Since it had rained for the past few days in Bihar, the air humidity caused the hindrance to the airflow through the AC ducts because of the condensation on the evaporator pipes. Ok, let’s not get too technical about it. We had to switch OFF the AC to leave the condensation to clear off frequently.

               

 

As we entered deep into Bihar and got off the NH27, the state highway roads got worse by the kilometer and it was getting worse to worst. You could very well understand the state of the roads in the pictures. Our goal set to cross the international border into Nepal before sunset pushed us to skip our lunch and with the bad roads, the time was running fast but we moved slow. The last stretch to the Border was the worst road we encounter in whole of our trip. All this because of the detour we took to enter Nepal through Raxaul (Bihar) and not through Sanauli (UP).

As we were just 11 km to the border to exit India and enter Nepal, we did not know that these 11 kms is going to take us 3 hours to cross. It was around 2:30 pm we were just 11 kms away from the border but between the bad roads and the trucks that were moving towards the border. We did not have place to move and cross these trucks, which were stagnant. The police were stopping these trucks and we were witnessing arguments between the truck drivers and the cops.

Finally, someone gave us an idea to get into the field nearby and then bypass the traffic on the main road. In addition, we were able to move forward but this idea was useful in some places but not everywhere given the marshy roadside fields where we did not want to take any risk of being stuck with our 2-wheel drive.

As we reached the border, there was no checking at the Indian check post. We crossed the Indian check post and entered the no man’s land where there was no traffic with all Trucks left behind, it was close to 5 PM.

               

Now we were into Nepal with a sigh of relief that we crossed the Border into Nepal, I don’t know if Amit had been thinking of the mountain adventure challenge ahead but I was feeling accomplished that most of the trip is completed. Standing in Nepal, as waiting for the permit papers to be ready in that humid evening, I was “not” able realize the challenge or the courage that we were going to raise in the following day to finish the most difficult memorable part of the drive.

Gorakhpur, UP to Raxaul, Bihar:

As we crossed, Gorakhpur city, we witnessed the non-Auto Rickshaws which depicted the existence of the one of the oldest modes of transportation in India. As any other tier 2 cities in india, Gorakhpur was flooded with 2 wheelers. Atleast 1 in 5 bikes had gas cylinders tied to the rear seat. Now don’t assume that Gorakhpur has Gas powered 2 wheelers, it is only that the gas cylinders are transported. Unlike, the gas cylinder delivery that happens in the South India, Gorakhpur people had to pick their cylinders from the agency because most of the houses don’t have detailed addresses for the delivery man to deliver the gas cylinders. 2 out of 5 bikes was carrying an entire family, another typical tier 2 city middle class mode of transportation. Now that we had reached the interiors of UP, the response from the bike riders had slightly changed from MP, only that they did not respond to any horn. The loud horn of my vehicle only created the Noise pollution but the real intent of the honking was not met.

We were driving into Bihar through the NH27 and were following the Google maps since it always guided us through the route with shortest time to reach. As we were inside Bihar, the Google maps pushed us to take a diversion into an internal road. As we took the road diverting from the NH27, few meters ahead the road got narrow but well tarred running between fertile agricultural lands.

We did not realize that we had lost until we reached a point where a few meters ahead was a Pond but google was still showing a road. My vehicle was not a Hovercraft and hence we could not swim across the pond to reach the other side, the option was only to take the right side road to ensure that we are in the right direction.

After few seconds, Google maps rerouted with a new route now showing that we are in the correct way. After few minutes driving ahead, still following google maps, we entered a small-unpaved street. As we still believed and moved ahead in the road, we entered a gate of a house, which had few goats and buffaloes. We managed to turn around within the same place without anyone noticing us and as we turned around the SUV, the goats got panicky. We did not have any intentions of picking the Goats J

We did realize that Bihar village roads were not recorded appropriately in Google, that means someone has just drawn roads on paper and waited for some driver to experiment. We were victims of this Google experiment and decided to forget the directions provided by Google and decided to drive in the direction of the NH27. How did we know the direction of NH27 ? Google maps showed us the direction in which we were moving and the direction of NH27. It was like we were driving off road for Google. After few enquiries (thanks to my Hindi skills), we escaped few roadside thorns and finally reached the Highway and decided to stay on the Highway whatever time it takes.

Day 3 :

Drive to Nepal :

The earlier night we had informed the Hotel caretaker to get someone who can fix the puncture. We insisted that the puncture needs to be fixed by 7:30 am (I would say the sleep was just OK for me to get the steam for another day long drive) so that we stick to the plan of reaching Kathmandu on the same day. I was ready by 7:30 am and reached out to the reception and the caretaker sent a boy to look for the puncture shop. After 15 mins, he told me that it will be 9 am by when the puncture shop will be open.

As Amit also reached the reception, it was 8:15 am and we were still waiting for the clock to tick 9 am. Although we had carried a puncture kit, we did not have the air pump hence the puncture kit was of no use. We did not get the puncture fixed but the Hotel caretaker got us good breakfast. We just got served with hot Aloo Parathas and Tea. That gave us some energy to start the day.

Meanwhile, we were informed that the puncturewaala, who was just 100 metres away from our stay, was not ready to come down to get the puncture fixed. As we did not have any progress till 9 am, we decided to get this done ourselves. So, we visited this puncture shop and requested him for some help but he was sure that without the getting the tyre to him, he cannot help get the puncture fixed.

On the way, we enquired 2 other puncture shops. It was surprising that within a span of 100 metres, there were 3 shops which meant that this was a good business venture and just can elaborate the state of the affairs on the Gorakhpur roads. Me and Amit started pushing the vehicle up with the mechanical jack and with the humid we had started sweating. We towed the tyre to the shop at the junction and I should say Amit was good at towing the tyres. We just got reminded of our childhood play with Rubber tyres.

There were 2 nails which had to be removed and the puncturewaala did a good job to secure the rest of the journey.

Change of Plans:

Thanks to the amount of trade that happens between India and Nepal. Most of the essentials are carried by Trucks from India into Nepal and hence there are many border entry points to Nepal. We had planned to enter the Nepal border through Sonauli (Uttar Pradesh) and reach Hetauda (Hetauda is the common point for three different routes to Kathmandu).  Let me explain you about these roads first,

Road 1 : Mugling road

Road 2 : Palung / Daman Road (9 hrs 30 mins, 310 Kms)

Road 3 : Pharping Road

Road 1 is a long winding route which is mostly used by the Trucks since this road does not demand the sharp turns making it easier for the heavily loaded trucks.

Road 2 runs through the highest point at Daman and this is the highest road of all the 3 roads. It is usually ventured by private vehicles (cars, Vans and Small trucks).

Road 3 is the shortest of all the routes to Kathmandu from Hetauda but also has the sharpest of the curves and most frequently impacted by Landslides. Mostly ventured by 4 wheel drive Utility vehicles.

Roads to Kathmandu from any of the border entry points are mountainous hence the conditions of these roads change often, thanks to the land slides, rain and other factors of traffic. Amit started enquiring about the situation of the roads to plan the further trip to reach Kathmandu. Our actual plan was to enter Nepal at Sonauli, UP, which is, close to Gorakhpur and take the Road 1 or Road 2. As per this plan, we had to start early morning from Gorakhpur and reach Kathmandu by evening.

After the enquiry about the road condition, we realized that the plan had to be changed. Road 1 was closed because of a massive landslide and all the Trucks had been diverted through the Road 2. This means we will be stuck between trucks and the journey will be slow. Now that we don’t have any option of taking Road 1, we decided to get into Nepal first and reach Hetauda. That way we will get more time in Road 2 and allow the traffic situation to ease in Road 2. Given the good condition of roads in India compared to Nepal, we decided to drive parallel to the Indo-Nepal border and enter Nepal at Raxaul, Bihar.

Day 2 : Continued

As we were reaching Sagar, the Google maps was still showing the Mahoba NH34 route for us to get into UP since the Jhansi route on NH27 was a 15 mins slower than NH34. So, we decided to take the NH34 route to enter UP and then take the NH27 late without touching Lucknow. Now, that we decided to move away from NH27, there was no choice but to reach Gorakhpur because we will not be hitting any other City before Gorakhpur.

We stopped at a Roadside Dhaba in MP for lunch.

As we were in the later afternoon, the Sun was burning and Tanning Amit. Thanks to the government regulation of “No Cooling” on the glasses, Amit had to be innovative and stick his handkerchief to the glasses to avoid the burns.

We entered UP at Mahoba early evening and realized the roads here were not at their best, it would for sure drag us into a late night drive. As we were pushing through the highway, we could witness the heavy truck traffic heading towards Kanpur, the raw material for the Leather Industries and particularly the trucks were avoiding the long route through NH27 only because of the Toll charges (may be). Particularly the industrialization around Kanpur and Lucknow had pushed lot of trucks from south India carrying raw materials into these cities.

It was dark already as we entered the NH27. As we entered NH27, it was 8:30 PM and we were 200 kms away from Gorakhpur. From here on it is the busy NH27, which will lead us to Gorakhpur by 11:30 pm. For some reason, the distance and the busy highway did not make us hungry, so we stopped for some tea and continued our trip. We crossed Faizabad at 10 pm and as we were on the bridge crossing the mighty Ganges near Ayodhya, we were heading towards a Traffic Jam. We had crossed 80% of the bridge and it was then we were behind the huge traffic Jam and it was only Trucks all around. Behind us were some taxis and private cars. With all the head lights switched off, me and Amit were realizing that people are planning to have a sleep over the bridge and there is no evidence of the Traffic Jam getting cleared. It did make us nervous since we needed a good sleep and ready to cross the border to Nepal the next day. As we started quizzing the other Truck drivers, we realized that Traffic Jam on the bridge is a very common occurrence and it happens most of the days. (NH27 is one of the Lifelines of India, since it connects the Indian Mainland with North East part of India; hence, it is supposed to be one of the busiest highways in India).

As I started gazing through the lights sparking in Ayodhya and the reflections on the Ganges, took some pictures and whatsapped the same back home. Me and Amit had planned to take a dip in Ayodhya when we drive back from Nepal. Now that I was sitting on the bridge in the dark, Amit quickly vanished in between the trucks in the front and came back after 15 mins, giving a ray of hope for us to move to the other side of the highway (opposite) since there was curb shoulder which was connecting both the sides of the Highway and the few trucks that were between us and the shoulder were clearing to move to one side (thanks to the good Samaritan, taxi drivers). We got our space to move forward and climb over the curb, the terrano ground clearance helped climb with ease and we were quickly on the other side of the highway. By then, the clock was showing 11 pm and we were in the other side of the highway, the flashers switched ON and the vehicles head on shying away after we flashed the headlamps.

As we were reaching the outskirts of Gorakhpur, Amit started hunting for a stay through our another companion Google (Google is both a trouble maker and a helper). In this case, Google could not help us much. We were dragged into the interior of Gorakhpur and ended by in streets where the Ganesh Murthy was glittering in the spot lights and the streets were so narrow that in some cases we had to stop and ensure we do not hit a wooden pole that held the shaamiyaana above for the Ganesh Visarjan.

And finally we could see some hotels in a street cluttered with plastic bags and we landed in one hotel where there was a security guard that was awake. It was 1:30 am and we had to wake up the hotel caretakers and enquire for rooms. As we unloaded some essential luggage from the hotel, I witnessed that the right side rear tyre was completely flat. Sure that it was a nail that could have hit in the narrow streets of Gorakhpur. As we parked the vehicle to the side of the road close to the open mori, I was thinking about the next exciting day when we had to cross the international border and oops now that we had some puncture fixing work before we hit the road again.

Day 2 :
Drive from Nagpur :

                 

We started driving from Nagpur after a quick breakfast at around 7.30 am, with me still sticking to the Driver seat. Amit was happy to stay at the navigator seat with the Google maps showing the blue arrow pushing us out of the City.

We were quickly out of the City and discussing about our next stop to be Gorakhpur (UP) that will be a 1050 kms drive for the Day ahead. Our first stop after Nagpur was at the border entry to Madhya Pradesh (MP). The weather still cloudy was not so Humid and with the winding Highway and the lush greenery on both sides did make us enjoy the drive. Forgot to mention that we were in the NH47 now.

                               

The National Highway in this part of MP is still a 2 lane Highway but the roads had still put up well to the heavy trucks that move between North and South. We were heading towards Sagar which is right in the middle of MP and from Sagar, we will had to still decide to take the Jhansi, Kanpur, Lucknow route or get into UP at Mahoba through the Highway 34 which will be still a two lane highway.

                               

As we were crossing MP slowly (compared to the first day drive), I started getting the differences between the South and North. There were increased number of 2 wheelers on the Highway, sticking to the left side of the road, it was required to be super cautious because there were few instances where the driver dragged the 2 wheeler to the middle of the road and somehow a simple buzz of the Horn was not reaching him, so at times I had to push the Horn continuously to get him to feedback by glazing at his rear view. People did use the Highways for their daily commute which made me realize that urbanization in MP is not as it happened in parts of North, West and South India. Still people stayed in villages and commuted to nearby towns for their jobs... 

August'17

Day 1 :
Drive from Bangalore to Hyderabad
Started my drive at 6 am morning and on the way at Hyderabad, plan was the pick up Amit from the Hyderabad airport where he would land at 2.30 pm. As the journey was more than 500 kms, I had asked one of friends to accompany me till Hyderabad. Bangalore - Hyderabad NH44, a 4 lane highway with atleast half of dozen tolls. Although the toll fees hurt my wallet, the drive was pleasant and we reached Hyderabad well before the schedule. Given the further delay of Amit's flight, we had a chance to get to a nearby Hyderabadi house to taste the famous Chicken Briyani.

Drive from Hyderabad to Nagpur:
Plan for the first day was to reach Nagpur and stay there for the night. After picking up Amit, we started the drive to Nagpur through the long stretching 70 km by pass of Hyderabad. Although Amit was open to share the load of driving, a fully charged me could not move out of the driver seat. National highway 44 extending to Nagpur, was not the same as the one till Hyderabad. There were still lot of work in progress patches, which basically made us gear down quite often. Given the thick green cover around the highways around the Maharashtra border helped us to relax and get some ambient air inside. It was bit humid but still we enjoyed the nature. It did had rained in the morning and there were marshy patches, which Amit comments as “Curd Rice” J. We stopped once in between for a cup of chai and loaded some water bottles, our Stomach did need the lubrication to Digest the Briyani. We were stern on having the Dinner at Nagpur. Finally, after all the road diversions and marshy patches, we reached Nagpur. The speed at which the Metro work is progressing in Nagpur did surprise me given the fact that it was just 1 year back when I was here, there was no trace of any Metro work.

We got into a Hotel on the same road just to ensure our exit from the city the next morning would not be time consuming. It was 10:35 pm, we reached the Hotel. The whole drive from Hyderabad to Nagpur had taken us 7 hours 20 mins (this time faster than Google by 1 hour)

I should say it's a dream come true but then it's not just that dreams come true as we say, it takes the passion and commitment and the right ingredients, time that makes the dream achievable.

After driven across Europe (2009) and eastern part of the USA (2007), the roads and the cars were by far more sophiscated and the technology of GPS had engrossed into the lives of the drivers  (atleast by 2009, where we specially request for a Garmin / TomTom GPS navigation device with the rental vehicle). Indian subcontinent back then was waiting to leap frog into the new Highways, Smart phone based navigation and the better cars.

It was in the year 2015, when me and Amit used to drive to office together in my Swift, I used to tell him about my dream of driving across the Subcontinent and he used to return me "do you really think you can afford a long leave". As days passed, I did move from the Hatchback to the SUV Nissan Terrano. I had to settle for the 85PS variant considering the simple plain driving with a mix of possible few trips to the western ghats. Then we had the same discussion  (me and Amit) of the Subcontinent drive and by then Amit had surely moved to replying, "let's drive to Nepal" and used to quote his experiences with the 4 wheel drive Nissan pick up trucks in Nepal. I used to patiently cross him saying "this is a simple 2 wheel drive and no where in comparison to the bulky 4 wheel drive heavy weights".

May'2017
After 2 years, I was complaining myself of not able to drive my SUV as I used to drive the Swift earlier. Within 2 years, I had driven it across southern India few trips of 500 kms and once had a terrible experience of getting stuck at the bottom of a non tarred steep road (when I had wrongly taken a road in Wayanad) wherein my 2 wheel drive could not take up the slope instantly and had to get back to create the momentum and speed to get through the steep.

It was Amit who initiated the topic again of driving to Nepal and instantly I confirmed positively. As weeks passed, Amit started his usual push and pull to get things done and I had to accept a date where we planned to drive to Kathmandu, then plan a landing at Lukla and do the Everest base camp Trek. All flight tickets from Kathmandu to Lukla done considering we both will drive from Bangalore to Kathmandu.

July'17
My vehicle was due for the yearly service and as per the standards, the service guys confirmed that oils are changed and the vehicle is in perfect condition. Couple of weeks after the service, there was an unusual lag in the Turbo kick in and I had to send back the vehicle to service station again to be checked. Thanks for the warranty cover, Nissan replaced the Turbocharger and my vehicle was back with the Turbo power. Nevertheless, this episode could not pull me down on my drive plans.

I am set to write the experiences from my drive from Bangalore to Kathmandu and back. So, wait for my recurring blogs on this great adventure.