Matheran : Perfect Eco-friendly Hill Station

  This article is not for people from Mumbai, because a person who stays in Mumbai must have already visited Matheran. But if you are among those who r in Mumbai or Pune & not visited Matheran and want to spend a nice weekend, then Matheran is highly recommended.

  Its a beautiful hill station, and most amazing thing about Matheran is, its perfect eco-friendly hill station, where you will not find any tar roads, and motorized vehicles are not allowed within boundaries of Matheran. Matheran is covered with dense green belt which keeps climate very pleasant throughout the year. You can visit Matheran in any season, but it becomes muddy in rainy season, as there are no tar roads.

Mini train from Neral to Matheran

 You can reach Matheran by many ways. You can catch local train from CST to Karjat and get down at Neral junction. From Neral you can take a cab, or take a mini train which runs between Neral & Matheran, or just walk 8 kms till Matheran. Going to Neral by last train and then walking all the way to the top is also amazing option if you are in group.


Matheran is very small hill station which you can cover on horse, or in a cart or just walk around. One can enjoy variety of food in restaurants. You will get restaurant of every budget & same is the case for accommodation.

  One tree hill point, echo point, sunset point, panorama point (sunrise), wilson point, monkey point are few places to visit. Like any other hill station, taking stroll in the market or riding a horse or boating in charlot lake are some other activities you can enjoy.

  For trekking enthusiasts, climbing Matheran from Karjat will take you to one tree hill & from there, you can reach Matheran.

  You can start your trip on friday evening & come back on sunday evening.. So what are u waiting for.. visit Matheran on next weekend.

Myths and Facts about travelling to Bhutan

  When we were planning a bike trip to Bhutan, I was looking out for exact information about permits, office timings, Visa formalities etc. etc. unfortunately, there are very few places where you could get exact information. So here is our complete experience of entering and exiting Bhutan on our own vehicles & we all were carrying Indian passport.

Q1> How, Where & When can we get permits to enter Bhutan.
Our entry point to Bhutan was Phutsoling which is  near Indian village Jaigaon in west bengal. We had heard before starting trip that, entry office at Phutsoling is open only from Monday to Friday, not thats not true. Our neighbors welcome us all days of week.

Entering Bhutan @ Phutsoling

  We reached Jaigaon border on saturday morning at 9 am. With basic checking of baggage, we were allowed to enter Phutsoling. Then we proceeded to permit office where we got our personal permits which took merely half an hour, but if you dont have passport, then you have to get your Indian documents like election card/ pan card attested.

Visa Counter @ Phutsoling

  Next step was to get vehicle permits. For each bike we had to pay rs. 350 as entry permit fees. Apart from that we paid rs. 500 (for 4 bikes) to an agent who arranged permits for us within 2 hours. So within 2 hours, we were in Bhutan. We had to submit all bike documents, passport, & 2 passport size photographs for permits.











Q2> Do we need to have hotel booking before entering Bhutan?
        NO. We had heard that, hotel booking is must. but you can simply write ANY HOTEL on your permit & choose your hotel after reaching Thimphu. You will get ample choice of accommodation and Indian rupee is accepted everywhere. So no worries.
        But remember, at Phutsoling you will get permit for Thimphu & Paro only. for other parts of Bhutan you need to obtain separate permit at Thimphu.

Bhutan Coins

Q3> What are the Language, currency, food & safety issues in Bhutan.
        NONE. Just enter Bhutan and you will more comfortable & safer than in India. people are extremely welcoming, crime rate in Bhutan is extremely low. Most of the people in Bhutan speak Hindi very well so no language problem either. Bhutan has its own currency but Indian rupee is accepted everywhere. You even don't have to worry about food as most of the restaurants serve good Indian & Chinese food.


Q4> Can we travel to Bhutan on our own, without any travel agent?
      I would rather say, you should travel on your own. Its very safe, people are very helpful, formalities are very limited and its very easy to explore Bhutan on your own. So just plan your trip, keep a day or two spare. Talk to people in Bhutan & make your own plan for exploring Bhutan & GOOOOO....


  

New circuit -Kolkata - Sikkim - Bhutan - Shillong - Guwahati

     When you think of long biking or driving tour.. everyone will recommend you only one circuit, thats Manali - Leh - Srinagar circuit.. It is undoubtedly the best circuit to ride, but what if you have already completed that, or you want to try something else.. Here is one more circuit, from very beautiful north eastern states of sikkim - assam & meghalaya + our neighboring Bhutan, which doesn't ask us, Indians to do any Visa formalities.

   So my friends, here is the amazing route which you can travel..

Journey can started either from Kolkata or Siligudi.

If your starting point is Kolkata, You will take one day of riding to reach Siligudi.

So start very early from Kolkata, thats before 5am & you stand better chance to reach Siligudi by 9 pm. or stop midway & continue till Siligudi on day 2.

From Siligudi, You can visit Mirik, where you can enjoy scenic lake nestled in a small saucer shaped valley surrounded by Shivalik range of Himalayas. Mirik is only 20 Kms of derive from Siligudi. After visiting refreshing Mirik, you can visit Darjeeeling.

Darjeeling is another 4 hours ride from Mirik, but trust me its amazing ride. Distance from Mirik to Darjeeling is not much.. may be 120 kms. but you are on climb continuously, so it takes time. Enjoy Darjeeling market 7 have bamboo beer.. and not to mention Darjeeling tea.

Tea Factory - Darjeeling

Next day, dont miss Darjeeling sunrise.. according to me, its most beautiful sunrise which can be seen in India.If its not cloudy, you will get amazing view of Kanchandzonga.

After Darjeeling head straight to Gangtok, which is capital of Sikkim. It will take 3-4 hours of ride to reach Gangtok from Darjeeling. Gangtok is amazing & one of the best hill stations in India. One can cover changu lake, guru Dongmar, & many other places of north sikkim from here, but bikes are not allowed at most of the places.  

Dont miss Chhangu lake & Nathula pass. You need to take inner line permit from Gangtok if you want to visit Nathula.

Nathu La -Indo Chinese border

Beautiful Gangtok

After Gangtok, You can visit beautiful monestry of kalingpong & then head to jaigaon, which is last village in India before entering Bhutan. From Jaigaon, you can enter Bhutan town called Phutsoling. Indians can go with their vehicles, so dont worry, you can take your bike to Bhutan. Just with your Indian passport you will get entry Permit for Thimphu & Paro. Reach jaigaon on any day except Sunday at 9 am. get permit in few hours & you are all set to enter Bhutan.

After entering Bhutan, You can visit Paro, Thimphu & do tiger's nest Monestry trek. This entire trail is amazing & you will really enjoy Bhutan. People there are very nice & welcoming. You can spend 3-4 days in Bhutan & explore the country.

Tiger's Nest

Start your return journey to India via Bogaigaon. Try to reach Bogaigaon in daylight. Though Bhutan is very safe to travel even at midnight, once you enter India, there are some security concerns, so reach Bogaigaon early which is 30-40 Kms after entering India.

From Bogaigaon, you can head to Tejpur. Now you have multiple options based on no. of days you have. You can visit Tawang which will consume 3 days. Tezpur - tawang - Tezpur - Guwahati.

or you can visit Shillong & cherrapunjee & return to Guwahati in two days.

or you can visit Kaziranga & majouli Island & come back to Guwahati in two days.

From Guwahati, you can send your bikes to you origin, or come back to Kolkata & send back your bikes to your origin..

This circuit is not as challenging as Leh, but its beautiful.. Roads are very well maintained by BRO & you can take pride of doing international ride.

If you have a 2-3 extra days, you can also visit Nepal. Or if you can spend 3-4 hours before visiting Darjeeling, you can visit Pashupati market in Nepal & come back & then go to Darjeeling..

So Enjoy your trip.. If you want us to arrange it for you, call us at +91 9820031162 

Thanks & congrats to my wonderful friends, who did this wonderful circuit even when I had to drop out at last moment..

Travellers:

   Mayur patil

   Navin Mayekar

   Prabhakar kanoje

   Pasad Kargutkar 

   Vikram More