Bhutan ride - Day 1 & 2

Day 1 (2nd April 2011)

4:30 in the morning, we are traveling to airport fly to Guwahati. I'm imagining how Bhutan is going to be? How thrilling rides in that country are going to be? Etc. Jo is trying to talk to me I simply respond 'hmm, hmm'. Jo in his typical voice says, 'Arre... you're dead man!' I don't have words to tell him what I'm thinking :)

We reached Guwahati. Bad news! It’s a Bandh today. That means we can only get our motorcycles tomorrow. Too bad :(. We checked into a hotel and lazed around. In the evening, I stepped out to get a feel of the town. People are not friendly; they don't talk to you looking in the eye. Not a good feeling. We had dinner at the hotel room itself and slept.

Day 2 (3rd April 2011)

we reached the warehouse, got our motorcycles. My motorcycle had some minor damages - handle bar was bent and some one had played with the carburetor. We fixed 'em.

12 PM

We saddled our motorcycles and headed towards Siliguri. In Assam it’s very difficult to find routes as there are no signboards and people are unaware of the name of the next places! After asking so many people finally we got onto the road to Siliguri. Bad stretches all along, ride was not enjoyable. But there were some interesting things, Short goats in Assam. They've short legs and fat body, they looked funny :) and every home has a pond in the front yard, they looked beautiful.

In the evening we had a good ride. Jo and I had done rides in dark together earlier too, one such ride was from Kodaikanal to Bangalore during Silverbullets' 5th anniversary ride, amazing ride it was. Today too it was enjoyable, we had to ride through tribal villages, and we could hear villagers singing and playing drums.

Riding in the night is different experience. In the night you’re separated from the surroundings by darkness. That lets you imagine the place the way you want it to be. Headlights piercing the darkness add a tinge of mystery too :)

We stopped at an army camp to ask about the routes. The army men were very helpful, they told us the route, but warned us not to ride in the night and not to talk to anyone other than army men and police. They said, if you talk to strangers they might slit your throat and steal the money! They suggested to stay at Bongaigaon (20 km away from that army camp) as Phuentsoling is too far to cover in the night. Only then we realized that we'd lost our way! We stayed at Bongaigaon that night.