 |
| Beautiful Valley Dawn |
Like the last nine days, first light dawned by 5 AM on Monday morning. The day began cold, misty and rainy. We had both slept very well however, and got out of bed and freshened up so as to make it for breakfast just as the clock struck 8. Interesting to note was the fact that the hosts had a policy of breakfast being complimentary only until quarter past eight, thus ensuring everyone woke up early and got breakfast out of the way. Genius, I thought. A hearty breakfast of French toast, potato and omelette lifted our spirits, and an hour later, we were ready to leave.
 |
| Slushy Road Out |
It had rained however during the night, and the river level had risen, leading to water flowing over the check dam. We had to take our shoes off and cross carefully before putting them on again on the other side. James had sent his helper who helped us get across. Once we had loaded the bike, we ran into another problem. Slush had inundated the mud road out of the property, and taking the bike out that way was out of the question. The boy with us had brought a plank of wood and he placed it across the roadside drain to manoeuvre the bike across onto the grass embankment. The front wheel went across without much difficulty, however, as the back wheel began its passage, the plank slipped, landing the rear of the bike in the drain. Now we were in trouble. The two hundred kilo bike would not budge, and all racing the engine did was to splash mud onto anyone behind. Finally, after trying all sorts of things, all to no avail, I got off the bike, and with a great effort, we lifted it out of the ditch and replaced the plank under it. Anyway, ten minutes later, muddy and sweaty as we were, the bike was finally out of the slush, looking like it had just been bathed in mud.
 |
| A Pickly Affair |
With a sigh of relief that no damage had occurred to the bike on the last day, we departed. It was a long drive to Guwahati, three and a half hours according to the map. I decided to be particularly cautious knowing that most accidents always happened in the last phase of any journey. Once again, the part of the journey through Shillong was the most forgettable - a thousand car traffic jam, pollution and crowded roads making it a forty five minutes that drained us more than the remaining three hours of the journey. Finally out of the dirty capital city, we heaved a sigh of relief and set out at a clip on the four lane highway to Guwahati. Stopping once for tea, later for lunch, and finally to fuel up to the starting indication, we made it to Guwahati by 2.30 pm. Resting awhile, we returned the bike to Nibhir from Aagaman Travels before heading out. Despite being a seasoned biker who had been to much of the North East, we were surprised to learn that he hadn't been to Mawphanlur, only a few hours away.
 |
| Attack - On the Brahmaputra |
Deciding to experience the Evening Cruise on the mighty Brahmaputra, we made our way to the boat jetty and bought Upper Deck tickets. We did not have to wait long, and were soon ushered onto the roof of the Al Fresco cruise boat. Everything was organised impeccably and the boat had an excellent catering team as well who served delicious snacks and alcohol. What more could one hope for?
 |
| Beer on the Brahmaputra |
The cruise began as the clock chimed six, and went on for a whole one hour. An excellent live band had been organised to perform on the lower deck, and put on a spellbinding show, reaffirming my belief that the people of the North East indeed had extraordinary talent in music. The sky was overcast however, and though it did not rain, we missed out on seeing the sun set over the mighty river. Another surprising observation I made was the fact that there were no fishermen to be seen anywhere on the river, despite it being calm and slow flowing, almost like a massive lake.
Disembarking from the boat ride, we made our way to Fancy Bazaar, one of Anu's internet discoveries on places to visit in Guwahati. While the aim of our walk was to buy gifts for Vicky, Becky and Sachi, not unlike several earlier occasions, I ended up buying myself a pair of shoes instead to replace the ones I had abused throughout the trip. We next went to Central Mall, where we found everything we wanted for the kids, and a lot more. Anu too finally got the massage she was craving in the mall lobby.
 |
| Rang de Basanti Urban Dhaba |
We left as the mall was closing, and headed to an interesting sounding restaurant nearby - the Rang de Basanti Urban Dhaba. The place had a very novel character, each table propped up on milestones indicating distances to various cities around India. The food too was excellent, and we tucked in to the chicken and naan before downing it with a glass of delicious Lassi. Stuffed to the gullet we made our way back to the guest house and crashed for the night, our North Eastern adventure coming to an official close.
THE END
No comments:
Post a Comment