Hitchhiking in India

Guwahati - Once burned, twice lucky

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

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.

Bomdila - Surprises, Gompas and New Friends

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!

Journey to Bomdila – a Nightmare

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. 

Adventures in a Train and Journey to Aizawl

The journey from Agartala to Aizawl in Mizoram was not a direct one.  We had to visit one of the main attractions of Tripura on the way – Unakoti. Part of the journey is described in this post but here is the detailed info –

We started from Agartala early in the morning and took the first train to the Station Kumarghat. We were relieved at the idea of boarding a train as we were totally got sick of buses (sitting in the last seats might be the culprit) 

After the initial curious looks and questions from the local travelers, we somehow got ourselves acquainted with them. One most common response that we got from locals throughout our Tripura trip when we told that we were tourists is that there is nothing to see in Tripura and inturn they come to Hyderabad. Perceptions, may be. 

One thing that we learnt during our travels is that no matter how extensive is your research on your destination, a local always knows the best. It was again proved when we reached Kailasher from Kumarghat. A local showed a small eatout tucked away in a corner where the food was really delicious. After the breakfast cum lunch cum dinner (we had only one meal that day) we started to find some means of transport to Unakoti. Asked a couple of Auto-wallas who seeing our backpacks demanded exorbitant prices from us. Unable to bargain, we moved along to another place. We saw a shop owner who could speak hindi and asked him the cheapest way to reach Uakoti. A Cab driver came along from the tax stand and asked a price much lesser than the autos. After confirming that the price was modest and realizing that we had no other option, we agreed to go along with him.

Unakoti was an experience in itself. The sculptures of Lord Shiva can’t be described in words. It’s a not-to-miss place in Tripura. But it’s not a place for people with Knee pains or any other kind of Arthritis. The steps are very steep and so many that we are literally wet after reaching the top. I had remove my T-shirt and travel rest of my journey just like that to get back to normal self. After Unakoti, we got the Dharmanagar Railway station to catch a train to Silchar. As usual in these parts of the country, the train was delayed by three hours. We had nothing else to do but put on the geeky avatars on and open the Net book and start blogging. The result – Lots more Curious looks, puzzled faces and questions from some who were dare enough to do so.

The train journey from Dharmanagar to Silchar, as we found out later, was one with an adventure as well. To start with, there were no lights in the train. For every 10 minutes, the security would come with flash lights and checking if anything was suspicious. Every station the train stops, the cops shout to keep the doors closed from inside. Midst all the action, there were things happening in the same compartment as ours, which happen in dark places – prostitution. Then things happened which are a natural extension. Cops came raiding, tried to bully every one in the compartment. Luckily there was a CRPF guy sitting before us and he could somehow tell the cop that we are not part of the racket. Meanwhile Ajay was sound asleep and was no clue of whats going on.

We got down in Silchar around midnight and first thing we did was to run to the Waiting Room to find place to sleep. The scenes from In Pursuit of happiness were flashing in my mind as we were scrambling for place to sleep for the night. Being inexperienced in these matters, we ended up with no place and had to sleep in the chairs. But that was fine with us.

Next morning we started immediately by 5:00 in the morning and went to the Taxi Stand where we can catch a taxi to Aizawl. As usual ,we got the last seats even in the Tata Sumo and after spending a taxing 7 hours in the Sumo, we reached Aizawl. 

The lakes and the streets

We started the day a little late today - waking up until late in the night to write blog posts does that! Most travelers spend just one day at Shillong and then go to Cherrapunjee apparently. But since we’d already lost half a day, we thought we’ll take it slow and spend some more time here (that’s another way of saying we are yet to figure out our travel and acco plans for Cherrapunjee). So after we got something to eat (that didn’t fill us up) at a small snack shop, we started inquiring the directions (cheapest way) to get to Umiam lake (Bada pani). We wanted to visit the lake while it was still bright and didn’t want to worry about getting back in the evening. You do know how it works with getting directions in India - you get directions alright, but every person you ask will give you different ones - and sometimes exactly opposite of what another person just said. So, we spent about an hour looking for the right place to hop on a shared taxi which would take us to Bada pani. It was a good walk up and down the hilly streets of Bada Bazar (Iewduh market) and soaking up the local scene. Fruits, different kinds of meat, plastic toys, lottery tickets - you name it and you have it here. But don’t mistake Shillong for just these, you do have stores selling branded clothes, billboards with advertisements for cellular operators and so on - not very different from any other big Indian city. Oh yes, one thing sure is different here - a lot more taxis than autorickshaws. And, they do follow traffic rules!

Anyway, coming back to our journey to Bada pani - after running around and searching for the shared taxis, we had to relent and engage a taxi just for ourselves. Our driver Bareb, was informed and chatty too. Enjoyed his company and the drive to the lake (the views we missed yesterday as we had arrived after dark). You can see the NEHU (North-Eastern Hill University) campus too on the way. Its location is so scenic - on the slopes of a mountain, overlooking hills and a lake. I hope we will get a chance to go visit the campus, if not we will atleast try to tag it from Shillong peak which we plan to visit soon.

We went directly to the Lum Nehru park at the Umiam lake and frankly were very disappointed. Sure, it was very peaceful, green, etc - but it just missed something and I can’t put my finger on it. We just ate the food we’d got packed from Police bazar and went back to the main road so that we could catch another taxi back to the city. And then, we saw the board saying there was a resort and some boating facilities also available here. We headed back down another lane so that we could check these out. The resort (Orchid Lake resort) is managed by the Meghalaya tourist corporation and sits right next to the lake. We didn’t dine there (not within our budget for sure!) and headed back to the city.

We still had some time before it got dark and we started looking for Ward’s lake. Inder even found directions on youknowwhich maps on his phone and we walked a circuitous 3km to the lake. Here we were pleasantly surprised, this lake was absolutely gorgeous! A section of the lake was sectioned as a lotus pool and a small wooden bridge at the center. Boating is available too. Ward’s lake is much smaller than Umiam, but I felt that it had more character. We spent some time here on the lawns and then headed back to Police bazar. Some more pictures from the chowk and we were ready for dinner!

sightseeing

Change of plans and getting to the Scotland of the East

Last night, we were so tired when we got into the hotel that we didn’t even ask for sheets - we just crashed on the beds. Plus, the huge amount of money (Rs. 600) we had to pay for the hotel room had really got to us and had put a doubt in our minds if we would be able to keep up with the #150aday challenge. But a good night’s sleep rested our minds and got our resolve was back again. We both agreed that this was just a temporary setback and we would be able to average the extra expense out in the next few days. So, here we were with no intention of staying on in the hotel but with no other place to go to. Also, it being a sunday, we would not be able to get the ILPs (Inner Line Permits) required to enter Mizoram (which was our first destination in our plan). Added to that, there was a call for an Assam bandh (strike and general shutdown of all business) which would make it impossible for us to get the ILPs on Monday and also make it hard to go around the city. So, we decided we would head to Shillong (Meghalaya), which is the closest town to Guwahati.

We wanted to come to Shillong and attend the Bob Dylan fest but this was the only option to get out of the jam we were in. Also, at a little less than 100km, we could aim to cover the distance to Shillong in a few hours (compared to the nearly 24hrs it took us to get from Siliguri to Guwahati - about 400km). So, we packed, wore our rain gear (it is already raining in Guwahati!), ate, packed some food for the way and got directions to NH31. Obviously, the directions we got were for taking direct buses to Shillong, but we were more interested in getting out of the city limits and on to the highway so that we could ask for rides. BTW, here’s an interesting sign which will keep your thoughts in the right place when you are stuck in traffic (G.S road, Guwahati)

Some other interesting wall art we found near the TRP stadium (definitely better than spit marks and other such in the cities I have been too) 

The place we got to (after consulting online maps from youknowwho) was Khanapara, near the Agriculture University, south-east of Guwahati. The bus conductors, in typical private-bus-conductorsy fashion mobbed us and wanted to take us to Shillong in their buses - it was easy to fend them off by just ignoring them. So we walked a little distance along the Shillong highway and set up our base for asking rides. It wasn’t easy work - we’d put on our rain gear and it wasn’t raining anymore - instead we were getting baked inside the pant suit. The funny thing (and very irritating) is, there is so much dust on the road and just a little distance away, there is slush from the rains. So we stuck out our thumbs, and waited and waited some more. We had kept a deadline of 4pm after which we would take a bus (after our experience in Siliguri where we started late in the evening). One local who was watching us for some time came up to us and explained the futility of asking rides from trucks here because none of them would stop. We were close to losing hope and just then, a truck on army duty stopped for us!

To say that the driver was garrulous would be a great understatement. I can assure you that I know about all his troubles, the money he makes, how many good deeds he has done and whatnot! Ajit Singhji, a Punjabi driver settled in Assam a really long time ago and was sure that it was god’s will that we had to be at the exact place where we were and he started late that day although he didn’t have to. God’s will or not, he had agreed to take us both to Shillong for Rs. 60 (buses charge this much per person). Of course, added to the deal (which we didn’t know at the time we got in) was that we would listen to his stories as he talked continuously for the 4 hours it took us to get there (Inder escaped some of it by dozing off though!). Pity, we neither got a picture of him nor of his truck.

You are in the hills as soon as you get out of Guwahati towards Shillong. The road is winding, narrow and a little dangerous too. One good thing I have noticed is that there is very less honking on the highway. Although it got dark about an hour after we got into the truck, I saw enough to say that it is b-e-a-utiful! NH31 joins NH40 at Jorabat - the other branch at this junction goes to Manipur. The climb gets really hard after Nongpoh, but our truck and driver made easy work of it all. On the way, Ajitji stopped to get us snacks (he also reduced our carriage fee by Rs. 10!, so we got a ride to Shillong with tea and snacks included at Rs. 50) and off we were. Nothing much to say about the journey after it got dark. But, there is a noticeable mist and chill as we kept getting closer to Shillong. We were both thinking the same - Meghalaya does stand up to its epithet - Scotland of the east!

We got dropped off near the Civil hospital and then walked on to Police bazar where we had a free room waiting of us in a hotel (which we had arranged for in Guwahati) - I will not explain the methods we have used to secure accommodation, etc right now - lest I endanger my future chances :). Once we were in the room, we got right to calling up family and then to writing these long posts. We plan to go around Shillong tomorrow and see the sights, we don’t have a very firm plan but we will be moving to Cherrapunjee soon.

Day’s expenses -

Lunch/packed food - Rs. 110

Ride to Shillong - Rs. 50

Dinner - Rs. 68

Ups and Downs - Journey till Guwahati

Here we are in Guwahati at last! The journey from Siliguri till here has been an adventure in itself. What could have been done in a straightforward fashion by taking a direct train or bus, was instead done in 2 truck and 3 bus rides. Did we stick to our budget, oh yes - till we got to Guwahati. And then, in one shot, we overshot the budget! But let’s start from the beginning to get a good perspective.

We took a train to Kolkota and then onwards to Siliguri. We spent that journey mostly doing nothing - other than waiting for the charging points (in the train) to get free so we could get our phones to stay alive. I did realize a few things though - the traffic in Hyderabad isn’t the worst - when compared to that on the stretch from Howrah to Sealdah. Siliguri was heaven - the weather was such a relief after the dry heat of Hyderabad and the sticky humid weather while we passed Orissa and Kolkota.

And, we had a king’s treatment waiting for us too! Our host (via Couchsurfing) in Siliguri - Mr. Suvasish Paul, put us up at the Siliguri Club (a health club with gym, pool, squash and what not facilities) and even sent the manager Mr. Suman Dey to pick us up from the train station. After we had a royal breakfast and a nice lunch on top of it, we were got ready to tackle our next assignment - talk to the local press! Mr. Paul had called some of the local folks to the club so that they could learn about the start of our adventure. The list if TV Channels that interviewed us are: News Time, ANI, 24 Ghanta, E-TV and Aaj Kal. Tune into these channels. We might show up any time.

We got a lot of interviews done and then got flagged off by Mr. Rattan Singh who is a runner and won India a bronze at a previous Commonwealth Games summit. Got a feeling of starting a race seeing the flag off.

Our first ride was on a bike from Siliguri club to Highway by Suman and his friend. After saying our goodbyes and thanks, we were finally on our own and ready to try our hand at hitchhiking!

Now, the advice on the internet for Hitchhiking was pretty clear about one thing - stand at a location which will allow a vehicle to safely stop - but here we were on a 2 lane highway where 2 trucks can hardly go parallelly. After waiting for 15 minutes and some weird looks of the locals, we could convince one truck to pick us up. The Rice truck was heading from Siliguri to Birpada.

Since he could not drop us all the way to Guwahati, he put us down near a dhaba (roadside food place) where supposedly trucks heading towards Guwahati will stop. But, unfortunately that wasn’t the case. We had our dinner there and tried to ask for rides, which we could not convert. The glimpse of sensitivity of the place was visible to us. Two hitchhikers with huge backpacks made the people quite cagey and after some time the owner of the dhaba asked us what we were trying to do and where are we from. Once he knew that we are from South of India, he told us that all the truckers from the South stop at a hotel (Hotel Sangam) 3 km further down the highway and suggested us to try our luck there. With nothing left to do, we started to walk towards Hotel Sangam. The walk to the hotel in the pitch dark with torches on was a deed in itself.

After reaching Sangam hotel, the worries seemed unabated as the manager, who was visibly uncomfortable seeing us with our backpacks, did not give us a room to stay. We were told that he has to ask the police to give us a room as he is not sure who we were and where we are from. After dilly dallying for some time we saw a truck from AP (Andhra Pradesh - the state where we are from) we went and spoke to the driver. To our surprise we saw many truck drivers who are from AP. After speaking to them in our mother tongue and ensuring them that we are not to be scared of, they offered us to give a ride.

There was one more problem. The trucks have a crossing to do to at the Assam Border and to be allowed to pass into Assam, they have to stay there for 5-6 hours. We started at around 4 in the morning and reached Assam Border village of Srirampur at around 8 in the morning. After that we did the mistake of crossing the border by ourselves and taking a bus to Guwahati,

After we were politely asked who the hell we were by the security forces, we took a ticket to Bongaigaon as there were no direct buses to Guwahati. After couple of hours of traveling through the interiors of Assam’s sensitive area of Bodoland, we were pushed on to another bus which, as we were told, was traveling to Bongaigaon. After another couple of hours of grueling ride through the interiors, we reached the place we least wanted to be - Kokrajhar. We were told the previous day that there were some disturbances in that area and was told to avoid that place. Realising this, without wasting anytime, we boarded another bus which was not going to Bongaigaon but to Rangoi. A place much nearer to Guwahati. After 4 hours of what cannot be termed a decent travel, we reached Rangoi. We took a shared auto to Guwahati for which we had to spend in the auto for more than an hour.

The views were worthy of the effort we took. There is so much water in Assam. Water parallel to the road. All the houses had little culverts to reach on to the road. More like Kerala.

After 15 hours of grueling ride we reached the outskirts of Guwahati. The icing on the cake was that our host in Guwahati had to leave for Nagaland and we were left with no accommodation. But he helped us book a hotel room in the downtown area of silpukhuri. We had to shell out an amount which made a huge dent in out 150aDay budget.

What did we do after reaching the hotel room - slept like logs.