Introduction
For as long as we could remember, we had always wanted to visit the seven states or the seven sisters as they are called in the North East. But the plan never materialised either due to lack of time or we were lazy enough or we never dared, whatever the reason or excuse, it never happened.
Finally, during our endless conversations, we decided it was time. After deliberating on the dates, we decided on the last week of September to the first week of October, roughly 15-16 days. One point of concern was that these dates coincided with the Durga Puja which is a big thing in that part of the country. But then it was now or never kind of scenario so we decided to take the plunge.
The preparation (and challenges)
The first challenge was to procure the train tickets, getting tickets for trains going through UP and Bihar is always a challenge as most of the trains are booked way in advance and we did not have many days left for our journey. We booked waitlisted tickets in the Northeast Express, so our adventure had already begun (they ended in RAC status, more about that later).
Next was to finalise our itinerary and search for hotels. There is not a whole lot of reliable information about these states, so we had to rely on whatever was available and drew up a tentative one. We then got down to hotels for our first destination i.e., Guwahati and the signs were ominous. The prices were through the roof and somehow did not seem right, so we decided to reach and then scout.
One final thing left was to apply for an ILP to enter Arunachal Pradesh. Do read our guide here on how to get an online ILP.
We were all set to leave and the excitement was hitting the roof!
The (wet) start
The Northeast Express leaves Anand Vihar station in Delhi at 7.40 AM and the charts get prepared 4 hours earlier, roughly at an unearthly hour of 3.30 AM. Since we were having waitlisted tickets, we could not sleep the entire night due to that anxiety. Finally at 3.30 AM came the dreaded message and we were stuck with RAC tickets i.e., we had one berth for the two of us. We had no other choice but to accept our fate and move on.
Another thing that was bothering us at the back of our minds was that it had rained a whole day before our start day. The roads were flooded and we were a tad bit anxious if we would get a taxi that early in the day. Thankfully, we got a taxi and reached the station on time wading through the flooded streets.
The train journey
The platform was choc-a-bloc with people as the train rolled in. We found our coach and got into our berth (wish we could say berths). The train soon filled up and became dirty and messy faster because of the rain. It started on time and we were happy that our trip was finally underway.
The weather was very nice for most of our journey as it was raining at most of the places the train was passing through. We were travelling in a sleeper coach so the weather being on our side was a great blessing. We could not sleep much during the entire 35 hours of journey as it was extremely uncomfortable in a single berth.
You can further read our guide to travelling by this train here.
There were many pros and cons with the train which you can read in our first-hand review here.
Hello Guwahati!
Our train rolled into the Kamakhya station (2nd station in Guwahati) at 6.45 PM almost 1.5 hours after the scheduled arrival. It was still better than the horror stories we had heard of other trains being late for many hours so we were happy about it.
We clicked some pictures and started walking towards Trunk Road / Pandu Port Road where the hotels were supposed to be. We tried several options but mostly the good ones were out of budget and the ones within our budget were not hygienic. So, we ditched our plan to stay near Kamakhya station and headed towards the most popular area where most of the hotels are concentrated i.e., the Paltan Bazaar. With autos charging a bomb, we took a local bus which cost us Rs.30 per head.
The Nightmare on Paltan Bazaar
We would have reached the Paltan Bazaar by 7.30 PM. Being the main commercial area of Guwahati, it was extremely crowded. We then started looking for decent accommodation and found that the decent budget hotels were packed and some of them overcharging taking advantage of the peak season. The so-called remaining budget hotels were very dirty, guess they were also taking advantage of the peak season. The humid weather also did not help and we were completely drenched in sweat.
After spending almost an hour and a half walking through the length of that road we still could not find a place to stay. The fatigue was taking a toll and we finally settled for a non-AC accommodation in Manipuri Basti with some (harmless) bugs for company. After freshening up, we ordered food in the room itself and then went to bed.
The morning after
We got up leisurely at around 8.30 AM and were ready by 9. Went to the terrace of the hotel to have a glimpse of the surroundings. It was still early in the day but the humidity was making it uncomfortable.
It was breakfast time and we decided to do something different rather than visit a restaurant. We bought a packet of bread, a few cubes of cheese spread and some bananas, and voila, our budget self-prepared breakfast was ready.
Time to rent a bike
Our plan rested on our ability to rent a bike to explore places but then we had not finalised anything yet. We spoke with a few before starting from Delhi but wanted to see the bike before paying anything.
After our breakfast, we started walking towards zoo road, where there are multiple rental agencies. Being a peak season, many good bikes were already booked and others were quoting some absurd rentals. We finalised an old Royal Enfield 350 from Trivane Bike Rentals and the agency assured us that the bike will be ready by evening.
We took a bus back to the hotel, had lunch and took some rest.
End of Day
In the evening, we went back to the agency and got our bike which will be our ride to Arunachal Pradesh. As the bike was a bit old and the older models of Enfield were notoriously unreliable, it was playing on the back of our minds but we had no other option.
We rode back to our hotel and parked it in a secured location (so secure that even we found it hard to take it out the next day 😊).
It was dinner time and we decided to walk towards the main Paltan Bazaar area. We found a really good restaurant (Mother’s Kitchen) and filled ourselves up. The food was either really nice or we were so famished that anything would have tasted nice (think it was the former).
We came back to our hotel, planned a bit for the next day and packed our bags. Retired to bed early as we had a long distance to cover the following day.
Hope you enjoyed reading this and see you in the next part where the real action starts…
