North East Trip (Meghalaya, Assam, Arunachal) Nov '10 : Part 2

Day 7 : Tezpur -> Dirang
As we wake up before the dawn on this day, we embark on our dream trip to Tawang with Khitish's great assistance, chauffeur for the reminder of our trip. We embark on a journey through the mountainous tracts which can be little arduous, to Dirang valley, through the villages Bhalukpong, Tipi, Sessa, Nechipu, Bomdila. We chewed some biscuits on our way sponsored by Dipu's Mom, brings respite to our extreme hunger before we take a break near Bhalukpong, gateway to Arunachal. Arunachal holds unique position literally as "the land of the rising sun" as its hills and mountains greet the sun first, before any other part of the country. Journey through heavily vegetated mountains reminiscent of my memories back from trip to Everest Base Camp. Though dust-filled, we mostly drive through the mountains in the West Kameng district, lies west of the river Kameng, a tributary herself to Mighty Brahmaputra. Lunched at Hotel Aphet, being served delicious Tawa Roti and Sabji, great thanks to Khitish who brought us to this place. We take a diversion at Rupa to visit a monastery on the hill-top, situated in chilipaum, 18kms off Rupa. Feel privileged to witness this monastery, features among one of the beautiful monasteries I've ever seen, decorated in colorful Thangkas and well spaced halls. Earlier, we paid visits to Tipi Orchid Sanctuary, Vijayanti Waterfalls, Jamiri Bridge, one of the hanging bridges over Kameng.


As the sun sets early in this part of the country, we reached the district headquarters of West Kameng, Bomdila, with streets lit with neon bulbs. Got a chance to meet Mr. Wange, Head of Himalayan Holidays, which takes tours to almost all corners of Arunachal Pradesh. After a little chat, resumed our journey and managed to reach Dirang by half past seven in the night. To all of our worries, Simki seemed to be not in a good shape. Gulped few pegs of whiskey and hit the bed soon after hoping Simki would recover by tomorrow.


Distance Covered : 200KM Approx.
Journey Duration : 6AM - 7PM

Day 8 : Dirang -> Tawang
Good news knocked my door as I wake up, Simki showed tremendous character as she felt better and relieved in the morning, definitely improved from previous night. With the help of Khitish we managed to consult a doctor and obtained some medication. Commenced our journey at around 9 in the morning, experienced considerable altitude gain of 8000ft, all the way to the Great Sela pass from the valley of Dirang. As we climb uphill the vegetation on the mountains seem to fade away, happens as you go up the altitude, and beautifully replaced by tiny tiny patches of ice. Within no time, we reached the Great Sela Pass at 13,714ft, and the sinuous road to Tawang passes through these dragon gates. We experienced the sub zero temperatures and little snowfall, all of us jumped into the ice and played with it for a while, carried some indelible memories.


We move on, our next halt is Jaswantgarh, 17kms from Sela Pass, at a lower altitude, located here is a memorial to the brave soldier who single-handedly tried to hold of the approaching Chinese from the Pass during 1962 Indo-Chinese War. This remains a must halt for every traveler passes by, our young jawans serve some awesome Samosas and hot tea (made of milk, not powder) on the other side of the road. Jung waterfalls in the valley of Tawang is our last destination of the day, before we put up in Tawang, a sheer delight to the eyes.

A small drinking session in the night in Tawang sums up a memorable day.

Distance Covered : 133KM Approx.
Journey Duration : 9AM - 6PM

Day 9 : Sight-seeing in & around Tawang
On penultimate day of our trip, kicked-off the proceedings to the gorgeous Sungester Lake aka Madhuri Lake, well renowned for a song of Madhuri shot in this lake from the movie Koyla. We can call ourselves damn lucky as we managed to go past the army TCPs despite not carrying the mandatory passes.




We drive past PTSo Lake and straight to Madhuri Lake as the dense fog cover obstructed the view of the lake. One thing we noticed vividly on this trip, is the Major deployment of Army Camps all through the mountains till Tawang, in fact, Madhuri Lake. On the site of Madhuri Lake, were little unfortunate to have not observed any snow, managed to meet a couple of Army Brigade. Among them, One lieutenant, must be in his early twenties, looked much younger to us, Vikas Singh and one fellow Andhra-mate, Nagesh, RFN, who reports to Vikas. Quickly exchanged some words with Vikas and resumed our way back to Tawang. A brief photo session was organized by Manu and Kaustav here. On Khitish's insistence, we danced to one bollywood number on the ice (click here for video), started by Simki and well supported by Manu and me.


We headed straight to Tawang Monastery, the second largest monastery in Asia, and the most gorgeous monument of medieval aura reflecting rich and cultural past. Also visited the Stupa-like Tawang War Memorial, salutes the heroes of the 1962 war.


A little bit of shopping and Dumb sharades in the night wraps up our day in Tawang.
Tomorrow we drive out of Tawang and bid goodbye to the mountains of Arunachal. Feeling pretty sad.

Day 10 : Tawang -> Tezpur -> Guwahati -> Hyderabad

Distance Covered : 400KM Approx.
Journey : 4:30AM - 8:30PM

Spent most of the time in travel, travel n travel, and played Dumb sharades in the car. Simki's long-awaited wish of listening to a bhoot story has been fulfilled by Khitish. He narrated a bunch of his real life encounters with Bhoot, Aur Simki Darr Gayiiii

We safely reached Tezpur and put up that night in Dipu's home. Truly a sumptuous dinner I had that night. The 10 glorious days of doing nothing was over. We took a bus to Guwahati the very next day and reached the airport, and I got separated from Manu, Kaustav and Simki as I had to board Hyderabad flight. For a second, I felt a little lonely after having spent some great time with all the lovely folks.

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More Details on Stay and Travel
Stay in Shillong - Stay In Guest House, Mookerjee's Shopping Complex, Police Bazar, Keating Road, Shillong - 793001. Ph: 0364-2223965, 2302027

Chauffeur to Cherrapunjee - Kasumatari +91 94363 12556

Stay in Kaziranga - Aranya Tourist Lodge, Ph: 03776-262429

Himalayan Holidays - Mr. Tsering Wange, +91 94360 45063

Lunch in Tenga - Hotel Aphet, Tenga Market, West Kameng. Ph: +91 9436224443

Stay in Dirang - Dirang Tourist Lodge, Dirang, Near Petrol Pump, Narrangchillo, West Kameng Dist., A.P. - 790101. Ph: 03780-242157, +91 94362 48136

Chauffeur to Tawang - Khitish - 09402033616/09864283526

Stay in Tawang - Hotel Mon Valley

North East Trip (Meghalaya, Assam, Arunachal) Nov '10 : Part 1

Team on Board(from left)Manu, Satish, Mrs&Mr Kaustav

Day 1 : Drive to Shillong
Two hour long wait is ON since I landed at Guwahati terminal, I submerge myself into an awesome read, "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham. At last, much to my relief I hear an announcement of the arrival of Bangalore bound airport, as clock hit half past three. we embarked on a journey to Shillong, to the south of Guwahati, after exchanging brief plesantries with Manu, Kaustav and Simki. Had had a few brief stops for some tea, smoke and food, and much to relax our stiff muscles. Managed to reach Shillong after some seriously stupid traffic jams just when we were 30KMs away from the city. I pretty much disliked the music played in the cab and cursed myself of not carrying the hip-hop by Himesh Reshammiya. We unpacked the luggage and quickly placed the order for dinner and put ourselves in "Stay-In Guest House", off the Police Bazaar, Keating Road, Shillong.

Day 2 : Cherrapunjee
I wake up with a little of bit of tiredness, and quickly managed to get ready as the cab to take us to Cherrapunjee for sight-seeing is waiting downstairs. Cherrapunjee is world renowned for being the wettest place on earth, and 54 km from Shillong. The road to Cherrapunjee is good and the drive scenic. She is very expressive with its gushing waterfalls and the deep gorges. The scenic khasi hills remind you of Scottish Highlands - just perfect for those summer/winter holidays away from the heat and the dust of India's plains. We visited EcoPark on the hills of Cherrapunjee, blanketed by thick cloud cover, and indeed a pleasure to the eyes. Time for some good Macro-Photography, and tour's official photographer, Kaustav managed to grab some good pics. Major disappointment of the day comes from, seven sisters fall, unable to see as the whole area is covered by the clouds. For those who enjoy caving, Meghalaya is just the place for it.



We take a break near Mawsmai caves, later proceeded to Cherra Resort to have lunch. Tawa Rotis were served with some delicious curries, and we made sure we filled our stomachs full to keep some energy reserves required for the trek. Meanwhile Manu and Kaustav have inquired about the trek to the Living Root Bridge and its feasibility. Assisted by Rivaldo, our guide through the jungle, trekked downhill to Living Root Bridge, a drop of 400m in altitude. The living bridges of Cherrapunji, aren't built, in fact, they're grown and made from the roots of the Ficus elastica tree. This tree produces a series of secondary roots from higher up its trunk and can comfortably perch atop huge boulders along the riverbanks, or even in the middle of the rivers themselves. The War-Khasis, a tribe in Meghalaya, long ago noticed this tree and saw in its powerful roots an opportunity to easily cross the area's many rivers. Now, whenever and wherever the need arises, they simply grow their bridges.


All in all, a great way to start trip, one of the most memorable treks I have ever done, down to the Living Root Bridge. We will do some sight-seeing in Shillong tomorrow and head back to Guwahati to attend Dipu's wedding.

Day 3 : Shillong sight-seeing, Guwahati
Kicked-off the proceedings with the Shillong Peak (1965m), about 10km from town, offers breathtaking views of city spread out against its glorious hill slopes.
Later paid a visit to the Elephant falls, one of the many falls close to the city.


Draped ourselves (Manu, Simki and I) in Khasi attire for a brief photoshoot.
Visited Shillong's popular 18-hole natural golf course, looked like a picnic spot than a golf-course, much to Simki's delight a visit to Tagore House wrap up our local sight-seeing in Shillong and commenced our return journey to Guwahati. Lunched in a Rajastani Dhaba on the outskirts of Barapani, managed to reach Guwahati by 5 in the evening. Ended up @ Geetima's house and danced to some bollywood numbers. As Simki says, She has never seen her spouse, Kaustav, dance the way he did. Manu also, kisi se kam nahin, danced at length to some hip-hop numbers. A much tiring day ends up on a good note, Manu appears to have the sleep in that night.

Day 4 : visited Kamakhya Temple
Day 5 : To Tezpur(The City of Blood) and then to Kaziranga

Day 6 : Elephant Ride in Kaziranga National Park
We put up at the Aranya Tourist lodge last night, to catch those early morning views of Kaziranga from elephant-back. Our morning starts even before the SUN, we now stand in the middle of the oldest national park in Assam, Kaziranga, much famous for its great Indian one-horned rhinoceros. Spread across 400+ sq km, it is a dazzling mosaic of dense rain-forest, tall elephant grass and swathes of reeds interspersed with vast tracts of marshes and shallow pools. Into just two minutes into the ride, spotted one one-horned rhino covered fully with mud, fetching his breakfast of the day.
Later, the elephant had a brief confrontation with the rhino, accompanied by its child. Returned to our lodge after bagging some good memories of the ride and spent sometime in the tea gardens on our way back. Returned to Tezpur by noon ...

Go read the Part2 of this post to know more on our much excited trip to Tawang.