Druk Diaries: An experience of a lifetime

During January 2015 when I first mentioned that I think we should drive to Bhutan, the family's response was cautious. I think they initially though that I was joking and they let it pass. As day came nearer, I started preparing for it. Slowly everybody was on board.

The original plan was to start the trip in second week of April, but my family has to be in Delhi during first week of April. We decided that they will directly join me in Kolkata and I will drive from Bengaluru to Kolkata alone. My all the road trips have been with family and this was the first time when I was planning on driving more than 1500 kilometers alone.

You can find the total trip map above. We reached Bhutan by taking east coast of India and then came through central India. The total distance of the trip was upwards of 7700 kilometers and total fuel consumed was more than 850 liters. I did not keep track of total toll paid for this trip but it must be more than Rs. 4000/-.
Here is the detailed account of the trip.

1. Prologue
2. Bhutan Road Trip Process
3. Day   1 : Bengaluru to Rajahmundry
4. Day   2 : Rajahmundry to Kolkata
5. Day   3 : Kolkata to Asansol
6. Day   4 : Asansol to Siliguri with blessing from Baba Vaidyanath of Deoghar
7. Day   5 : Arriving in Bhutan, Siliguri to Thimphu via Phuentsholling
8. Day   6 : Permit Extension, Thimphu sightseeing
9. Day   7 : Thimphu local attractions and Dochu La
10. Day   8 : Thimphu to Trongsa via Punakha
11. Day   9 : Trongsa local attractions
12. Day 10 : Trongsa to Bumthang and Bumthang local attractions
13. Day 11 : Bumthang to Phobjikha and chillout at Phobjikha
14. Day 12 : Phobjikha to Thimphu, personalized stamps at Thimphu GPO
15. Day 13 : Thimphu to Paro, Paro Dzong
16. Day 14 : Taktsang Lhakhang or Tiger's Nest, a great trek
17. Day 15 : Chele La, Haa and Paro Market
18. Day 16 : Return journey, Paro to Purnea
19. Day 17 : Return journey, Purnea to Kanpur
20. Day 18 : Return journey, Kanpur to Bhopal
21. Day 19-22 : Break at Bhopal, Fixes to the car
22. Day 23 : Return Journey, Bhopal to Bengaluru

This trip was a test of endurance for us, all of us in the family, which we passed with flying colors. Many times it was tough, particularly during that dark, rainy night of drive to Trongsa, when we had no idea whether we were even on right path or the final day of drive when we decided to do Bhopal to Bengaluru without taking at break. At around 12:30 AM when I was really sleepy, my wife, who doesn't prefer to drive in night, offered to drive and that hour and half of drive by her made it easier for us to reach without taking too much risk.

Before this trip, the maximum that we had driven in a day was approximately 985 kilometers, i.e. Pune to Mount Abu. Now it stands at 1500+ kilometers.

If I were to do it again

If I were to do it again, I would probably modify the itinerary as follows.

1. Do Dochu La as part of drive to Punakha and stay in Punakha
2. Do Trongsa in day time and continue and stay in Bumthang
3. Move Paro to start of the trip
4. Couple of days extra for Mongar and Trashigang, 1 day to Mongar 1 day in Trashigang and then exit via Samdrup Jongkhar

Because of under construction roads, drive to east is specifically painful in Bhutan currently. It is very difficult to drive long distances across West-East highway. If locals were to be believed, it would probably 2-4 years before things would become better.

Lessons Learnt

• How important are your own tools in the car. The puncture guys whom I found on highway neither had spanner nor jack that would fit my car.
• It is very important to have a pump in your car. With a slow leaking tire, my trip would have been very difficult if I did not have pump with me to fill it up

Thanks are in order

This trip would have been much harder to plan and execute if not for the support of many friends on HVK Forum on facebook including but not limited to Rajneesh Khare for all the help around central india,  Sandipan Mallick for all the help around east specifically Kolkata and Asansol and showing a friendly face in hotel, Panduranga Kudige Shenoy for helping me finalize the Deoghar route, Kumar HV for all the guidance, direction and help and everbody who is working with HVK Central Hotel Desk, 

If I missed somebody, it is not intentional, I am thankful for any help extended by anybody that helped me make this trip successful.

Finally thanks are in order to my wife and daughter for agreeing and putting up with the madness of being on the road for more than 20 days.