North East Travel Diary | Day 0 | Bangalore

I used to travel/trek a bit during 1982-90. And now since 2007, I have been traveling, touring and trekking a lot. So I know the difference in this travel industry – then and now.

The internet has made a huge difference. More info is available in the internet than, even in the books of Lonely Planet !!. I can vouch for this. So, after checking out at many bookstalls, travelogues, news papers, travel agents, maps etc, I found that the internet has more and up-to-date information (on anything). When I am taking so much of help from the internet to plan my travel, is it not my duty to give it back? That is why I am writing this diary.

I would like to see all the important places of my mother India. I have seen many parts of India so far. And I have been planning to go to the North-East since two years. Recently I asked many of my friends, whether they are interested in this tour. I even split the whole tour into two parts, so that it will be more convenient for people to join in. Only 4 – 5 people showed interest in the first part but finally everybody dropped out. Some how, people are hesitant to travel to NE. But by this time, I had decided to undertake this tour and now the time has come.

My first part of the NE tour will be to the places less traveled. They are far-flung places in Arunachal Pradesh. RIGHT up to the eastern most (right most) point of India. And then a small trek in one of the best national parks of India. Don’t really know the risk or dangers involved in those places. But I firmly believe in God, and have left everything to him.

My second part of this tour will be to a few well known tourist spots of Meghalaya and Assam. And 10 more people will be joining me in this tour.

While preparing for this tour, I had read lot of literature on NE, contacted lot of people, visited many travel fairs. Finally I zeroed in on one agency. It is Greener Pastures run by Vaivhav (Vaibhav – for me) and Neil, from Dibrugarh, Assam. They came to my residence twice at Bangalore, and after lot of discussions, we were able to fix up some sort of itinerary. And again, all these are possible because of the help of internet.

What all am I taking in this tour? : Well, I am writing this, because I thought this might help others. Other than the usual items, I am taking Samsung Galaxy S2 (SGS2) smart phone. I have BSNL post paid plan 325 SIM in it. I am also taking Energizer XP18000 rechargeable power pack. I have my Nikon P5000 camera, but the photos that you will be seeing will be from my SGS2 only.

And as usual, I have taken my tour-guide-book along with me. I make a tour guide myself by going thru various web sites. It will contain all the necessary information on the places that I will be visiting. This is my standard practice in any tour, and here is no exception. I have also taken few travel related books with me.

Books I am carrying

And I found some pages of few more books to be useful. So I took photographs of those relevant pages in my SGS2. I have done this, so that I can avoid carrying those books.

I have taken few photos of the pages from these books.

With these things, I think I will be able to write my day to day diaries and will be able to put it in the net. Of course in this job, Mukesh-ji, the moderator of this web site, is with me. I will be mailing him my diaries; provided I get the internet connection in the places where I am staying. He has gladly agreed to upload the same in this blog.

Why should I write now, taking all these troubles? : I have found that, while on tour, I want to write so many things. But I won’t be having the necessary hardware to write, even though I might have plenty of time. And once I finish the tour and back at home, I won’t have enough time to write all these. Also, I might forget many things. So I thought of writing it, as and when I travel.

How am I traveling? : I am alone in this part of the tour. And I am calling it as MAD vs. Wild (like Bear Grylls’ Man vs. Wild of Discovery Channel). You must agree with me that I am a MAD to undertake this kind of a tour, that too alone. And I should be ably assisted by Vaibhav, who will look after all the logistics. We will be going in a SUV along with a driver. We will be staying in any kind of accommodation that is available. Best food and other luxuries are not in my mind. So if God willing, it should be a good tour.

Today is 15.12.2011, and I consider this as Day 0. My tour starts from 16.12.2011, and it will be marked as Day 1, and so on. So, keep following this blog on a daily basis, and keep posting any type of comments. I will be glad to receive all of them. However kindly note that I may not be in a position to reply you back in the same post, because of hardware and signal limitations.