Hitchhiking in India

"I did finally get a ride Sunday. It was a big SUV that stopped. When I got in, I found myself seated..."

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:55:47 +0530

“I did finally get a ride Sunday. It was a big SUV that stopped. When I got in, I found myself seated in a vehicle among three immigrants from India. I was sitting in back with the teenaged son. The father, who was driving, said he had “only stopped because my wife said she was afraid you were one of those people with dementia, who was lost. I was afraid if I didn’t pick you up, I’d be hearing about it from her all day long!””

- Holding a Thumb to the Wind: America, Land of the Fearful, is No Place to Hitch-Hike

Tips for Shoe-Stringing Through India

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:59:17 +0530

The following is a guest post by Gina Williams. Gina Williams is a guest post and article writer bringing to us information on traveling through India on a shoestring budget.

Gina also writes about motorcycle accidents.

Plan, plan, plan!

This is perhaps the most important step of all when traveling on a budget. To buy a plane ticket to India and wing it from there is a mistake. Planning allows you to get as much as possible out of your trip, and to know where you’re going and what to expect when you get there. This is especially imperative if you are traveling to multiple cities within India, which most people do when they travel there from long distances. Ill-planning can lead to your having to search for sleeping and travel accommodations instead of enjoying the very trip you’re on.

You should:

Book all lodging and travel accommodations ahead of time; this ensures that you get quality lodging in safe areas for reasonable prices.
Be aware that India’s bigger cities, like Bangalore, Delhi, and Mumba, will be more expensive for lodging and food; plan accordingly.
Do research so that you can set a daily budget for food, lodging, and overall budget for your trip.
Read other travelers’ experiences; forums and travel blogs are a great way to gain inside information about cultural practices, safety, and so on. For instance, you’re doing the right thing reading this blog. The below chart of expenses by city was found on another blog about traveling through India:

Save Money on Expenses

The typical trip to India will involve 3 expenses that make up the brunt of your budget: travel, lodging, and food. One way to save on all three is to go to India during its off-season, which is from the end of January to the middle of May and the beginning of September to the end of October.

Here are other ways to save money on them.

Save Money – Travel

To save money on traveling from city to city, you should travel by train rather than plane. Opt for 3-tier reservations or, if you are on a really tight budget, Sleeper Bunk reservations. The 3-tier class has air conditioning and is more comfortable than Sleeper Class, which does not feature air conditioning and is much more crowded. Choosing bus travel over taxi travel is also a great way to save money.

Save Money – Lodging

When many people consider lodging while traveling, their first thought goes to a hotel. But not us shoe-stringers; when we travel, our first thought, is, “how can I not spend too much for a room I might at most spend 8 hours a day in, sleeping?” When I traveled through India, I used Hostels.com to find and book my hostels. There are, however, many different websites that offer hostel booking; here are a few more:

Save Money – Food Expenses

Saving money on food in India is not difficult as long as you are conscious when you choose your restaurants; eating at local restaurants is usually cheap, at least until you get into some of the bigger, more expensive cities. An interesting option is thalis, which are reasonably priced all-you-can-eat meals at local restaurants.

Tips:

When looking for a place to eat, ask other travelers you see where they’ve eaten and if the prices are reasonable.
Eat at local street food stands. These are usually inexpensive and will give you a taste of the local cuisine. Be sure, however, to eat at places that won’t make you sick; only eat food from these stands if it looks fresh and clean.
Avoid tourist restaurants; they’re overpriced and usually not that good.
Dine at sit-down restaurants once per day, preferably at lunch, when food prices are cheaper.
To avoid getting sick (and incurring medical costs): Eat meat only at restaurants that are nice and Do not eat in empty restaurants.

Life On The Highway

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 13:02:22 +0530

The following is a guest post by Goutam Doulani about his hitchhiking trip from Banglore to Ajmer. You can reach him at gautamoncloud9[at]gmail[dot]com.

It all started 5 years back with the Motorcycle Diaries. That was the day I
first fantasized about going on a trip of my own. Things got busy and I
didn’t think much about it till I heard of Christopher McCandless. Holidays
were coming up and I really didn’t want to go home.

The plan was that there was no plan. All I was going to do was to stick on
the National highways asking people for rides till I made it to Amritsar and
then I don’t know. I basically wanted to get lost. Told a couple of very
close friends about it and they were encouraging. All I had to do next was
tell my parents that my exams had been postponed.

5th of July, that was the day I caught a bus from Bangalore to Goa from
where I was to start my trip. The very first day I realized what a mistake I
had a made, it kept raining for two days. The next afternoon I found the
NH17 and I started my journey. To be honest it was easy getting rides in the
beginning but as I got further away from the city it got tougher and
tougher. The next two days all I was doing was eating vada pavs, asking
every passing vehicle for rides and sleeping in cheap lodges. The rain got
the better of me and I never made it to Mumbai, I took a bus to Surat.

Gujarat turned out to be lucky for me. I got two long rides and by noon I
was in Ahmedabad. Fell in love with the Sabramati Ashram, that place is
blyss. Accommodation was expensive in Ahmedabad so I decided to travel by
bus in the night to Udaipur. By the time I boarded the bus I was drenched in
rain and had to travel that way(shivering all night). Next day was even
worse, I overslept and landed up 60 kms away from Udaipur in Nathdwara.

Rajasthan was cruel. I hadn’t slept on a bed or brushed or bathed for the
last 3 days and I had been walking for hours with nothing but barren land on
both sides. That was when I realised I couldn’t go further. People there
expect money for rides. The fun was lost. I finally paid a truck driver to
take me to Ajmer. The journey was over.

This is what happened everytime a vehicle stopped.
“Where?”
“As long as you are on the highway”
This way I managed to meet some amazing people on the way. They admired what
I was doing which inspired me to move on. It was fun chit chatting with
them. These truck drivers do have a tough life.

If you are travelling alone make sure you don’t panic. I don’t remember how
many times during the trip all I wanted to do was go home. You have to get
over those phases. When you have been walking for hours asking for rides and
finally someone stops you will want to kiss that person. There will be times
during the trip when you will be like “This is exactly what I wanted”.

May be 1 in every 30 vehicle will stop. You need to have patience. Someday I
would love to do everything all over again obviously with no plans.

You only got a 100 years to live so if You have ever wanted to something big
and different then what the hell are you waiting for?

Thing that is Constant - The Change

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:40:00 +0530

Going by the Omnipresent adage “The Thing that’s always Constant is The Change” this blog is also undergoing a complete Metamorphosis in coming weeks.

We started this blog as a Travelogue for our Maiden Hitchhiking trip to the North East India on a shoestring budget of Rs.150 per day.The trip was a great success though we couldn’t cover all the places we initially planned to.

Now that the trip is over, What’s Next?

We plan to Transform hitchhikingindia.com into something which is more than just a travelogue. A place intended ‘for Travelers by Travelers’ bringing content for avid and novice travelers alike. We are still in the process of charting out future Road map. We hope to get some innovative and creative stuff on board.

The plan is to get up and running by September 2010 if everything goes according to plan.

We’d like to thank all our readers for supporting us and following us through our crazy trip.

Do tell us if you have any suggestions as to what kind of avatar you would like to see us in and if you are crazy travelers like us and want to be part of the project, then do send me a mail at indersen[at]gmail[dot]com and we can meet over coffee or chat over internet.

-Adios,

Inder

Talk about our trip at Lamakaan

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 09:33:00 +0530

We were at Lamakaan yesterday speaking to members of the GHAC about our trip. The first part (took more time than I had expected) was showing them pictures from the trip and then told the entire story of the journey. These pictures are already on our website and at the Hitchhikingindia fan page.

While on our trip, we asked some of the people we met what they would do with Rs. 150, here’s a small video we had made out of the responses which we showed yesterday.

The last part was where I talked about the 10 things we learned on this trip. Here’s the presentation. Unfortunately, I completely forgot switching on the audio recorder or I would have posted that as well here.

10 Things we learned on our Hitchhiking trip

Thanks to all who came and relived our trip in those two hours :).

The end of an adventure

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:19:00 +0530

Over a period of one month, we explored the North East of India. A region usually considered remote and often times, dangerous. Tourism has picked up only recently here, after a long period of insurgency and political turmoil. That may be a blessing in disguise however, as most places are untouched by touristy commercialism.

Our trip was not just about visiting the touristy destinations; our plan was to do the trip on a very tight budget. Our target was to spend no more than Rs. 150 per day – a ridiculously low amount in these days. If we had to achieve this target, we would have to get ingenious – we would have to hitch rides and get the cheapest possible accommodation and food. Hitching rides is something our few friends in the north east had not heard of while they were there. Also, with things the way these days are, it is considered extremely unsafe to pick up a stranger along the road. We had no idea where we would stay or what we would eat though. It was a challenge unlike any other.

In the one month we were traveling in the north east, we have lived in homes big and small; ridden trucks, buses and every other kind of surface transport; eaten simple and rich food; faced danger at times and were treated royally at other times. We never knew what the next day would bring but we learned to adapt quickly and coped with surprises.

Our trip may have been about adventure travel, but we ended up discovering the abundance of human generosity and making friends where we hardly had any. The people in the North East are beautiful not just in appearance but they are equally beautiful inside. We have been welcomed into homes very warmly and have been helped by complete strangers many a time. We had never imagined in our wildest dreams that we would not be paying for accommodation for 26 of the 31 days we were in the North East.

What has also helped us is the support we had from the hundreds of folks following our travels from across the world. They have encouraged us, given us advice and tips and motivated us to do more.

Our final expense figure of Rs. 221 per day may have been higher than what we had our target expense and we may not have hitchhiked all the way as we aimed to but we achieved much more – exposing the better side of the North East to the world and proving that budget (shoestring in fact) travel in India is possible. And that is what made our trip successful.

Do leave your comments and let us know what you thought of our journey or if you have any ideas/brickbats/suggestions/etc.

Update: If you are on Indiblogger, do vote for us in this travel related contest - http://www.indiblogger.in/indipost.php?post=21967

Gear we used in our trip

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 10:00:00 +0530

In case you ever wondered how we brought you the pictures and the articles we did, while we were traveling, here’s a list of the important equipment we carried.

Backpacks - Wildcraft Alpinist

We have put these 55l backpacks on trucks, buses, trains and don’t remember what else. The backpacks have been very resilient all through the rough use. The padding on the back and the shoulder is good too. Have since used it on a 50km trek and didn’t disappoint at all.

Computer - Lenovo Ideapad S10-3

Our requirement of a tiny computer in order to keep you all updated as we traveled was only going to be satisfied by a netbook. After a little research, we bought the Lenovo because of the wide service network. Performance has been good - of course we had to load Windows XP instead of the default Windows 7 starter pack which is completely useless.

Internet - Tata Photon+

We were warned while buying the connection that the internet speed won’t be of Photon+ but only of Photon (slower than Photon+) in the NE cities, but it has been enough for our purposes. Internet has worked in most places - wherever Tata Indicom mobile connection works and it has been ok. Will have to compare internet speed in Hyderabad though.

Cameras

Canon EOS 450d

As with other DSLRs, the main advantage is you can take great pictures in very varied conditions, however the camera is bulky and needs special lenses to unleash its full potential.

Panasonic DMC TZ1

This is a very old model, at one time was the smallest camera with a 10x optical zoom. The biggest advantage is that you can carry it your pant pocket and leave your hands free.

Tent - Quecha T2

This was a 2 person tent which we were able to pitch in Tawang, but could not actually sleep in it. We were able to pitch it in about 15mins - it is quite straightforward even for newbies like us. The weight (3.4kg) was on the higher side though.

Sleeping bag

We got a Himalaya sleeping bag with us which we only got to use once - in Bomdila. Mostly we got got accommodation where we had bedding too, but it must have made a good impression on our hosts when we looked prepared for any situation!

GPS - Garmin Etrex Vista H

We haven’t uploaded any of the tracks we have recorded yet, but they will be coming soon. Duracell batteries worked for 18hr approximately. The sensitivity was also good - works even inside cars/buses (if you are near the window). The UI is a little bad though.

Audio Recorder - Zoom H2 Recorder

We never got a chance to use the recorder (to record local music) because of several reasons so can’t comment on its performance.

Flashlight - Mini Maglite (2cell AA)Never underestimate the need for a good flashlight - we realized that early on when we had to walk 2km in pitch darkness near Siliguri. This flashlight throws pretty powerful beam for its size. Good things do come in small packages.

Multifunctional Headgear

This was one of the more useful gear we carried - especially in the cold climes of Arunachal. We could use it like a muffler around the neck or cover our ears and nose and other stuff too.

Disclosure -

The headgear, flashlight, tent and sleeping bag were sponsored by OntheRocks.

The netbook and GPS were sponsored by Makemytrip.com.

The backpacks were sponsored by Wildcraft.

The internet connection was paid for by upto75.com.

We bought the audio recorder ourselves :).

Guwahati - Once burned, twice lucky

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:21:50 +0530

The capital city of gateway to the North East (Assam), Guwahati is a bustling cosmopolitan city. We were in Guwahati thrice – first time when we got there from Silchar, second time when we were on our way to Arunachal and the last time at the end of our trip. Our experiences there have been different each time and they only got better each time. The first time, we had to spend a fortune (relative to our budget) and book a hotel room as our host had to leave town on some urgent business. The second time, we got an amazing host and were treated royally. The third time, we became good friends with someone who we had only known online earlier.

Our first visit to Guwahati was quite chaotic. We got there after multiple tedious bus/taxi rides from the Assam border via a supposedly disturbed area (Bodoland) and it was already dark by the time we reached. We were not only tired, but hungry too. To add to this, our host had left town on some urgent business. Now we were hungry, tired and without a place to stay. After a few frantic phone calls, it was clear we were not getting any other hosts for that night. So we got to the hotel our ex-host booked for us and crashed. The hotel room was totally out of our budget, but we had no other option at that time. The next morning, we were clear that we had to leave the hotel room but had no plan of where we were to go next. When we got to know that there may be a bandh the next day, we decided to get to Shillong (which resulted in one of our most interesting rides).

The second time we got to Guwahati, we had a little more experience traveling and so had a plan, accommodation set and a backup plan too. Plans have a funny way of not working out though. We wanted to leave Guwahati as soon as we got our permits for Arunachal Pradesh (we had accounted for one day), but things got mixed up and we had to actually stay there longer. Our hosts were ever so gracious and didn’t mind our sudden change in plans though. Talk about coincidence though - remember the beautiful paintings painted by school kids on the walls of the stadium compound? Our host was the principal of that school! We got to hang out with our host’s son and his friends for a bit too. The interesting part was that our host was a great traveler and motorbiker - his most recent ride was to the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. We later met his nephew who had done a solo motorcycle ride from Pune to Pondicherry!

While we were in Guwahati and not running around the Arunachal office, we visited the Kamakhya temple. The temple sits atop a hill and is one of the 51 Shaktipeethas. We were lucky to have an informative gentleman standing next to us while waiting to get a darshan of the deity. He explained to us the importance and the history of the temple and why there is no statue of the deity in this temple - which would have flummoxed us if we hadn’t heard the story first. The big surprise for me (Ajay) was when I saw animal heads inside the main temple! I got to know later that animal sacrifice is common in temples built for Kali mata. A little distance before the temple, you can great views of the city.

One of the sacrificial altars at the temple

Views of the city from the viewpoint near the temple

The third time we were in Guwahati, we stayed with another traveler friend - Subhadeep. He had already helped us with tips and advice for traveling in the NE. He is a motorbiker too and a travel freak. He had earlier driven to Tawang on his bike! Not just that, he had driven there in the winter when there was snow and ice on the roads. We were just back from Arunachal and now knew what a task it must have been! It is not easy to drive there even in a 4X4, let alone a bike. Our stay this time was marked by heavy rains, waterlogged streets, warm hospitality and a celebratory dinner to end our trip.

With Subhadeep - our celebratory dinner.

Tawang

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:41:09 +0530

We had earlier been told that the tourist lodge in Tawang was booked full and we could only get a room if there were any cancellations. Still, we decided to test our luck and walked up to the lodge, a short distance up old bazaar. Luckily for us, we did get a room! The caretaker was apprehensive and was telling us that the rooms were not that great, little did she know about where we had lived in the past one month. The room had two beds, razais and a geyser in the bathroom – this was luxury! As we had arrived in the afternoon and the sun was still out, we quickly got out to explore the place and also to have our lunch. We were surprised that most of the shops in the market were closed. On asking a shopkeeper, we got to know that Monday is the closing day for the market here. When told that we wanted to have lunch, he came with us and showed a nearby restaurant. This was one thing we saw happening again and again in Arunachal – the locals go out of the way to help you. We enquired a little bit on what we could do in Arunachal and roamed the markets a little bit. As in other towns of the North East, the people retire early and so did we.

When we landed in Tawang, we were really happy to see the sun shining bright. It still was a little cold, but the bright sun lifted our spirits. When we woke up the next day however, the whole mountain was covered in a heavy cloud. However, we braved on to our first stop – the Tawang Gompa. Tawang is the birth place of the 6^th Dalai Lama – the religious leader of the Buddhists and Tawang was also the place where the 14^th Dalai Lama crossed over to India more than 50 years ago. It is apt that it has the biggest monastery in the world. The Gompa is a huge complex – schools, a museum, prayer halls, center for religious and cultural studies are all located inside the monastery complex. We were lucky to witness a small procession of the Lamas as we entered the gates of the monastery.

The clouds which had come down upon Tawang had not yet cleared and we were left wanting with a view of the Ani Gompas. Background – Buddhist monks are generally male and they do not marry. It is a practice among Buddhist families to give one male child to the monastery at a young age and are educated in the religious texts at the monastery itself. However, there are female monks too, called Anis. They become nuns voluntarily. There are three Ani Gompas in Tawang and it our plan was to hike along the hills to them from the main Gompa. We had been tipped of this trek by Phejin – our friend in Nagaland, who had done in a couple of weeks earlier with some tourists. We asked for directions and were pointed to a narrow dirttrack going down the hill near the main Gompa. We had made a new friend at the Gompa – a student from N.I.T Silchar who had completed his engineering course and was roaming before joining his job. Off we went along the trail – it was quite slippery at some places and our running shoes weren’t a lot of help. We were worried about leaches and were doubly careful while walking. On the way, we found a roaring waterfall which was just as beautiful as Phejin had described on the phone!

After a longish photo session there, we started climbing uphill to the meadows we had seen earlier on the way to the main monastery. A meadow on the top of a hill with cows grazing peacefully – an idyllic scenery. We went exploring to the peaks at the edge of the hill and then set about pitching our tents! The location was picture perfect for a night of camping.

However, our joy was short-lived as a few locals there warned us against camping as the seemingly peaceful cows were only half domesticated and by 4pm the whole meadow would be full of them. With a heavy heart, we packed our tents and went on our way to the Ani Gompa.

We had earlier seen a diversion in the trail to the meadow and had guessed that this was the way to the Ani Gompa. We backtracked to this point and took the diversion – big mistake. After we went on for a short while, we found that the trail divided again. This kept happening and we kept going on till the time we were quite lost. Now, we were on the same hill as the Gompa and we could see it too, but going further was getting harder and harder because of the thick brush. It was already late afternoon and would get dark soon too. We decided we would push it through the brush anyhow and kept going. Those couple of hours were quite enervating – there was no proper trail and we were climbing at a very high altitude. We did finally get to the Ani Gompa however – with some clothes torn and a few scratches. The Anis at the Gompa had some kind of a prayer going on and we were hanging around outside, reluctant to go inside and disturb them. Seeing us, some of the younger Anis called us to their kitchen to have some tea. They told us that the prayers would go on until evening anyway. So we had some of the famous butter (made from Yak’s milk) tea and made told them about what we were doing there. Contrary to the reports we had read earlier about the Butter Tea, the one we had was not smelly. It was a little bland though.

In the Ani Gompa kitchen

The Ani Gompa we went to

The Gompa we missed because of the all encompassing mist

We enquired and found that there was the road to Tawang was further up the hill. The distance was nearly 12km and it would not be possible to get any rides without booking a cab beforehand. After the tiring trek, this was not such great news. However, we braved on and got to the road. We saw an empty van parked there and that raised our spirits –maybe we could hitch a ride. We looked for the driver who we suspected we had passed on the way up from the Ani Gompa, but to no avail. We had no other option but to start walking and hope to get to the town before it got too cold. We got talking to a couple of locals on a motorcycle and they told us that there was another Ani Gompa on the way to Tawang. As we kept going, the clouds came down upon us again; we missed the road to the second Ani Gompa entirely! We walked a few km, asked rides from Army jeeps but got turned down but finally got a cab going to Tawang. A tame ending to an otherwise exciting day.

Journey to Tawang

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 12:41:51 +0530

After our hair-raising Sumo taxi ride to Bomdila, we were more careful this time and booked our tickets early to Tawang. This time we asked for the front row seats and got them too – that meant we could get better views of the drive. After traveling in the last row of almost every vehicle we had boarded (excluding trucks where the first and last row are the same), this was a welcome change. Imagine our surprise when we saw that our driver drove ever so gently on the winding roads. Added to that we had music playing too in his vehicle! This journey was going to be a lot of fun – or so we thought. Right after we got out of the town, he boarded more passengers – now we had a lady sitting with us in the front row, 3 passengers and the driver in total. It gets really tough when the driver had to change gears and you have to move and on these roads, changing gears is required almost every half kilometer. Result – you cannot sleep. And, sleep is the best medicine for enduring long uncomfortable rides in our experience. The journey to Tawang is very scenic and is mentioned in numerous articles. The big draw that Tawang holds over Indian tourists is that it snows there in the winter. With most Indians never seeing snow because of the temperate or sub-tropical climates, seeing snow and experiencing snowfall is high on the list of any must-do items of an Indian. (However, we had seen enough snow in Chicago and Sweden earlier and were hoping there wasn’t any. We were planning to pitch our tents to save on hotel costs – we had enquired at the tourist lodge and they were booked full. Having snow would mean we would not be able to camp either.). At this time of the year though, there was only a slight chance of us encountering snow.

Bad roads on the way to Tawang

One big reason for the drive being scenic is that the road goes beside the river Kamang for the most part. Although we could only see the dry river bed most times, the effect of a river at the foothills of misty mountains is ethereal. We also saw some yaks on the way, but we couldn’t click any pictures of them as they were always in a military area. There is heavy presence of the army in Arunachal Pradesh because China considers it to be a part of their country – One China policy (sic). We requested our driver to stop for a little while at Sela Pass – the highest pass (13700ft) on the Tawang road. Sela pass can only be described in pictures.

Once we crossed Sela Pass, it was easy going and we got to Tawang by afternoon.

Postcards from Tawang

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 10:00:00 +0530

Sela top/pass

The lake at Sela Pass (on the way to Tawang)

The Tawang Monastery in the distance

The main Buddha idol at the Tawang Monastery

A procession of the monks in the Tawang Gompa

The Buddha in various Mudras

The Monyul Autonomous Region office in Tawang

Bomdila - Surprises, Gompas and New Friends

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 22:10:00 +0530

We got what we least expected after a great night’s sleep in Bomdila – stress. After we got ready to go exploring the little town, we were told by the caretaker of the guest house that we would have to vacate the room by 12PM! We were so happy to get a room after our arduous journey the previous day that we had assumed that the rooms were reserved for whoever was in them. Alas, that was not the case – we should have informed the caretaker that we would stay on for another night. Now we were without shelter and we were losing time trying to get one for the night instead of roaming around. We started our search for accommodation by first visiting the government circuit house – government lodging is usually the cheapest available in any tourist spot. Tough luck there – the old circuit house was closed and a new one was being built – strike one for us. Next, we went to some of the lodges whose signboards we had seen earlier. The prices we were asked were Rs. 1200 and above! We should be spending that amount over 4 days to be within budget – strike two. Now we were quite concerned, we enquired when we could get the earliest transport for Tawang – our next stop. The private taxis all start early in the morning and we did not have any at that time of the day. We thought of the options we had – request the caretaker to let us pitch our tent in the lawns of the tourist lodge, request the superintendent of police in Bomdila in the nice lawn in front of his office. The only problem was, it was a Sunday and the authorities would all be hard to reach. Anyway, we packed our backpacks and were mulling over our predicament in the lobby of the tourist lodge when Riyazul – our co passenger in the previous day’s journey came in announcing that he had found a place for his employees and rented it. Background – Riyaz is looking to set up his scrap business in Bomdila in the next few weeks and needed a house to rent so that his employees could stay here. Since he had already rented the place, we requested him if we could stay there for one night and he readily agreed – home run!

We went along with Riyaz and his local friend, interestingly named Bhai (brother) to the newly rented place. Here we met up with Bhai’s friends who stayed in the neighborhood – they were all college kids studying in Itanagar (Capital of Arunachal Pradesh) and working in Bomdila in their summer break. We dumped our backpacks there and went to the ticket counter to book our tickets to Tawang for the next morning. Now that we were set for our next journey, we had the afternoon to explore and visit the Gompas (Buddhist monasteries). Bhai and co offered to take us to the nearest Gompa and walked with us. Our first stop was the oldest Gompa in Bomdila, the sanctum sanctorum of which was closed because it was lunch time for the monk there. This Gompa was just a short climb from the main bazaar, but we were already huffing and puffing – feeling the effects of the altitude (around 8000ft).

Our new friends - Bhai and Co.

The oldest Gompa in Bomdila

Our new friends warned us that to reach the upper Gompa, we would have a climb up stairs ahead was harder than what we had seen already. However, there was a road too which was less steep but a little longer and we took that instead. This time we were a little luckier – we were able to go inside the Gompa (the first time for both of us!). We were not allowed to take pictures inside though.

The Upper Gompa

Spinning prayer wheels at the Upper Gompa

A kid spinning a giant prayer wheel at the Upper Gompa

Our friends next suggested we walk up to the Tower – a defense radio communications tower up the hill; this place is also called Bomdila Top. Since some of Bhai’s friends also hadn’t been there before, we set off in that direction eagerly. Rahul, one of Bhai’s friends in our party was saying that it was unfortunate that it was so foggy that day and we were not getting good views of the town. However, the mist and fog did clear up a little later and we got some picture postcard type views.

Now, the walk up the hill was pretty hard for us – a total ascent of nearly 1000ft over a distance of 5km. But it was totally worth it! Mithun (domesticated Gaur) grazing on the hillocks, swirling mists, views of remote Gompas on a nearby hill and New Bomdila town in the distance. Of course, we could not go check the radio tower itself, but we got pretty close to it. After resting for a little while, we headed back. There is a good road up to the hill and we had taken that while climbing, but while climbing down we were going to take ‘shortcuts’ – narrow trails used by the cowherds. Initially, we were walking but soon that turned into a run! Imagine running downhill on wet, slippery trails about 10 inches wide – exhilarating and scary at the same time! Thankfully, neither of us twisted our ankles or anything like that. But we did get caught in a torrential downpour. Luckily again, we were able to take temporary shelter at the water treatment plant being built on the way. Once the rain abated, we continued back to town and had our lunchinner J. We then visited the Lower Gompa which was at the end of the Bazaar Lane before the swirling mists closed in.

The Lower Gompa

We finally got to use our sleeping bags and rest for the night before waking up early for our journey to our most anticipated destination – Tawang!

Pictures from Bomdila

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 08:46:52 +0530

Winding roads in Bomdila

The same road, the next morning.

A remote Gompa (Monastery).

The lower gompa

Bomdila - a bird’s eye view

The Upper Gompa

So long and thanks for all the fish

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 20:00:52 +0530

After exactly one month of starting, our hitchhiking trip comes to an official end today. Official end for #150aday, not our travels. We will be traveling separately for some time before going back to Hyderabad, albeit without the restrictions we had placed as part of #150aday. Our blog posts will continue for some time too.

In case anyone is planning a backpacking or hitchhiking trip in India, let us know and we will try to help in whatever way we can.

This trip would not have been possible without the help of friends we made. The following list may not be comprehensive, but is an attempt to thank all those who helped us -

Silchar

Mr. Suvashish Paul
Mr. Suman Dey

Guwahati

Mr. Changakakoti
Mr. Mirza (Gypsyfeet)
Mr. Neilo

Nagaland

Ms. Phejin Konyak

Shillong-

Mr. Paramvir Singh
Mr. Subrojyoti
Mr. Sanjeeb
Mr. Arindam Sarma

Agartala

Pastor Aharun

Mizoram

Mr. Kima (Mumbai)
Ms. Mazami
Ms. Ruth
Mr. Ngaihtea

Guwahati

Mr. Krish Chanda
Mr. Reetam Chanda
Mr. Altaf Mazid

Bomdila

Mr. Riyazul (an enterprising entrepreneur from Tezpur)
Himalaya (aka Bhai), Anil, Tapas, Rahul

We have been helped by many a truck drivers in many different ways, we do not however know all their names - a big thanks to the truck driver community.

Of course, we would not have been able to even start our journey without help from our sponsors and endorsers.

So the big question - what were our final average expenses per day? Here is the final average amount per day per person (including food, travel, accommodation and miscellaneous items like permits, etc) -

Rs. 221.64

Which makes our daily average Rs. 443.2813. 50% Above our target expense, but still not an easy task.

Here’s a breakup of category wise expenses.

P.S - Unlike the dolphins in the novel whose title this post borrows, we are not saying goodbye forever.

Ajay and Inder

Journey to Bomdila – a Nightmare

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 13:39:15 +0530

Our journey to Arunachal was the most difficult to handle. We had no help there in terms of accommodation and as expected, it is the one costliest tourist circuits. Our journey was along the Balukpong – Bomdila – Tawang circuit. As known, all the domestic tourists have to take an Inner Line Permit – ILP – to enter the state of Arunachal Pradesh. There are five government approved tourist circuits and one can get a permit for one circuit in a single permit. Unfortunately we had to stay in Guwahati for 3 days to get ILP, thanks to the holidays and small working hours of the office, but that’s a different story altogether.

There are no direct buses from Guwahati to Tawang, we should get a bus to Tezpur in North Assam and then to Tawang. We got into the bus heading towards Tezpur early in the morning at 5:30 thanks our host in Guwahati who took the trouble of dropping us at the bus stand. The journey to Tezpur was a bland one, as we had just 3 hours of sleep the other night, we did nothing but sleep in the bus. Reached Tezpur at around 11:00 AM and we realized that we missed the bus to Tawang and the next one was only on the next day. The only alternative we had is to go to Bomdila. Doing this we could also solve one more problem – Acclimatizing with the high altitudes. Ajay already had an attack of High Altitude Sickness when he was in the US and I didn’t want to take the risk after he told how it feels.

We got into a Tata Sumo headed towards Bomdila. As usual, we got seats in the last row. We were warned that some road stretches are not in a good way and being extended to 2 lane roads. The journey again proved us that the local knowledge is so important for a traveler. We stopped at the Assam – Arunachal border for lunch and the Sumo took us to a particular hotel. A local boy traveling with us told us not to go there and took us to another hotel nearby. Later we got to know from other travelers that the food was inedible and they haven’t eaten a bit of it. The part of the journey after the lunch on the ghats of Balukpong can be identified with words like vomit, nausea cramps. All the travelers, the local boy beside me, the lady in front of me and another business man on the left were busy puking out all through next couple of hours. The driver drove so recklessly that we had to place our hands on the roof of the Sumo so that our head don’t strike against it though it was only after couple of hits on the head.

We called up the Tourist Lodge at Bomdila and reserved a room for us.

One thing we didn’t realize amidst all the puking and the nausea is that of the weather. We were dripping sweat when we started in Tezpur and by the time we reached Bomdila, we realized that we were shivering.

The first impression that we got of Arunachal is that the people are very friendly. They went out of their way to help when we asked for directions. Also, every one was speaking Hindi which made our work very easy. The Tourist Lodge receptionist received us and showed us our room informing us that there is water problem and we have to use it carefully. One great thing about the Tourist lodges is that they have their own restaurants and that reduces a lot of burden. We had hot rotis for dinner and man!! they were so delicious. The best part about food in this part of the country is that whatever you eat – Rice or Rotis – they are unlimited with no catches.

After what we can call the most dangerous journey of our trip, we slipped under the razais and slept like lumber.

Journey from Aizawl to Guwahati - Trucks and Trains!

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 09:52:49 +0530

Our stay in Mizoram had been amazing thanks to the ever hospitable Mizos. Alas, all good things must come to an end and we travelers had to move on to our next destination. After getting rejuvenated in Mizoram, we thought we should go to Arunachal – the most touristy of the north-eastern states. We were ready for the arduous journey ahead – nearly 800km – going down from the hills (Mizoram) to the plains (Guwahati) and climbing up treacherous roads in the hills (to Bomdila and Tawang) again.

This time we were determined to get back into the truck circuit and push our average expenses even lower. Also, we were really bored riding in public transport vehicles. This meant a full evening researching the best way to hitch a truck ride and also alternatives in case we couldn’t. The next morning we got out of the city and stuck up our thumbs, again. We were on the road by about 7am and were a little apprehensive because usually trucks leave at the break of dawn. There were very few trucks coming along our way and that did not help soothe our apprehensions at all. Also, some of the truck drivers were pointing ahead and that caused us some confusion – we thought they would stop a little distance ahead and catch up – but they just kept going without stopping. One driver who did stop then told us the reason – there was a truck depot some more distance ahead and most trucks were going there to stop. We debated whether we should go there too, but going there and not getting a ride would mean we would have to take an expensive taxi back to the city and then take a Sumo (public transport). We finally decided that we would stay put and wait for some more time before calling it quits. That decision proved wise as we got our ride just a little while after!

Waiting for a ride

However, there was a catch – this was not going to be a free ride - the driver was charging us some money. We negotiated a little bit and got in and on with our journey. The truck had carried groceries from Silchar the previous night and was heading back to get the next load to Mizoram. They were regulars to Mizoram and knew the local language very well too. Our plan was to take the train from Silchar to Lumding and then another one to Guwahati the next morning. If we could get another truck from Silchar, we would prefer to take that instead. As this truck had already unloaded, we thought the ride would be faster than the one to Aizawl (which had taken nearly 7hrs including breaks). This was not to be, we went about 20km and then the driver was told to go back half the way to get a signature on the delivery receipt! And then, our driver had to take a snack break too. We got talking to the driver at the hotel and he suggested we take the train rather than go by road from Silchar to Guwahati as the road was a little dangerous and there was no telling how much time it would take at the checkpoints. We noted that and decided to take the train – but that meant we had to get to Silchar by 5.30pm or we would miss the train which would leave at 6.30pm – and our pace had not been great till then. We still had hope of making it in time though.

On the way, our driver picked up more passengers like us – now this was another first for us. We had not encountered a driver who charged for rides and picked up so many passengers too. Drivers in these parts are very wary of any passengers at all! We picked up some passengers of the plant variety too on this ride. On the way, our truck stopped in the middle of nowhere and everybody got down. We were wondering what they were up to and then saw the navigator climb up a tree and jackfruits dropping from it! Then we understood – they were taking unripe jackfruits from the jungle home to make some curry. But when the number of jackfruits they cut got more – nearly a dozen – we surmised that they planned to sell them instead. This whole exercise took nearly a half hour and we had all but lost hope of making it in time for our train. We prepared ourselves mentally to spend another night at Silchar railway station (we had spent one on our way to Aizawl earlier).

Our journey after here included stops at various towns and our driver’s attempts to sell the jackfruits, all unsuccessful. Once we were out of the hills, we picked up pace though and got hopeful about our train again. All our co-passengers, except one got off the truck at various places before Silchar. The one who had stayed back was a transporter himself and had overslept and gone further into Mizoram instead of getting off at the border as he intended to, the previous night. He gave us a few insights about the trade on this route and other topics. I mention this person because our talk with him had dispelled our driver and navigator’s doubt that we were drug runners! Have we mentioned that there is a huge drug problem in Mizoram? Apparently, young folks cross over from Myanmar, strike deals with the locals and then hitch rides back. The drugs are then brought over in private vehicles. Most of the crime (whatever little) in Mizoram is attributed to drugs – either the addicts or the Myanmarese people who come across the border. A friend had earlier remarked that nothing good comes into Mizoram from the east except the sun.

Once we got rid of our ‘drug runner’ tag, the driver and cleaner got a little friendlier. We did reach Silchar with enough time to rush to the railway station. We clicked a picture of our driver and talked a little more before getting down. He got so happy that he gave us a Rs. 50 discount on the price we had negotiated for the ride at the start – even got the navigator to stop a taxi for us to take us to the taxi stand near the railway station.

We rushed to the railway station, bought tickets to Guwahati and grabbed some food too. Since the train was starting from Silchar and we were traveling in the unreserved compartment, we had another problem now. The seats were all taken up already – many by jawans (soldiers) of the armed forces going home on vacation. We only wanted place to sit, but most people were not ready to part with any space as they wanted to sleep instead. We just put our bags in the walkway and got on with the dinner we had picked from the platform. After the train started, one of the soldiers invited us to their cabin and gave us place to sit. They were even ready to adjust so that we could take turns sleeping in the limited space available. We spent that night trying to get some sleep, although that wasn’t very easy.

Our train in Lumding was an hour after we got down from our train from Silchar. Enough time to wash up on the platform and get some breakfast, again on the train platform. If our train ride the previous night was hard, our next ride was harder. As the train was coming from another city before Lumding and going to Delhi, it was completely packed. Added to that was that this was an early morning train and there were many passengers to Guwahati, where we were headed too. We were told it was only 3hrs to Guwahati, and we believed it too. We put up our huge backpacks alongside us in the walkway and got busy – doing nothing but standing still. The ride actually took us nearly 5hrs.

Sitting on the floor in the train

It is very easy to tell when you are in Assam – there are lush green paddy fields all around, if not farms there are ponds, and the air is all sticky. Maybe it was just the season we were traveling in, but it is not easy when you standing in a train compartment packed so tight that there is no place to move your foot and you are sweating like a pig. The only comfort is that you are in a moving train and there is a little air flowing in. We managed to get through it in our ways – Inder found a place to sit at the door for some time and I just sat down in the corridor and made myself comfortable (not very comfortable for the people around me, but nobody complained!). Tough times come to an end too and we finally reached Guwahati in good if smelly condition. We were picked up from the railway station by our host’s driver and taken to his home – in an air conditioned car – what a change in fortunes, eh!

Postcards from Mizoram

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 12:58:27 +0530

The stunning Night view of the Aizawl city

The serene Tamdil Lake

The Jaw dropping view of Aizawl city

The omnipresent hills

Back to School in Mizoram

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 20:13:59 +0530

It was back to school for us hitchhikers literally. We were invited to interact with the students of Govt. Higher Secondary School – the largest school of Mizoram. When we were produced with this opportunity, we grabbed with both hands as this would gives a great chance to learn what the next generation Mizos aspire to be in their life. Considering our background of quitting our jobs and being jobless, we were apprehensive initially as we could be the worst examples the kids can have. Nevertheless, we went ahead.

When we entered the school amidst all the regular school noise, it was deja-vu for us. For once we felt we went back in time and entering our own school. What do you do when you go to a new school? Yeah, go meet the Principal. For the couple of minutes I waited in his room to speak to him, I felt the same fear that I had when I used to meet my School Principal. After the incident even Ajay confessed the same feeling. But, the experience from the meeting the Principal is the best we could get. He was so supportive in what we are doing and when he said that he was envious of what we are doing, we were over the clouds. When we told him that we are heading to Arunachal Pradesh next, he became nostalgic and shared with us that he studied there and he still has friends near Itanagar. What’s more, he gave 1000 Rupees as pocket money to us.

After this, we went to the next powerhouse of a school – the staffroom. When the teachers learnt what we are up to, they were puzzled and curious at the same time. They had so many questions and we loved to answer them. When they learned that we are not supposed to spend more than 150 rupees a day per person, they insisted that they would treat us the lunch and we had a great lunch with all the staff of the school.

Next was the Main part. We were 3 classes back to back. Two 11^th classes and one 12^th Class. The first class was a 11^th class having an English class. We were forewarned that the students would be shy and we have to make an effort to start a conversation with them. But, they were good, after initial ice breaking where I asked how could they manage such stylish hair styles and asked one to tell the name of the shop where he gets one, the laughter did the trick. We asked what they wanted to become after they grow up. We got some unusual answers – like Teachers, Civil Servants and Fashion Designers. Considering they were students from 11^th Standard, the career choices came as a pleasant surprise to us.

Next was an all girls class and I was a bit scared to get in and be the center of all girls attention. The reason for no boys is that it was a Home Science Class and the boys feel shy to sign up for it. Here we got some return questions such as how did we find Mizoram. We also gave them what we think they should do after in their Career decisions.

Surprisingly, the 12^th standard students were shyer than the 11^th standard ones. After the classes it was time for a photo session and we got a chance to get a picture with the cute girls J

YMA

Sat, 29 May 2010 10:01:47 +0530

In Aizawl, we were hosted by YMA – Young Mizo Association – an NGO. To say that we were just hosted would not be sufficient – we got tons of advice, help and support from them. Because of the YMA, we made good friends in Aizawl too.

YMA is an organized way for every Mizo to participate in a simple act – looking out for each other. They even have a term to describe this – “tlawmngaihna” – and every Mizo person is proud to abide by it. It is the biggest and most widespread NGO in Mizoram with the number of members about 400,000 (the total population of Mizoram is about 900,000 and in that case the members of MA should form their entire active population). Looking out for each other does not sound like much, right? But the range of activities that YMA involves in is quite comprehensive – from conducting funerals to help in rebuilding infrastructure after natural calamities and so on. We got an opportunity to see how YMA helped rural communities first hand when we visited a couple of villages on our way back from Tamdil lake. They were building a community recreation center for the residents of the nearby areas. Generate employment and at the same time build something useful for the community! In addition to looking out for eachother, Mizos also treat their guests with a lot of respect too. I think a simple thought put into action properly can make a lot of difference – and YMA is doing exactly that!

Journeys in the Land of the Highlanders (Mizoram)

Thu, 27 May 2010 21:33:20 +0530

Can you help but feeling that you are in paradise when you have views such as this one, every morning you wake up?

Aizawl, a place usually not on our radar (unlike some other areas in the North East, Mizoram and Aizawl are very peaceful and so stay out of news) is tucked away in the remote south of the North East of India. Mizoram is not frequented by outsiders much – partly because of the above reason and also maybe because it is a little hard to get here. But, our 6 hour ride sitting in the last row of a Tata Sumo with hardly enough room was totally worth it (and the picture above stands testimony)!

We had been warned that Aizawl was quite expensive; some even compared it with Mumbai (which is one of the most expensive cities in the world). However, we had not been warned about some other things. We landed in the city from Silchar late in the afternoon – about 3pm or so. And what do we see – tons of school kids! Of course, we had already read that Mizoram is the second most literate state in India (literacy rate nearly 90%), but seeing is another thing. After washing up, we thought we would go out for a stroll and see the city and we got another surprise. Most of the businesses close early in the evening – by 6pm almost everyone is home and the streets are empty. We found the reason a few days later – they open very early too – it gets bright by 5am and the markets are full by 6am. But on the first day, we were actually wondering if we had missed something – all of the friends, acquaintances, people we had talked to had told us that Mizoram is a very safe place. Turns out, it actually is; only the shops close early.

Our first outing was to the State museum in Aizawl. The museum is a great place to learn about Mizo culture, their textiles and traditional attire, etc. There were sections reserved for the local fauna and traditional equipment used by the Mizo people. One interesting artifact was a “head-hunting dao” – a sword-like weapon with obvious intentions. The museum is a good place to start off because it gives a glimpse into the way the Mizo people were. That is especially important because it is totally unlike what they are now! Sure, there are occasions when you will see them in their traditional attire, etc but the culture is very westernized now and at least in the cities, you will only be able to catch glimpses of the old. We could not do anything else that day as it rained heavily for a long time.

Next up on our trip to Mizoram was a trip out of the city to Tamdil Lake. It is a small lake about 90km away from Aizawl set amidst small hills. The Mizoram government fisheries department has a project here too. Getting to the lake meant we had to take a taxi (Tata Sumo) early in the morning from the city center in Aizawl. This was when we finally understood the reason for the markets and other establishments closing early in the city – they open really early. In fact, by 6am, the street side vendors had all put up their wares and shoppers were out too – plus, it was a Saturday, which I think is a weekly market day in Aizawl. Coming from down south in Hyderabad, we are used to seeing shops open by mid-morning, about 10am or so, so this was another unique experience. Our journey to the lake was not without adventure and delays – we had a flat and it took quite some time to get that fixed. We were again reminded that we were traveling in the wrong season when we went to the lake – the recent rains had washed a lot of mud and the water was all brown. It still was very beautiful – low lying clouds covering the tops of the surrounding peaks made a great backdrop for the lake and a lone Gulmohar tree covered with bright orange flowers amidst it all, a nice contrast.

Before heading back to Aizawl, we visited a couple of villages too near Kiefang – the nearest town from Tamdil lake. We had a local friend who showed us around or this would not have been possible. We first stopped at a village called Rualchawm which literally means ‘snake fed’ – the origin of the name is from a legend that the tribal people living in the village used to sacrifice their children by feeding them to a huge serpent living in a hole in the town. A serpent needing a hole as big as the one in the picture would surely have been big!

We next visited Ruallung where our friend lived. The one thing good about villages that we went to was that they were really clean and the roads very good. We went to the top of the hill there from where we could catch views of villages on nearby mountains. Apparently, on clear days even Aizawl city can be seen from there, but that day we were not so lucky. We enjoyed the views there for some time and then came back to Keifang to catch the next taxi back to Aizawl.

We will suggest one unlikely place which turned out to be a really neat experience – Mizoram University. We actually went there to meet someone we know but the place is so amazing that it would be a great idea for any tourist to visit. The university is relatively young – it was started only 10 years back and a lot of infrastructure still being built. It is a little out of Aizawl but well connected with local buses plying regularly (except on Sunday when everything in the city shuts down!) to Ramrikawn which is about 3km from the entrance gate. Just a walk from Ramrikawn to the university provides amazing views! After the university, there are only forests and hills and while we were there, the clouds moved in from beyond the hills. It was a sight which cannot be described easily in words - one moment we were watching the clouds moving in, and the next we are standing inside one! We did experience something similar when we were in a car in Cherrapunjee, but actually experience the mist and silence come down upon you is something else!

I still remember what Nicolitta said in One crazy ride, something about how paradise or heaven is always described as a place above the sky and how she had actually seen it on her trip. I can say that about every morning we woke up in Aizawl.