OD_Jul'14_Nissan_Meet_The_Neighbours

OVERDRIVE JUL 2014110
FEATURE XXXXXXXXXXXXX
WordsAlanD’Cruz PhotographyVarunAnchan
We took some time off from our busy schedules to visit our
neighbours who we realised we know very little of
Knock knock
FEATURE MEET THE NEIGHBOURS WITH NISSAN
All images in this story were
shot on a Canon EOS 5D Mark III
and an EOS 6D with an EF24-
105Lf/4 IS USM lens.We use this
combination as it offers the best
balance between high image
quality,high ISO performance
and faster burst rate.

JUL 2014 OVERDRIVE 111
O
ne fine day in office
we just happened
to pool together
our passports to see
which parts of the
globe our combined experiences
covered. We realised that we actually
had a lot of the globe covered already
but this came as no surprise. With
the number of international launches
and drives we get invited to, there
is no dearth of Schengen and US
visa stamps on our passports. But
missing were stamped visas from our
neighbouring countries like Nepal,
Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan.
Most of them are accessible by road
too (with the exception of Sri Lanka)
and so the next obvious thing was to
plan a road trip to meet our neigh-
bours. And since Varun, our show’s
producer Sohini and I are not exactly
the epitome of culture and polish, we
thought we’d take along six OVER-
DRIVE readers to better represent
India. Knock, knock anyone home?
THE PREPARATION
Truth be told, preparations started
months in advance and if you
thought planning a foreign trip takes
some effort then you can imagine
what planning for four countries was
like. To add to the level of difficulty
we were going to cross international
borders eight times during the trip.
This is because entering one country
and then returning to India, before

moving on to the next makes the
process easier as opposed to crossing
two international borders with a car
registered in a third country. Thank-
fully, political relations with Bhutan
and Nepal are extremely good and
Indian citizens are allowed to travel
to and from both countries freely,
only needing to show a government
approved ID to cross the border.
Although, Bangladesh and Myanmar
still required us to apply for visas and
this had to be done in advance.
Where better to kick off our trip
than from our nation’s capital. The
plan was to leave in the night so as to
skip the heavy morning truck traffic
getting out of Delhi. This would also
mean that we would be able to reach
the border early in the morning
ahead of the rush. We were going to
cross over to Nepal at the Bhimdatta
crossing in Uttarakhand. After a long
afternoon nap we were wide awake
at 9:00pm just in time for the arrival
of our rides for the trip. The sight
of the Nissan Terranos pulling into
the hotel driveway greeted us as we
checked out. For me this is when the
magnitude of what lay ahead of us
really set in. Over the next 18 days we
would visit four countries, covering
nearly 5000 kilometers and taking
in some amazing sights. We had
four Terranos, two 85PS diesels and
two 110PS diesels. We quickly loaded
them up with luggage, spares and lots
of water and snacks. It’s always good
We drive on the Indo-Nepal highway as we head towards Kathmandu.A monk chants
at the Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu. On the way to Hetauda we drove through
some truly awesome roads
Preparing for a long road trip
When travelling long distances
through relatively unknown roads, it’s
best to take more than one vehicle.
So that if one breaks down, you have
the other to go fetch help or tow the
other to safety. If the car is not
packed with luggage and passengers,
you should have enough room to
carry spares,While you may never
use them, if you do break down, you
will thank your lucky stars that you
have the parts to get running again

to carry as much water as you can for
long trips, especially when travel-
ling over unfamiliar roads. You can
survive being stuck in no man’s land
without food but not without water.
Snacks help too and keep up energy
levels on long road trips.
THE FIRST CROSSING
After driving through the night we
reached the border at 8:00am and on
time. We passed through the Indian
border cleanly enough after our pass-
ports were checked but the check-
ing at the Nepal border took a little
longer than expected. To cross into
Nepal, you only need to produce a
government approved identity proof
and your car papers and you’re good
to go. Once over the border there is
a Nepal customs check where your
identity proof is checked again and
then you need to take your vehicle to
the RTO check post to have your pa-
pers checked. This last process takes
quite a while with a lot of red tape,
but in all fairness this is only due to
the fact that a number of vehicles
cross this border on a daily basis and
never cross back. This is because of
the black market for cars in Nepal – a
result of high import duties and so
the RTO department is extra vigilant.
After taking agonisingly long
clearing the customs and RTO checks
we were finally free to drive into our
first country. Next rest stop was the
town of Butwal which is also known
as the gateway to Nepal. After two
very long days of driving we were
River bashing, some unbridled fun along the way. The stupa of Boudhanath
dominates the Kathmandu skyline. First sunrise as we head toward the Nepal border.
Shops offering a variety of handicrafts and souvenirs.You can even find cheap hiking
gear as Kathmandu is often the first stop for hiking trips into the Himalayas

happy to just let head meet pillow for
some much earned rest – exploring
Nepal would start in the morning.
DISCOVERING NEPAL
The next day began at a very relaxed
10:00am, as we headed out towards
the capital city of Kathmandu – a
mere 260km to the east of Butwal.
On the way we would be driving
through the beautiful Terai range
with the foothills of the Himalayas
to the left of us and the plains on the
right. At Bharatpur we turned north-
wards and then headed up towards
the hills before continuing eastwards
towards the country’s capital city.
The tight mountain roads brought a
welcome break from the monotony
of the plains. We stopped at a quaint
little roadside dhaba that is actually
a family house with a table out front
for customers. As it was a little past
lunch time there was nothing ready
and they were kind enough to start
up a meal from scratch. The simple
fare that we watched being prepared
was really tasty and we filled our
bellies to the brim. The drive into
Kathmandu was a steep climb after
which we were greeted by the traffic
of Kathmandu. It has a truly big
town feel too and it’s similar to any
tier II town in India and has wide
roads, a lot of cars and the accompa-
nying traffic. Our hotel was within
walking distance from Thamel
which is the tourist market that has
a great number of eateries, quaint
pubs and offers lots of shopping
opportunities. We also managed to
visit the Boudhanath and Pashupati-
nath temples that are in the centre
of the city. The Boudhanath Stupa is
The sunsets got better as we continued on the journey.A typical Nepalese meal of
‘dal-bhat’and chicken, freshly made and piping hot. It was quieter than usual near
the Pashupatinath temple, giving us ample time to take in the architecture
Driving in Nepal
You need to be careful when driving in
Nepal, the roads are filled with
cyclists and pedestrians and while
the general road sense is quite good
compared to India, you still need to
be careful.There is also a lot of
livestock on the roads and the goats
are really annoying and unpredict-
able.There is really no‘safe side’with
them and you have to just slow down
and wait for them pass. Most roads
are decently surfaced with broken
stretches here and there and all the
roads we encountered were single
carriage ways.Traffic between cities
is fairly sparse though the towns can
get quite crowded

one of the largest in the country and
its imposing dome with long strings
of prayer flags rising up to the top
was striking due to both its sheer
size and the serenity around it. Kapil
Malhotra, one of the readers travel-
ling with us said it was probably the
most peaceful place that he had ever
visited. The Pashupatinath temple
is one of the most important Shiva
temples in the world and during
Maha Shivratri it draws as many as
seven lakh devotees to its grounds.
On the day we visited though it too
was a much quieter place and the
one sight that will stay with me for
a while is the massive golden bull
statue just at the entrance.
The next day we headed up into
the mountains of Nepal to the lofty
hamlet of Daman. It sits at a height
of 2320 metre and though that’s not
quite that high, it offers a perfectly
unobstructed 180 degree view of the
snow capped Himalayan range.
WELCOME TO MYANMAR
As per our itinerary, after leav-
ing Nepal we should have headed
on to Bangladesh. Unfortunately
due to some political unrest we
were advised against entering with
vehicles registered in India. Though
we were promised safe passage into
the country, the authorities couldn’t
guarantee the safety of our vehicles.
So we had to improvise and head on
to Myanmar instead.
Driving to the border town of
Moreh has to be one of the most
pleasant experiences of the drive
and the North East of India is a won-
Team OVERDRIVE and our readers gather for a quick briefing session in the morning.
A statue of Buddha quietly rests in the tranquil ruins of Bagan.These two lions are
the largest sculptures in Mandalay and guard the southern steps up to Mandalay hill

derful place that some ‘west coast-
ers’ seldom get the chance to see.
To get to the Myanmar border from
Gauhati takes about two days. We
broke journey in Kohima, Nagaland
where we made time to visit the his-
toric Kohima war cemetery and war
memorial. The next day we headed
to Moreh where we would cross over
to what was now our second coun-
try. The paperwork was supposed
to be more straightforward here as
most of it was done in advance but
as luck would have it, here too we
got delayed. We were told that our
personal paperwork was complete
but to take the cars over the border
we’d need another document and
this would take two days to arrive.
This would throw our already tight
schedule completely out of whack.
When you’re travelling to multiple
countries, re-arranging schedules at
the last minute is virtually impos-
sible without great financial loss and
we had already skipped Bangladesh.
Some frantic calls were made and
finally we realised that it was just
a simple misunderstanding. The
language barrier (the border officials
spoke broken English and the local
Naga dialect) had led the Indian bor-
der officials to believe that we were
heading into Myanmar and then on
to another country. Since we were
coming back into India the Carnet
papers (a custom check exemption
document) for the cars were not
Pagodas are a common sight as you drive across Mandalay.We drove most of our
journey on the India - Myanmar Friendship Road which was built by the BRO (Border
Road Organization).The view from the top of Mandalay hill
Driving in Myanmar
This was exciting as you have to drive
on the right side of the road. Not
uncommon if you’re in Europe but the
catch is that almost everyone in
Myanmar has right hand drive cars.
So instead of the driver sitting in the
middle of the road, you’re all the way
over the right hand curb just like we
were. It helps that there is very little
traffic in Myanmar and their road
sense is fairly good as well.They
indicate with the right hand indicator
when the want you to overtake and
even do this for oncoming traffic

required. The relief was evident on
all our faces when we heard this
but due to the bad connectivity,
making numerous calls and running
around to getting the mess sorted,
we had lost five hours. We ended
up crossing over to Myanmar in the
fading light with our hotel a further
hundred kilometers away – this was
going to be another late night.
TEMPLE RUN
The next day we set out towards
Mandalay which is the second largest
city in Myanmar. The city is really
well planned and is a stark contrast to
the rural areas that we drove through
on the way. The city has some
beautiful sights to see with many
pagodas and also massive lion
sculptures guarding temple gates.
The next day we headed to the temple
ruins of Bagan, the ancient city which
was once the capital of the Pagan
kingdom. Rumour has it that the
ruler at that time asked all citizens to
go out and build their own temples in
reverence of the gods. And between
the 11th and 13th century,
archeologists believe that there were
as many as 10,000 Buddhist temples,
monasteries and pagodas in the
Bagan plains. Today there are around
2200 ruins remaining and tourists
can spend days and weeks exploring
them all. This is the one place to do
all your souvenir shopping and with
a little skill at bargaining, you can
come away with some great deals.
Don’t bother with the brick and
The panoramic view of the Bagan ruins. Now there are just 2,200 left, imagine what
this view would have been like in the 13th century when there were 10,000. One of
the few left hand drive trucks transports locals to Tamu
The food in Myanmar
The food in Myanmar is absolutely
awesome. Opt for their set meals and
you end up with a host of small
containers with a multitude of meats,
pulses, greens, rice and sauces that
you can combine together to make
you own unique dish.This allows you
to sample a number of flavours in one
meal.The chillies are nice and spicy,
the meat is well cooked but beware of
fish sauce. One of our readers, LD
Sharma, will tell you that Myanmar
also had the best vegetarian options
on the whole trip.

ALL CITIZENS OF
THE KINGDOM
WERE ASKED TO
GO OUT AND
BUILD THEIR
OWN TEMPLES IN
REVERENCE OF
THE GODS

mortar shops though, their prices are
pretty steep and fixed. The hawkers
outside the temples have the same
quality of merchandise and give you
a far better price.
Unfortunatelyourexperienceat
Baganwasshortlivedandthoughwe
wouldhavealllovedto spendmuch
moretimeattheruins,wehadtocut
ourtripshortandheadbacktoour
hotel.Ourtripwasreallyshortlived
butwedidreallyenjoyourtimein
Myanmar. Thenextdaywedroveback
tothe bordertown ofTamutocross
backinto India. Thebeautifulcountry
wasreallyexcitingbutthisfleetingtrip
meansthatIwillbegoingbackthere
soon.IknowIsaythatalotbutthe
nextcountrywe’reheadingtoproves
thatIdomeanitandevenfollow
throughwithmyplans.
BHUTAN AGAIN
It’sbeenbarelyamonth sinceIwas
herelastandhavingreally lovedthe
countryofBhutanI wasdyingto
sharethejoyasSohini,Varunand
allourreadersgottoexperiencethis
beautifulcountryintheclouds.As
usual,wemanagedtogetstuck in
immigrationprocedureagain.This
timewewerelatetotheofficeandhad
tojointheendofavery longqueueof
peoplealsowantingin.ThentheRTO
officerwhoneededtostampour line
permitsfordrivingour carsthrough
Bhutanconvenientlydisappearedto
goenjoyaleisurelylunch with his
The Rinpung Dzong is a large fortress monastry that towers over the city of Paro.
Food in Bhutan is spicy and delicious too.The weather wasn’t the best but still we
managed to come back with some vibrant memories of the Paro valley
Driving in Bhutan
Bhutan, as a whole, must have the
best road sense in the world.Almost
everyone is a considerate and polite
driver, even the truckers.To the
extent that even if you come up to
them on a mountain road and flash
once, they will pull over and let you
pass whether they are going uphill or
down! You also have to be very
mindful of speed limits and traffic
rules in towns. Always indicate for
turns and keep in mind that vehicles
on your right have right-of-way

girlfriend.I’mcompletely serious,you
cannotmakestufflikethisup.Tocuta
longstory shortweendedupleaving
theborder townofPhuentsholingat
4:00pm,notthebesttimetobeleav-
ingifyou wantedtoenjoy thebeauti-
fulmountainroadsthatsnaketheir
way upanddownandupagainasyou
headback intothegloriousfoothills
oftheHimalayas.
CITY IN THE CLOUDS
Driving into the picturesque city of
Paro is really a treat for first time
visitors and something that I had
raved about for the last sixteen days,
promising the rest of the group that
we truly had the best saved for last.
But that night they had no idea where
they were save for the few twenty
odd metres of road ahead of our
convoy, that you could see in the
headlights of our Nissans. There were
majorly disappointed faces all around
when we reached our hotel. Don’t
worry, I promised them, tomorrow
morning will be a different day. And
it was, getting up early, we all awoke
to what I believe is one of the prettiest
cities I have ever seen. The lovely
square houses with beautifully
painted walls and woodwork are all
neatly arranged as if by design. Even
though the weather was not at its
best (peak season is between Dec –
Feb) we all came back to the hotel
after an early morning with memory
cards full of pictures.
Weateahearty latebreakfastand
thenmadeour way ontoThimpu,
thecapitalofBhutan.It’saverywell
plannedcity andfirsttimevisitors
The Buddha Dordenma project is now complete and the 60 metre golden gilded
statue quietly watches over the city of Thimpu. Pass through this colourful archway
that stands on the Indo-Bhutan border and you enter a whole new world

needtoknow thatBhutanisvery
strictwith their speedlimitsandroad
rules.Soyou needtobeextracareful
whiledrivinganywhereinBhutan
butparticularly inthecapital.Amit
Jakhar wasreally surprisedwith how
disciplinedthetrafficwas“Iwish this
wasthecaseback home”.
Oneofthemostaweinspiring
sightsinThimpuisthe60metretall
Buddhastatuethatisthelargestinthe
worldofitskind.Itwasbuiltbyanon-
profitorganisationandwaserected
tobestowblessingsofpeaceand
happiness,notjustonBhutanbuton
thewholeworld.Aftersomesouvenir
shoppinginthecapitalweheaded
backtoPhuentsholingforthenight.
Thetripbackwasoneofthemost
excitingandchallengingofthewhole
visitasweagainendedupdriving
throughthenight,havingbeendelayed
thankstoatrafficjaminThimpu.As
luckwouldhaveit,wealsogotcaught
inwhatwasthefirstproperdownpour
ofthemonsoon.Thenarrowroads
werewetandslippery,streamsflowing
overthematanumberofplaces.We
evenhadtoclearrocksandstones
awayfromfreshlandslidesontwooc-
casionsbeforecontinuingonourway.
This170kmdrivewillprobablyplay
outcountlesstimesinourminds.The
nextday,weallmadeourfinalborder
crossingbackintoIndia.
We journeyed into their lands,
soaked in their traditions, their ways
and even broke bread with them.
In a way, our mission to meet our
neighbours was complete. And the
next time we knock, maybe you can
come with us.
Tiger’s nest (far left) is one of the most picturesque sites in Bhutan. It’s also a two
hour hike up a steep slope, so you have to work hard for the picture. Bhutanese art is
very detailed and some of these canvases take years to complete
Border crossing tips
With Nepal and Bhutan you can arrive
and drive into the country with just a
government approved identity proof.
For private vehicles you need to have
originals of all your docs. In Nepal you
get a temp green number plate which
you have to display. In Bhutan you
receive a line pass to travel in the
country. For Myanmar you need to
apply for a visa in advance but the
paperwork at the border is quite
straightforward. Knowing the local
language on both sides of the border
is essential, we learnt.

OD_Jul'14_Nissan_Meet_The_Neighbours

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