Chasing the sun on Honda CB350 in Arunachal Pradesh

Entering Arunachal Pradesh

As I received the keys to the CB350 on day one, I jabbed the starter and grinned over the thought that this sweet thumping melody will be accompanying me during the ride. With gallops of energy and anticipation, we left our hotel in Dibrugarh (Assam), only to cruise on relentless stretches of slick tarmac with negligible traffic, all that’s required for a tranquil ride. And accompanying us for the most part were majestic mountains that were going to be a common sight for the rest of the days.

After a smooth sail of about 105km, we entered Ruksin in Arunachal Pradesh and took our first halt at a government town hall. Here, the honorable speaker of the state addressed us and greeted us with a souvenir. Not only this, we were particularly amazed to see the demonstration of Arunachal’s regional sword fighting art.

As the convoy was back on the slick tarmac by afternoon, we came across a sandy and rocky trail through which the CB350 felt scary with its road tyres. But that made it all the more fun! The intense off-road session ended at the Lohit river bank where we gorged on the sumptuous lunch of authentic regional cuisine. 

Now, just before the post-lunch lull could strike, we started carving our way through the mountains of Bomjir with a divine set of twisties. This was where the CB350 showed its handling prowess by staying undaunted, leaning into corners, and inspiring so much confidence that most of us were grounding our pegs.

A night in a hut

Our sojourn for day one was Bomjir camp - a line-up of huts based on bamboos, teak wood walls, and thatched roofs. The one I was allotted didn’t even have a geyser or air-conditioning! Remember what I said about something ‘excitingly uncomfortable?’ Well, the ‘uncomfortable’ part actually took a back seat sooner than later. With a pleasantly cool breeze sweeping into the gaps of the hut and being cocooned in a warm blanket, I dozed off in no time. 

Supermoto feels

The next day’s plan involved riding around Bomjir and exploring the mystic hills of the region. Again, just like day one, we were back on unblemished stretches of the highway. However, that didn’t last long as the ascent to Hawa Camp was a narrow maze of gravel and rut-filled roads. Here, most of us went into a noob-level supermoto mode, leaning our bodies against the turning direction and sticking our legs out. Even around tight bends, the CB350 felt decently agile. But ascending up a steep incline wasn’t all roses due to the tall gearing of the bike and lack of bottom-end grunt. On steep inclines, we were mostly left shuffling between second and third gears to get the needed drive. 

Trail attack to Namdapha National Park

If you think the journey has been interesting so far, day three was the most action-packed and thrilling one. The destination was Namdapha National Park, famous for four big cats – tiger, leopard, clouded leopard, and snow leopard. But as much awestruck we were after learning this, the adrenaline rush en route to the park was way more intense. 

Unlike the well-laid roads till now, our way to Namdapha was an interesting trail of sand, rocks, river crossing, and a lot of slush. I rode through slushy sections with the traction control off for some sliding fun. But switching it on revealed that CB350’s TC works fine, cutting the power at the right instances, without being too intrusive. Although standing up and riding felt obviously unnatural as the bike isn’t meant for that, its suspension handled all the trashing pretty well, provided we weren’t going all gung-ho. 

As we reached our campsite after the intense off-roading, we were greeted with a lip-smacking buffet, a few big spiders in our rooms, a bonfire at night, and stories of militants often invading the Indian territory from Burma.

Stepping into Myanmar

Day four brought along mixed feelings of camaraderie, patriotism, honour, and sadness. We snaked our way through beautiful long sweepers and hairpin-bends to reach Pangsau Pass. Residing at 3,737 feet above sea level, Pangsau is located in Patkai hills on the India-Myanmar border and offers the easiest route to Burma through Assam plains. At the border, there’s a sense of camaraderie amongst people on both sides and this relation gave us the opportunity to step on to the Myanmar land and have a soulful conversation with the soldiers. 

A pall of gloom descended over the whole convoy when we visited the World War II cemetery of Jairampur. It houses graves of over 1,000 soldiers. These brave souls died while executing the herculean task of constructing the Stilwell Road that connected India and China for the transportation of supplies during World War II.

Getting closer to Arunachal’s art form

The sight of gleaming Golden Pagoda and Arunachal’s regional dance forms were on offer on day five. After gawking at the mesmerising architecture of the Golden Pagoda, we got to witness the dancers narrate stories with their graceful movements, adorning a variety of masks and attires depicting birds and animals. I must say, their regional music evokes a deep feeling of nirvana, slowly putting you in a state of trance. It’s as comforting as the Honda CB350! Oh yes, that reminds me of the spot-on ergos of the motorcycle for touring. With an upright riding stance, it doesn’t feel like a cruiser but more of a street bike, one that has a perfect riding triangle and nicely cushioned seat for munching miles. I didn’t feel fatigued even once during the entire excursion. 

Bidding farewell

The last day’s ride from Namsai back to Dibrugarh ended in a jiffy. Parking the bike in the basement of the hotel, I was filled with a bizarre sense of accomplishment yet dissatisfaction at the same time.

Accomplishment because these six days brought me closer to the mystic land of Arunachal Pradesh that is so beautiful, yet vastly unexplored. It is not only rich with culture, heritage, history, and nature, but the people and government are profoundly hospitable towards their guests. And that’s one of the reasons why Honda chose Arunachal for this ride. It’s as fascinating as Leh Ladakh but doesn’t witness as heavy a footfall of tourists as other popular regions. Hence, the government is trying various means to attract more visitors for stimulating its revenue stream while making people familiar with what a gem of a place Arunachal is.

A sense of dissatisfaction prevailed for the fact that six days weren’t enough to thoroughly experience all that I came across. As soon as I get the opportunity, I would love to go back to this place, tread slowly, soak in the vistas to their fullest and get more familiar with the culture and people of Arunachal Pradesh. 

Ironically, this story covers more of my rendezvous with Arunachal and less of the experience with the Honda CB350. Maybe I got carried away. But fret not! I’ll soon be back with a comprehensive story about the things I liked in the CB350 and the ones I didn’t. Stay tuned!