The Land of the Thunder Dragon (BHUTAN) – Bhutan to Bhuwaneshwar

Day – 10

27.12.2010 (Monday) Thimpu – Bhutan to Siliguri (West Bengal) India = 340 kms

• Starting Place: Hotel Singye Thimpu (Bhutan)
• Starting Km Reading: 5947 km @ Hotel Singye
• Starting Time: 11.30 A.M. Morning
• Closing Km Reading: 6287 km @ Hotel Sharda
• Closing Time: 22.00 P.M. Night

Day – 10 was our last day in Bhutan & it was time for us to return back to India. I got up very early morning by 5 AM and started re-packing.

By early morning the temperature outside the hotel on the road was Minus 2 Deg C & Ice had formed on the rear windshield of our car.

When I started the car to heat up the engine I got a message from the car’s computer screen ICE on Road Danger of sliding Caution!!! WOW!!!

We packed up and loaded our car with all our luggage & finally sat down to have our last breakfast in Thimpu @ Hotel Singye.

Both my kids were having fun & Baby Shri Meenakshi was showing her dancing skills by shaking her leg & doing a nice dance.

Staff working at Hotel Singye. Devi in picture below got very attached to my kids. Devi & Sonam below at Hotel Singye. These 2 girls were close to tears as we were leaving the hotel after 3 nights of stay & they had really become very close & attached to us.

Devi, Tanka Prasad Sharma & Sonam below at Hotel Singye. Sincere thanks a lot for all 3 of you & other support staff for making our visit to Hotel Singye & stay a memorable experience.

We started from Hotel Singye Thimpu towards Pheutsholing by around 11 AM Morning. Our personal experience with local Bhutanses people in our 4 days of stay was very nice & wonderful. They are peace loving people & their country is so neat & clean & unpolluted. Tourism is one of their main source of income. They also have the famous DRUK Brand jams & Tomato Sauce, Pickels etc. We purchased them all. I recommend any one who wants to visit far away places to consider visiting Bhutan. It is not all that difficult to drive into Bhutan & return back.

Our FIAT Linea just touched 6000 KMs on the odometer. We just completed 4000 KMs of our trip from home to Bhutan with the odometer reading 6026 KMs. We still have a long way to go home to Coimbatore & we need to cover a distance of some 3000 odd KMs.

The road windes like a snake through the mountain & you can see how dangerous it can be at many places with a lot of road eroded and many a places showing lanslides & how some portion of road has slipped down the mountain. One mistake in driving & it will be a long way down & no chance of any recovery.

You can just imagine how bad these roads can become during peak monsoon & when it rains a lot. We fueled the car with 24.77 liters of Diesel @ Rs.37.24 per ltr and paid Rs.886/- at Druk Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Pheutsholing. We reached Siliguri at night 10.00 P.M. and checked into Hotel Sharda.

Day – 11

28.12.2010 (Tuesday) Siliguri (West Bengal) to NTPC Bakkeshwar (West Bengal) = 453 kms

Starting Place: Hotel Sharda Siliguri (West Bengal)
Starting Km Reading: 6287 km @ Hotel Sharda
Starting Time: 09.00 A.M. Morning
Closing Km Reading: 6740 km @ Hotel Hindustan NTPC Bakkeshwar
Closing Time: 22.30 P.M. Night

We started our Day – 11 by 9.45 A.M. from Siliguri & we had to reach Bakkeshwar as per HVK’s plan.

We stopped at some tea estate garden as my kids & wife wanted to know how the tea leaf smells or feels. So here we are at the edge of some tea garden plucking some fresh tea leafs.

We are also in Bamboo country.

We are also in Jute Country. A lot of Jute is made in West Bengal in these parts.

Please move inside there is room for all. No wonder they call this JAM packed.

When we have such a huge playground can we resist our unofficial national sport the cricket.

We fueled the car with 26 liters of Diesel @ Rs.39.26 per ltr and paid Rs.1042/- at IOCL Pump Seth Brothers NH34 Adina Malda West Bengal.

We stopped at Hotel Greenview to have some food as we had not had lunch on the way as we did not find any decent place to stop. We were hungry and the hotel was all decked up for the Christmas & New Year.

We reached Hotel Hinustan at NTPC Bakkeshwar at very late night 22.30 P.M. and it was bit difficult to get a room & finally we managed to get a room as we told them we only need a room for a night’s stay and we will be definately vacating early morning by 7 A.M. The tariff was Rs.600/-

Day – 12

29.12.2010 (Wednesday) NTPC Bakkeshwar (West Bengal) to Bhuwaneshwar = 655 kms

Starting Place: Hotel Hindustan NTPC Bakkeshwar (West Bengal)
Starting Km Reading: 6740 km @ Hotel Hindustan
Starting Time: 06.00 A.M. Morning
Closing Km Reading: 7395 km @ Hotel Richi Bhuwaneshwar
Closing Time: 22.00 P.M. Night

We started very early morning on Day – 12 as HVK had asked me to target to touch Bhuwaneshwar which meant I had to drive & cover a distance of close to 700 KMs.

The road here Burdwan Kolkatta highway NH2 is just awasome & you can really drive the wheels off your car. The road was so good I touched the speed of 160 kmph.

On the outskirts of Kolkatta city at a signal a truck came very close to our car & rubbed against our car. It felt very bad and there was no point in arguing & trying to get anything. It also damaged my rear tail light at the very bottom a small piece of glass broke.

We drove on with some heavy heart. We spoke with HVK when he called up & he consoled us & comforted us by telling luckily the damage wasn’t too severe. We crossed Kolkatta By-pass by 12.30 P.M. and were headed towards Orissa.

We fueled the car with 25.13 liters of Diesel @ Rs.39.79 per ltr and paid Rs.1000/- at IOCL Pump Ratulia Filling Station, Ratullia, NH-6, Purba Medinipur, West Bengal.

The Linea touched 7000 KMs mark on its odometer. We just completed 5000 KMs of our trip from home with the odometer reading 7026.

Bhuwaneshwar is 318 KMs from here and the time was 3.10 PM afternoon.

We fueled the car with 27.58 liters of Diesel @ Rs.40.26 per ltr and paid Rs.1110/- at IOCL Pump MAA Biswasweri Filling Station, P.O.Pahal, NH-5, Khurda, Orissa.

We finally reached Bhuwaneshwar at night 10 P.M. and checked into Hotel Richi neat Bhuwaneshwar Railway Station. The tariff was Rs.950/- per day.

S.No Date Toll Plaza Name State Time Fees
1 29.12.2010 PALASIT WEST BENGAL 11.20 morning 35
2 29.12.2010 DANKUNI WEST BENGAL 12.13 afternoon 35
3 29.12.2010 DHULAGHAR WEST BENGAL 12.34 afternoon 30
4 29.12.2010 BALASORE DANTAM ORISSA 16.00 afternoon 40
5 29.12.2010 BURAMULA ORISSA 14.21 afternoon 35
6 29.12.2010 RAMPURA ORISSA 15.12 afternoon 30
7 29.12.2010 PANIKOILI ORISSA 45
8 29.12.2010 MANGULI ORISSA 40
Total Toll Fees 29.12.2010 = 290