Bhalukpong-Bomdila-Dirang
We were up pretty much early and I got to watch sunrise at the easternmost part of India. We ordered breakfast at the hotel itself and by 0730 hours, we were at the table, munching away at the heavy breakfast served to us. But the breakfast also ate into our time and it wasn’t before 0830 hours that we were finally able to get our bikes up the ramp and all set up for the ride of the day. We paid up the hotel for the food and told them that we had booking at the same place on our way back and pre-ordered loads of pork!
After a few snapping of cameras, we roared off towards Bomdila, the supposedly high point of the day’s itinerary. As soon as we left the hotel, bad roads greeted us and one was a particularly steep incline that we went down on. I was wondering if we’d be able to negotiate that incline on the way back through slush if it happened to rain. I didn’t have much time to ponder on it though. The dirt road veered my mind away to more important stuff like trying to keep my bike on the road!
My bike had been recently given new shoes – IRC street tyres and while they look slick, unfortunately they are slick –literally. I was apprehensive of them before but out here I realized my worries weren’t standing on lose ground. We soon encountered some slush and everyone was negotiating it with careful traction. When it came to my turn, I could feel my bike fishtail like crazy and it took every bit of my bike riding abilities to try to keep the bike steady and not to slide out and make me fall on the slush. I knew that I was in for a rough ride and kept praying we don’t across much rain or mud. God sometimes can play very funny as we would find out a day later!!
The next tract of the road was fortunately tarmac that kept leading straight up. The vegetation was dense, the cliff side giving us a view of the river flowing below, until the road took us so high that the river was lost somewhere down below. I remembered Arunachal being the most densely poisonous snake infested part of India. True to what I reckoned, there were plenty of “Nag Mandirs” on the way. Oh there were some more things that kept appearing at every 100 meter or so. Memorial stones of people who lost their lives to those treacherous roads. It reminded me of the memorial stones and crosses of Bolivia’s death road, but kept these thought to myself. Didn’t want anyone to think I was chickening out!!
The road was narrow and slippery, must have been the morning dew, and the vegetation was dense and green. There were banana plants in plenty, but sadly none of them were bearing any fruit at that time. I was still skeptical of my tyres and although the roads were tempting, I refrained myself from banking too much – an activity I particularly like!! And the incline also didn’t leave me much steam from the engine to try out my antics. After some time trailing behind Kenny, I noticed that one of his jerry cans was leaking and the whole can was wet. I signaled him to stop and we had a stopover where the guys had a sutta break while Kenny emptied the can into the RE.
Gyan’s uncle was in full form as he ripped his smooth machine R15 on those roads making mincemeat out of the other bikes. That bike is really in its elements when having to tackle turns, the delta frame easing up handling to a great extent. We did however manage to keep up at a slightly lesser velociferous pace. Gyan soon noticed smoke out of my exhaust and I figured my engine oil must be running low. I topped up again and this time I emptied the half litre into my bike. I would have to buy another litre at the nearest town that stocked engine oil of my engine’s specs. We had stopped at a waterfall that fell just by the road and all of us wanted a splash of the cool water. There were also two ladies that were driving an Alto all the way from Itanagar to Bomdila. Payeng Da and Uncle struck up a conversation with them and also happened to take some snaps of them.
After a while we rode off again, into the ever climbing road which took us to dizzying heights. The height might not have been as lofty as the ones we had come across Spiti and Leh but one look at the dense forests on the hills below dispelled any doubts that we weren’t exactly riding at mean sea level either!
In between we had quite some stopovers at what we perceived as good vantage points for some photographs. Indeed some very memorable photos came up from those stops. In between these stops, Payeng Da had his second accident. At a particular hairpin, his bike slipped into neutral and before he could take corrective measures, he had taken a fall. But fortunately this time also it wasn’t serious. Uncle also had his first fall on his R15 around the same time. Ouch! A fall on the R15 would hurt the bike more than it’d hurt the rider I guess! I’d hate to see those fairings crack.
Pretty soon, we came across the Tenga Valley, a very military prone area with lots and lots of regiments and corps having their units. Some particularly eye-catching signages were also captured on camera in the Tenga Valley.
It wasn’t long before we arrived at the gates that told us we had arrived at Bomdila. We were all of the idea that Bomdila was a pass, since it carried the tag “La” which meant a mountain pass. But it turned out to be a small town, and that too a low altitude one. We were growing hungry and were looking for a place to have our lunch when one god-sent person suggested we have it at a roadside motel some 8 km away from Bomdila.
I don’t know why but we took his advice and went off in search of that on-the-way dhaba. I kept a watch on the tripmeter and the moment I touched 8km I kept a sweeping view of the road. At 10km, we noticed a dhaba to the right of the road and hesitantly parked our bikes. We didn’t know whether it the one that the person had recommended us, but we were all too hungry to be riding on for any longer. That decision to stop at that place happened to take us to the place that served the best food in the entire trip!!! That little non-descript place, that place with no name, with only a plump jolly lady at the helm served us with one of the best food I have ever tasted in my entire life. I don’t know whether it was the everything-tastes-good syndrome, but will the riders echoing the same sentiments I was sure we had come across something worthy to be remembered for times to come. At first sight the serving seemed very big and I wasn’t sure I could finish it. But the food was some awesome that not only had I finished the first serve, but volleyed on to the second serving with much gusto!!
When we learnt from the lady that Dirang was just about an hour and half from that place, we ordered rum and also packed one for the trip. The lunch was lazy, with our aching muscles receiving relaxant in the form of the ‘OH’(read alcohol) group. We also chatted up with some truck drivers who informed us of the weather and the road conditions and one particular guy was so impressed he kept repeating “Aap logon ko man gaye Sir jee, really”. I just conveyed a coy smile, refraining from using words like “junoon” etc etc!!
After a long lunch, we were up and ready for our journey again and started up our bikes- to the stares from all the people around that place. We all moved away, one by one, till that placed disappeared behind some hill and wasn’t seen on my rear view mirror anymore. The road ahead was extremely bad and had some patches that were strewn with construction stones and we came across some landslides too. Where the R15 rips, we fall back, but when the roads are punishing, the R15 in punishing on the riders. The R15 takes its toll on the arms and wrists of the rider on these roads and it was at these roads that brought out the weaknesses of the bike. The R15 struggled to negotiate the road in second cog, with the engine having to be throttled hard to keep it in the optimal power band. The non premium fuel wasn’t helping either. When I overtook the R15 on these roads in the third cog at a measly 2000 rpm, I figured this is where the R15 really falters.
We soldiered on and soon enough we came to our designated retiring place for the evening – Awoo Resort. The moment we saw the sign board, we all shouted “Awoooooooooo” like some Tarzans let loose and roared up the road leading to the resort. My colleagues from office were there already and were watching us arrive, waving at us. They were with their family and we offered them quite a visual and sonic treat – the seven samurais coming up on seven steel stallions! I made small talk with my colleagues while the guys emptied the luggage and piled into the rooms allotted to us.
It was still early evening and we enjoyed tea among the fresh aroma of pine leaves. The stage was set for the festivities for the evening and after freshening up, we gathered up at the semi-terrace. My colleagues also joined in and some Blender’s Pride and some Black Dog shared pride of the table! But our gripe for the evening was that the food served was crappy and in extremely small measures. I was highly pissed off, especially after the good hospitality that we had received at Bhalukpong. To make matters worse they even ran out of dinner material and one or two of us had to go to sleep half full.
We called it a day after some hours of merry making; my colleagues went off to their respective families and we also tucked into our beds. The air was cold and the bed and blanket never seemed more inviting. Add to that some beautiful songs in John’s iPod and you have a sound sleep in no time. I need to show my gratitude to John for letting me have that iPod so often. It really did help me get into some deep slumber in no time at all. We all were asleep before midnight as we let our muscles relax themselves and ready up for the trip next day.
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