Naharlagun - Itanagar - Ziro ( Maha Roadtrip 2013 )

Bikers Of Assam Maha Roadtrip 2013

13th October 2013

On 3rd Day of our tour I got up early and had bath. Jayanta called up his friend who arranged the hotel and invited him to our room. He reached the hotel at 7AM. We chatted for few mins. He told that the Ita Fort of Itanagar is not maintained well and visitors rarely visits there. 

                                            


Itanagar derives its name from the Ita fort. Ita Fort means Fort of Bricks. Which is an important historical monuments of Ahom Reign. 

We started our Journey at 8.30AM to Itanagar. Today two of our bikes were found with punctured tyre. We repaired the Tyre in nearest shop and fill petrol in NRL Naharlung. The fuel cost was low Rs71 per litre and had better pickup in comparison to what we fill in Assam.

 
The Road to Itanagar was superb, we were enjoying every curves of the road. When we reached Ita Fort we found it closed for some renovation work as told by shop keepers near the gate. 

We returned to Naharlung and had our breakfast with delicious Parathas and Tea. We started our Journey to Ziro, Arunachal. 

We crossed Bandardewa and reached Pohumara, Assam. 

When we were resting by the side of the road a biker riding an Avenger with a lady Pillion came to us and said " Tumaluk Bikers Of Assam niki ". 
We: Hoi 
Biker: Moi page khon sau 

He wished Happy Journey to us and moved away. We also started our journey. We reached Kimin Gate, Arunachal. The roads, trees and landscape totally changed compared to Assam. We crossed Hawa Camp at around 1.30PM. 


The road condition was terrible but the landscape were beautiful. The young bikers was having a tough ride especialy the Pillon Anshuman of Yamaha YZF R15 V2.0. 
It was around 4PM. We were tired. Everyone kept on repeating " Ke#a iman beya rasta aru 100KM kiman deri je lagibo " or " Plain rasta 200-300km matlbei nai, atia he gom paisu 1km kiman dighol " 

We just tried to boost each other that Struggling for every single kilometer will turns Into a memorable experience after reaching The destination just like the Crazy Parashuram Kund Trip 

We were riding for last few hours in rough hilly roads and three hrs more to go. We were Tired, We were Hungry, We need some Coffee, We reached Potin Tinali. Potin is a Village in Yazali Tehsil in Lower Subansiri District of Arunachal Pradesh. 

We had some refreshment. There were some Arunachali boys and girls in the stall. It seems that they are also going to Ziro. They asked : Kot jabo Me: Ziro They: Sweater & Jacket anise nai, Ziro Tanda ase. Me: Ase bag'ot They: Thik ase jabo, ami vi goi ase 

We rode few Kms and it got dark. We wore our Jackets and started riding. Now the roads was comparatively better. I was leading with the Pulsar 220. I was enjoying every bend of the curvy road. 

It was cold & dark when we entered Hapoli, Ziro nearly 80% shops were closed. It was only 7PM. 

We checked some Hotels but found all booked. We were tired & hungry because of the whole day ride in bad roads. 

Alast we found a lodge with two rooms but it was not sufficient to accommodate all of us. Later we found a Hotel with big rooms and big beds so we decided to shift the hotel after having our dinner. We parked our bikes in the hotel parking area. 

We had our dinner and check in the Hotel. We cleaned ourselves and were inside our cozy blankets. Suddenly we heard knock in the door. 


I answered: Kun hoi but I got no reply. Again someone knocked at the door. 
I answered: Kaun hain knocker: Darwaja khol fir pata chalega kaun hain 
I answered: Kya hain bey knocker: Bike hata do, kaha lagaya hain 
I replied: Thik hai, ek minute 


I asked my friends to park the bikes together in some safe place.

 
It was cold and we were tired. We slept peacefully. Our third day of our tour came to an end.

Kaziranga - Tezpur - Naharlagun ( Maha Roadtrip 2013 )

Bikers Of Assam Maha Roadtrip 2013

On 2nd Day I got up early and had bath. As the battery of my mobile was low and our room did not had enough charging points for all of us I went to the reception and keep for charging. I and Arnab decided to explore the resort and its surrounding which seemed interesting from conversation with the night guard. 

As the resort was in Kaziranga National Parks Area we show some Monkeys, birds and small creature when we went inside the Woods. 

We decided to start of our roadtrip we decided to start our trip early in the morning but found our bike punctured in our hotel parking area. 

                                              

Thankfully we carried a foot pump. We filled air in the tyre and rode few kms. When we found a tyre shop where repaired the tyre. We had our breakfast at Jakhlabandha we crossed Koliabhumura Bridge. 

                                               

The Kaliabhomora Bridge is a pre-stressed concrete road bridge over the Brahmaputra River near Tezpur in Assam (India). It is named after the Ahom General Kalia Bhomora Phukan. 
This bridge connects Sonitpur on the north bank with Nagaon District on the south bank. 
The length of this bridge is 3015 meters. 

Then we visited Agnigarh, Tezpur. Bikers Of Assam at Agnigarh, Tezpur 

Agnigarh is a hillock located in Tezpur, Assam, India. In Hindu mythology, it is the site of the fortress which was built by Bana Raja, the king of Asuras (demons). Lord Krishna's grandson Aniruddha fell in love with Usha, Bana's daughter. Usha's love for a simple mortal came to Bana's notice and so he kept Usha in a separate island. This is the site of the legendary romance of princess Usha (the only daughter of king Bana) and Aniruddha. Usha was imprisoned inside the palace which was surrounded by a wall of fire. The place came to be known as Agnigarh. 

The present day Agnigarh (Agni - fire, Garh - wall), now only a hillock facing the Brahmaputra, provides a panoramic view of the great river and Tezpur. The hillock has been developed into a park and recreational area by the Assam Tourism Development Corporation and it is one of the popular tourist spots in Tezpur. 

Then we started our journey to Itanagar. 

We crossed Bhalipara, Sotia, Jamugurihat and reached Biswanath Chariali. It was about 3.30PM. Some of our bikes needed chain tightning so we went to a garage. 

The garage owner welcomed us and said: Apunuluke kali rati Kaziranga fale ahi asil niki. 

We: Hoi amiye asilu 

Garage Owner: Tshirt'or colour aru AS-04 Avenger khonot bag bondha style'or pora sini paisu. Moi gari loi Jorhat'or pora pise pise ahi asilu 

me: Chain kidal check kori diok sun 

While his mechanic to check our bikes, we met a localman who came to repair his bike. He deals in computer hardware. While chatting with him we asked where is the best restaurant which server delicious rice thali. He asked to go inside the lane to a Local Hotel named Baido Hotel. 

As it was about 4PM we were very hungry. We went to the hotel. It was small from outside. 

Gaurav Hotel or popularly known as Baidew Hotel locally served the most delicious Rice Thali of the entire roadtrip.

                                 



It was about 5PM of 2nd day our our trip. We crossed Biswanath Chariali and cruising at speed of 60kmph. I was a pillon and decided to ride. We stopped our bike and signaled others to continue riding. 

We stopped for 2mins and started riding. We started riding at 80-90kmph and hoped to meet others in few mins but after riding for 10-12mins at high speed still there is no sign of others. We couldnt even see their tail lights. 

Santanu: Dada val rasta dekhi pura dobaise, full speedot solauk 

I rode for another 20mins most of the time we were above 100kmph but still there is no sign of others. We crossed Hawajan, suddenly I felt the vibration of my mobile with a faint voice of my singtone. 

I answered: Hello 

Arnab: Kot ase 

Me: Kiba Jan par holu 

Arnab asked someone and answered : Apuni agot goi ase aru pura dobaise, ami petrol pump'ot humaisilu... 


                                             


It was about 6.30 PM when we reached Narayanpur on 2nd day of our trip. We were waiting for other bikers to join us. The town was in festive mood of Durga Puja. 

We waited for few mins & suddenly my cell phone rang. It was Jayanta : Kot ase, ami Chah khabo humaisu 

Me: Deri hoisu Naharlung ba Itanagarot khaba

Jayanta: Hotel Booked sinta nai

We reached the Tea Stall. It was a small stall, we ordered for tea and realised there was no fresh sweets & snacks. Even there was no Jelebi in Durga Puja season.

When I asked for a packet of snacks we noticed that the waiter is weird.

Arnab: Eitu ki piece bey

me: Baad diya Chah khua aru ulua

We have our tea and reached our bike. I was about to go by Santanu & Arnab said: Chintoo'dak jabo diok, pan dukanoloi sauk

I shouted: Chintoo bola deri hoise

Chintoo came to his bike and started riding. The waiter was running behind shouting: " Phone number diyok na "

I had no Idea whats happening I asked: " Ki hoise bey "

Arnab replied: Tar naam bule Jaanmoni, Chintoo'daye gom pai tak " Oi Jaanmoni " buli naamere mati dile.

Hi fida hoi gol. Atia tak Chintoo'dar phone number lage. Jaanmoni is a GAY 

We reached Naharlung and halted at Hotel Chandni which was arranged by a friend of Jayanta. Though the name sounded something fancy by the Hotel was big and Luxurious. We slept after eating fruits and snacks as the Hotel Closed the Restaurant moreover we were not hungry after overeating at Gaurav Hotel :-D

Duliajan - Sivasagar - Kaziranga ( Maha Roadtrip 2013 )

Bikers Of Assam Maha Roadtrip 2013

Life turns boring to do the same work repeatedly like a machine. Our biker group was formed to add some adventure in our life. We meet up once in a month and go to some unexplored destination. Most of our ride were one or two days ride. Since most of our members were either student or newly appointed employee therefore we dint get long leaves.

Whenever we meet up in our rides or in social networking sites we use to discuss about a grand tour.

A grand tour requires lots of planning physically, mentally and economically. We were planning for the Roadtrip since our first roadtrip to Lake of No Return, Myanmar.

The date was almost fixed since Durga Puja holidays was most suitable time for most of us but the destination was not fixed. We discussed about the destination in every roadtrip and G2G. Everyone came with different ideas finally we decided to merge the different destination in a single roadtrip and named it as " Bikers Of Assam Maha Roadtrip 2013 "

The complete circuit of the roadtrip comprises of all the important historical monuments of Assam & Arunachal Pradesh.

Day 1

On 11th Oct 2013 it was Saptami of Durga Puja. After offering my prayers to Goddess Durga at our nearest puja mandar. I started the tour from Duliajan on 9AM. Two of my friends Abhijit & Bijoy came to pick me up from Digboi. Bijoy had decided to ride single in his Pulsar180 and complete the whole trip while Abhijit will return from Sivasagar. He is not participating in the whole event as he had some official work and even he didnt get his leave. He came to cheer us.

                                            

We reached Naharkatia on 9.30AM where Santanu was waiting with our new member Arnab and Anshu. They have debited to complete the whole tour in their Yamaha YZF R15 V2.0. I will ride with Santanu in his Pulsar 220.

At around 11AM we reached Moran where we met Bhargav & Mrinmoy on their Avenger 220. We decided to visit the first and most important historical place of Assam " Sivasagar ".

We visited the Ranghar Pavilion, Sivasagar, Assam

The Rang Ghar is a two-storied building which once served as the royal sports- pavilion where Ahom kings and nobles were spectators at buffalo fights and other games at Rupahi Pathar particularly during the Rangali Bihu festival in the Ahom Capital of Rangpur.

Then we visited the Talatal Ghar. The Talatal ghar is the largest monument of Ahom Architecture. The place which was built as a military base during Ahom Rule. It had two secret tunnels and three flours building below the ground which was used as exit routes during Ahom Wars.

                               

It was around 1AM when we bid goodbye to Abhijit at Talatal Ghar. He came back and we continued our journey. We had our lunch at Hotel Nilkantha, Janji and reached Jorhat Bye Pass by 2.30PM where we met Madhurjya CH with his friends. Madhurjya CH had done two most memorable journey with us in his Honda CBR. He came to Cheer Us.

We reached Dergaon, it was getting darker and we stopped for a Tea Break in a stall which is owned to some relatives of Bijoy. Though they asked us to halt for a night we decided to keep riding. We crossed Kohora and Bagori Range of Kaziranga National Park and reached Burapahar as it was already 8.30PM we decided to halt in a resort called Wild Reach Eco Resort, Kaziranga

We had our dinner and our bikers went to their respective rooms. It was about 12 O'clock midnight. We recieved a call from Jayanta who was coming with Om Prakash and crossed Kohora Range. The started there journey lately from Tinsukia as they had some official work.

I and Arnab decided to wait by the side of the gate to receive Jayanta. We were sitting in a hill by the side of the highway. It was dark as the lights went off.

Suddenly Arnab shouted: Aaah kiba kamurile

me: hap sap hoi niki

arnab: nohoi, mejali porua niki

We heard some sound and someone was checking with a search light. I asked : Kun hoi

He replied: Sir moi Pyarelal, night guard.

Me: Night guard, rati kiba ulai niki

Guard: Nai dada kali nai ulua

Me: Kali nai ulua mane

Guard: Purohi he ulaisil hati

Me: Purhohi ??

Guard: Ei tinta rasta di hati Jungle par kore ( he showed three elephant corridor from where elephant crosses the Jungle )

Arnab: Light to de sun, rasta tu sai lou. Hati ulale polabo lagibo

Thankfully nothing happened. Jayanta and Prakash reached the Resort by 12.30AM. The already had their dinner on their way.

The first day of our trip was over. We all we very tired and slept as soon as we went to our bed.

Monsoon ride to Namdapha Tiger Reserve & National Park, Arunachal Pradesh

A Ride To Parashuram Kund, Arunachal

Holy Shit !! What a Ride !!

Only some lucky bikers gets a chance to be so unlucky to say " Holy Shit !! What a Ride !! " on the end of the ride and we were one of them.

When our group " Bikers of Assam " was formed on 20th of Jan 2013 and did an amazing ride to" Lake of No Return, Myanmar " we started discussing what will be our next destination.

Some of our members suggested to visit the Mega Reh Festival, Miao Festival or Mayodia and finally we decided to visit Parashuram Kund of Arunachal Pradesh on 17th Feb 2013 which was nearly 200KM away from Duliajan.

To & fro ride would be
400KM so we decided to start 5 AM in the morning from Duliajan.

Many bikers from all over Assam informed that they were interested & would join the ride. We all were excited about the ride. We designed our group logo & got its sticked in our bikes.

We finalised the route as Duliajan > Tinsukia > Makum > Doomdooma > Rupai > Namsai > Tengapani > Chowkham > Wakro> Parashuram Kund

We requested the members of Digboi & Margherita to reach Makum and meet us there By 6.15 AM

Members of Sivasagar, Moran, Dibrugarh, Naharkatia etc will reach Duliajan one day ahead & halt a night.

As the date of the event came closer some of the interested bikers said they cant join the ride as they were college students and have exam. Some of the bikers said that their pockets became empty due to Valentines Day & Saraswati Puja Celebration. As they were college students or unemployed we can understand how expensive these two days for them. Moreover on 15th Feb the govt increased petrol price by Rs 1.40 & various organisation declared 16th Feb as Assam Bandh. So unfortunately only few bikers were joining the event.

As 16 Feb was declared Assam Bandh Bhargav from Sivasagar who is the youngest member of our group was at Jorhat. He was so passionate that he arranged a scooty & came all the way to Duliajan to join the event.

At about 10 PM of 16feb it started raining. I posted a facebook status " Shit its raining & we had planned a 400+km ride tomorrow :'( " and slept.

17th Feb:
 At 4 O'clock in the morning when I woke up. I saw a sms from Shantanu " Dada Boroxun dise jabo ne ". Santanu is from Duliajan & a trainee engineer in BVFC, Namrup " . So I called him up & decided to ride as far as possible since its not raining heavily.

I had bath, prayed to god, had a cup of tea with mom & started the ride at 5 AM in the morning. As decided Trideep was waiting near the new bus stand of Duliajan with his bike. Trideep is my school friend, a good photographer and a big foodie. I still remember we use to look for his lunch box where he brings lots of fried stuff for us. Actually he use to bring two lunch box one for himself one for us. After school I meet him physically after 15yrs as he changed the school at class 6.

We started our journey from Duliajan & reached BCPL Gate near Tilinga Mandir where Shantanu, Bhargav, Madhurjya Ch & Mrinmoy joined us.

Madhurjya Ch is also a musician from Duliajan & a good photographer. Mrinmoy is a Musician from Moran.

The sunshine brought a smile in our faces. We started riding together and reached Makum where Abhijit was waiting after his night shift duty. He works for Oil India Ltd as Jr. Engineer. He was so excited about the ride that he went to Guwahati and brought new handle bar & new chain sproket few days ago for his cruiser bike (Avenger) but unfortunately it was fitted with fault which broke down the bearings.

We went ahead and reach Doomdoma by 7AM where we had our breakfast. We waited for the Digboi bikers for few mins but they didnt reach there. So we decided to move ahead crossed Rupai & reached Kakopathar. The road condition was superb just like a runway. Our speedometer clicked 80-100kmph. In a beautiful location we decide to do some photoshoot. After few mins the Digboi Bikers also reached there. Though Bijoy & his three friends didnt get much time for photoshoot.

We reached Dirok Gate by 9.30 AM where we got the passes to visit Arunachal. They charged Rs25 per person. After Dirok gate the roads were underconstruction. We crossed Tengapani, Chowkham & Wakro.

We crossed many monastary on our way & refueled our tanks in Wakro as the petrol price was less compared to Assam @Rs67 per ltr.

The views was awesome. We said to each other " Manuhbure bidekhot ki sabo jai jodi amar usorote iman dhunia thai furibo ase "

We reached Parashuram Kund by 1.30 PM. It was bit cold there. We could feel the force of the wind. There was a big wind mill which is used to generate electricity for the entire Parashuram Kund temple & surrounding. There was also solar plates to generate electricity.

Some of the bikers didnt want to visit the Kund as there is a belief that the kund is not visited by people who have parents alive. When we met some visitors they said its just a superstation they have visited the kund many times since childhood. Moreover we saw Akshay Kumar's movie "OMG, Oh My God" a day before so we went down & spent some time there.

While going down to the Kund we went down easily but while climbing up it was damn tiring. Some said there is 150 steep steps but it seemed like 500 steps

We climbed 10-15 steps and start eating the fruits, sonpapri, biscuits & local oranges. We chatted with the Sadhu babas, shopkeepers & we also met some foreign tourist from France.

We spent some time there & went to the Parashuram Kund bridge. The wind in the bridge was so strong that it pushed our us backward. Our bikes were shaking in the stand & moreover it started raining there.

As it started raining we started our return journey, it was about 4 PM. After riding half an hour we reached a small hotel where we met Nandini.

A cute little girl from Arunachal, Nandini is the daughter of the shop owner in whose shop we halted for a few minutes due to heavy rain. The owner said they dont have enough food for us so we decided to have lunch at Wakro. We bought some Chips, Kurkure etc from his shop and was busy eating when suddenly she came out from her fathers lap with a teddy in her hand, standing amidst us without any fear, in her innocent childish way she was saying - "ku kukulle (kurkure) ke packet edhal mat peko, mele papa aake tumhe khub pi pitenge, melle papa boht gussa karte haiii"

We bursted out laughing, and then offered her a packet..

We chatted with her, clicked pics and when we were about to leave she was asking about our bikes- "ye kya bike haii, woh kya bike hai", we answered her questions and asked her "tumhare pass kya bike hai", she said " mele pass to chotta bike hai, mele didi k pass bhi bike hai, boooht bala(bara) wala bike hai"

By then her father also joined in our laughter :-)

After saying bye to Nandini we moved ahead. It was getting darker minute by minute. It was raining heavily.

We dint meet any living soul in the Kamlang Reserve Forest and Kamlang Wildlife Sanctuary with dense forest. We could see fresh elephant dung on the road. There was nobody to help us in case of any mechanical fault. Infact we dint have anything for self defence in case of any attact from wild animals.

We rode in a constant speed in a zig-zag formation so that we get a view of the road ahead & its sides. The visibility was very less about 40% as it was raining. My black glass of my helmet made it more difficult to ride. We were getting jerks constantly as there many potholes on the road which were hidden by rain water.

When we saw the fresh elephant dung on the road we just said to each other " Atia kotu aru robo nai dei, Axom pua loike "

After riding for 2 hrs we reached Wakro. It was around 6PM. As we were all wet I decided to stop for a tea break but other bikers repeted " Atia aru kotu robo nai, Axom pua loike ".

I could understand we have to cross one more underconstruction road through the long dense forest. After seeing the fresh elephant dung it not a good idea to make delay.

Now we had very slippery muddy road to ahead due to heavy rain. Our bikes skidded many times. Our hands & legs were shaking out of cold. To ride few miles ahead took lots of time. We were constantly changing our riders.

Many times one of our rider had to get down to push our bikes from the back to make it stable & keep the wheels moving. Madhurjya Ch & Mrinmoy who brough new boots for the ride were filled with water & mud.

I remember once when Madhurjya Ch asked his pilion Mrinmoy to push his bike Mrinoy replied " Roba moi nijey pori golu ".

Mrinmoy fell down in the sticky muddy road :(

We reached Dirok gate at around 8PM. The Army man asked us to stop as a dumper had killed a young boy near Kakopathar & locals are protesting on the highway.

We went to a nearby shop to buy some chips, kurkure & chocolates to eat. We decided to halt a night at Digboi only Trideep will ride back to Duliajan via Tinsukia.

We squeezed our clothes, riding gloves & take out the water from our boots. We realised that we are wet upto our innerwear.

After the break we started riding again. We reached Doomdoma by 9.15PM from where we took a shortcut to Digboi & Trideep continued riding towards Duliajan via Tinsukia.

We were damn tired, hungry, our fingers were numb & whenever we stopped our bikes our legs shake out of cold. Only the engine heat makes it feel better.

We reached Digboi by 10PM. As soon we reached Abhijits room we went to the water tap to clean ourselves. The water which we feel cold normally was like boiling water. We changed ourselves to dry clothes & went inside the blanket to make ourselves warm.

After one an hour we had our dinner with boiled rice, potato and maggie. Next day early in the morning we came back to Duliajan to resume our respective duties.

Thus one of the most adventurous, challenging & memorable trip of " Bikers of Assam " came to an end.

Such challenges makes our bond stronger & helps to understand each other better.

Cheers Bikers of Assam

By – Madhurjya Bindass Axomia

Keep Riding || Keep Inspiring

~~~ The End ~~~