[gadadhar]

Simply amazing, loved your narration and the way you organized the saga in to lovely snippets.

We are in process of putting the outline (Destination & itinerary for a 14-day road trip from Bangalore) for a 15 day road trip in April. Arunachal is among the favorites, your thread will become the key input if we zero on AP.

Thanks again for a wonderful thread

[tilt]

AD, if this is the "quick & dirty" version you can come up with in such a short time, I can imagine (well, actually know) what you can do with more time

Originally Posted by robimahanta

*SNIP*

Man, Robi, what a drive for the two of you. Congratulations on not just finishing, but placing well.

I am appalled at the slipshod planning and organisation of this rally, considering this is not the first time this event is being held.

Cheers

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by keroo1099

What a lovely travelogue Doc. Admire your writing style and your photography skills. Loved the pic of the green olive.

Thank you very much. There is actually another small story behind that green olive picture.

This homestay at Pasighat had this wide open grassland/yard where we had parked the car, as you see in the picture. It had some nice trees around. When we were loading our cars and getting ready for departure, we saw a couple of guys there under the trees. One guy had a long stick kind of thing and was hitting the tree to bring down something, and the other guy was collecting something falling on the group. From the distance we could not see what it was. We tried to guess what tree it was, and none of us could guess it. Then we saw the second guy also put something green in his mouth, while collecting the fallen things. So we assumed it was some green fruit, but it was still a bit mysterious thing. Eventually one of us approached them and talked to them and asked what it was. It was the green olive. Those were olive trees. Those guys were not only nice enough to answer our curiosity questions, but were nice enough to also offer us some olives. And that is how we ended up eating those fresh green olives. I had never eaten a raw green olive before, certainly never fresh out of the tree.

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Thank you for painstakingly compiling and sharing the travelogue, doc! Loved the narration and snaps; felt as if I was at the back seat of the GT.

Thank you very much!

So graaja is known as coach in your circles. Noted.

Yes, thanks to his fitness coaching to us and mentoring. But now I wonder if I let out a secret.

Originally Posted by JoshMachine

Amazing write-up there, Anand
Actually, its more of a wonderful story rather than just a travelogue. Couldn't take my eyes off once I started reading it.

Thank you very much.

Originally Posted by im_chandan

I really like the new style of storytelling, felt like watching a movie

Thank you very much.

There is a four-lane work-in-progress road from Patna to Gaya via Rajgir, known as Budha Circuit. Once completed it will be easier to cross Bihar to WB.

Oh, ok! Good to know that. Actually whichever four-lane highways were completed in Bihar, they were great and I enjoyed driving on those. Only the rural roads were in a bad shape and also had very dense crowd throughout.

Being from BIHAR, I really appreciate and am thankful to you for being nice to them and allowing them to take pics.

Well I loved Bihar! Apart from some traffic jams, I really had a great experience. People were friendly everywhere. And we got great food too. Even in Gaya, keeping aside the crowds and traffic mess again, the people were very friendly. The guy who made samosas and kachori for example was so polite and friendly and happily served us fresh kachoris while answering my noob questions about what else he had on his "menu".

By any chance, did anyone ask for a ride

Haha. No, nobody asked for a ride.

Originally Posted by busydrive

In one word amazing. An entirely different style and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I think this sets a new benchmark for travelogues at Team-Bhp. Thank you.

Originally Posted by nekfar

This is one of the best write-up I have ever read. Absolutely amazing, Sir!!
.

Originally Posted by RaviKBobba

Happy to hear about your recent travelogue & kudos to the Blue beemer.

Originally Posted by dsnaveen21

Fantastic travelogue.. Have been reading for the past 1 hour.. I enjoyed thoroughly reading this.
Thank you for sharing this with all of us.

Originally Posted by sachin_cs

Amazing photography too, I can confidently say that this is one of the most amazing travelogue I have come across.

Originally Posted by sougatadas

Truly amazing travel and travelogue both.. I can understand how much meticulous effort was needed to record each and every details about so long a trip.. but it was done perfectly.

Thank you very much to all of you! Really appreciate your kind words.

Originally Posted by PapaBravo

Incredible writeup Dr. AD. You have been able to capture the true essence of road travel in India through your travelogue. I am sure covering so many states would have provided you fresh perspective about the country. Keep on travelling & Keep on writing !!

Thank you very much.

Next time, do get in touch with any of us in the eastern part of the country for help or assistance.

Thank you, and sure, I will do that. In fact, we should plan a meeting with you guys somewhere there next time we come there.

PS : I understand the attention the Bavarian gets on the country roads. Here is one selfie in light rain that a young lad clicked of my car at a railway crossing while coming back from Sikkim.

Hahaha. Nice! So our experience was not unexpected. I actually appreciated this because it just shows people love cars. And they are not shy about showing their liking their cars. I found all these people quite friendly and nice, and therefore, there attention to cars was never a problem for us. At no point it felt even a tint bit worrisome. The body language was always very friendly.

Originally Posted by animeshc

What an awesome and inspiring journey, this was a joy to read. Not sure if I missed it but where all did you take night halts along the way from Blr to Arunachal, just a pointer for me to keep a theoretical plan ready

Thank you very much. I did not specifically mention each night halt, but now that you have asked it, let me list down the night halts here:

Day 1: Bangalore to Nagpur (night halt at Nagpur)
Day 2: Nagpur to Mirzapur (UP) (night halt at Mirzapur)
Day 3: Mirzapur - Bodh Gaya - Patna - Darbhanga (night halt at Darbhanga)
Day 4: Darbhanga - Kalimpong (2 night stay at Kalimpong)
Day 6: Kalimpong - Dooars (night halt at Dooars)
Day 7: Dooars - Tezpur (Assam) (night halt at Tezpur)
Day 8: Tezpur to Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh)

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Truly inspiring, both the journey itself and the meticulous storytelling. Cannot but help think that guys like you make Walter Mittys of us all (in a good way)

Thank you very much. That Walter Mitty was something new to me. I googled a bit about it after you mentioned it. Thanks for this new information.

But I am sure soon you will do such drives in your lovely blue 3 too. The BMW just begs to be driven, and nothing like a cross-country drive to fully realize the potential of that machine.

Originally Posted by docsr

Congratulations Dr.AD and the rest of the team for a phenomenal drive. The name Gumball Rally kindled a childhood memory!
Here it is:

Thank you very much. Yes, the Gumball rally has its origin in the story of Gumball machine as the prize. Thanks for pointing to that movie.

Originally Posted by vinya_jag

Loved every bit of the travelogue. Had to read them in parts. I wonder how you could pen them all down in such a short time. Thanks for sharing in such detail.

Thank you very much.

I was seeing such contrasts of the roads, people, infrastrcuture, traffic situation etc, and wondering how it felt to stay in a place like Bodh Gaya, travelling between destinations on those narrow crowded roads and going on with their business, and for someone using those Mighty Hyderabad roads and doing their business. I am sure 100s of thoughts would have crossed your minds as well. Share them if you can.

Agree with you, and this is the whole fun of road trips in India. The contrast is what makes it so much more interesting.

[hemanth.anand]

First of all, Congratulations to all the four of you and a special praise to the two beasts - one brute and the other beautiful - that took you around safely.

As much as the trip is special, I liked the unique way or narration. The contrasts that you've shown just goes to show why our country is called a sub-continent. This brought back so many memories from my drive to that part of our country

Thanks for sharing your journey with us and the different roads that you took. It's probably not just a coincidence that the initials of you 4 put together form the word MARG (road)

[DBeast]

Dear Dr.AD, you never fail to amaze with your writing skills. I am sure you had a great drive, but the way you articulated it with great photos to accompany, for us, it felt like we also did the same drive you. I have some questions regarding gumball event, but I suppose this is not the right time!!

Cheers!
-DB

[meetarin]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Epilogue

Thank you very much for reading this!

What a beautiful way of putting down a non-chronological travelogue! Loved every bit of it and the pictures. I can imagine the ordeal you and the GT went through the Kalimpong-Siliguri stretch as I am just back from a trip in my Honda City which had the same route as a subset. Congratulations on completing such a wonderful journey!

[Akmal]

Fantastic read. Thank you for sharing. There is however one other reason I intend to share this travelogue within my circles. Every time we had had a conversation on considering a German luxury car (Mercedes / BMW), there is always hesitation about how a breakdown situation will be handled in remote areas (nearly not as remote) or how clueless local workshops would be about these cars and the hours we may have to wait for RSA to show up. This drive from Bangalore to Pasighat is proof enough that BMW can handle the variety of Indian roads and challenges in style. Having said that, what would have been the course of action if there was breakdown, say in a place like Dooars?

[MADMAX111]

@Dr AD

Great travelogue. One which makes one desirous of doing it and envious at the same time. Inspired to do something similar. Hats Off for the narration.

Really love the car and as you said it really is the Star.

Genuine doubt- Considering all the bad roads you encountered, how did the low ground clearance, risk of bent alloys and RFT cope up. Or you guys had some different tyres for this trip.

Thanks

[Secretariat]

Lovely. One of the most beautiful parts of the country, experienced in one of the most beautiful of cars, and described in such beautiful words and pictures. Rarely visited parts of Arunachal despite being the most charming of places. Absolutely right when you describe the hospitality of the people of that region - it would be rare to find an unfriendly person there.

Interesting that you took the route through UP instead of the more traditional dash to Kolkata and the painful drive up to Siliguri. Nice to see the Bogibeel bridge in its majesty - for decades it was only a dream and taking the car on the perilous "car ferry" was the only way across.

Waiting eagerly for the sequel. Ace Bhpian graaja will no doubt match your tale with an equally unputdownable travelogue.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by gadadhar

Simply amazing, loved your narration and the way you organized the saga in to lovely snippets.

Thanks a lot.

We are in process of putting the outline (Destination & itinerary for a 14-day road trip from Bangalore) for a 15 day road trip in April. Arunachal is among the favorites, your thread will become the key input if we zero on AP.

Arunachal will be a great place for a 15 day road trip. Actually not just Arunachal, but you can also spend a few days in Meghalaya. Wait for the full travelogue by graaja where he will describe his Meghalaya exploration after I flew back. Those photos are amazing. There are some incredibly beautiful places in Meghalaya.

Therefore, I think Assam, Meghalaya and Arunachal can be a perfect plan for a 15 day round trip. And sine you drive a Fortuner 4x4, you can actually visit some remote locations too which we could not visit.

Originally Posted by tilt

AD, if this is the "quick & dirty" version you can come up with in such a short time, I can imagine (well, actually know) what you can do with more time

Thank you very much, tilt.

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

As much as the trip is special, I liked the unique way or narration. The contrasts that you've shown just goes to show why our country is called a sub-continent. This brought back so many memories from my drive to that part of our country

Thank you very much. Yes, the diversity of experiences our country offers is really amazing. I remember discussing with you about your past Arunachal trip when we met last time. Thanks for some of those pointers.

It's probably not just a coincidence that the initials of you 4 put together form the word MARG (road)

Haha. Interesting observation I hope MARG gets to do more such drives in future.

Originally Posted by DBeast

Dear Dr.AD, you never fail to amaze with your writing skills. I am sure you had a great drive, but the way you articulated it with great photos to accompany, for us, it felt like we also did the same drive you. I have some questions regarding gumball event, but I suppose this is not the right time!!

Thanks a lot. Regarding Gumball questions, I am anyways the wrong guy to answer those. Robi and megazoid did the Gumball and I and graaja merely did our own "funball" (as we joking called it sometimes) to meet them in Arunachal.

I would suggest wait till Robi and megazoid write their separate detailed report on the Gumball experience. That would be the best thread to discuss Gumball details.

Originally Posted by meetarin

What a beautiful way of putting down a non-chronological travelogue! Loved every bit of it and the pictures. I can imagine the ordeal you and the GT went through the Kalimpong-Siliguri stretch as I am just back from a trip in my Honda City which had the same route as a subset. Congratulations on completing such a wonderful journey!

Thanks a lot. Yes that road remains a challenge for sedans. But again, being careful, it was not a big deal. I saw many taxis (which were usually Etios or DZire) casually driving on that road even with 4 people plus luggage on board. For the taxi drivers, this must be a daily affair.

Originally Posted by Akmal

Fantastic read. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you very much.

Originally Posted by MADMAX111

@Dr AD

Great travelogue. One which makes one desirous of doing it and envious at the same time. Inspired to do something similar. Hats Off for the narration.

Really love the car and as you said it really is the Star.

Thank you very much.

Genuine doubt- Considering all the bad roads you encountered, how did the low ground clearance, risk of bent alloys and RFT cope up. Or you guys had some different tyres for this trip.

No, we did not use any special tyres or anything different as such. However, we had to take some extra precautions: 1. We carried a full size spare wheel and a full size tyre mounted on it, as opposed to the space saver that is their in the car as OEM spare wheel. Luckily, we did not have to use this full size spare. 2. We drove the car respecting the conditions. We always kept on saying we were in this for a marathon and not a sprint. We never tried to speed out way out of bad roads (that is a sure shot recipe for disaster). But we were very slow and careful when required, taking our time, showing lot of patience, letting others pass if required, and generally being careful. We often made up for some of this time when the road became smooth and wide - there the 3GT can make up lost time very quickly. But in general, we had kept plenty of time buffer in hand and beating time deadlines by hurriedly driving through potholes was never our aim.

Regarding low ground clearance and bent rims etc, fortunately both graaja and myself have plenty of past experience of how to manage this. I drive a BMW 320d and that is even lower than the 3GT. And I have driven that car on plenty of bad roads myself, and learned the skills to maneuver the car around potholes without any scrapping. In short, it requires a certain skillful way to manage these cars on bad roads, and thankfully, both of us had acquired that skill through our past drives in a variety of conditions over last 3 years. All that experience was very useful here. Both of us just intuitively knew how to drive. As I often said, we both speak the language of the car. The car talks to us. We can talk to the car.

Having said that, let me also point out that both 3GT and my 320d have a very good underbody protection. There is a proper metal plate covering the entire underbody of the car. It offers great protection in a rare event we have to scrape the underbody.

Originally Posted by Akmal

Having said that, what would have been the course of action if there was breakdown, say in a place like Dooars?

Again, nothing special. The plan of action would have been just to call the RSA and get the car on a flat bed. In case of any real breakdown, there is not much anyone could do apart from calling RSA anyways.

But again, BMWs (especially the modern ones - the F and G series) are extremely reliable and robust. Just because it is a German car does not necessarily mean it has a higher breakdown probability. If driven carefully and with understanding of the car, this car is as reliable as a Maruti. Therefore, barring any accidental damages, I never had thoughts of any other breakdown.

[ninjatalli]

What a wonderful trip(s) and equally interesting travelogue to read from different people/perspectives! Kudos to this trip A, G, M & R!

Originally Posted by robimahanta

My Gumball trip actually started in a funny note, I had a 5 am flight out of Bangalore and called for a 230am cab to the airport. As I got in to the cab, I realised that the cabbie was extremely sleepy (driving very slow, trying to eat gutka, calling someone on the phone etc.), he finally asked me if he can stop for some tea. I realised that it might get late for the flight and offered to drive his cab. He agreed readily and dozed off in the passenger seat. On reaching the airport, I woke him up and told him to get some rest and not risk the lives of other passengers.

Lol - this must be surely a team-bhp thing.

Have a similar incident years ago in Ahmedabad. My (office) cab driver was driving a Tata Indica to a client meeting when he was facing some gear issues and stopped in the middle of the traffic. We were already late to our meeting and I quickly asked him to sit on the passenger seat and took over. The gear wasn't slotting into the lower gears but was slotting into 3rd and higher only. In peak traffic through multiple signal/junctions, I somehow drove the car on 3rd gear using the clutch and finally reached our destination. Asked him to call for support and arranged an alternate means for our return trip.

[OffRoadFun]

Amazing drive. Would call it drive of a lifetime! Very few lucky ones are fortunate enough to go for such a cross country drive though many have plans, including myself. May be one day!
The pictures, the narrative, capturing the small details are all beautiful, immerses the reader into the journey.
Must be lot of fun!

One query:
Being in BMW which attracted lot of attention, did you ever feel bit unsafe?

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by Secretariat

Lovely. One of the most beautiful parts of the country, experienced in one of the most beautiful of cars, and described in such beautiful words and pictures. Rarely visited parts of Arunachal despite being the most charming of places. Absolutely right when you describe the hospitality of the people of that region - it would be rare to find an unfriendly person there.

Thank you very much!

Interesting that you took the route through UP instead of the more traditional dash to Kolkata and the painful drive up to Siliguri.

The main reason to take this route was to avoid the Kolkata-Siliguri section. I have read so many horror stories about that route that it made sense to avoid that altogether.

Nice to see the Bogibeel bridge in its majesty

Oh yes! Bogibeel bridge is amazing. It is impossible to capture in camera the sheer expanse of the bridge and the river below it. Not just this bridge, but we also drove on couple of other very nice bridges in Arunachal, near Roing.

Waiting eagerly for the sequel. Ace Bhpian graaja will no doubt match your tale with an equally unputdownable travelogue.

Agree. I am also waiting for graaja's sequel. He has visited some amazing lands after I flew back, and I am eagerly waiting to read his report on that.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

What a wonderful trip(s) and equally interesting travelogue to read from different people/perspectives! Kudos to this trip A, G, M & R!

Thank you very much!

Originally Posted by OffRoadFun

Amazing drive. Would call it drive of a lifetime! Very few lucky ones are fortunate enough to go for such a cross country drive though many have plans, including myself. May be one day!
The pictures, the narrative, capturing the small details are all beautiful, immerses the reader into the journey.

Thank you very much!

One query:
Being in BMW which attracted lot of attention, did you ever feel bit unsafe?

Nope, thankfully, not even once we felt a bit unsafe. And that is why I keep saying the people we met everywhere were very friendly. In all the attention to BMW and the BMW Q&A sessions and photography sessions, people wanted to talk to us and take photos, but at no point we felt even remotely threatened. Maybe we were just lucky. But we found only friendly people. I and graaja used to discuss this in the car, and all I can say is our faith in humanity has increased after this drive.

[androdev]

Great road trip and a superb thread. I could not guess why you posted about 3 GT road trip! Is it brik oven high grounds pizza?

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by androdev

Great road trip and a superb thread. I could not guess why you posted about 3 GT road trip! Is it brik oven high grounds pizza?

Thank you, androdev! That pizza is from Pizza Bakery at RMZ Ecoworld (outer ring road, near Bellandur). The Tiramisu was from the same place. I like their pizza, and like their Tiramisu even more.

RMZ Ecoworld is our usual meeting place in Bangalore. There is plenty of safe parking, multiple restaurants, some nice coffee shops (they already had Starbucks; and now they also have a brand new outlet of Third Wave Coffee) and desserts (Magnolia, for example).