Day 2

Date of Journey: 27-11-2016

Route: Guwahati to Itahari (Nepal)

Distance travelled: 593 Kms

Just like Day 1 I started exactly at 3:55 AM. It is good to start early in wee hours. One can cover more distance in less traffic. Traffic increases after 9:00 AM and it takes time while passing through towns falling on highway. 

 Near Nalbari..

 Another Pee stop

Entering Bongaigaon

From Guwahati to 30 km beyond Srirampur (Assam Bengal Border) it is 4 lane highway of 295 kms. In the foggy morning I started hitting 80-90 kmph on consistent basis.  When it got brighter it became even easier. I reached bongaigaon (180 Kms.) at 6:45 AM with 2-3 pee stops in between. Had tea there. The shopkeeper gave me a Bhutanese 5 rs. Note in exchange. Bhutanese notes are also used there as Bhutan is very close to bongaigaon.

From Serfanguri to Srirampur gate (25 Kms) the road is underconstructed. Saw no construction work going on. Don’t know why it was left like this. One has to be very careful on this road. You are going full throttle and suddenly road disappears and you have a diversion.  Ladies foot rest of my bike broke while suddenly the road ended and my front wheel went down half a foot and I lost balance. My bike fall in the left side and the foot rest hitting the concrete slab of the road. That was a minor mishap but it gave me a timely alert. I just tied the foot rest with a rope and moved on.

At srirampur (Assam Bengal Border) I saw lot of trucks standing both sides for permits etc. No stopping for private vehicles though. There are many roads which lead to Siliguri from here. Most used is the one via Hasimara. But I chose Alipurduar-Falakata-Dhupguri-Maynaguri-Jalpaiguri-Siliguri route. Road are narrow in this route and bad in some patches but it saves 70-80 Kms. I will not suggest this road to 4- wheelers though. It will be time consuming for cars as there is traffic congestion as the road passes through villages and habitation.

Near Maynaguri byepass..

I reached siliguri at 12:30 PM (440 Kms in 8:30 hours) and headed towards pani tanki, a place near India-nepal border. However I lost my way in siliguri as l got confused in the web of roads. Finally I made it asking people on the roads. Near the Indian side of border I fully filled my petrol tank as I heard about problems of getting petrol in Nepal.

As I was crossing borders there were 3 checkposts where police were there but no body stopped me. I just passed through them slowly. There is a river which separates India Nepal . I crossed the border and find Nepal police. To my surprise they even didn’t stopped me. However I stopped and asked them about the process of getting my motorcycle inside Nepal. One of them told me that if I want to go nearby and return today itself I don’t have to pay tax but staying overnight I have to pay tax (Bhansar, as they say). They show me the bhansar office nearby. I went there, Outside the main office there was small make shift office where entry form for 20.00 NC(Nepal Currency) was available. They themselves filled the form seeing my Registration Card(RC). They say RC as “Blue book”. Daily tax for motorcycle is 113.00NC (Rs. 75.00 IC). Easy process, no hassles. Single window operation. Felt nice. For car it is NC 452.00( IC 282.00 per day). But for car you have other formalities which take some time. They issue temporary registration and road permit for 4 wheelers. I exchanged my Indian currency to Nepal currency.  Then I collected a Nepal SIM(activated) from a mobile shop by paying NC 300.00. No documents required. The shop owner told me that if I return the SIM he will refund NC 100.00. Not a bad deal, I thought.

Then I headed towards Itahari, a big town located some 95 Km from the Nepal border Kakarvitta. At one beat office I was stopped, They checked my documents issued by the tax office. They entered my records and allowed me to go. It was 3:00 PM. I moved slowly stopping taking photos. Reached itahari at 5:30 PM. Took a hotel room and went to bed straightway after having dinner at 7:30. Very tired today… Here are some pics on the way to Itahari.

 East West Highway of Nepal.. Near Birtamode

Near Itahari...Belbari forest

Felt nice being in Nepal. Weight of my wallet reduced with Rs. 500 and 1000 note. No one refusing to take and got changes also. Nepal currency folks.