HYDERABAD: Even as Jai Bharati kick-started her black bike near the AP Tourism boating point not far from Tadepalli, a small crowd comprising both men and women gathered around the biking enthusiast -- some excitedly clicked photos and several others stood by watching her with curiosity. Jai along with Shilpa Balakrishnan, ASD Shanti and Piya Bahadur halted in the city on Sunday evening while on their way to Mekong covering southeast Asian nations by road along the newly-laid India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway to promote tourism in Telangana.
The bikers who have set out on several such journeys in the past began the sojourn from the Telangana Secretariat on Sunday morning. “We haven’t travelled to eastern countries yet. The main goal behind the expedition is to promote Telangana Tourism with the support of both the Centre and the government of Telangana,” said Jai, the road captain. She explained that they would travel 17,000 kilometers across India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia to reach Vietnam in the next seven weeks to promote tourism in India and Telangana in particular. “We are travelling along with eight Telangana Tourism employees.
As part of our expedition, we will visit 19 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in five nations and promote exchange tourism at the 35 UNESCO sites in India,’ road marshall Shilpa Balakrishnan said. The Ministry of External Affair was in touch with the Ministries of the countries through which the bikers will be moving before the four took off. On Monday morning, the bikers will set out of Visakhapatnam.