My Travelling Experiences

I drove in UAE when I was traveling on my silk route tour in 2017. I reached Sharjah (Near Dubai) by ship from Bandar Abbas, Iran and it took me a full day to get clearance from the Customs for my bike.  In that process, overall I understood that basically I am importing the Bike into the UAE and it costs total 175 Dirham as a custom fee, out of which some value ( About 25 Dirham) is refundable if I take out my bike from country within a certain period of time (and I was sure that I am not going to come to this office again for such a small amount of Refund). I was happy that this port was operated (Workers) mostly by South Indians and I was so relaxed, happy to see 'My people' after landing from the ship and I was not in a hurry to finish the formalities for bike clearance and get out from this port. I told the guy 'Ramanathan' " Sir, I am not in hurry. I need to eat first. Please tell me where to get 'Food' and later we will start again with procedures fo...

Everyone says Neemuch but Railway station signboard says "Nimuch". I don't know which one is correct but coming to a Grade C city is such a peace. It's like I went to my childhood, 30 years back in time. I am staying, I guess, most costly hotel and it's Rs. 1000 per day. Agoda says Rs. 1400 per day for me as their VIP customer but I got lucky. Booking did not reach to the hotel and when I reached the hotel, we started on Hotel tag price of Rs. 1299 per day.  Railway station nearby is people-less, but markets are full as expected from a grade C city, which is on my comfortable level of crowd, just like any other A-grade city was 30 years ago. Food is so cheap and in good quality. You just need to identify the correct one (A little farther from bust stand or railway station, should have decent crowd compare to other shop and as per the time of the day, and no fancy decoration is my identification marks for a tasty food shop, " Food shops cant fool locals , so f...

I travelled to Bundi when I was around 11 years  old. My Tauji (Father's elder brother) was posted here in a school as a teacher. As he had to do his duties at school, he freed me to walk around on my own (he tried to fix it up with some knowns there but I refused). I roamed in the city and reached the palace called "Garh". I was disappointed when I saw a big lock there.   ( see , this is open now )  It was closed . I tried to find some "chor raste" (hidden entry) as I was highly motivated due to  my recent exploration of Jaipur's Amber fort with my another uncle (we got lost there and tried hard and came out in 2 hours so it was like a victory).  I found a dark entrance. I stepped in a few meters, I guess. But it was too dark. I didn't have courage and turned back. I went down, purchased a match box and came back with with it. And I succeeded to reach in a room at the end of the passage and then suddenly I saw so many Bats hangin...

Driving in Oman I lived for four and half year in Oman and it was a bit difficult to get the driving licence initially but finally when I got the driving licence or you can say learning licence (The Green book), I purchased my first bike and went for tour in Oman (you can read my another blog for how to purchase motorcycle in Oman ) First of all I would like to tell about my experience in living in Oman was much better than living in any other GCC countries. (The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) comprises six Middle Eastern countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.) Omani people are more humble and helpful compared to the other GCC nationals. Muscat is the capital and the biggest city which is really not as big as like other capital cities. Even though the city is well maintained but still the one of the biggest building was HSBC Oman (The bank I hate - The Chore bank). A Side road view ( Well maintened pavment) in Muscat City Arial view of Musc...

Driving permission in any country is different for a tourist then for a resident (non-citizen but long term visa holder). Since most of the countries allow tourists to drive the vehicle with their home country license up to a certain period time (usually 3 - 6 month) but may not beyond without that country licence, like in Oman. So Far I drove in many countries (About 20 countries: 5 in South America, 6 in Europe, 7 in Asia) but have never been asked for Driving License on road. Have been asked for Bike papers, Insurance and Visa etc. but never for Driving License and that was surprising as it was for the first time that I did get an international driving License from My home country. I took two times earlier (since it is valid for one year only) but was never asked by anyone. So I thought that it's just another method for the  Governments to make money or for show-off or might be asked in USA where I haven't driven.  Moreover, international driving licence is not an authori...

My Driving Route through Iran in 2017 I drive around 7000 km in Iran, and it was quite a different experience than driving in Europe. I entered Iran from Azerbaijan ( Bileh Savar بیله‌سوار) border, and we can say that it was only by the grace of god that I got entry inside Iran without having proper documents for my bike ( Carnet De Passages ) or may be due to the ultimate hospitality of Iranian people. At the entry point of Iran border, they took me in a room and my bag was so thoroughly searched that I myself was seeing many of my things after a long long time ( "Oh, so its here. I didn't lose this. Oh, that is also there etc. 😅). Every bit of my bags was on the table and when I said that "I know no liquor allowed in Iran, so don't worry, I didn't buy anything like that" then the young security personnel thanked me for respecting their culture and law and concluded the search.  After the bag search, they took me to a room and I was interviewed like 30-45...