After 14 months travel, in ten countries, for a total of 120,812 km, we are at home. This post is to thank some of those who have been instrumental in making it successful, capture some statistics, and provide some overall information on the trip.
Maps and the overall plan:
1) Overall plan in South Asia
We planned a route which would avoid the monsoon and its effects, avoid extremes of heat and cold, and manage the exigencies of visas. It worked reasonably well, however we ended up avoiding Bangladesh and Sri Lanka owing to increasing discontent in the former and natural disaster in the latter. We had not thought to go to Mongolia in our original plan however it became clear that climate concerns opened a window and we took the opportunity to visit this country, on our radar for ever.
So, the general plan was to start in India, using the last two months of our 2024 visa, arriving in Mumbai and exploring Maharashtra, Goa, and Karnataka in good weather. We would then head to Nepal, to explore the country, and as a base for travel to Bhutan and to Tibet. We would then leave the region for a couple of months, during the worst of the monsoon and its effects. During this time we would go to the UK, where Alan needed to renew a passport, visiting family and friends. The latter part of the plan for this window was not clear in terms of travel, and this is when we ended up going to Mongolia. We would then head to Northern Pakistan which, although still in the late monsoon period would not, we thought, be too badly affected.
This assumption proved optimistic, although we succeeded, with some changes in plan, in our objectives for the country.
After this we planned to travel progressively through northwest India; Punjab, Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, and Himachal Pradesh. Our assumption was that the monsoon and its effects would by now allow travel through the region. Ladakh in particular was known as the driest area in India. However… this year Ladkah had 90 times more rain than normal! Even so, we were able to fulfil our intentions in the region. Following this we were to head along the southern edge of the Himalayas, through Uttarakesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and into West Bengal, while it would not be oppressively hot. Sikkim, Assam, and the Northeast of India would follow, ending in Kolkata before extreme heat. We planned to continue into Bangladesh, which we later chose to cancel, as noted, and then head southwards towards Southern India.
We ended up running out of time to explore the east coast and flew from Kolkata to Chennai, whence we explored the last but one area in India which was in the plan – Tamil Nadu and Kerala. We decided to forgo planned time in Sri Lanka as mentioned, and time constraints meant that the remaining state in India which we wished to visit, Gujarat, had to be put onto the list of places to visit on a future trip.
At the end of the trip, prior to returning to Mumbai to leave for home we relaxed in the Maldives for a few days.
Key insights are that our general plan was good, although optimistic. We found that India in particular offers so much to experience that we ran out of time. The effects of the monsoon are critical in terms of their impact on infrastructure and logistics, and their uncertainty means that flexibility is key to travel in South Asia.
1) The final trip in Asia
2) Our travel in South Asia
3) Travel in Mongolia
Maps of each region are included in the relevant posts.
Transport:
This was a different trip for us; the cost of shipping our own vehicle was prohibitive, and the visa restrictions created barriers to movement which would have made it impractical to use our own vehicle anyway.
So we travelled using rented vehicles for much of the trip; In Mongolia we rented a Jimny 4x4 with camping gear and this was our principal means of getting around; in Pakistan and India self-drive proved to be more or less impossible and we rented vehicles with drivers (which also proved less expensive than the few potential self-drive options which did seem as if they might work out), this also gave us the opportunity to get to know the drivers and learn from them.
In Nepal we used taxis most of the time, although on our trek and at Bardiya transport to and from the start and end was part of the package. We also used taxis/ubers in Istanbul and Qatar, where we made connections and took a couple of days to enjoy both places on each stop.
In Bhutan and Tibet our travel was managed by tour agencies; although there appear to be self-drive possibilities, we chose to take advantage of agencies which were able to set up custom-built itineraries. The transport was in comfortable vehicles provided by the agencies, with guides/drivers.
We also used trains when it made sense, for example when travelling from Varanasi to Silguri, which would have been a very long drive with relatively little of interest on the way. The trains proved to be a very economical means of getting around in India – the network is massive, they are usually punctual, and are comfortable.
We used flights whenever it was the best solution. From Kolkata to Chennai, for example, any other option would have taken days rather than hours. From Lahore to Amritsar, which is an hour and a half by road, the closed border meant that we had to fly, the shortest option being to fly via Qatar, seventeen hours travel time. To go to Mustang Valley from Kathmandu by road would have been a 12 hour drive to Pokhara (which we had done earlier) and another 5 hours to Jomsom (which we did on return), so we flew to Pokhara and then on to Jomsom (a spectacular flight!). Getting to Mongolia and back to South Asia was viable only be air, travelling via Istanbul.
Various boats and ferries were used to cross rivers, explore lakes, and get to and from Summer Island in the Maldives. Innumerable tuk-tuks (rickshaws), two motorbikes (in the Orkhon Valley), and a couple of scooters were used for local transport throughout.
It should be noted that we also travelled completely off any type of track - on foot, with the longest walks being the six day 40 km Poon Hill Circuit Trek in Nepal, a walk along the Orkhon River in Mongolia (returning on “cross-country motorbikes), on horseback in Pakistan and Mongolia, on Camelback in Mongolia, and on an elephant safari in Assam. Lastly, cableways were used to reach a few places and across a river to reach a homestay in Himachal Pradesh.
Summary data:
We covered 120,812 km overall, including 80,860 km by air. We travelled 34,191 km in South Asia, 3017 km by train and metro, and 31,436 km by road. In Mongolia we travelled 4290 km, of which 4262 km were by road. Interestingly, we found that our average km/day in Mongolia was similar to our experience on previous “big trips”, at 159 km/day, whereas our travel in South Asia averaged 97 km/day reflecting slow roads and much intense time spent in towns and cities.
The overall trip took 429 nights, of which we spent 325 nights in South Asia and 27 in Mongolia:
· India – 212 nights, 4 entries
· Nepal – 46 nights, 4 entries
· Bhutan – 21 nights, 1 entry
· Tibet – 11 nights, 1 entry
· Mongolia – 27 nights, 1 entry
· Pakistan – 31 nights, 1 entry
· Maldives – 4 nights, I entry
· Turkey – 4 nights, 2 entries
· Qatar - 4 nights, 2 entries
· Canada – 19 nights, 1 entry
· UK – 46 nights, 2 entries
We stayed in a variety of accommodation, including a tent and gers in Mongolia, tea-houses while trekking in Nepal, homestays, BnBs (actually these days mostly BwithoutBs), and an ashram in RIshikesh. Hotels ranged from budget (USD 10 per night) with a variety of quality, to a few more expensive on occasion (Islamabad, the last nights in Mumbai, Maldives). We found many places at very reasonable rates which were comfortable and well-equipped.
Thanks and saludos
We appreciate the hospitality, love, friendship, help, and advice of many throughout the trip, including:
· Rose and Justin in Montréal
· Catriona, Nick, Charlie, and Blair in Vancouver
· Avni in Mumbai
· Radhi in Mumbai (Artisans)
· Vinod in Badami
· Savio Fonseca at Bondla Birdwatching
· Niti and Dinesh in Kathmandu
· Prim on the Poon Hill Trek
· Tsering, Ngawang, Kado, and Tanjin in Bhutan
· Tshering Dema, Tenzing, Pema, and Sonam in Gasa
· Tshering Jamsto in Pobjhika Valley
· Rapke Gurung in Muktinath
· Anit, Margo, Pierre, Promes, and Aska in Bardiya
· Panchenjap and Pemba in Tibet
· Mark and Beate in Marlow
· Rolf, Jan, and Tes in London
· Tes and Margo, Rolf, Chris, Pat and Jeff in Norfolk
· Mike and Catriona in Lewis
· John and Clair in Insch
· Barbaros, Ali, Arkan, and Arshan in Istanbul
· Bogi, Eluntiya, Inchrema, and Nyimho in the Gobi Desert
· Ogi and Ikhe, Patse, Terima, Pinche, and Kunje in the Orkhon Valley
· Naran near Telmen
· Dava, Jana, Øystein, Panela, Stephanie, Oliver, and Byamba at Khovsgul Lake
· Hassan, Hamad, Nureen, Zara, Hamara, and Abdullah in Islamabad
· Mushtaq Ahmed at Khwazakhela
· Valmutchkan and Kamazal in Kalash Valley
· Mussa at Dir
· Dr Fouzia Faizi and Dr Saiullah in Chitral
· Nidhi and Vaibhav in Jammu
· Fabi in Leh
· Vikas and Dale in Leh
· Harshad and Poonam in Nubra Valley
· Sonam, Lavi, Kendrup, Getso at Tso Moriri
· Sonam in Tsokar
· Sonam in Lato
· Hetang in Nambu
· Sumanth in Jispa
· Andrés in Nako
· Aisylu, Ananda, Bala, Bansi, Chanda, Claudine, Daniel, Dinesh, Gabriel, Ganga, Gariman, Gayatri, Jasmine, Karen, Katie, KP, Madhura, Manan, María Alejandra, Mona, Nirmal, Punzz, Rahul, Rohan, Sanjay, Sarita, Saurabh, Shelley, SM, Swami Sevananda Saraswati,Tae Hong, Tara, Uma, Vivekanand, Yanet in Rishikesh
· Bayul, Mohit, and Kundan in Pangot
· Piotr and Patrick in Varanasi
· Mingdu, Miki, Wangchuk, and Songrep in Dzongu
· Dhruv in Guwahati
· Woody in Kohima
· Digi and Anup in Nakachari (Hoollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary)
· Ujal and Suwaranjan in Sivasagar
· Jilalji, Auniati at Majuli
· Deb and Shail in Kolkata (and Kaziranga)
· Girish at Bandipur
· Sindu & Radesh in Munnar
· Sandhia, Girish, Sadhu, and Yaron at Thattekad
Drivers (who were also great guides):
· Rajasthan - Bhati
· Pakistan - Abdullah
· Maharashtra - Vittal, Pravin, Akash, Amit, Pankaj, Satish,
· Goa - Vaikal, Tharun,
· Karnataka- Sanju, Thatun,
· Nepal - Dinesh (Guide) & Biram (Driver), Saroj (Driver), Ram, Changba (Mustang),
· Bhutan - Nga-wang (Guide) and Kado,
· Tibet - Panchenjap (Guide) and Pemba,
· Ogi and Ikhe – Orkhon Valley
· Nepal - Naren,
· Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh - Riyaz, Hamad,
· Spiti, Himachal Pradesh - Tsewang,
· Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand - Vishal, Rawad,
· Sikkim, Darjeeling – Ramesh,
· Assam - Jitu,
· Meghalaya, Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh – Mridul (Torak in Kaziranga),
· Tamil Nadu, Kerala (Chennai to Kanyakumari) – Tamizh,
· Kanyakumari to Kovalam – Safeer,
· Kerala, to Munroe Island – Samnath,
· Kerala, to Alappuzha – Ablash,
· Kerala - to Thattekad – Vahid,
· Kerala, to Kochi – Sanju.
Thank you!
Vehicles:
We travelled in many different vehicles, however a few stand out:
· Toyota Innova: the workhorse of the Himalayas! We travelled in a succession of these, which are seen everywhere in the mountains and everywhere else in less profusion. It’s a Hilux with 2WD and a seven-seat body and very capable. One of these vehicles took us throughout Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh, including the ascent to Umling La, the highest motorable road in the world, at 5800m/19,024 feet AMSL.
· Suzuki Ertiga: the Suzuki version of an Innova. We saw many of them all over the region, and travelled in one only in South India – comfortable and capable.
· Mahindra Thar, Bolero, and Scorpio: if the Bolero were suddenly removed from South Asia the region’s logistics would collapse, they are all over India and Nepal. We travelled in a few, usually on routes which our 2WD vehicles could not readily handle. These vehicles, at least the passenger versions, are often referred to as “Prados”, and labelled as such (if not labelled “Ferrari”!).
·
Suzuki Alto 800: described as “an entry-level city car”, this is one of many small cars used as taxis throughout the region. We took one around Lower Mustang Valley in Nepal, and then from the valley to Tatopani and on to Pokhara. One might think that the only vehicles capable of the routes we took in this region would be high clearance 4x4s. The Alto, driven by Changba, did a great job if giving us access to remote areas (in fact, most would consider the valley itself as “remote”, so to very remote areas!).
· Suzuki Jimny: We had been looking at the Jimny for a while, as a possible alternative to our Montero, and finally used one in Mongolia. It proved outstanding! Nimble and very capable, it proved comfortable for our month in Mongolia, where the minute proportion of surfaced roads means that more or less the entire country is “off road”.
· Toyota Prius: As noted, most of Mongolia is “off road” and one might expect that Mongolians would use 4x4 vehicles like Land Cruisers, Patrols, Jeeps, or Pajeros. In fact the standard vehicle is the Prius; we would have driven a couple of hundred kilometres on tracks which many would consider challenging for a 4x4 and would find a Prius coming the other way. Although nearly all our camping was solo, with no other vehicle in sight, or even within a half hour drive, one one holiday weekend, not far from Ulaan Batar, we stopped to camp at a river at the side of the main highway and counted 19 Priuses out of the 20 nearest vehicles!
A couple of examples of roads we travelled:
Trains (all in India):
1) Udaipur to Jaipur on the Vande Bharat express
2) Mumbai to Nashik on the Vande Bharat express
3) Mumbai to Hosapete
4) Mysore to Bengaluru
5) Amritsar to Jammu on the Vande Bharat express
6) Katra to Srinagar on the Vande Bharat express – newly opened and crossing the Chenab River on the highest rail bridge in the world at 359 m (1178 ft), higher than the Eiffel Tower, and passing through 111 km of tunnels in189 km.
7) Lucknow to Varanasi on the Vande Bharat express
8) Varanasi to Patna on the Vande Bharat express
9) Patna to New Jalpaiguri
10) New Jalpaiguri to Guwahati on the Delhi Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express
Flights:
1) Bogotá to Montréal
2) Ottawa to Vancouver
3) Vancouver to Delhi
4) Delhi to Mumbai
5) Bengaluru to Kathmandu (cancelled by Nepal Airlines), Bengaluru to Delhi
6) Delhi to Kathmandu
7) Pokhara to Kathmandu
8) Kathmandu to Paro
9) Paro to Kathmandu
10) Kathmandu to Pokhara
11) Pokhara to Jomsom
12) Pokhara to Nepalgunj
13) Nepalgunj to Kathmandu
14) Kathmandu to Lhasa
15) Kathmandu to Doha
16) Doha to London
17) Norwich to Aberdeen
18) Aberdeen to London
19) London to Vienna
20) Vienna to Istanbul
21) Istanbul to Ulaan Batar
22) Ulaan Batar to Istanbul
23) Istanbul to Islamabad
24) Lahore to Doha
25) Doha to Amritsar
26) Guwahati to Kolkata
27) Kolkata to Chennai
28) Kochi to Malé
29) Malé to Mumbai
30) Mumbai to London
31) London to Bogota
All “big trips” compared
Other blogs:
Here’s the 2010-2011 South America trip:
http://suramericacontraelreloj.blogspot.com
The 2017 Africa trip:
http://unochoenafrica.blogspot.com
The 2019 Australia trip:
http://discoverthedreaming.blogspot.com
The Iceland trip (only 5 weeks) in 2021:
https://fireandice-apandemicescape.blogspot.com
The
Canada trip:
https://aroundcanada2022and2023.blogspot.com/
…and here's a blog for some of the short trips:
http://alanymarcemoreexploration.blogspot.com
Photos may be used for non-commercial purposes with credit to alanymarce@gmail.com
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