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
Khitish's number - 09402033616/09864283526.
ReplyDeleteThanks folks, You were right. I've now uploaded Madhuri Lake photo.
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