FRIENDSHIP ACROSS THE ASEAN
Five Harley Owners India (HOI) riders successfully undertook a ride from Mumbai to Singapore and back. Here is their thrilling account
These HOI members rode through seven countries to draw attention to the corridor, AH1
THE ASEAN corridor is a dream project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to connect the peoples of the South East Asian countries and make accessible a trade and travel route that will benefit all the economies of South East Asia. Our goal was to highlight this route and rightly so as we experienced for ourselves on this trip, for a very high level minister of the Road and Transport Ministry was not even aware that such a route existed, to wit the ASEAN Highway 1 or AH1.
This ride was conceptualised, designed, planned, funded and executed by members of Harley Owners India (HOI). HOI is a private motorcycle club incorporated in 2010 in Mumbai by riders who are passionate about their HarleyDavidson motorcycles and riding. HOI as a club focuses on safe riding practices and undertakes both national and international rides for its members. Incidentally, HOI is not to be confused with HOG (Harley Owners’ Group) which is an undertaking of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle company and whose membership is open to anyone who buys a Harley bike. To become a HOI member one has to be invited as a prospect and then have to fulfil certain criteria and do rides before being accepted and initiated into the club.
The five riders who had come together to do this AH1 ride were: Debashish Ghosh and Dinesh Mohanlal Rohra of Mumbai, Dharmendra Jain of Indore, and Rahul Deshmukh and Youhan Mubaraki of Pune.
The biggest challenge we faced was getting the Carnet de Passage. The Carnet is a passport or paperwork for your bike and it’s the single most challenging thing one has to undertake prior to an international trip like this. One has to deposit 200 per cent of the value of one’s bike with the government, which, to say the least, is a huge challenge. I do hope that in the future the Carnet de Passage is not required at least for the people of ASEAN countries travelling within Asia.
Our flag-off on 19 March was from the Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai with about 40 or 50 riders coming out to bid us
bon voyage. While some of them wished
us Godspeed at the BKC, others rode with us up to Igatpuri in Nashik district.
Our route within India consisted of eight days of travel through the north and north-east where we would finally exit through the Manipur-Moreh border into Myanmar. Our stopovers included Indore where the local Harley-Davidson Tiger Chapter organised a party and press conference for us. After Indore our next stop was Jhansi, a distance of 550 kilometres through the most beautiful desert and valley of the Chambal. The Chambal valley and river is a sight to behold — once a notorious hideout for gangs of dacoits, now a peaceful and serene landscape that is second to none. One of our bikes began to give problems 250 km from Indore. With the guidance and help of the Seven Island Harley Dealership technicians, however, we were able to get our bike up and running again.
From Jhansi we rode on towards Varanasi, again a distance of about 550 km. We had paced ourselves well during this trip because we did not want to exert ourselves too much; we had a long and unknown journey ahead of us.
In Varanasi we were lucky enough to do a darshan of the famous Kashi Vishwanath temple. We reached there early enough which gave us time to explore the city a bit in its famous cycle-rickshaws and eat chaat at Dina’s and Kashi Chaat House. We all enjoyed the gracious hospitality of the Clarke Hotel in Varanasi and would like to thank them for taking such great care of us and our bikes.
Riding through Uttar Pradesh and Bihar is always a challenge and our ride from Varanasi to Siliguri was probably the hardest on the Indian leg of our journey. The roads were crowded and riddled with huge potholes, it was unbearably hot and then there were hordes of people who would descend upon us each time we stopped and made our already difficult journey even worse. It took us 19 hours to reach Siliguri.
The next leg was Siliguri to Binnaguri Army Base where we were accorded a warm welcome and true military hospitality. Our greatest thanks to the Indian armed forces who keep the borders of India safe!
Binnaguri to Guwahati was a distance of about 600 km and the four-lane highways in Assam were excellent
barring only the fact that all sorts of traffic from heavy vehicles to bicycles came at you from the opposite side.
One of the most amazing parts of our journey and adventure was the north-east. This part of our country is absolutely gorgeous. It’s got fertile soil, the weather is salubrious and the people… well, they are simply among the best. We had the most satisfying time in Nagaland and Manipur with the local riding clubs escorting us through their cities and on to the next. Nagaland holds the Hornbill Festival in December. An entire city has been especially created in the mountains for this festival which is an absolute must. If you haven’t visited this part of the country, we would urge you to do so.
One day in beautiful Kohima and then Imphal in Manipur. We were 60 km from the international border of Myanmar and we couldn’t wait to go international.
Our international trip began the moment we crossed the Iron Bridge from the Moreh border into Tamu. Myanmar is quaint. It’s beautiful and it’s clean but it’s at least 30 years behind civilisation. The government of that country is doing a lot to change that perception and AH1 is slowly but surely being completed here.
We had a tough time riding our heavy Harleys in Myanmar between the cities of Kelay and Mandalay. This distance of only 400 km took us nearly 18 hours and every ounce of our strength. We had sand bowls, troughs of soft sand where our bikes would just sink and refuse to come out. The sand was not just normal sand either; it was like soft talcum powder and our heavy bikes just sank deep into it. To make things worse, we had to cross those British-era metal girder bridges that had no road on it but just wooden logs laid out on top of the metal girders. We were riding through a terrain that was not really
meant for Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Luckily, our bikes coped with it without any major problems.
The remaining journey in Myanmar went like a breeze compared to this particular portion except when we reached the Thailand border, which was under the control of the Karen Army. We saw the local militia all along the route collecting “toll”, with kids as young as maybe 14 or 15 armed with grenades and the latest in automatic weaponry. We were told that if one didn’t pay their “toll”, one was liable to be shot dead. Fortunately, our local guides had all the necessary paperwork in place and paid the toll in advance which allowed us a clear and safe passage. One noteworthy aspect was the traffic sense and discipline in all of Myanmar. Not once did we have to worry about some moron coming at us from the wrong side or coming off a side street without looking. Not once did we feel threatened that pedestrians or cattle would roam on to the streets.
We bid farewell to Michael and his team who were with us for four days through Myanmar and entered Thailand, where the fuel was good and the roads even better: a Harley owner’s dream come true.
We rode up to Sukothai and stayed at the Sukothai resort for the night. Next day we were supposed to ride up to the Nam Nao National Park but one of the bikes had a problem, so we decided to ship that bike to Bangkok and continue onwards to Laos and Cambodia.
Our guide, Maria Phoung, greeted us at the border of Laos on the Savanekhet side. She had waited for us for over five hours because we had miscalculated both the distance and the time! Laos has beautiful roads and at one point we were doing 150 km/h through a most beautiful countryside. We wouldn’t encounter any traffic or people for hundreds of kilometres.
After Savanekhet our next destination was Pon Arena on the mighty River Mekong. We got to see the famous Khon Phabeng waterfalls there and stayed at a fabulous resort right on the riverbank.
The next day we entered Cambodia
and headed for Siem Reip, the home town of our guide Maria. Siem Reip has the most amazing night life, like one you would expect in Bangkok or Phuket. They have the Pub Street which is a walking district like the Bangla Street in Phuket and has some of the best night clubs and bars. Siem Reip and Cambodia are becoming very popular tourist destinations, a must-see if you like to discover new and interesting holiday destinations.
After leaving Seim Reip we headed for Bangkok the next day. It took us hours to enter and navigate through the city after getting lost and not being allowed on their elevated highways. We were greeted by Manoj Jacob of Riders Republic of Bangalore. He was to be our guide for the rest of the trip in Thailand. We spent the next few days in Bangkok getting our bikes serviced. From Bangkok we took day tours to the Tiger Temple where we got to pet tigers and cubs. After that we visited the famous Bridge on the River Kwai which is still in operation with the Thailand railways operating rail services on the very bridge that the American POWs tried to destroy in the eponymous film. One can still see shrapnel marks on the Bridge foundation below.
After a few days of well-deserved rest we headed for Malaysia and Singapore. The roads in Malaysia were superb: smooth roads with no distraction or potholes or undulations at all. But with
such smooth roads came the dangers of high speed. The trick was to overtake and move over before being run over by someone.
Finally, we reached Singapore where we were given a welcome by the members of a local bike club, called S G Indian Bikers. They escorted us to our hotel where we were presented with a letter of appreciation and a huge flag of HarleyDavidson autographed by Bill Davidson and Willi G. The next day the members of SGIB took us for sightseeing and a quick visit to the Harley showroom followed by lunch. In the evening we visited the famous Merlion statue.
Now our return journey started from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur and then Phuket.
We attended the legendary Phuket Bike Week on Patong beach and Phuket town. We had met the organiser, Sumon, at the India Bike Week earlier and he had invited us to ride to this event and ride we did. This was the first time that any riders from India ever attended this event. HOI was felicitated given a special plaque by the organisers, who also mentioned that ours was one of the longest rides that anyone had ever undertaken in the 21-year history of the Phuket Bike Week.
We would like to specifically thank Harley-Davidson of the United States and Asia Pacific for their help and support and making us feel that we belong to the Harley family. Also the local Bangkok dealership and their service team of Ross Higgins and Peter Evans.
Our return journey was also full of excitement. We took a different route through Myanmar and this also had its own challenges. It was longer by 200 km and the soil was slippery and wet. We slipped all over the place. Luckily, no serious injuries or damage.
Our entry into India turned out to be a special one. The Army officer, a Major, who was at the border when we left, was there to receive us. He wanted to know all about our trip and graciously invited us to have lunch with him. There was a strike in Manipur that day and a bandh had been called for 48 hours so we had no fuel. Our ride up to Imphal from the Moreh border was a tricky one as we just barely made it on fumes. In fact, we had to remove fuel from the bigger bike and put it into one of the smaller ones just to reach the hotel in Imphal.
The next day the local boys who had spent time with us on our way out made arrangements with a local pump to get us some fuel. Since we had the whole day at our disposal, we decided to visit the famous Floating Lake outside Imphal, called Loktak. It’s a sight to behold and, as I said earlier, the north-east is a region one must visit.
The next day we decided to head out early in the morning, the strike notwithstanding. We knew once we crossed the town of Senapati, we would be safe. We managed to make our way to Dimapur in Nagaland. Angam Shaiza, our friend in Dimapur, had made all the arrangements for us at a brand-new hotel, called Lake Shillow, and a party had been organised in honour of our return! That night we were treated to amazing Naga hospitality. We can’t thank Angam and his friends enough for that wonderful evening and for making us feel special. Each one of us was given a special vest with the colours of the nine different tribes of Nagaland. That is one special gift that we will cherish for ever. Thank you, Nagaland.
Our journey through Bihar and UP got worse when someone asked us to take
the supposed four-lane highway through Patna: worst mistake ever and one of the most horrible days of the trip with that distance of 700 km taking us exactly 19 hours.
Indore was the last leg of the journey for Dharmendra Jain, it being his home town. Fifty odd Harley riders rode out about 60 km outside Indore to greet us.
On 8 May the four riders who had started from Mumbai exactly 50 days earlier rode again for the last time on this ride. The two Pune riders separated from Dhule before Nashik to head towards Pune while the Mumbai riders went on to a welcome fit for a king by Debani Ghosh of Royal Challenge Rest, Thane. HOI riders from all over Mumbai came to receive us at Royal Challenge Rest, Thane.
All of us would like to thank all our sponsors for placing faith in us for such a difficult ride and for providing us with much-needed products during our journey.