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