Guwahati to Bomdila – Day 1 – North-East Diaries

The late start from hotel

Today was officially the first day of the trip. We spent the previous day entirely on searching for a bike rental agency with available inventory. We discovered that almost all the vehicles at agencies were pre-booked as it was Navaratri / Durga Puja time of the year. Only a few vehicles remained, largely the rejected ones. Ours was one such bike that had quite a good mileage on it. An abused Enfield Classic 350 with a non-operational odometer, speedometer and vibrating engine was going to be our companion for the next six days on the hills. Its reliability would get tested today.

We had planned to start from the hotel at 5 a.m. but managed to be on the road only by 6:30 a.m.. There were a couple of reasons for the delay. The sleepy staff at the hotel took time to do checkout formalities and it also took some time and effort to remove a bike parked inconsiderately behind ours. Loading and securing luggage on the bike was another job that killed some additional time, for it took a few trials to get it right. The loss of daylight meant that it would be difficult to reach Dirang that very day.

The plan for the day was to cover as much distance as possible and stay overnight either at Bomdila or Dirang. As it turned out in the end, we could ride only till Bomdila before it got too late, thereby covering a distance of 283 km from our hotel at Paltan Bazaar. 

Some key stats

The following was the route that we took.:

Places	Paltan Bazaar(Guwahati)	Baihata Chariali	Goreswar	Dimakuchi	Udalguri	Bhairabkunda	Balemu	Shergaon	Rupa	Bomdila
State	Assam						Arunachal Pradesh
Total distance from starting point (Km)	0	33.6	56	91	117	137	147	242	265	283
Altitude (MSL)	50 m				105 m	200 m	300 m	2,176 m	1,500 m	2,415 m

Brahmaputra river crossing and ride out of the city

Coming back to the ride, it was a pleasurable experience riding in the cool morning weather. The traffic increased gradually as we progressed towards New Saraighat Bridge. This would be our second crossing over river Brahmaputra, the first one was by rail on the old Saraighat Bridge on the day when we had arrived in Guwahati.

The beautiful view of Brahmaputra river was partially obscured by the guard rails on either side of the bridge.  But we managed to catch a glimpse of the vast expanse of the river just before we climbed on to it. Truly the river view is breathtaking.

Navigating the narrow Assam highways

Relying on Google Maps to show us the quickest way to Bhairabkunda, we navigated the small highways of Assam and stopped at Goreswar for breakfast after covering a decent distance of 54.5 km. However, it had taken us around 2 hours to move out of the city and reach this place at 9 a.m. The small highways have good tarmac but are extremely narrow with traffic of all sorts, which slowed our progress. Add to it the factor of getting used to riding Enfield for the first time and that too with pillion and luggage.

Our pit stop at Goreswar was at “Gopal mistnno bhandar”, a sweet shop, where we ordered samosas and chai. 

Nagging issue with bike papers

The break allowed us to do a follow up (one amongst many!) with the bike rental agency for registration, insurance and PUC papers. The agency owner assured us that nobody would check for papers in either Arunachal Pradesh or Meghalaya but we were not satisfied with the answer. We needed complete bike papers for our Bumla permit, not just the rental receipt provided to us. After relentless persuasion, the agency finally sent us all the papers through Whatsapp, which put our mind at ease. It gave us the mental peace and determination to make some real progress towards our destination for the day.

Assam tea estates in Dimakuchi

The nagging issue now settled on the bike papers topic, the going felt much better now. We rode past green fields and through narrow highways with a decent amount of traffic. There were lots of students in uniform making their way to school on bicycles. As we approached Dimakuchi, the famous tea gardens of Assam appeared on both sides of the road as far as the eye could see. The place was worthy of a short break which we happily took by stopping beside the highway at around half past ten. After clicking photographs of the gardens and admiring the green atmosphere, we resumed our journey towards Udalguri.

Cash withdrawal at Udalguri

Reached Udalguri at 11:40 am and stopped for cash withdrawal at HDFC Bank ATM, which is located below the branch on the main road. The place was the last major town on that route before entering Arunachal Pradesh. The sun was almost overhead, and it really felt hot like in May.

From Guwahati, we had come just 118 km and it had taken us 5 hours to cover this distance. It was a pitiable progress and the prospect of reaching even Bomdila seemed like remote probability. Did we mention that the odometer and the speedometer on our bike did not work? We blame these malfunctioning gadgets for our lack of progress as the bike felt like it was moving fast but reality was completely different. A key takeaway from this episode is that though it might seem like a trivial matter but these gadgets are crucial while travelling large distances and save you time as you can clearly make out from our experience.

River crossing without bridge!

Conscious of the time pressure, we once again set out with a can-do attitude and followed Google Map, which led us to a river crossing very close to Udalguri. Only this time, the bridge over it had been partially washed out and we had to cross the river bed full of sand and over some small streams of water flowing in the middle.

Initially, we were hesitant to cross it and waited for a few local people to appear and guide us about the safety of the crossing. Only after receiving assurance, we made the nerve-wracking crossing with the rider on the bike and pillion on foot in order to decrease the overall weight of the bike. On the other side, the road disappeared completely for some half kilometre or so and then it improved to a gravel road before meeting a main road at an intersection. We were back on main thoroughfare now, a left turn from which would lead us to Bhairabkunda, located at the tri-junction of Bhutan border and Assam’s border with Arunachal Pradesh.

A dead snake

From the river, the Himalayan foothills had revealed itself and beckoned us to increase speed. We were desperate to escape the unbearable heat and humidity of the plains. We saw a dead cobra on that road, which reminded us of the dangers that lie hidden in nature. Reached Bhairabkunda after 16 km from the road intersection around 12.30 pm and went straight towards Balemu Check Point (ILP). There was no time for a visit to the Bhutan border. We would cover it on the way back.

Finally at Bhairabkunda and offroading

The road from Bhairabkunda to Balemu goes over a small barrage and touches the hills. But the road conditions are horrible. There is basically no road for the next 10 km and one must be prepared for some very serious off-roading in a dusty environment. Our progress was dismal and we finally reached the check post at around 1 p.m.. The check post is a modest building where our permit was checked and we entered details in a register. A quick rest of some five to ten minutes there in the shade re-energized us and helped to take in the amazing feeling of having made it into Arunachal Pradesh at last.

In a rush to make up for the slow progress, we postponed having lunch till further into Arunachal. But kilometre after kilometre, the sight of a good restaurant eluded us. As we started climbing the hills after Balemu, the road and weather conditions both had improved considerably. The vegetation on the hills resembled a tropical forest with wild banana trees dotting the roadside. 

A roadblock to delay our dismal progress

After a continuous sprint we met with the first roadblock of the day. It was road construction work that halted traffic and kept us standing for more than half an hour. As generally happens in these cases, the passengers from stuck vehicles deboarded to take in fresh air, walk around a bit and enjoy the view of the plains below. It provided us an opportunity to interact with a driver of a vehicle, who being a local, was able to provide us with a lot of information on road conditions ahead and most importantly on food availability en-route. It was from him that we came to know of a restaurant, which is fashionably called the ‘Food Hut’ and is located in Shergaon. But it would be a couple of hours before we reached there. We were completely starved and were surviving on biscuits and banana chips. 

Once traffic resumed, we kept on climbing the hills and reached a place called Kalaktang. Here, we quenched the thirst of our bike at Ms Dekey Refilling Station. We recommend doing a fuel top up here as it is probably the only one on the way till Shergaon from Balemu. From Kalaktang at around 1200 metres above mean sea level (MSL) the road keeps on steadily climbing and in about 33 km reaches a place called Tenzingaon, which is situated at around 2100 MSL. 

Beautiful Tibetan settlement at Tenzingaon

There is a large Tibetan settlement there so one can expect to get good food . We did not make a stop as we were hard pressed for time, but on the way back had maggi at one small restaurant there. The beauty of the hills, as one approaches Tenzingaon from Kalaktang side, definitely deserves a mention and something that should not be missed. The settlement is nestled high up on the hill with large vegetable farms on the hill side. We crossed a dozen pickup trucks loaded with tomatoes and cabbage and saw the cultivation and harvesting being done on the fields.

A satisfying late lunch at Shergaon and ride to Bomdila

By keeping up the pace, it was not long before we arrived at Shergaon. The place is located in a valley with high mountains running parallel on either side . Just as we pulled into Food Hut, it started getting dark. Time was 5 p.m. when we dug into our order of veg thukpa and veg chowmein and devoured the food in no time. Both the items tasted delicious and we found the place to be very well maintained.

Our hunger pangs satisfied to the fullest, we had to make a decision whether to push on to Bomdila or stay in Shergaon. Dirang was now out of reach altogether. Considering the distance to be covered the following day, we decided to bear some more pain and travel 40 km till Bomdila in the dark. After crossing Rupa, we lost our way and had a difficult time getting back on the main road.

There was no traffic and no houses to ask for directions. In the dense fog that engulfed the road, it seemed frightening. We would not recommend moving in darkness in the mountains in these remote areas. Luckily, we got back on the right route with the help of Google Maps as we had the offline maps downloaded onto our phone. It proved to be a life saver.

Reaching Bomdila and end of a gruelling day

At around 8 p.m. we checked into a hotel named ‘Hotel Tashi Den’ in Bomdila, which is located near the Buddha Stadium / Treasury Office. Finding the hotel was a work in itself as many of the properties around were fully booked. Next job was to look for a decent place to eat. Yes, we were hungry again due to exhaustion during the whole day and needed energy. It is noteworthy that most restaurants close by 8 p.m.. After a futile attempt on foot to find a place to eat, we retreated to our hotel and ordered plain dal, roti and sabji.

Also made arrangements for the next day’s breakfast of bread, cheese etc.from a shop at the hotel and retired to bed tired. Next day was again going to be challenging as we had to cross the mighty ‘Sela’ pass.

Link to YouTube Video