, we were heavily drunk, full on food and had little energy to drive back. It was past 3AM when we reached the hotel.

Route taken - Vijayawada - Rajahmundry - Tuni - Narsipatnam Distance covered - 300 kms Time Travelled - 5.5 hours

The 3rd day started pretty late with a severe hangover due to effect of whisky at Lambasingi. I called up Lakshmikanth to find out where he was. He was outside town and was coming back by 230PM. I packed up my stuff and was all prepared to ride out. At 3PM, i left Narsipatnam towards Bhubaneswar.

The biggest hurdle was to cross Visakhapatnam city traffic, as the highway runs across the city for about 23 kms and has signals at almost every km. It was almost 530 to cross the city. The hangover was taking a toll on the ride and it was getting severe. The ride continued pretty slowly as I decided to settle down at 930P at whichever town I reached then. I originally had plans to get close to Bhubaneswar, but that was still far. To beat the hangover and get some rest, I stopped at Ichchapuram, exactly bordering Andhra pradesh and Orissa states.

Found a small lodge and settled down.

Route taken - Narsipatnam - Visakhapatnam - Ichchapuram Distance covered - 310 kms Time Travelled - 6 hours.

Day 4 - December 25, 2017

The ride from Ichchapuram started as early as 7 AM. The plan was to ride until Kharagpur or Kolkata. The first stopping was at a tea shop, because I had spotted a fellow motorcyclist on his triumph tiger who was heading to bhutan with his wife. Had a cup of tea and some biscuits before bidding farewell to them. Took their contact details and decided to catch up with them upon return or once back to Bangalore.

I had reached the outskirts of Bhubaneswar well ahead of schedule as planned, just then I realised that I was missing a head tube. I stopped at the decathlon in Bhubaneswar outskirts, but they didn't have one. I decided to continue riding, just then the tappet sound was getting unbearable in the motorcycle. I had to stop somewhere to have that fixed.

I noticed a Royal Enfield service center on the highway towards Kolkata. 2 hours went wastefully as the service center personnel had no expertise in having the tappet sound reduced. One of the mechanics somehow managed to have it fixed.

It was past lunch time. I had only covered 250 kms and had another 400 kms to more to reach Kolkata. I left the service center at 2PM and continued to ride until Kharagpur, where i took my first break. I had just crossed Orissa border and was into West Bengal. It was about 730PM at kharagpur and I noticed that Kolkata was about 120 kms away. I continued to ride that stretch until Howrah.

It was past 930PM when i stopped for dinner on the outskirts of Kolkata, on the way to Burdwan. A small snack at coffee day and I continued towards Burdwan at around 10PM, and the back wheel started wobbling when burdwan was about 40 kms away. Initial thought was of a puncture to the rear wheel, but later I realised that the back wheel bearing had broken. I managed to ride to Burdwan at a low speed of 20km/hr until Burdwan and managed to find a small hotel room until morning.

It was about 1:30 AM when i reached Burdwan.

Route taken - Ichchapuram - Bhubaneswar - Cuttack - Howrah - Bardhaman/Burdwan Distance covered - 710 kms Time Travelled - 18 hours

Day 5 - December 26, 2017

The day at Burdwan started early as I headed to a Royal Enfield Service Center. The service center technicians investigated the motorcycle and mentioned that the wheel bearing and the swingarm had to be replaced as it was bent. It was past 12:30 when the motorcycle was ready to be taken out.

I had about 440 kms towards Siliguri. I had plans to reach Siliguri at one go even if it took me past midnight to reach there. I lost my way at Shantiniketan town and had to ask for directions towards Suri. It was already 4 PM and I was losing hope of reaching Siliguri by midnight or later. Until Rampurhat everything seemed nice and the route was very scenic as I was riding through villages and rural parts of bengal. The only struggle was managing the oncoming heavy truck traffic.

After crossing Rampurhat, the road became worse by the km and it took almost 3 hours to reach Moregram. It was past 8 now and I was about 60 kms before Farakka. I reached Farakka at around 930 PM and took a small room at a lodge. Two bottles of beer and dinner to settle down for the day.

Route taken - Burdwan - Suri - Rampurhat - Farakka Distance covered - 240 kms Time Travelled - 8 hours

Day 6 - December 27, 2017

Day 6 started slowly and finally I was going to reach Siliguri also known as the "chickens neck". Siliguri town is the entry point to the north eastern part of India and borders 3 countries namely, Nepal to the West, Bangladesh to the East and Bhutan and China to the North.

I started the day as early as 6 AM to avoid the traffic between Farakka and Malda towns. It was biting cold as I crossed the toll gate outside of Farakka town. The truck traffic was maddening. I took about an hour to cross Malda and headed towards Siliguri.

I managed to stop at Raiganj for breakfast as it was very cold. The entire route was misty and I couldn't ride very fast. After a steamy breakfast of roti's, i continued to ride towards Dalkhola, where I missed the road towards Goregaon, instead ended up taking the longer route via Dalkhola.

The sun came out at 11AM when I was near Kishanganj. I was still 100 kms away from Siliguri now. I managed to ride past Islampur and reached Siliguri at 230PM and called Pawan Agarwal, a fellow rider so that I could reach his shop which was on Sevoke road opposite the gurdwara. I parked my motorcycle in front of his shop, had lunch and stayed in his shop until he finished his work.

He had arranged for stay at his Brother-In-Law's hotel. By evening Pawan and I stepped out for dinner and a few drinks as we discussed what my travel plan was from there. My initial plan was to go to Guwahati, towards Meghalaya, Shillong and return to Siliguri in a weeks time. I even had Bhutan in mind, however that had to be ruled out as I did not have certain government documents that were required to go into Bhutan, being a foreign country. A long discussion through afternoon, and finally I decided to head towards Sikkim, where I was hosted by Karma Tenzing, who runs a hotel named 100 petals and also a biking community named Ride Sikkim.

Route taken - Farakka - Malda - Dalkhola - Islampur - Siliguri Distance covered - 290 kms Time Travelled - 8 hours

This day started pretty late as I had only 120 kms towards Gangtok. I started the day late as I had 4 to 5 hours to travel. The route was pretty scenic and I managed to find Hotel 100 Petals, run by Karma Tenzing. It was past evening that he had arrived and we went up to a small hotel above MG Marg where we got to meet members of the Dirty Angels Riding Group from Gangtok. A nice evening spent with meeting a lot of people.

Route taken - Siliguri - Kalimpong - Rangpo - Gangtok Distance covered - 120km Time Travelled - 5 hours

Day 8 - December 29, 2017

Day 8 started off late as I was sloshed and with a hangover. I was supposed to get permits to visit Gurudongmar Lake, Nathula Pass and head towards Lachung/Zero Point. Being the last working of the year, i almost missed getting it. Karma sent one of his guys with me to help get the permits from the Home Department, which was about 2 kms away from the hotel.

Initially, the officer at the home department did not accept the Driving License (issued from Tamil Nadu Government) as a document for issuing the passes. He insisted I either give copies of Aadhaar Card or Voters ID Card (I didn't have either of them,). I only had a PAN Card, which, he finally accepted as it was a central government doc. I mentioned Zero Point, Gurudongmar Lake, The old silk route and Nathula Pass, however when granting the pass papers, the department officials missed out the old silk route and Zero Point. I had permits only to Nathula Pass and Gurudongmar Lake.

It was already past evening and the office was about to close. Eventually, these were only permit papers. The actual passes were issues at another office near MG Marg.

Route taken - No ride day Distance covered - 0km Time Travelled - 0 minutes

Day 9 - December 30, 2017

Karma had warned me about the crowd in getting passes and asked me to go as early as 430 AM to the tourism department office as the office closes by 8AM.

It was biting cold and a mere 8 degrees in the night. I decided to leave the hotel at around 545 AM. The tourism office was only 2 kms away. I reached the tourism office and was dumbstruck at the crowd that was thronging to get passes to Nathula and other parts of Sikkim.

I almost lost hope of getting the passes to Nathula. It literally took over an hour and the pass was issued at around 715 AM. I managed to ride out of the place at around 745AM and towards Nathula Pass.

I also had to get photocopies of the passes to be given at the permit check posts setup by the Indian Army. After long, I got photocopies and made it to the checkpost. Wow, what a looooooooong queue it was. It took about 20 minutes for the permits to be showed and verified, and finally I was heading to the first destination of Sikkim, towards Nathula Pass.

It was biting cold and temperatures hovering over 5 degrees celsius. I could not ride for more than 10 kms at a stretch and had to take several breaks. I stopped at a small hotel that served piping hot noodles and momos, and even took at 30 minute heat up break near a heater.

Nathula pass borders china and cell-phones aren't allowed due to security reasons. This is also an alternate route for Mansarovar from India, apart from the route inside Nepal. This pass was sunny yet bone-chilling at 5 degrees by mid afternoon.

After having some nice noodles at the canteen before the pass, I decided to go to the Baba Harbhajan singh temple and also spotted a Shiva statue (Bholenath Temple) at the highest altitude, approximately 12000 odd feet above sea level. Upon return, it was getting cold and the view of the mountains was amazing. It was a cold evening when I reached the hotel and spent some time having beer by the side of a bonfire. Karma, his wife and another family from Nepal.

Route taken - Gangtok - Nathula Pass - Baba Harbhajan Singh Temple - Gangtok Distance covered - 120 kms Time Travelled - 8 hours

Day 10 - December 31, 2017

Day 10 as usual had to start off early as I had to get passes for Gurudongmar lake, as I was supposed to ride towards Lachen or Thangu village and stay overnight before heading towards Gurudongmar lake. The distance was about 120 kms until Lachen and I had plans to halt at Thangu, 35 kms after Lachen. before heading to the Gurudongmar Lake.

The road towards Mangan, Chungthang was partially broken and there were a lot of deep drops. I managed to reach Lachen at around 4:15 and decided to ride along to Thangu village and spend the night there. G-maps showed Lachen to thangu as 34 kms and about 2 hours to reach. I knew the road condition was going to be bad and continued riding.

About 14 kms after Lachen, I met the couple from Bangalore who were riding back from Thangu, after visiting Gurudongmar lake the same morning. After a brief talk with them, I decided to continue towards Thangu, and within 50 metres of meeting them, I ran into "black ice" which was not easy to ride on and very slippery for the shoe as well as the tyre. 15 minutes of trying and manoeuvring the motorcycle, I knew it wasn't going to be possible crossing that stretch. The route was desolated and I couldn't see a single sou, not even a dog to wag its tail at me. I somehow managed to get the motorcycle to turn around and rode back to Lachen village.

I stayed at the same homestay as the couple and we decided to have dinner and something to drink, apart from the regular liquor available. We had Tongba or Changu, the local millet based drink at a small bar nearby. It was new years eve and a different experience celebrating the end of a year at a random and remote place. Night temperatures dropped to -2 degrees celsius as we got to the hotel and settled down for the night.

Route taken - Gangtok - Mangan - Chungthang - Lachen - Thangu Distance covered - 170 kms Time Travelled -

Day 11 - January 01, 2018

It was new years and the started off as early as 4 AM as I decided to hop onto a jeep that carried other passengers. After checking with a few vehicles, one driver and their passengers agreed to take me in their jeep.

We left at 4:30 AM and reached Thangu village at around 545 AM. We had to submit our permit paper copies at the check post and continue towards Gurudongmar lake. It was biting cold and in 4 layer clothing, a thermal, one tee shirt, a riding jacket and a winter jacket atop that. It was so heavy that i felt like a 100kg monster, lol.

We found a small house that served nice piping hot tea and noodles. They even had some whiskey and brandy to beat the chillness. After a brief tea, we decided to continue to Gurudongmar lake. Barely 5kms from Thangu village, we had to stop at a place where the entire road, for the next 1 km, was full of Black Ice. None of the vehicles could go beyond that point and it was biting cold, almost sizzling at -3 degrees celsius.

After some photo sessions (well there was no way one could remove the gloves, it was that cold) the jeep guy decided to head back as his vehicle wouldn't go any further and there would be no road grip. We reached Thangu village and stopped for another round of noodles and tea. It was almost 8AM when we left that place. The jeep guy dropped me at Lachen from where I had to ride towards Gangtok. I bid adieu and a happy new year to my traveler friends in the jeep and decided to start from Lachen.

It was about 12:30 when I left Lachen and towards Gangtok. The ride back was long and took a little over 5 hours. I reached Hotel 100 petals, another round of dinner with Karma, his friends and the next day was the beginning of the ride back to bangalore.

Route taken - Lachen - Thangu - Lachen - Chungthang - Mangan - Gangtok Distance covered - 200 kms Time Travelled - 8 hours

Day 12 - January 02, 2018

The ride back to bangalore had just begun. I started a little late, by around 9 AM, bid adieu to Karma and his family and headed towards Siliguri. I reached Siliguri a little earlier than scheduled and stopped by Pawan's shop to have lunch with him. He had ordered some home cooked food to be made for both of us. After a sumptuous lunch, I stayed on for about an hour and bid adieu to him. I was on the way back to bangalore.

It was about 4 in the evening and I decided to get close to Farakka or Malda so that I could avoid the traffic between Malda and Farakka the next day. I decided to follow google maps and took one wrong deviation which, instead of leading me to Islampur, took me to a place near Nepal border and from there I had to ask for directions to Kishanganj. From 6 in the evening and with lots of diversions, I managed to reach Kishanganj by 9:30 PM. 2 bottles of beer and some dinner to settle down.

Route taken - Gangtok - Rangpo - Kalimpong - Siliguri - Thakurganj - Kishanganj. Distance covered - 220 kms Time Travelled - 8 hours

Day 13 - January 03, 2018

The day had to start early as I was riding towards Kolkata. I had a long way to ride. I started riding at around 630 AM. It was biting cold and I reached Dalkhola, after much difficulty and managing to reach the highway. Via Dalkhola towards Malda, the highway was fairly small until Raiganj. After Raiganj it was a 4 lane highway, yet heavy traffic at Malda town, which made the ride difficult and got stuck in traffic for roughly 45 minutes. Crossing Farakka barrage was a breeze this time as the truck traffic was manageable. I reached the deviation at Moregram to see the traffic condition and there were a load of trucks jammed up.

I decided to skip that and ride towards Berhampore, from where I took at deviation via SH7 towards Burdwan. At Berhampur, it was already 3PM and I continued riding via SH7 to Burdwan.

Burdwan was roughly 130 kms away and I took 3 hours to reach Burdwan town. Once inside town, I stopped inside town to have dinner at a small roadside shop. The owner, Ramu Bhuya, did not accept money from me when I told him about my journey. I insisted, and paid him. A kind hearted man, he was. I continued the ride towards Howrah and settled down at a hotel on the Howrah Kharagpur highway.

Route taken - Kishanganj - Dalkhola - Malda - Farakka - Berhampore - Burdwan - Howrah Distance covered - 500 kms Time Travelled - 13 hours

Day 14 - January 04, 2018

The plan was to reach Puri by evening. Distance was fairly less than 500 kms and I knew that I could make it fairly early. The day started at 8:00 AM. I managed to reach Balasore for lunch. Reached Puri by 5PM.

Most hotels in Puri had a weird check-out time of as early as 6 to 8AM because of trains arriving at town and most come to Puri only to visit the Jagannath temple. Finally found a hotel and the manager agreed to extend the check-out till 10AM.

As I checked into Facebook, Jagannath Patra from Bangalore Roadies group called in. I knew that Puri was his home town, rather I didn't expect him to be there. A couple of drinks and some dinner to settle down for the day.

Simultaneously, I also got a message that Candida was riding with xbhp RoadTrip United group and decided to catch up with her at Hyderabad on Saturday morning.

Route taken - Howrah - Balasore - Cuttack - Puri Distance covered - 490 kms Time Travelled - 9 hours

Day 15 and 16- January 05 and 06, 2018

The day started early and I decided to drop by at the Jagannath temple for some pictures. So unfortunate that cell phones were not allowed inside temple. I decided to not go any further, headed back to the hotel and checked out.

It was around 10 AM as I stepped out of Puri town and towards the Chilika Lake. Satapada was the first place to visit. From Satapada to Janhikuda, one has to take a 6 km ferry crossing to ride on the other side. It was almost 11:30 AM when i hopped onto a boat. There were roughly 15 motorcycles and about 40 people on that ferry. 40 minutes to reach Janhikuda.

Around 12:30 PM, I started from Jani kuda and decided to ride non-stop to Visakhapatnam. I had a long way to go and was supposed to reach hyderabad the next day morning by 7 or 8 AM. I reached the outskirts of Vizag at around 7 and stopped at a hotel to charge the phones and also have dinner.

Around 8:00 PM i left the hotel and began crossing Visakhapatnam city. The highway runs 21 kms inside city and then back onto the highway. When I exited city, it was about 9PM. I had the tank filled with fuel and decided to ride non-stop to vijayawada. I took a tea break at 12:30 AM after Rajahmundry. vijayawada from there was a breeze ride, only with some road work happening about 40 kms before the city.

I crossed Vijayawada at around 245AM and was now confident that hyderabad was roughly 4.5 hours away and I could reach by 730AM. The ride only got tough as I touched the Vijayawada-Hyderabad highway. The roads were amazing, however chillness caught up within 50 kms of leaving vijayawada and drowsiness added to it. I was roughly 200 kms away, at 4AM and I was at a small hotel, having tea, face washing multiple times and trying to avoid sleep. 30 minutes spent, and I was ready to ride again. It was almost 5AM when i began riding again towards Hyderabad. I reached hyderabad at around 845AM at the venue where the Road Trip United event was happening.

After meeting fellow riders and the event, 2 hours to rest and at 11AM we left Gachibowli towards Bangalore.

Route taken - Puri - Satapada - Chilika Lake Ferry Crossing - Jani Kuda - Visakhapatnam - Vijayawada - Hyderabad - Bangalore Distance covered - 1729 kms Time Travelled - 38 hours

For pictures of the trip, please check the album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10159637558215648.1073741915.630315647&type=3

Tour of TamilNadu - October 20 to Nov 3 2013

 This was my "first" motorcycle expedition that lasted beyond a week. No bullet then, it was a Honda Shine 125cc motorcycle.

I had traveled to many places in Karnataka and Kerala, yet I had never been through my home state of Tamil Nadu. I decided to ride through all the places that I have never visited.

Day 1 - October 20, 2013

I flagged off my journey on the 20th October 2013 towards Chidambaram from Bangalore. It was a rainy afternoon and I had packed my bags and laptop. I planned to reach chidambaram by night and left bangalore at around 2:30 PM. The distance was going to be about 370 kms, i thought, as I took a longer route, instead of traveling via Tiruvannamalai.

As I crossed Salem and reached Attur, the roads were good and I had made good progress. About 25 kms after Attur, I deviated onto the road that leads to Virudhachalam, at koot road junction. Just as I entered the Virudhachalam road, it started to rain. Braving the cold and the lashing rain, I decided to continue past Virudhachalam. The road until Chidambaram was very clean, unlike my previous encounters. I found a hotel and settled down at 10:30 PM with some beer.

Distance Travelled - 390 kmsRoute Taken- Bangalore - Salem - Virudhachalam - Chidambaram

Day 2 - October 21, 2013

I had some work at the Annamalai University that day. I decided to get my "provisional certificate" that day and then begin my journey. Meanwhile, all my clothes had gone wet in the previous days rain. By the time I reached the hotel in the evening after finishing my work at the university, it was already 5:30 PM.

I packed my luggage and began the journey towards Tranquebar (Tharangambadi), about 70 kms away. The road towards Tharangambadi was pretty narrow. As it was getting dark, riding became difficult as the headlight wasn't too powerful. I finally managed to reach Tharangambadi by 9PM. The only hotel was the tamil nadu hotel to stay at. I had food at the Neemrana hotel opposite this place.Distance Travelled - 70 kmsRoute Taken- Chidambaram - TharangambadiDay 3 - October 22, 2013

I had plans to visit the Danish fort, which was barely 100 metres away from the hotel. Had nice breakfast, and took a stroll into the 400 year old fort. The fort was by the coast. Spent an hour going around the fort and clicking a few pictures.

Around 1PM, it was time to leave. I headed towards Vedaranyam via Karaikal Nagapattinam and Vedanthangal. The route was a little rough, yet I managed to reach Vedaranyam by 5 in the evening. sleepy little town, and nothing to explore except for the bird sanctuary. The time I travelled, there was nothing to see. It was time to go to Pattukkottai. I reached Pattukkottai at 8PM and found a small dingy lodge to settle down.Distance Travelled - 120 kmsRoute Taken- Tharangambadi - Karaikal - Nagapattinam - Vedanthangal - Vedaranyam - PattukkottaiDay 4 - October 23, 2013

The day after, I was heading towards Karaikudi and enroute, decided to stop to visit the Thirumayam fort enroute to Karaikudi via Pudukkottai. After visiting the fort, I deviated to Kanadukathan to visit the chettinad palace. The palace was dilapidated and no one was allowed to view the interiors of the palace.

I found a hotel at Karaikudi and settled down for the day.

Distance Travelled - 120 kmsRoute Taken- Tharangambadi - Karaikal - Nagapattinam - Vedanthangal - Vedaranyam - PattukkottaiDay 5 - October 24, 2013

I went to the 1000 windows palace (aayiram jannal maaligai) but wasn't allowed to view it from inside. I decided to head to Ramanathapuram via Aranthangi. I had lunch on the outskirts of Aranthangi and headed towards the coast road.

After lunch, I got a little confused with the route towards Kattumavadi and was roaming around the village near Attani. I reached Kattumavadi and continued to ride towards Ramanathapuram, along the East Coast Road (ECR). I stopped by at an NGO and met a few children before continuing my journey.

I reached Ramanathapuram at around 7:30 PM and settled down for the day.

Distance Travelled - 160 kmsRoute Taken- Karaikudi- Aranthangi- Kattumavadi - Pasipattinam- Thondi - Devipattinam - Ramanathapuram

Day 6 - October 25, 2013

I had to go to Tuticorin on this day, so I decided to go towards Dhanushkodi and left as early as 7 in the morning. Rameshwaram Dhanushkodi was merely 50 kms away. As I began riding towards Rameshwaram, I had a small scary feeling within me. I was riding to the "end" of the road and beyond that is sea.

I stopped to click some pictures at where the road ends near Dhanishkodi. There were some maxi cab vans that drove into the sea to where some remains of the "real" dhanushkodi existed. I couldn't avail one as it was pretty early, around 8 AM and there weren't many people.

I headed back to Ramanathapuram, spent some time at the hotel and left the town after lunch. It was time to go towards Tuticorin, another coastal town, about 230 kms away.

I continued along the small highway and reached Tuticorin by evening. Time to settle down and have some beer.

Distance Travelled - 330 kmsRoute Taken- Ramanathapuram - Dhanushkodi - Ramanathapuram - Tuticorin

Day 7 - October 26, 2013

I was supposed to travel to Kanyakumari by the coast. Enroute, I stopped at the Tiruchendur Murugan Temple and then continued my journey. It was about 11 AM when visit to the temple was over. From Tiruchendur to Kanyakumari was about 85 kms . The road was pretty small and there weren't many vehicles.

I reached Kanyakumari by noon. It was time to settle for the day and visit some places nearby. Vattakottai fort, by the sea shore was a treat to be at. After visiting the fort, I headed back to the hotel and took some rest.

Distance Travelled - 130 kmsRoute Taken- Tuticorin - Tiruchendur - Kanyakumari

Day 8 - October 27, 2013

Before leaving Kanyakumari, I woke up at 5 AM to see the sunrise at the southern tip of Kanyakumari. What a wonderful view. There is a myth that any wish made when looking at the sunrise becomes true.

After the sunrise, I began my journey towards Udayagiri fort, 30 kms away. A couple of hours at the fort and spending some time, it was time to visit the Padmanabhapuram Palace, another 3 kms away. The Padmanabhapuram palace was a treat to the eyes. The architecture of the building was priceless, a 400 year old palace.

A couple of hours at the palace and the next place was the Mathur Hanging Bridge. Searching for the bridge took a lot of time. By the time I reached, it was pretty late in the evening. I decided to visit the Tirparappu Water falls. It was already 7PM and I found a small hotel and settled down for the day.

Distance Travelled - 50 kmsRoute Taken- kanyakumari - Nagercoil - Tirparappu Falls

Day 9 - October 28, 2013

I began the day pretty early as I had to visit the Chitharal Jain Temple, which was about 20 kms away. It took about 30 minutes to reach Chitharal. At 7:45AM, I was the only one at the place and a spooky feeling went down me. I quickly took a stroll around the place and left by around 9 AM.

As I bid adieu to Nagercoil, I headed towards Tirunelveli via Boothapandi (friend Geo named me Boothapandi). I stopped here to take a quick pick of the signboard and continued towards Ambasamudram. At Ambasamudram, I took a ride upto the Manimuthar waterfalls, only to know that, heading towards Manjolai wasn't allowed by private vehicles.

I rode down to Ambasamudram town and asked for permission at the Forest Rangers Office. Permission was denied, yet I had a good conversation with the officials and headed towards Upper Karaiyar Dam. The ride via papanasam towards Upper Karaiyar Dam was nothing less than a remote forest on the Western Ghats.

Sighting issues with monkeys troubling the luggage on the bag, I decided to leave the place as quickly as possible. I headed towards Vasudevanallur to visit the old palace at Nelkattumseval, Vasudevanallur town. The place was very dilapidated and it was time to head towards Kovilpatti to settle down for the day.

Distance Travelled - 309 kmsRoute Taken- Thirparappu Falls - Chitharal - Ambasamudram - Upper Karaiyar Dam - Vasudevanallur - Kovilpatti

Day 10 - October 29, 2013

I left Kovilpatti the next day towards Megamalai, via Sivakasi. The road until Sivakasi was good. After Sivakasi, towards Batlagundu was on and off, good and not so good. As I reached Chinnamanur, it was almost 3:30 PM. I signed the book at the forest check post and rode up towards Megamalai.

The road was terrible and took 2 hours to reach the Government Guest House. A long and hard day riding, it was time to settle down for the day.

Distance Travelled - 250 kmsRoute Taken- Kovilpatti - Sivakasi - Andipatti - Batlagundu - Theni - Chinnamanur - Megalamai

Day 11 - October 30, 2013

The journey had almost come to an end, with me being on the last day of the tour and planning to head towards Coimbatore from Megamalai. I took a small walk around the dam. Megamalai is surrounded by 7 Dams and the view was amazing. I stopped at the hotel nearby to have breakfast and met a school teacher from the government high school.

We had a small pep talk at the bakery and I got to know that he taught Maths at the school. As we were talking, we got to know that the regular bus had broken down. The teacher wanted to go down towards Theni town as he was suffering from Asthma and was finding it difficult to breathe.

I agreed to take him down hill as I prepared to leave the place. We left at around 8:30 AM and it took us 3 hours to reach Bodi, where he wanted to go. I bid adieu to him and headed towards Coimbatore, which was a long way and the route was tough due to heavy traffic. I managed to reach coimbatore by 6 PM and settle down for the day.

Distance Travelled - 300 kmsRoute Taken- Megamalai - Bodi - Batlagundu - Dharapuram - Coimbatore

Day 12 - October 31, 2013

The weekend was spent well with family as Diwali was around the corner.

Distance Travelled - 70 kmsRoute Taken- Tharangambadi - Karaikal - Nagapattinam - Vedanthangal - Vedaranyam - Pattukkottai

November 3, 2013

Shiva and I headed back to Bangalore via Dhimbam.

Road to Himachal Pradesh - August 16 to 31, 2014

It was planned barely 20 days before embarking on my journey to Leh. I was supposed to be going with Akshay, a school friend and couple of his friends. Planning and discussion began about a month before the journey.

Later, his friends dropped out due to personal issues and even Akshay had some health issues and couldn't come. It was going to be another "solo" ride. I had transported my motorcycle exactly 5 days before my flight to chandigarh. I was to fly to Chandigarh from Bangalore on August 16th, 2014. The transport agent informed that the motorcycle consignment will reach Chandigarh on the 16th, the same day I arrive.

Day 1 - August 16, 2014:

As I arrived at Chandigarh and headed towards the blue dart office, I got to know that the motorcycle had not arrived. I had to find a hotel and settle down first. I headed to a hotel at Sector 36 and checked in. As I kept following up with the Blue Dart cargo company, I got news that the motorcycle will arrive at Ambala, 45 kms from Chandigarh.

Day 2 - August 17, 2014:

I decided to take a taxi to Ambala, and, if possible, take delivery there itself. That didn't work as the cargo company declined to deliver there and mentioned to collect it at Chandigarh on Monday morning.

With 2 days gone in the actual itinerary, it was time to "change" the plan and ride to a different stretch. George helped with an "overnight" itinerary and I was ready to head to Shimla the next day.

Day 3 - August 18, 2014

Finally, my motorcycle arrived and I had get it from the Blue Dart godown. As the motorcycle had no fuel, the day started of with pushing the 200 kg monster for about 1.5 kms in the scorching sun in search of a petrol bunk.

I filled up the tank and went back to the hotel to check out and prepare for my journey. My motorcycle did not have any additional fittings like Panniers and Crash Guard. I also had to buy spare tubes and some puncture fixing items, including a foot pump.

I went to Sector 21 and got all that I needed, in one store. Once, everything was fitted to the motorcycle, it was almost 3 in teh afternoon and I was on my way to Shimla. 50 kms into the journey I met one guy who was also heading to Shimla on his TB500. He was a dental student (forgot his name). Spent some time with him and had snacks before continuing the journey.

Enroute, I stopped to have some corn. That was the only break I took before reaching Shimla. The hill was really winding upward and as I reached the city, it started getting cold as it was about 8PM. I finally checked into a hotel and settled down for the day.

Totally, 125 kms travelled.

Chandigarh - Solan - Shimla

Day 4 and 5 - August 18 and 19, 2014

I was warned about altitude sickness by friend and colleague, George, who had been to the Ladakh region in 2011 with his friends. Based on suggestions and some advice before the journey, I stayed a day at Shimla (Day 4) and went around town taking a small walk and having some nice food and beer.

Day 5 began and I left in the morning after having a hearty breakfast. Rain was expected throughout the journey, but nothing really came up. I continued to ride all the way to Rampur. The road was clean and good, yet really winding. I stopped at a small wooden building for lunch. It looked like a small restaurant and the food was filling. It began getting a little cold outside and there was some mist around.

As I continued to ride, I had plans of stopping at Bawa Nagar, yet, the day wasn't over. Just after Rampur, started the "actual" ride along a river in the Lahaul-Kinnaur-Spiti Valley. I had just entered the Lahaul valley and headed to Tapri, a very small village (?) in the middle of nowhere. That was exactly where the "bad" or not-so-great-yet-gull-of-gravel road started. The journey was going to be tough from here, I said to myself.

Day 6 and 7 - August 20 and 21, 2014

I had mentioned about altitude sickness earlier. I decided to stay at Tapri for a day (to acclimatize) and then continue towards Reckong Peo. The sky was getting grey and I could feel a few butterflies in my stomach. Being a first timer to this region, I wasn't sure whether it would rain or not, yet I realized that landslides were a common sight there.

I started towards Reckong peo on Day 7, barely 35 kms away. Mind it, 35 kms isn't like on a national highway across any other part of the country where it takes about 30 to 45 minutes to cover. This stretch was really broken and due to frequent landslides, the road was in tatters. As I had feared, I ran into a landslide on the outskirts of Tapri. The national highway that connects all the way to Kaza, was closed.

the rickety ride just began. Until Tapri, all was rosy enough, now begins the challenge. I asked locals about directions and they showed me a "slope" which was steep enough to be called a "hair-pin bend". I began riding up that road (?) (or probably should i call it a "route"?). As I continued going up, the route was worse than expected. Getting to the other side of the highway was getting tough.

Finally, when the flat stretch was over, it was time to "descend" the hilly route to join the national highway again. I had already completed 20 kms in "that" route and I was looking at a "bridge" that we had to cross, and just then there was a traffic jam, for a kilometer. No space to go and I had to wait for 1 hour. I was hungry all of a sudden. After crossing the bridge, I reached a small dhaba and decided to have food. Momo's in soupy noodles was a treat to the stomach.

After gulping down two bowls of soupy noodles with momo's, I was about to leave, when a couple of german tourists dropped by, on their motorcycles, Mick and Henry. I had a small chat with them and 3 of us decided to travel together from there for the next 4 days.

We rode towards Reckong Peo from there and stopped at Reckong Peo for the day. We found a small hotel for Rs 600 per night. The Kailash Parbat stood majestically against the window of my room.

Totally 55 kms travelled, against the actual distance of 35 kms.

Tapri - Reckong Peo

Day 8 and 9 - August 22 and 23, 2014

After Reckong Peo began the "Kinnaur" valley. All this while, we rode with the sutlej river running parallel to the road, mountain on either side and the river in between. To enter the Kinnaur Valley, the German nationals needed to get an Inner Line Permit (ILP). I befriended a guy at the information center opposite the District Magistrates office and took his help to obtain permits for Mick and Henry.

As there was little fuel, we decided to fill up the tank and move ahead. Unfortunately, the "only" fuel station had no petrol and we were stranded. Fuel was to arrive the same day but was delayed due to the landslide, and we had to wait. During the "waiting" period, the two germans decided to get their ILP's worked up. The ILP's took only an hour and on Day 9, fuel was available. We refilled our tanks, had breakfast and were ready to leave. It was about 11 AM as we planned to leave for Phoo. The next fuel station was available at Kaza, around 150 kms away, and nothing in between.

Our friend from the Tourism Information Center informed us about a landslide on the highway near Reckong Peo. Now, our only option was to stay back for a couple of days and then take the highway, or take a more difficult route which was to be 20 kms more than the actual highway. We took the second option as we did not want to get stranded. After 6 kms, the road started getting tough to ride and we were riding along a muddy track by the side of a mountain, and the majestic Sutlej could be seen running from where we were riding.

At one stretch, the road was full of gravel and mud, the route was getting worse by the kilometer and we had already spent 2 hours, simply to cover 10 kms. All of our motorcycles, despite being 500 cc engines, none could take the bike up the slope. Henry took a run up and tried to speed the machine up the slope, and only managed to fall down in the gravel. Mick helped me by pushing the motorcycle from behind. A few thrusts up and with Henry's help, my bike was up the slope. I rode for about 500 metres, and stopped, to go back and help my german friends.

Once Henry's motorcycle was taken up the slope, Mick also joined the party and we stopped at a small turning where we stopped by a few rocks, to sit and relax, as the 1/2 km stretch took an hour for us to cover, analyze and then decide to move on. From there, we took another small walk to check out the route. It wasn't bad, We had actually crossed the "dangerous" stretch. From there on, till Dubling, the ride was smooth and we covered another 25 kms in less than an hour. Again, mountain on both sides and river in between.

It was almost 5:30 at Dubling and we decided to reach Pooh, another 20 kms away, by 7:00 PM as it gets "really dark" beyond 6:30 there. We took enough money with us at Reckong Peo so that we didn't have to think of non-working ATM's. As we thought, we reached Phoo at 7:30 PM. The road had become muddy and more tough to ride, but we managed to reach Phoo.

We found a hotel and settled down. The owner was a young guy who had studied at Loyola College, Chennai (forgot his name, though). Some beer on the terrace of the hotel made was a wonderful experience, beneath the stars and a deep valley against the hotel balcony.

Totally travelled 85 kms in 7 hours. Tough route.

Day 10 - August 24, 2014

At Phoo, we checked out the ATM, there was no money and no network too. After we reached Phoo, all cell phone networks, barring BSNL ceased to work.

We began the day quite early, after breakfast. It was about 9 AM and we continued to ride towards Tabo. We stopped near a bridge for a small video recording session as Mick, Henry and I took turns to ride our motorcycles from along the bridge and up the road by the mountain.

We continued to ride up, and enroute, we met a "group" of riders, all the way from Indonesia. We spoke to them for some time. They were going to Leh, via Kaza. We stopped at Nako village to see if there was anything interesting. Except for an army base and the village, it was mountains, mountains and mountains only everywhere. We were very close to the border of China.

The road up to Nako was winding enough. I was in the middle of a mountain desert. Not a sign of a leaf. Rocks, stones and sand all over the place, and of course, the beautiful view of the valley. On the outskirts of Nako, we met an army officer, had some tea with him and spent some time talking about our travel experience. It was time to head towards Tabo. We thanked the officer for the tea and a great conversation, decided to move on. The road down was winding. We had to stop at another checkpost, which was the "entry" of the Spiti-Valley.

My german friends had to show the ILP. I had to sign a register. Took just 5 minutes, and we were on our way again. A few kms, away, a marriage function was happening and we stopped to dance with the family, in the middle of the road. They were drinking beer and also distributing some sweets. We took the sweets offered and spent some time, dancing with them. We had a little more to reach Tabo.

On the outskirts of Tabo, the extra fuel from the can developed a hole and began leaking. I got that filled into the tank and threw the can away.

We found a small home stay at Tabo and settled down for the day. The food and hospitality by the owner of the homestay was amazing. Nice tibetan food with some beer

60 kms travelled totally.

Phoo - Nako - Tabo

Day 11 - August 25, 2014

We started the day pretty slowly as Kaza was the next town to stop at and we had only 50 kms more to travel. Tabo is a small village. A 1000 odd year old buddhist monastery makes it more significant.

We took a tour of the monastery, came back to the homestay, got ready and decided to move on to Kaza. We were in need of fuel and Kaza was the next town with a fuel station. The road to Kaza wasn't too bad and the ride was pretty smooth. It barely took 2 hours for us to reach Kaza.

We dropped our bags at a hotel near a petrol bunk and decided to take a tour of the market area inside down. An Indian Oil petrol bunk at Kaza was known to be the highest altitude petrol station in the world. We wanted to fill up our motorcycle tanks as the next available petrol station was Manali, for me, and Keylong for the german friends. We were told that fuel would arrive in the evening. So we had to wait.

We took a tour of the market area. Henry wanted a small video of the barber shaving his beard for him. I simply obliged and shot a video and some clicks on my cell phone. We were shocked at seeing the ATM. An SBI ATM, but no money in it. The 2nd such thing after what we saw at Phoo. We thanked our brains for suggesting us to carry enough money at Reckong Peo itself.

It was about to rain, so we decided to head back to the hotel and fuel our motorcycles. With tanks filled, I knew another fuel can wasn't required as I had only 200 kms to travel back to Manali. It was time for beer and some food.

Total distance covered - 50 kms.

Tabo - Kaza

Day 12 - August 26, 2014

As the day started, my german friends had to travel towards Keylong, about 190 kms or so, which was going to be tough for them. I bid adieu to them and saw them leave Kaza town at 7 AM. I decided to start by around 9 or so. I packed my luggage and was heading towards Manali. I took one wrong road and ended on the route towards Kibbar village. I got a beautiful view of the Key-Gompa monastery, another 1000 odd year old . As I was going to travel a longer distance, I decided to not go inside.

Some locals helped me with the road towards Losar, the next town enroute to Manali. I came back and got onto the correct route. The road towards Losar wasn't any easy and the route was getting back to tough from seeing good roads. The mountains were flowing back onto me. It was like an illusion.

Losar is a small and "sleepy" town. When I reached this place, there was hardly any activity. Except or a couple of shops, everything else was closed. I stepped into a small house type hotel and had some rice with dhal. After lunch, it was time to move on to Batal or Chhatru. I couldn't make up my mind. From losar, the road was going to be very tough. I had a small hunch that I was going to see a tough day ahead. It was about 1:30 in the afternoon and I had another 5 hours to go, but not enough time to reach Manali yet.

As I continued towards Kunzum Top or Kunzum Pass or Kunzum La, the route became tough. Reaching atop Kunzum La, I saw a bus and some vehicles, and a few people standing. I rode upto the top and only to see a small monastery and a closed building. I stayed there for a few minutes and continued towards Batal. This time the road was downstream. The road was full of mud, gravel and stones. I was always cautious of not getting hit by a "shooting stone", ones that roll down a mountain like a surprise. I had travelled to about 4500 mts above sea level.

The road towards Batal was really broken and the view of the mountains on the other side was breathtaking. I stopped at a junction that splits to chandartal lake onto the right. As the lake was about 12 kms inside, and I was heading towards Manali, I decided to go towards Batal. As I reached Batal, I was surprised to see my german friends at a dhaba. I stopped by to say hi to them and also have some chai. It was getting pretty cold and the time was already 3:00 PM.

As I was talking to Mick and Henry, a group of people entered the dhaba. A couple of people were talking in tamil. After a long gap of 12 days, I was listening to the sweet language. I began a conversation with them. They were part of a trekking group and I got to know that they were from Sivakasi. As I was talking to their son, I got to know that he too had studied at The Lawrence School, Lovedale, the same school I went to. I had a brief talk with him and it was almost 4:00 now. The german friends had left earlier as they were traveling further.

I bid adieu to my Lawrence School (10 years junior to me) friend and began riding towards Chhatru. Barely 500 metres away, I stumbled upon a few stones and lost control of the motorcycle. The weight was dropping onto my right side and I had to let the motorcycle go down. The two bags opened up and I had the biggest struggle of lifting the motorcycle and dropping it to the other side after getting the side stand open with my hands. I switched off the engine with the button meant for it.

As I got the bags tied to the motorcycle again and was ready to continue, the motorcycle did not start. I got scared for a moment as I was still 100 odd kms away from Manali and in the middle of nowhere, my motorcycle won't start. I saw a jeep approaching and I began to frantically wave my hands signalling them that I needed help. As they came close, I saw the button to the engine was switched off. I felt a little funny for a moment as I almost gave myself a big shock. Now that the jeep had approached, I didn't know what to do. I simply told them what happened, and took some water to drink.

I thanked them and began my ride towards Chhatru. I wanted to reach some place and "settle" down for the day as the ride was literally hard and this journey was too much of off-roading. There was more to come, as I was riding. There was a huge herd of sheep that I had to get past, and it was really tough to ride through them. I came across 2 water streams, one of them going downhill and taking a curve to the right. I was to ride into that. I did so, but with too many uneven stones inside the water, I almost lost balance again. I had to drop my feet into the water to gain balance. Finally, at 6:30, as scheduled, I reached Chhatru and found a small dhaba.

As I stepped into the dhaba, I met a bangalore based couple, who were on a one week ride fro Manali to Kaza and back. Their luggage was so much, they had hired tents and sleeping bags which was much more than their actual luggage, and on one motorcycle. I informed them about the water streams and the route ahead. We had a brief conversation and I helped them in pitching the tent. It was finally time for some beer and food. The dhaba owner had everything available. I stayed there for Rs. 100/- for that night. The owner gave me 6 blankets, 3 for the head to use as pillow and 3 to keep from the cold.

Totally travelled 130 kms in 7 hours.

Kaza - Losar - Batal - Chhatru

Day 13 and 14 - August 27 and 28, 2014

Except for the Chandra Baga river, there was no other sound I could hear. It was already 6:30 AM and I was getting ready to leave to Manali. The bangalore couple and I exchanged a few words, had tea and decided to pack up. I still have 70 kms to travel and the famous Rohtang pass was only 17 kms away. They had warned me about a couple of water streams that i had to ride through. Keeping that in mind, I began riding up hill. The ride was tough.

As I joined the Manali-Leh highway, I was stunned at the amount of truck traffic. It took me about 2 hours to reach Rohtang pass top. I met a couple of bangalore based riders on the way. They were heading to kanyakumari by motorcycle. I really couldn't spend time with them. I began riding down from Rohtang top to Manali, still 52 kms away.

After covering 15 kms downhill, I received the first phone call in 10 days. Remember, I had mentioned about no network connectivity after reaching Phoo. My sister was in a state of panic. There was too much of "drama" and people were literally wondering what had happened to me. As I spoke to my sister, I informed my brother and a couple of other friends, and then told them that i'll be available for full time phone calls in about an hour or two. The ride down was really tough as I struggled to ride against the army trucks. There was no support to the side of the road and I had to stop at many places.

I reached Manali at around 2 PM and checked into Johnson Lodge, a hotel in old manali.I got details of an NGO named RADHA and visited them to donate some of my old clothes that I had never worn during the journey. I met the lady who runs the home. I spent about 2 hours talking to them. They were self-financed and never took donations. I came back to Manali and then it was time for dinner and some beer. I stayed for a day extra at Manali.

Day 15 - August 29, 2014

I had a flight to bangalore on the 31st, so I decided to get back to chandigarh on the 29th in order to transport my motorcycle off to bangalore. As I started from Manali, it was already 9 AM. There was a lot of truck traffic and I reached Mandi at 12:30 PM. One Masala dosa costed me a hundred bucks, wow. I continued from there, riding continuously. It began raining in between and I saw more bikers traveling against my direction. I waved a hand to them and they waved back too. As I reached Chandigarh, it was almost 8 PM.

I woke up the next day morning and had to transport the motorcycle from the Blue Dart godown, the same place I got the motorcycle from. A whole day's rest with some food and beer and I was ready to fly back to bangalore on 31st, Sunday after a wonderful, challenging and mind blowing journey.

Hope to catch up with another journey, the ride across tamilnadu in 2013. Until then, happy reading.