[anandpadhye]

Tawang has been on my mind for years. Sheer distance from Pune meant this would need at least 2 weeks off. And still that won't be enough to cover all of Arunachal. Of course, I am talking about driving all the way, which is obvious here in the forum (though not so obvious in real life). Flight does make sense for a far away place like Arunachal as it would save considerable amount of time and enable you to use all your days to roam around within Arunachal, but then like all sensible things (and people) in the world, flights are boring. And sensible and boring things often lead to more sensible and boring things - like being ferried in an Innova thereby sucking all the remaining happiness out of you. There aren't many good powerful fun to drive cars available as self drive rentals in our country, even less so in places like Asam and Arunachal.

Anyways, I am digressing. I wanted to drive the GTI to Arunachal, period :-)

Sometime in June, I got the notification for Tawang Marathon (happening on 1st October) from one of my runner friends and almost instantly I said this is it. I am going. 3 months is a decent time frame to plan the time off and the drive. It was surely not enough time to prepare for the actual marathon given my current fitness level, the steep inclines of the route and the altitude of 9000+ ft which means less oxygen. But then you never know how things would be next year...Given the situation at work and home, how much I would be able to train for the marathon was a question but I was determined to finish the run, even if it would mean I am the last runner to finish, "no DNF" I made a promise to myself.

I also started pushing my mom to come along, I really wanted to spend the 2 weeks with her and also wanted her to see Tawang and Arunachal. Given her age, I selected some simple yet effective strength training exercises for her, focusing on lower back and legs so that she could endure the long drive and hours of sitting in the car. Also deep breathing and Pranayam. She did this religiously. We also got a toilet chair that can be simply put on an Indian toilet, in case she would need.

During this time, MotoGP Bharat was announced and bookings opened. Due to my recent "return to motorcycling" after a gap of a decade or so, these things started coming into my feed and I decided to go and watch this race, so it added a detour to BIC.

Regarding the car - the 330i would have been comfortable but looking at road conditions in Arunachal in Sept/October (narrow patches, high probability of landslides), GTI seemed like a better choice. Also, GTI had never been to the Himalayas so far as she always lost out to her bigger sibling, so it was going to be GTI this time.

Index:
Day 1: Pune - Indore
Day 2: Indore - Gwalior
Day 3: Gwalior - Greater Noida
Day 4: MotoGP
Day 5: Greater Noida - Azamgarh
Day 6: Azamgarh - Siliguri
Day 7: Siliguri - Mangaladoi

Day
8: Mangaldoi - Sela

Day 8: Sela - Tawang
Day 9: Rest, Marathon BIB collection
Day 10: Rest
Day 11: Marathon
Day 12: Sengetsar lake

12. Bum La

Day 13: Tawang - Sela - Mangaldoi
Day 14: Mangaldoi - Dooars - Siliguri
Day 15: Siliguri - Begusarai - Nawada
Day 16: Nawada - Patratu - Simdega
Day 17: Simdega - Jharsuguda - Raipur - Nagpur
Day 18: Nagpur - Samruddhi Mahamarg - Pune

Signing off

[anandpadhye]

Day 1: Pune - Indore

Started around 7:45AM from Pune. With a couple of food and tea breaks, reached Indore @9PM. Checked in at Amrit Residency (had stayed here during the previous road trip to HP) and took an auto to Chappan Dukan for the classic Indori food. It's actually walkable but as Mom was with us, decided to skip the walk. What a place Indore - Vegetarians delight. Everytime I come here I feel like settling down here for good.

Some pictures:

En route:



Lunch:
This was very tasty, forgot what subji this was and what was the bhakri made of - this is what happens when you write the travelogue late! Can someone identify the ingredients?
They billed extra for the chutney/thecha, which was amusing, considering we were a good 200+ km far from Pune' peth area :-)


Evening tea:
Very nice ambience and good evening mood. I asked for strong tea without sugar and they made it enthusiastically.




Chappan Dukan:
Not many photos as we got down to eating straight away.


A no car day scheduled in the city to promote public transport and non IC engine vehicles:


Amrit Residency:
It's a decent place. Rooms are clean, breakfast is good, they also had Ganpati and all the staff attended the morning Aarti, we also joined.

The place does not have much of parking, may be 4 or 5 cars can be accommodated in the front of the hotel.


Indore has good vibes, people look happy and everyone loves to eat.

[anandpadhye]

Some photos from Indore Gwalior section:

A quick tea break at a tapari along the highway:


A fellow trucker cruising steadily, these are real gentlemen:


A quick home cooked paratha break:


This tekri Hanuman temple had always tempted me in my previous drives:


This time decided to take the detour and visit the temple. The service road is in shambles and this is where 330i would have needed extremely watchful manoeuvring than GTI. The tekri is not that high and the ghat to the top is freshly made but concrete and it's extremely uneven and bumpy.

A new tractor visiting the temple for post delivery Pooja:


Darshan:


View from the top:






Indore Gwalior section stats:


Trip numbers so far (Pune Gwalior):


Hotel Rajmohan Palace, Gwalior:


There was this C3 EV being charged from security cabin at the parking entrance, had to be moved out for us to exit.

[anandpadhye]

This section was boring, below average road surface, slow moving traffic, dust. As we neared Agra, I started looking to enter Agra Noida Express way, at a junction, Google was suggesting to go straight towards Agra and there was a road sign for Noida Delhi towards left. Given how gmaps sometimes suggests less than ideal route, decided to take left and it was a lottery we lost and cost us dearly. Stopped at a dhaba for team and directions and strangely even the truckers did not know the next merge for the express way. However tea was good.

GTI among the big boys:



Was a taking a closer look at the drivetrain of the truck and what a sight it was :-) :

Under the trucks

Continued on and asked for expressway merge at next toll naka, they told me something that I could not actually related to on ground, eventually gmaps showed a merge and that took us through Mathura. Crazy traffic in and around Mathura, entire place is in shambles:


On e on the way, all fatigue went away, smooth surface, things traffic.
Mathura Greater Noida Express way numbers:


Reached hotel around 4PM.
Trip numbers till this point (Pune Greater Noida):


Hotel was nothing like what was shown in photos on booking dot com :-) it was being repaired, extended, lots of concrete dust, no lift... Anyways, asked mom and cousin to take rest as we have been on the road for 2 and a half days. I decided to do a reconnaissance mission to BIC to spot potential parking spots on race day and also to check out the scenes. All parking lots had turned into slush thanks to the rains.


Saw Marc Márquez in person first time (so the guy is real ):


Greater Noida roads are superb. Arterial roads have lovely tree linings, lots of greenery and butter smooth surface. GTI loved it, especially the flowing left hander while merging from BIC area onto the express way towards Noida. In spite of FWD, GTI took the corner enthusiastically with no understeer, I can imagine the fun 330i would be on this bend.

[anandpadhye]

Race day parking:
Lots of mud, I tried to find a parking lot and a spot that had as much grass as I could find:



However, by the time I came back after the race, there were mud splashes all over the car, possibly from some car that struggled to gain traction while parking next to the GTI...and these had solidified, were hard to remove. Drove back to the hotel and used the garden hose to wash the GTI next morning.




Regarding the race:
I think there must be elaborate coverage of this on the forum and elsewhere by hard core fans and followers so I won't be adding more value. As for me, this was the first time I watched a race live. I was at Picknic Stand North so had the view of turn 1, 2 and 3. It was interesting to see how they lean on turns and accelerate out of the corner though I didn't have the view of the back straight where they would be hitting the top speeds. It was a good experience though I am not sure I would be going again next year, it did not feel like worth the effort, time and money to watch some one else riding fast without any hindrance while I have to worry about potholes and speed breakers and childish speed limits in my own life :-) I would rather go for a track day and ride myself, that should be worth it.

Also it was very hot and humid to spend the entire day out in open and food and refreshments were sold at a very high premium, it just didn't feel right. Anyways, I was expecting all this and as I didn't drive all the way from Pune just for this, it was not a big deal. The main part and the biggest attraction of the trip was still to come...Arunachal Pradesh!

[anandpadhye]

Next morning we started the onwards journey. Idea was to cover as much ground as possible before the night fall, had marked a few places on the map where booking dot com and other websites were showing decent hotels, but it was really going to depend upon how fast we were able to travel.

Right out of hotel, within 3 or 4 km, we got onto the expressway and drove all the way to Agra where it ends. Here are the numbers from this section:


From Agra, we took the Agra Lucknow expressway, which was also a breeze. Hadly any vehicles on this road, also there are not many petrol pumps or food joints on this expressway. No ugly hoardings anywhere along the road which was such a pleasant surprise especially coming from Maharashtra where all the roads are flanked with these, making the entire state ugly. From Agra entry, the nearest petrol pump is around 100km away. It would have been a touch and go, so I took an exit around 70 odd km, went ahead into a village around 5km and refuelled and drove back and merged on the expressway again.


We stopped again for lunch after 30 odd km (or more) when we saw the food joint (this has a petrol pump as well). This was more like a food mall with all usual north south cousin and chaat. I ordered something from every outlet just to try:


After exiting the expressway, getting into the Purvanchal expressway for the onward journey was a bit of a pain, you have go through Lucknow city. We stopped for a quick tea before entering Lucknow:


What a relief it was to get onto the Purvanchal expressway after the typical chaos of Lucknow. Again 3 lane expressway with hardly any vehicles and hardly any petrol pumps :-) The speed limit is 100 (these new expressways deserve much higher speed limits, in fact, there should be sections with no speed limits like the Autobahns, hopefully one day). We refuelled along the way at a very spacious and well kept Indian Oil petrol pump:


10%of ethanol in regular petrol:


12% ethanol in XP95:


As we drove on, I started actively thinking of where to stay, consulted a friend who is from Bihar, he informed that after Purvanchal expressway ends the road is narrow, undivided and has a lot of truck traffic. So decided to take the exit to Azamgadh and pulled over, looked for hotels, selected one based on reviews and price and decided to give it a try. It turned out to be a decent one. We ordered the daal khichadi for dinner which was good, and called it a day:

[anandpadhye]

As it turned out, it was a wise decision to stay at Azamgarh. The road ahead was really busy, narrow with lot of traffic. Progress was slow. Soon we came to a bridge that had this sign:


The river bed here is super wide:


Incidentally, the river marks the border between UP and Bihar.

The road was Ok as it was going to Patna. However, once we turned left as per Google Map for Silliguri, the road conditions were bad, all dug up and under construction. And this remained so almost till we reached West Bengal border. In fact, the roads were so bad that we contemplated staying for the night somewhere but that seemed impractical as existing the NH27 and getting into some town also seemed risky, so we slowly carried on. As it was getting late, we pulled over ay a road side dhaba for some dinner and it turned out to be delicious. The rice, the daal and subji's had unique taste and we ate a lot. The people were very friendly and asked us what we were doing there at such a time in the night. Conversations were very warm and eliminated all the fatigue of the bad roads.



From them, we understood that we were still in Bihar and WB border was just a few km ahead. We asked if they had any basic accomodation but they didn't. They suggested there was no point looking for one before Silliguri. So with that assurance, we carried on. Once we crossed over in WB, the road surface became better and I enjoyed a smooth night drive all the way to Silliguri. Once reaching Siliguri I pulled over near Hotel Monarch and was about to Google for it's reviews, price and other options when their guy came out and invited me to take a look. Just perfect! It was around 11PM and I didn't want to explore further so we pulled in, took a room and retired. It was a nice place.

[anandpadhye]

Next morning we resumed onwards, again with the intention to cover as much distance as we could. From Google map estimates it was clear that we could not reach Tawang today and would have to stay somewhere in Assam. I wanted to get as close to the Arunachal border as possible but we would see.

Roads in WB are generally nice (except speed breakers and check posts at almost every junction even on the NH). Apart from road conditions also, WB overall felt nice, it's generally very green.

A few km after Silliguri, we hit the 3000km mark on the trip meter:


Some photos taken en route:





A stop at a petrol pump for bio break and tea on a nearby tapari:




NH27 is under maintenance with many flyovers being constructed, many sections being resurfaced, the progress was slow and it became very slow as Guwahati came near. Looking at maps, Guwahati seemed off the track for Tawang so I kept stopping every few kilometres asking for directions to Mangaldoi. Everyone was friendly and I kept getting good advices, often contradicting yet useful. One person told me that road conditions are secondary, safety is primary and a certain road is shorter but lonely through forest are and we should avoid. I kept honouring such inputs and forcing Google to reroute as I made decisions. Finally, we stopped for dinner and I used that break to Google for hotels and also ask around. As it turned out, there were not many hotels around and many had closed for the day (no 24x7 reception!) Finally, one hotel answered favorably and I decided to go there. It was right in the middle of the market area, typical unhygienic surroundings, , the ground floor stilt parking was full. But the manager was very nice, he understood my love for the car and moved out a few vehicles and enabled the GTI to be tucked inside. I can't thank him enough. I should have clicked photos but I was too occupied getting all this done.

[anandpadhye]

We started early (given the fatigue of the previous day) @6AM but it was already late for Assam as the sun rises much earlier there and we don't have different time zones (I like this, afterall, how difficult it is to just remember to wake up an hour early when you are in the Easter part of the country). It was uneventful as long as we were in the plains of Assam. Once we turned and pointed the GTI towards the mountains, everything came to life.

First darshan of the mountains:



We stopped to check out the fruits and vegetables:


Lemons were huge and tasty, we brought some back home and were them for a few weeks after returning:


Some pics taken en route:

The Shaktiman's:

Attempts to capture the winding road from a Vantage point:





Every house in Arunachal has beautiful flower beds. My cousin went to a house and asked if we could take a few flowers, they happily allowed:



GTI just as pretty as the surroundings:


Beautiful villages and roads:




By the time we approached Sela top, it was already dark. We were late by the local standards, given that it can fog badly here, so we were advised by the home stay owner to rush, but the night sky was looking just too beautiful from here, for me not to stop for a quick picture or 2.

I got down to take quick photo of the GTI, even though it was super cold with wind chill. There was no way I would pass this opportunity:


Outside temperature was 7.5°C and oil temperature was 111°C.


For Pirates of the caribbean fans:


At Sela top:

[anandpadhye]

It was 7°C at the Sela top.


The Army canteen at Sela top was out of supplies. We got some biscuits and a cup of ready to eat noodles and pushed off. The road on the other side was being repaired and was in bad shape. I had to navigate the GTI carefully across all potholes, mud and stream crossings. No photos from this section but it's captured in the dashcam footage. Eventually we made it to Tawang, we missed the exact location of the home stay and were calling them from a place when a local Omni guy came to us and offered us to lead to the place. The town was deserted and he really was a godsend.

The Seven Sisters Homestay was good. Room was spacious, and with safe parking.






We had requested simple vegetarian dinner and they had kept it ready. The owner and her help had an extended day because of our late arrival.

[anandpadhye]

Overall trip numbers from Pune to Tawang:


Morning scenes at the homestay the next day:






Tawang War Memorial:



View of the winding road from war memorial:



Marathon BIB collection:



Route map:


Statue of Shivaji Maharaj at Tawang War Memorial:


After BIB collection, we had a couple hours on our hands before a cultural program arrange by the organizers and Army, so we just drove around and stopped at a small tapari for tea.

Was nice to see people unwinding in the evening like this:


Entrance of the home stay:


Veg thupkas for dinner, were just too good

[anandpadhye]

The marathon route was an out and back route starting at an altitude@2847m (9373 ft) going down to @2213m (7260 ft) and then making a U turn back to the start/finish point. Overall elevation loss and gain of @900m (2950 ft).





I took a whooping 6 hrs and 33 min to finish but I did finish :-)

From the results I came to know I was 91st out of total 121 runners who attempted the full marathon.

Lack of Acclimatization (we reached only 57 hours before the start) and my very limited fitness meant I was going to struggle at that altitude but I was determined to finish it and glad I could.

BTW, Arjun Pradhan of Army came 1st and he finished in an astonishing 2 hrs 49 min! Salute to him and the Army

Some photos from the marathon:

Before the start:

After the finish:


My cousin and mom were at the stadium to watch me finish. They enjoyed the atmosphere and the energy and were talking to runners:

[anandpadhye]

Next morning, I decided to go to Bum la. This needs a separate permit that our homestay owner helped arrange.

Morning beauty:


View from the room:


Sangetser Tso (more popular as Madhuri lake due to her dance shoot from Koyla):

Tricolor flying high at Sangetser Tso:

Tricolor

Lovely trail around the lake:

Lovely trail around the lake:

[anandpadhye]

On the way to Bum La:

Lake at 14000 ft!





Bum La:


The long winding roads, zoom in and you can see the Shaktiman's:


Some photos of the GTI:
The oil temperature reaches 115°C at those heights @14600 ft). In fact it briefly hit 116°C before I could click.


At Y junction:



Pankang Teng Tso:

[anandpadhye]

Some photos from the return leg as I climbed down to Tawang:


Had to capture the curves with GTI in the frame:


It rapidly became foggy:



By evening it started raining:


Now this is going to be my memory of Bum La: