Day 7: 29 Under 30. Siliguri Dispur Shillong

Day 7:

Siliguri-Dispur-Shillong

Kms Planned: 550

CooCoo said the alarm,time to start early. Jumped out of the bed into the bathroom, out in no time. Jumped into my riding gear Stuffed all stuff into my bags, checked out of the hotel and set off towards Dispur.

I took the   Jalpaiguri, Dhupguri, Falkata, Alipurduar, Gossaingaon, Bongaingaon, Nalbari route to reach Guwahati . 

I stopped at Alipurduar for an early lunch. The place where I stopped was a small eatery. I had Fish fry, Phulkas & Omelette. The food was great in taste and reasonably priced.

Early lunch time break.

Phulkas & Omelette

Fish Fry


On the way I saw festivities, many people were doing puja (Worshiping) their vehicles which we in South of India usually do during Dussehra/Dasara called Ayudhapooja.  I sopke to a few locals and they told me about it. It is called ViswakarmaPooja. 

More about Viswakarma Pooja https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishwakarma_Puja
More about Ayudha Pooja https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayudha_Puja
More about Dussehra/Dasara/Vijaydashami https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijayadashami

Vishwakarma Puja Idol. Image taken from net. Credits to the owner of the image

Puja/Worship of Bikes during Viswakarma Puja. 
Image taken from net. Credits to the owner of the image


Puja/Worship of Taxis during Viswakarma Puja. 
Images taken from net. Credits to the owner of the image




Here in Assam I was in touch with the Bullet Riders of Assam. They were introduced to me by 2 guys Shyamal Sinha & Dipesh Shah who were in-turn introduced to me by a fellow Versys Rider Roger.  I was also in touch with Reeturaj Yogi from Guwahati.I then rode on to reach Guwahati by about 4:30 where I met Reeturaj. We had some juice at a cafe and I bid farewell and moved on towards Shillong. 
Me with Reeturaj Yogi

Here I was supposed to service my Versys & Reeturaj was coordinating  with the KTM  Service center in Guwahati for me. But since it was Vishwakarma Pooja on that day, the KTM Service center was shut for the day.

In the whole of North East it is very difficult to survive on Creditcards. I came to know about this a little late but luckily wasn't too late. The Assam oil petrol pumps too did not accept Creditcards. So I had to withdraw and travel with enough cash for fuel, food & stay.

I then rode towards Shillong. As I left Guwahati, it started raining (as usual). It got dark and as I rode towards Shillong everything started seeming so weird. People were driving/riding following rules deligently. No two wheelers were overtaking other cars and bikes who stood in their lane patiently waiting. The length of lines were I think in a few kilometers but I did not see 1 person skip a lane or honk. This was so weird and unbelievable sight to me. I later came to know that honking was banned in Shillong but citizens of Meghalaya on their own are so mannered not to overtake from left, jump lanes etc.  Luckily my horn was conked off else I don't know how many tickets I would have got for that one evening.  

I finally reached the hotel and checked in into my room. Thankfully I wasn't drenched too much. I freshened up and went to a restaurant across the road to have dinner.

The restaurant served Manipuri Cuisine. They had other cuisines too but I preferred to try the Manipuri cuisine. The restaurant had an option of sitting on the floor and eating and I readily chose that over being served on table. The food was great and I loved every bit of it.  I ended it up with some sweet dish and came back to the hotel. By now the rain was nowhere to be seen. Looks like it came only to welcome me to Meghalaya-The land of Clouds.

Me in the restaurant Phunga

Me tired after riding continuously for 7 days


Manipuri Cuisine Thali

Phunga Restaurant

I put all my electronics on charge, transferred all videos & stuff into the drive and went to bed early hoping to get up a little relaxed as tomorrow I just have to do 430 odd kms which seemed very easy.

End of day 7

A small video of day 7: https://youtu.be/wqt3jTuFwC0


Route taken : Siliguri, Jalpaiguri, Dhupguri, Falkata, Alipurduar, Gossaingaon, Bongaingaon, Nalbari, Guwahati, Dispur, Shillong.

Road conditions: Decent to moderate roads all the way till Guwahati. Few bad patches and fewer areas where the roads were almost non-existent.

What caused the delay: Nothing really.

Kms Done: 550 kms


Destination tomorrow: Shillong-Agartala.

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