Category: BHUTAN THUNDER DRAGON

Frank, Ross, Julie and I left the rest of the group at Guwahati for what Ross said was a 250 k drive with heaps of hugs, best wishes and jealousy.

It was a different feeling turning right out of the hotel gate and no Route Book to follow with tulips and directions all the way to the next hotel at Kohima.

We pulled up down the road a bit and planed our route with Ross using his Garmin and my iPhone with a local sim, and decided on our chosen route.

The first 100+ks was on dual carriageways was classed as tollway however the tollbooths were unmanned. Being a tollway doesn’t stop the Indians driving against the flow for the short cut so you need to be alert all the time.

Around 1100hr we stoped for a cuppa and decided we’d meet at Lumding for lunch, the locals at the cuppa stop said we should be going the other way, however Ross assured us his Garmin route was shorter.

Lesson 1 “Never distrust local knowledge.”

Just before we reached Lumding the Tollway changed to a construction site then degenerated in to a very back road. I wasn’t watching the road and not the map so this lead to Julie and I entering Lumding and diving through some very narrow market streets with the fear that Penny wouldn’t get around the next corner to get out, however a quick look at the phone revealed that we should have turned left about 5ks ago, in about 20 mins we were heading on the right track, and track it was. The 50 k to the next town and the drive was a bolt rattling, body shacking 1^st gear trip over broken Black Top and Pot Holes.

At 3 o’clock we checked with a Local Forestry Officer that we were on the correct road and yes we had it right however, he told us we still had 4 to 5 hours to drive to Kohima. Once again I disbelieved the local. How was it going to take that long to drive the 120ks left as we were only 5ks from the main road?

Lesson 2 “Remember Lesson 1”

In India the term main road is used pretty loosely. It has no relationship to the road quality just the amount of people using it. The main road was a veritable minefield of potholes and rough bridges.

The other thing we forgot was on this side of India it gets dark at 4.45 so our drive soon became a pothole-dodging event in the dark. A couple of checkpoints and we were lost in the town of Dimapur, during peak hour. What fun that is with the horns tooting and traffic everywhere. As I tried to ask a man on the side of the street the way to Kohima a very nice man on a motorcycle pulled up and asked where we were headed. He then offered to lead us to the road out of town. He was our Knight in shining armour as this got us out of town and on the last leg of 80ks to our hotel.

Progress was going well but slow with the traffic. We entered the state of Nagaland then headed up hill, the climb up to 900metres elevation was fairly trouble free. Then thing changed, in India the trucks are not allowed on the road at certain times. We must have timed the last 40 ks into town with them all being let off the leash as they were coming at us like packs of dogs in groups of 10 or 20. On narrow rough windy mount roads this was a challenge when you are meeting hundreds of trucks with every combination of light imaginable and point all the wrong directions.

After 388ks for the day and a bit more local help we got to our accommodation at 7.45pm, 4 3/4 hours after not believing 4 to 5 hours.

As we departed the hotel in the morning a friend said to us “Max don’t go of the main road and don’t drive at night.” in this part of India. Somehow we broke both of these.

This is the first post for a few days due to a complete lack of energy and slow Internet. We have had to camp for the previous 2 night before arriving in India on the final night of the Thunder Dragon Rally.

3 days ago:

We left the festival town of Mongar for the 100 k drive through the hills to Trashigang for an over night stop with half the rally have to sleep in tents due to the lack of accommodation in town for a couple of reasons. It was festival time in this town as well and the East of Bhutan doesn’t get a lot of tourist so a big group like ours puts a lot of pressure on the available accommodation.

The drive this day was under clear skies with clean air so the views were stupendous. The valleys and mountains of this drive was a lot dryer as indicated by the vegetation. It was another day with many road works as Bhutan try’s to improve its road network for Tourism and transport of the required material for the many hydro projects under construction.

On our arrival in town we had the choice of going to the last of the 3-day festival or extending our driving by continuing up the valley to the town of Trashi Yangtse. Julie and I opted for the extended 44k drive up the valley and back as she had had a special time at the Mongar festival the previous day she wanted to see this remote part of Bhutan that very few tourist visit. Penny was the only car to go all the way to the top and back and what a great drive it was. As we got higher the valley got narrower and the road got thinner with the drops steeper with a few places that the next thing over the edge was Splash when you would have landed in the river a couple hundred metres below.

On arrival in Trashigang late in the day we visited town for a quick look before setting our selves up in the tent for the night.

2 days ago:

After another buffet breakfast we set off for the 180k drive down to the border town of Sandrup Jongka ready for our exit into India.

Early in the morning we stoped at a local weaving centre where cloth for Kira’s and Gho’s is hand woven, this process is only just faster then hand knotting carpets in central Asia.

This drive ended being one of the drives of the trip, we great clear weather again, but the big thing was the drops got bigger in places with the road being even narrower at times. Where the road construction was finished the driving ws smooth but still full of bends, a new road is just wider and smooth but is still narrow in places from the never-ending landslips. The majority of the road widening work is being down by Indian labourers that live in small Shanties built on the side of the road out of flattened old 44 gallon oil and tar drums. I had been told by the Police Chief Commissioner that I’d taken for a drive at Punakha, the Indians get work permits for up to 5 years work on road and power projects.

Our overnight camping stop was in the grounds of a Monastery just above Sandrup Jongka. This was another great camp setup with fantastic catering for dinner. Prior to dinner we gathered in the courtyard of the monastery around a nice log fire while being entertained with some national songs and dance from a local group. Some of our group joined in with the dancing with all different levels of success.

Yesterday:

We left camp and dropped the last few hundred metres off the mountains of Bhutan to the border town for very quick processing into India. This was all thank to our Bhutanese guides who had done so much of the paperwork for us the previous day by having the passports stamped out of Bhutan and the carnets for getting the cars into India already completed. We just had to find the immigration office for a Indian entry stamp in our passports.

Then it was off into the mayhem of Indian traffic, in comparison to the previous 2 weeks in Bhutan it seemed like a total assault on our senses with the endless amounts of Tuk Tuks, Bikes, Lorries, Cars and Pedestrians to dodge while watching for the uncountable amount of speed bumps that the Indians have found a knack of hiding in the shade of a tree for camouflage ready to catch the unweary motorist. But amongst all this today I used 4^th gear for the first time since entering Bhutan 2 week ago.

Entering Guwahati we travelled along a dual carriageway for about 30ks. This experience isn’t the stress free drive you’d expect it to be. Being a dual carriageway one would assume that all the traffic would be going the same direction; WRONG the local will drive against the flow similar to on an ordinary road instead of going correct way to do a U-turn through the medium strip. So we meet numerous bikes, a couple cars and trucks plus a JCB backhoe heading the wrong direction. So when the truck in front moves to the left lane, don’t thinks he moving over for you to pass and start accelerating, this may have you looking at a truck heading towards you the wrong way. Very much an OMFG moment.

The last of the chaos we encountered was the queue of traffic as we approached the single bridge over the Brahmaputra River into Guwahati. The next crossing upstream or downstream was at least 80ks away so the congestion was about a mile long, stop go traffic in the Indian heat gave heating problems to a couple of cars. We had spare water to share with them both.

Every one arrived at the Radisson Blue hotel, which is absolute luxury for the end of the Thunder Dragon Rally.

Only 2 cars failed to complete the rally, one from axle failure and the other due to passport problems with the passenger.

I did a couple small jobs on Penny ready for stage 2 of our journey as we depart with Ross and Frank for places between here and Bangkok at 0900hrs on the 24^th of November

The rally finished with a wonderful Banquet on the rooftop lawn beside the Pool. We were entertained with some great Indian music and dance while enjoying the first meal that wasn’t a buffet since leaving Kolkata 23 days ago.

After the meal we were all presented with Bhutan dance masks to remind us all of the great time.

The night finished with swapping lots of rally tales and everyone talking about the next time we may all meet on some great adventure.

Julie has uploaded some festival and bad road Video so pop to her Blog http://juliestephenson.net/journal/ to see them.

We left Trongsa on a very crisp clear morning for the 185k drive to Mongar for a rest day and annual festival.

The night before some rain and a cool change had passed through which resulted in crystal clear air. The day started as what has become a normal drive in Bhutan with crossing a couple mountain passed in excess of 3500 metres and lots of big drops off the edge and views everywhere. As we gained altitude Julie and needed to put on more clothing as the temperature drop while driving thought acres of heavy frost all the way from the valley floor at our overnight stop.

Part way to the first pass we looked out to our right and it was the first OMG view for the day. We looked across at part of the Himalayas, which was the highest mountain in Bhutan. The drive continued on over the first pass where some of us hung prayer flags we had been provided that morning.

Descending the other side the prayer flags worked for Frank and Ross as we found them parked on the side of the road with no brake due to a broken line. With a part from David and some brake fluid from Gerry we blocked line to the broken pipe for them to proceed on with three-wheel brakes ready for the mechanics to repair on the rest day.

And hour or so later we topped the final pass for the day, passing the Stupa and looking out to the left it was a OMFG moment. The horizon was full of snow covered Himalayas. The photo will tell the whole story.

We wound our way back and forth across the hills to a lunch stop picnic on the side of the road prepared by the lady that cooks for the King when he visit the region.

After the picnic Mark Wenklemen spent the afternoon with me since he wasn’t able to bring his car and drive for small reason and was doing the rally with a driver in a local car. The afternoon drive descended out of the pine and fur trees in to tropical jungle clinging to the steepest mountainside you can imagine. We past to very great water fall on a road that would be like the death road in Bolivia if it had the volume of traffic. About 100ks of the drive this day was through national park.

As we are moving east in Bhutan the traffic is very sparse as this day we meet all most no one in the morning then a couple dozen in the middle of the trip them almost no car for the afternoon drive.

We arrive in the bustling little hillside town of Mongar after crossing the river at 400 metres elevation then a great short steep mountain road climb through roadworks to 1600 metres elevation ready for the festival.

Those sleeping on the town side of the hotel experienced the festival all night as it carried on till 0630hrs this morning. The entire rally met in the foyer at 0830hrs for help with the national dress we had been give earlier. The Gho that men wear is almost impossible to fit on your own. The half Kira for woman is an art in putting on that take practice. Julie has mastered fitting a half Kira herself as she has worn one everyday since getting to Bhutan but still requires  help from me for fitting a full Kira.

We walked the short distance to the festival in the square at the Monastery. This is a most colourful event of dancing and music. For a more complete coverage of the festival it will be best to read Julies blog at www.juliestephenson.net/journal.

The same cook served lunch to us in the Palace gardens as yesterday.

The afternoon was spent writing this and sorting photos to save spending all night after dinner, before going for a walk around town.