Drive to Bhutan and Darjeeling hills

Day 1 (10.04.10)

Jaya and I drove in our Swift VDi to Durgapur (233 km) via Chandil, Purulia and Bankura. Spent the night with my cousin Babluda and his wife Kamala Boudi.

The road from Jamshedpur to Chandil is not too good at present. Chandil to Purulia stretch is quite good. Purulia to Bankura is also quite good but has many curves. Bankura to Durgapur is excellent (though it is not a dual carriageway), with bright white lines in the middle as well as on both sides of the road.

Day 2

Jaya, Babluda, Boudi and I started from Durgapur at 5 AM and reached Siliguri (517 km) at 5 PM.

From Durgapur, we drove via Panagarh, Ilam Bazar, Siuri, Rampurhat and Nalhati to Moregram where the road joins NH34 (Kolkata-Siliguri highway). From Moregram we drove to Siliguri via Farakka, Malda, Dalkhola and Islampur.

Except for a few short stretches, the road was quite good throughout. From Dalkhola to Bagdogra there is an excellent 4-lane dual carriageway (except for a 6 km 2-lane stretch after Islampur and another 12 km stretch just before Bagdogra).

Day 3

From Siliguri, we drove to Phuntsholing (155 km) in Bhutan via the Sevoke Coronation bridge, Binnaguri, Jaldapara and Jaigaon. Our original plan was to spend our entire holiday inside Bhutan in cool high-altitude places like Thimphu, Paro, etc., but at Phuntsholing we got a rude shock when we were told by the Bhutan immigration office that in view of a SAARC meeting at Thimphu, no tourists were allowed beyond the border town of Phuntsholing. I had done extensive homework on the net before coming to Bhutan but even the official website of Bhutan Tourism didn’t mention anything about this tourist ban (throughout the month of April).

We spent some time sightseeing on the streets of Phuntsholing and had an excellent Chinese lunch there. The shops and restaurants of Phuntsholing were of a significantly higher standard than those in the Darjeeling hills. The small town looked clean and well-maintained and local Bhutanese men and women were all attired in their national dress.

We had to replan our entire holiday and we had to do it very quickly. All four of us had looked forward to spending the night of Day-3 in some cool place up in the hills amidst the pines and Phuntsholing definitely did not fit the bill. It was 2 PM by the time we started driving back from Phuntsholing and we wanted to choose a hill destination which we could reach before it got dark. I decided to head for the hill station of Lava in the Darjeeling hills.

First, I drove 99 km back on the same road to Sevoke which I had taken earlier in the morning. Then at Malbazar, I left this road and took a narrow road through tea gardens to Gorubathan (13 km from Malbazar). From Gorubathan, it was a steep 41 km climb to Lava. When we were about 25 km from Lava, we encountered fog which kept getting thicker as we climbed. The sun had set and it got dark very quickly. To make matters worse, a light but persistent drizzle set in. Visibility in the fog was down to a few feet, that too with the help of the Swift’s fog lights. Headlights were useless as they only showed a wall of thick fog. It was very difficult to drive as the road did not have any white line or other markings. But I managed to inch ahead, slowly but steadily, duly aided by my navigator wife who has a better eyesight than me.

Finally, around 6 PM, we reached Lava at 7700 ft. The small town was enveloped in thick fog and we could hardly see anything. Fortunately, I had been to Lava before and vaguely remembered the way to the WBFDC resort there. The first problem we encountered after reaching the resort was to locate an official. The office was closed and we were desperately looking for someone who could confirm whether accommodation was available. Finally, we found a shopkeeper who was some sort of a booking agent – he rang up the WBFDC officials and gave us the good news that two rooms in the most exclusive cottage in the resort were available. This cottage with 3 spacious rooms (all with attached bath) had a large dining hall, a lovely drawing room with cable TV and a kitchen with a khansama exclusively at our service.

So we did get to spend the night of Day-3 up in the hills amidst the pines. Soon after we settled down at the resort, there was a massive hailstorm and the power went off. The clatter of the hailstones on the tin roof of our cottage was deafening. Dinner of our choice by candlelight, prepared and served by our khansama, made us feel very special!

Day 4

At Lava. Visited the Buddhist monastery, did some shopping and soaked in the ambience.

At the WBFDC resort at Lava

Day 5

Went for a morning walk into the pine forests of Lava. After breakfast, checked out of the resort and drove to nearby Rishyap (about 8000 ft) to get a magnificent panoramic view of Himalayan peaks.

On the road to Rishyap

After visiting Rishyap we descended to Teesta Bazar via Kalimpong. Then started a steep ascent to Ghoom (near Darjeeling). This stretch from Teesta Bazar to Ghoom is one of the steepest ghat stretches that I have encountered in India. This was my second drive up this stretch and I once again enjoyed the thrill of sharp 360 degree turns that this stretch is famous for.

By late afternoon, we were well ensconced in the DGHC resort at Jorepokhri (about 7000 ft).

At the resort at Jorepokhri

Day 6

Went for a morning walk into the pine forests of Jorepokhri. Checked out and departed for Mirik at 10 AM. Upon reaching Pashupati Phata (Nepal border) we learnt that there was a bandh in Mirik till 6 PM and no vehicles were allowed into Mirik till then. I rang up the police station at Mirik (after getting their phone number from internet thro’ my mobile phone) and they too confirmed that the bandh was very much on till 6 PM.

What to do now? We decided to kill time and entered Nepal (Pashupati Nagar) for some shopping and lunch. This, incidentally, was the second ‘foreign country’ visited during this holiday!

Cars at Pashupati Nagar, Nepal

After the Pashupatinagar visit, I decided to take a chance and headed for Mirik around 3 PM. We reached Mirik around 4 PM and though the streets of this small town were pretty much deserted due to the bandh, we did not come across any other problem and checked into a DGHC hotel overlooking the best landmark of Mirik – the Samendu Lake.

There was torrential rain at Mirik accompanied by strong winds, thunder and lightning for about 2 hours soon after we settled down at the hotel. Another lucky break!

Day 7

At Mirik. Spent the day sightseeing, shopping, driving up to the ‘Swiss Cottages’ (DGHC resort) and relaxing.

Amidst tea gardens near Mirik

Day 8

Started from Mirik at 5 AM and reached Durgapur at 6 PM, covering a distance of 560 km.

Day 9

Returned to Jamshedpur from Durgapur.

More pictures of this trip may be seen at http://picasaweb.google.com/debashis1/PhuntsholingLavaJorepokhriMirik2010#

Performance of the Swift VDi

This 2003 km long trip involved very steep ghat roads and even with the car fully loaded (4 adults+luggage) and the AC running, the engine performed admirably and so did the steering, suspension and brakes. The fog lamps came in very handy while driving through thick fog at night while climbing to Lava. Only at Lava, while climbing to our cottage (situated at the highest point inside the WBFDC resort), did I wish that I had more power. That too because visibility was very poor due to thick fog plus total darkness and I could not maintain the minimum speed in 1^st gear and the car came to a standstill on a couple of occasions on the very steep approach road to the cottage. I then had to jettison the 3 passengers to resume the climb.

During this long drive I hit a couple of speed breakers and deep potholes at around 60 – 70 kmph and the suspension took it really well, considering that the car was fully loaded.

And the icing on the cake was the amazing mileage of 20.64 km per litre of ordinary diesel, despite the numerous ghat stretches (including some of the steepest climbs in India), almost continuous AC use in the plains and the car fully loaded with 4 adults and luggage.

Some distances for the benefit of other motorists planning this route

Jamshedpur (Sonari)-Chandil : 32 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari)-Purulia : 93 km

Purulia-Bankura : 88 km

Bankura-Durgapur (DVC more) : 48 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari)-Durgapur (DVC more) : 228 km

Durgapur (Indo American more)-Panagarh (Darjeeling more) : 11 km

Panagarh (Darjeeling more)-Ilam Bazar : 24 km

Ilam Bazar-Rampurhat : 93 km

Rampurhat-Nalhati : 16 km

Nalhati-Moregram (NH 34) : 20 km

Moregram-Dhuliyan : 47 km

Dhuliyan-Farakka bridge : 17 km

Farakka-Malda : 33 km

Malda-Raiganj : 76 km

Raiganj-Dalkhola : 48 km

Dalkhola-Islampur : 57 km (mostly 4-laned)

Islampur-Bagdogra more : 62 km (mostly 4-laned)

Bagdogra-Siliguri (Hotel Appollo) : 11 km

Durgapur (Indo American more)-Siliguri (hotels at Mallguri) : 515 km

Siliguri-Coronation bridge : 22 km

Siliguri-Binnaguri : 97 km

Siliguri-Jaldapara WLS : 125 km

Siliguri-Phuntsholing : 155 km

Phuntsholing-Malbazar : 99 km

Malbazar-Gorubathan : 13 km

Gorubathan-Lava (steep climb): 41 km

Phuntsholing-Lava : 153 km

Lava-Rishyap: 9 km

Lava-Kalimpong : 37 km

Kalimpong-Teesta : 16 km

Teesta-Jorebunglo (very steep climb): 30 km

Jorebunglo-Ghoom : 1 km

Ghoom-Sukhiapokhri : 12 km

Sukhiapokhri-Jorepokhri : 2 km

Lava-Jorepokhri : 97 km

Jorepokhri-Pashupatinagar (Nepal) : 9.4 km

Jorepokhri-Mirik : 24 km

Mirik-Dudhiya : 24 km

Mirik-Matigara : 44 km

Mirik-Bagdogra more : 51 km

Mirik-Durgapur (Indo American more) : 557 km

Driver getting old – car as good as new!

The dependable Swift on the highway to Kharagpur

Kolkata is just about 300 km from Jamshedpur by road and our usual mode of transport during our not infrequent trips to Kolkata is obviously our car.

During a recent drive to Kolkata Jaya and I decided to spend a day at IIT, Kharagpur. It was great meeting up with some old friends there. Going back to one’s Alma Mater is always a nostalgic and sentimental trip.

The Swift at IIT, Kharagpur

The road between Jamshedpur and Kolkata is in a reasonably good condition at present. The 125 km stretch from Kharagpur to Kolkata is excellent, being a part of the GQ (Golden Quadrilateral) between Kokata and Chennai. Whenever I drive on this stretch, I tend to step on the gas and maintain 100 to 140 kmph. But this time, I decided to take it easy and stuck to 80-90 kmph both while going and returning. I found this new ‘strategy’ very comfortable and much less stressful.  You see, most drivers in India haven’t figured how to drive on expressways and one often finds slow moving vehicles hogging the fast lane. So if one is doing high speeds, one either has to slow down and honk till the slow moving truck or car grudgingly lets you pass or overtake from the wrong side. Either way, a reduction in your speed is required which pisses you off.

But if one sticks to 80-90 kmph, not much reduction in speed is required while overtaking and things are more peaceful.

I’m getting old, I guess!

The fantastic 82 km long Allahabad Bypass on NH2

I have had the good fortune of driving a car on the Autobahnen / Motorways / Expressways of Germany, France, Holland, Belgium, U.K., etc. I have also travelled on many Freeways / Expressways / Interstate / Turnpikes in the USA. I have no hesitation in declaring the Allahabad bypass on NH2 as ‘world-class’.

The Allahabad Bypass is a superb 4-lane dual carriageway, 82 km long, passing mostly through sparsely populated areas or agricultural land. Whereas most of the new NH2 (Golden Quadrilateral) more or less follows the same old route as Sher Shah Suri’s Grand Trunk Road, the Allahabad Bypass follows a completely new route through land newly acquired by NHAI for the purpose. As during my last drive on this stretch, I did not come across a single petrol pump and hardly any dhabas. Toll collection has still not started here and any car or bike enthusiast can enjoy high speed driving here free of cost.

Let me share with you the pluses and minuses (in my opinion) of this wonderful stretch of road :

Pluses :

Ø Excellent construction.

Ø Smooth concrete surface throughout.

Ø Four-lane dual carriageway (like the rest of GQ).

Ø As it is passing through wilderness, there is negligible local traffic (like rikshas, bicycles, motorcycles, hand-carts, bullock-carts, tractors, auto-rikshas, pedestrians, etc.).

Ø Between the two sides of the dual-carriageway, there are very few interconnecting ‘cuts’.

Ø A large percentage of this new stretch is fenced off from both sides – so hardly any stray cattle or stray humans.

Ø The stretch of 82 km through wilderness and negligible local traffic is adequately long to give one a nice thrill for 40 minutes or so.

Minuses

Ø There are far too many curves on this stretch. This handicap is mitigated to some extent because most curves are gentle.

Ø There are too many culverts on this stretch (necessitated due to the terrain). This handicap is again mitigated to a large extent by the excellent build quality which has ensured that the joints between the road and culverts are smooth and bump-free even at high speeds.

Where is it?

Ø When you are driving from Varanasi, you will find the starting point of the Allahabad Bypass exactly 93 km after crossing the Ganga bridge at Varanasi.

Ø When you are driving from Kanpur, you will find the starting point of the Allahabad Bypass exactly 149 km after the Kanpur city exit point at Chakeri.

I could maintain a steady speed band of 120-140 kmph on this stretch without feeling that I was taking any undue risk.

But the Bombay-Poona road, IMHO, is still the best stretch in India (in my limited personal experience, as I am yet to see many other new highways in India) for high speed driving because :

Ø It has very long straight stretches.

Ø It is much wider (6-lane).

Ø It is much better insulated from stray cattle / humans.

Ø The two sides of the highway are far apart mostly, so there is no question of any ‘cut’ or vehicles moving in the wrong direction.

As I have written in an earlier post on this blog, Bombay-Poona road is the only highway in India where I have done 160 kmph on two occasions – once on a friend’s Hyundai Accent Viva and later on my own Swift VDi.

The burning highway at Kujju (near Ramgarh)

As everyone knows, illegal coal mining is rampant in Jharkhand and is carried out openly with total complicity of govt. officials and politicians. The illegally mined coal is always transported on bicycles because, apparently, there is no law against it!

Coal being transported on bicycles at Chutupalu Ghat near Ramgarh

Here is a statement (published in The Telegraph, Jamshedpur edition, dated 06.01.10) made by the CMD of Central Coalfields Ltd. : “Each cycle carries 300 to 400 kg of illegally mined coal and there are an estimated 18,000 cycles carrying coal all over the state. It translates to 7,200 tonnes of illegal coal entering the markets and some sponge iron units everyday”.

See the quantum of coal in one bicycle!

Illegal mining often leads to collapse of the mined cavities and major underground fires. During mid-2009, a portion of the NH33 near Ramgarh suddenly caved in and massive plumes of smoke started emanating from the fissures. Investigations revealed a huge underground coal fire. Thereafter, crores of Rupees of taxpayers’ money was spent by various govt. agencies and the fire was claimed to have been put off. However, during my recent trip to Kanpur and back I saw smoke still coming out of the fissures in the ground near Kujju (see picture below).

Smoke coming out of the ground adjacent to the bypass at Kujju

As far as the NH33 is concerned, a ‘diversion’ of sorts has been made for small vehicles and heavy vehicles have to take a long detour. This diversion is about a km long and starts 15 km after Ramgarh (at a village called Kujju) when one is going towards Hazaribagh. It is completely unpaved and has some steep slopes. I have driven through this bypass several times over the last 6 months or so. Initially, it wasn’t too bad but is now becoming more treacherous because some heavy vehicles have also started using it (obviously, by bribing the police) and their wheels have cut deep furrows in the unpaved and narrow path making it more problematic for small vehicles. Erosion of the path has also deposited a thick layer of dust on the road which starts flying and creates visibility problems whenever any vehicle passes on this road.

Thick cloud of dust creates visibility problems. Accidents are common. But who gives a damn?

Because there was no elected government in Jharkhand for many months, many projects were on hold. Now that the people of Jharkhand have once again entrusted the ‘governance’ of this state to a convicted murderer, projects (including a new stretch of NH33 between Ramgarh and Hazaribagh away from the underground fire zone) should start soon because projects are one of the best ways to make money!

Jamshedpur to Kanpur and back

My wife and I needed to attend the wedding of a nephew in Kanpur and I, always on the lookout for a long-drive opportunity, deliberately procrastinated on buying the train tickets till the car option became a fait accompli !

Even with an average of 22 km per litre of non-premium diesel in my Swift VDi, AC 2-tier travel by Indian Railways works out cheaper than car travel for two people. Only if three or more people travel together, car travel makes economic sense. Apart from the fuel cost, there are substantial additional expenses on board and lodging (hotels) during road trips involving one or more night halts. The point I’m trying to make here is that my long-drive decisions are not economic ones. It’s simply my passion for driving which makes the additional cost, additional risk and a goodly amount of irritation with the unruly Indian traffic worthwhile.

This was my third visit to Kanpur in my Swift VDi in two years. So why do I treat Kanpur almost as a suburb of Jamshedpur (though these two cities are about 900 km apart) as far as car trips are concerned? Mainly because the road is excellent and driving on it is fun. NH 33 from Jamshedpur to Barhi (via Ranchi, Ramgarh and Hazaribagh) is presently in a reasonably good shape and NH2 from Barhi to Kanpur (part of the Golden Quadrilateral project) is superb.

I could comfortably maintain 80-100 kmph on NH33 and 80-140 kmph on NH2. The best stretch was the Allhabad bypass on NH2 on which I’ll write a separate post. The Swift VDi once again performed admirably without a single problem. I love the torque and power of the Multijet engine, especially at low engine RPM. At anything above 1300 RPM or so, the car lurches forward like a wild beast at the slightest pressure on the gas pedal. Another thing I really like about this car are the powerful brakes, so essential in the badlands of India where any vehicle, animal or sub-human may suddenly decide to get on a collision course with you without any warning.

With the steady improvement of Indian roads, car suspensions are generally subjected to relatively less punishment nowadays. However, even on GQ one suddenly comes across some deep potholes or undulations and if one is doing high speeds there isn’t enough reaction time and the suspension gets subjected to huge impacts. On non-GQ highways it is common to find broken stretches everywhere in India. Another pain in India is speed-breakers – they appear without any warning and some of them are designed to be axle-breakers more than speed-breakers. Often, local people / administration put these up overnight without any signage or markings, usually as a knee-jerk reaction to a fatal road accident. After 26,000 km on my Swift I have no hesitation in saying that its suspension is quite good and far better suited to Indian roads as compared to my earlier cars (Maruti 800, Premier 118NE and Maruti Esteem).

Speed-breakers to watch out for on this route

1) The most horrible speed-breakers (4 of them) are at a place called Mandu on NH33. Mandu is 23 km from Ramgarh (towards Hazaribagh).

2) There are another 4 speed-breakers just after Hazaribagh as one is proceeding towards Barhi.

Let me now furnish some more details of our Kanpur trip for the benefit of others planning a similar trip :

Day 1 (while going) : Drove 476 km from Jamshedpur to Mohania and put up in Hotel Kaimur Vihar (phone : 06187-222822) of BSTDC. Mohania is in Bihar, quite close (24 km) to the U.P. border.

Day 2 (while going) : Drove 407 km from Mohania to Kanpur.

Day 1 (while returning) : Drove 625 km from Kanpur to Barhi (where NH2 joins NH33 in Jharkhand) and put up in hotel Highway Inn (phone : 06543-266319).

Day 2 (while returning) : Drove 260 km from Barhi to Jamshedpur.

Some statistics

1) Total distance clocked during Jamshedpur-Kanpur-Jamshedpur trip: 1796 km

2) Average fuel consumption over the entire distance of about 1800 km: 22.50 kmpl (using non-premium diesel; nil AC use; 2 persons; light luggage; includes about 100 km of city driving; 1700 km of highway driving includes hundreds of km at 100-140 kmph)

The tomb of Sher Shah Suri at Sasaram (Bihar). He made significant contribution to building / renewing the original Grand Trunk Road

Distances measured by car’s odometer :

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Namkum rly. crossing : 128 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Kantatoli Chowk, Ranchi : 131 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Ramgarh : 172 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Kujju bypass : 187 km (bypass about 1 km long)

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Mandu (4 huge speed-breakers) : 195 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Hazaribagh (Circuit House) : 223 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Barhi Chowk : 259 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to NH2 (Barhi) : 260 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Dobhi : 320 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Aurangabad : 381 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Dehri-on-Sone bridge : 404 to 407.5 km (bridge 3.5 km long)

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Mohania : 476 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Naubatpur (Bihar / U.P. border) : 500 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Varanasi Ganga bridge : 539 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Allahabad bypass starting point : 632 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Allahabad bypass ending point : 714 km (bypass length : 82 km)

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Rooma (Toyota showroom) : 861 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Kanpur entry point (“Chakeri Indl Area 2” signboard) : 863 km

Kanpur entry point to Rama Devi chowraha, Kanpur : 5 km

Sunrise near Hazaribagh (Jharkhand)

Some more pics taken during this car trip may be seen at http://picasaweb.google.com/debashis1/ImagesWhileDrivingBy#

Delhi to Jamshedpur in two days

Day-1 : Drove from West Delhi (Dwarka) to Kanpur – a distance of 502 km. Left Dwarka at 4.30 AM and reached Kanpur at 1 PM. Spent about 40 minutes at Faridabad to visit someone’s house in Faridabad soon after getting out of Delhi early in the morning. Made it a point to fill up my fuel tank at Faridabad (Haryana) where fuel in cheaper than Delhi, U.P., Bihar and Jharkhand.

Day-2 : Drove from Kanpur to Jamshedpur – a distance of 883 km. Incidentally, this is the maximum distance I have ever covered in a day, driving by myself.

During this return leg from Delhi I was careful not to repeat the mistake of missing the Allahabad bypass. The Allahabad bypass is a superb 4-lane dual carriageway, 82 km long, passing mostly through sparsely populated areas – I did not come across a single petrol pump on this stretch and hardly any dhabas. Toll collection has not yet started here as the road is not yet officially complete.

Car performance was superb throughout this trip. SVS / MIL light problem has gone after EGR valve cleaning. Roads being excellent, I could comfortably drive between 90-130 kmph.

Some statistics:
Total distance covered during Jamshedpur-Delhi-Jamshedpur trip: 3066 km
Jam to Delhi (Ashram chowk) driving thro’ Allahabad city : 1339 km
Delhi (Dwarka) to Jam via Kanpur city and Allahabad bypass: 1385 km
Overall mileage : ~ 21.80 KMPL (includes about 400 km city driving, ~ 70% AC, lots of driving over 100 kmph).

While going to Delhi from Jamshedpur:
Day 1 : 133 km (Jam-Ranchi)
Day 2 : 759 km (Ranchi-little beyond Kanpur)
Day 3 : 448 km

While returning to Jamshedpur from Delhi:
Day 1 : 502 km (Dwarka-Kanpur)
Day 2 : 883 km (Kanpur-Jam)

20,000 km maintenance routines (4th paid service) on my Swift VDi

During the EGR valve cleaning job my car had already clocked 19,800 km and I decided to get the scheduled maintenance routines due at 20,000 km carried out simultaneously. Some of the important routines were engine oil + filter change, transmission oil change, brake oil change, coolant change, fuel filter change, air filter change, tyre rotation, checking all underbody fasteners, etc.

Total expenses were Rs 4691 (EGR vv gaskets : Rs 53; air filter : Rs 259; fuel filter : Rs 1204; oil filter : Rs 376; Golden Cruiser coolant 3.0 lit : Rs 705; Golden Cruiser brake fluid 250 ml : Rs 155; Mobil Delvac engine oil 3.1 lit : Rs 720; Castrol EP90 gear oil 2.5 lit : Rs 495; Labour : Rs 703).

It would be seen that the costliest item to be replaced every 20,000 km is the diesel filter (Rs 1204). It is a particulate filter cum water separator manufactured by BOSCH in Spain. I wonder why this filter cannot be developed indigenously.