In August 2007 driving had been an enlightening experience driving a Maruti Wagnor from Kolkata to Gopalpur on sea,Behrampur,Orissa via Lakechilka .While coming back we even had a visit of Puri. In October 2006 as one of my relatives had to shift from Delhi to Kolkata I drove from delhi his scorpio to kolkata 30 hrs single handed. In Jan 2005,We drove the first leg of the expedition offering challenging driving through some of the most beautiful desert landscapes in Rajasthan , for approx 90 km partly by dirt track and partly on tarmac roads to the Manvaar Desert camp. We set off for some serious off-road driving over small dunes and sand tracks till we reached the village of Samrao. On arrival at Samrao we drove the short distance to the Samrao Dunes and take camel rides to the dune tops to enjoy the desert sunset. For me the most adventurous travel would have to be on my trip to Jaldapara in December 2004. Here’s what happened: We were into the third day of our four day long trip to North Bengal, in the after noon I was leading the group and we came across a bridge on the right hand turn, took the turn at 60kmph only to find spilt engine oil in the middle of the bridge. Before I knew it I was on the road sliding along my bike with one of my friend doing the same behind me, fortunately he didn’t crashed into me. Got up with a sore knee, my friend was ok and so was his bike with only a cracked fairing; however it turned out the fall knocked out my bikes rear breaks! So there I was on my third trip in the hills, on the third day of the ride with bruised knee and no rear breaks. Since we were in remote parts of Jaldapara we couldn’t find a mechanic to fix the breaks, I started riding slowly behind the pack. At about 7o’Clock in the evening we were passing through a forest, with the group several kms ahead I was trying my best to catch up on the single lane broken road with gravel filled turns. While riding through a straight section I decided to put my bikes headlight on high beam to see if there was something on the road, I did noticed something walking on the road, I decided to again put the bike on high beam and discovered it was a leopard! This freaked me out and I decided to rip a little, but 100mtr later there was a turn in the road for which I had to lower my speed, with only the front break at my disposal I tried my best to slow down, but the turn was filled with gravel and my bikes front wheel locked causing my to crash face first. Thanks to the helmet I was wearing I wasn’t hurt except for my already bruised knee which got bruised again, with the knowledge that leopard was only 100mtr or so behind me I tried my best to get the bike off the ground ASAP and started riding. I had to ride for another half an hour to finally catch with the rest of the gang, during the half an hour long ride I only came across 1 jeep. Heading for the Himalaya, away from the hectic crowds! Himalayan valley (Darjeeling -Sikkim trekking) introduced us to the pristine white arena of Indian mountains. We spent our night in a quaint mountain hut and walk and trek among the best unspoilt regions. Best way to experience the beauty of Himalayas and its surrounding is to trek through it. So we did it and got the most exciting and thrilling challenges on our trekking tour of Himalayas.