North East Exploration started with #Tawang

North east region is a must destination for any one who wants to travel India in its entirety. This is in my check list for so long. But executing a north east trip is not easy as it takes a lot of time because of connectivity issues. Finally my dream got executed and I m exploring the lengths and breadths of north east, thanks to my husband who is posted there. There's a lot and lot to try out and ours is a work in progress. I m planning to write about our experience, as and when we complete a trip.

Trip to Tawang

In North east, Arunchal Pradesh is one of the toughest to travel and October is the best month to travel if we want to avoid both monsoon and snow. Tawang is the famous and relatively well connected place in Arunachal Pradesh. It is the last big town in the north west border of Arunachal Pradesh. There are times when even our mobiles get confused and show Bhutan and India time together on screen and there are places from where we can see the China border as well as their Army people.

Day 1

The night before starting the trip, we reached Tezpur by cab for stay. Tezpur is the most common point from where majority of Tawang trip starts and it is well connected to Guwahati by road and rail. We started from Tezpur after breakfast. Within half an hour, before the uphill journey started, we were received by the stunning view of the snow clad peak at the distance with shining sunrays. Then the mountain road started which is going to continue non stop for the next four days. Since we went immediately after the monsoon, the views were full of lush green mountain slopes dotted with a number of water falls. There are few accessible ones where we can get down and feel the tasty and chilled water. Along with the villages there are many small Hindu temples and Buddhist monasteries on the way with interesting legends. Learning the story along with the names of the places is a fun in itself. Usually the driver himself helps us with that. Since it is a border state, the roads are made and maintained superbly by BRO(Border Roads Organisation). Do look for their interesting and thought provoking quotes on the sides of the road!

We reached Ziro point where first time we felt the chilly wind. This is a famous view point on the way because of that. We can also shop for local apples and kiwi fruits here which are way cheaper. After some time we stopped for lunch. Apart from the ubiquitous maggi in any hill station, we can also try the local cuisine.

Then we stopped in another major view point Bomdilla pass near Bomdilla village where we can get stunning views. Here the vegetation changes to pine trees because of increase in altitude giving an all together new view. For stay we reached Dirang Valley by 5.It was already on the verge of getting dark. As the name says its a small and cute valley with decent facilities for stay. With the Dirang river flowing through the centre and high rise mountain slopes on both sides, the place becomes completely silent by night that we can hear only the Dirang river.

Day 2:

We visited the hot water spring and Dirang Monastery before proceeding further. The hotwater spring was a disappointment as it has been spoiled by the ongoing construction work. Dirang Monastery is a place to behold. It s perched on top of a peak and the art work is stunning. Look out for the paintings in the outer wall depicting Buddhist philosophies.

Then we travelled to Sela pass. The highest point yet in the trip. The continuous and dangerous curves and complete lack of vegetation on the sides of the road tells us that we are reaching an altitude of 13500 feet. The place has a small monastery with around 20 steps. But climbing that makes us pant like dogs because of lack of oxygen. Meanwhile, the beautiful and serene Sela lake, which we can see on the side from the monastery, looks at us calmly along with the Yaks grazing on the lake bed.

From there its down hill till the Jaswant war memorial. This stretch is the first sample of the multi colour version of slopes which is going to greet us all the way ahead. For someone who wanted to visit Northern Europe to see such landscapes after watching Game Of Thrones, I threw that wish out of the window after seeing this.

Jaswant war memorial tells all about the historical Indo -China war and worth seeing. Our next destination was the Jung falls or Nuranang falls. After parking we have to climb down a little to reach the place. The place is so astoundingly beautiful and terrifying at the same time that words cant explain. One side the water falls falling gustly and joining a serenely flowing water stream from inside of the dark and lush green mountains on the other side. I got the King kong/Jurassic park movie type forest vibes here.

From there we went to Tawang for stay.

Day 3:

From Tawang we started early to Bumla pass. Tawang was the last civilian town. From there it was fully military. The multi colour slopes I referred to earlier were there everywhere. Luckily it was sunny on our way up, so, it was a mix of red, green, yellow, orange reflecting brightly in the Sun. There were many small lakes nestled in between the slopes to add to the beauty. The travel from Tawang to Bumla pass took around two hours and we wish that the road never ends. Peak after peak we see more and more stunning and breath-taking views.

After reaching Bumla pass, the military will take us to the border point and explain a few things about the place. We can see the china camp on the other side.

Then we went to Madhuri lake. It s a lake formed recently because of a earth quake. By the time we reached there it started raining. So we did not get much views and returned to Tawang by evening. We visited the famous Tawang Monastery in the city and returned to our homestay. They have prepared Thupka, the traditional food of Arunachal for dinner.

Day 4:

We started early in the morning as we are supposed to reach Tezpur by night to catch the train to Guwahati. But the mighty Himalayas had other plans. We have reached halfway when we heard there is a landslide ahead. Either we have to stay somewhere for the route to be cleared or take a detour to reach Tezpur through Orang route, the less used other route to reach Tawang. We decided to do the latter and returned to the point where he had to take the other route by 4pm. So we got less than one hour of sunlight to see the new route. It was made recently and has a different aura altogether. But from 5pm to around 9pm it was one of the most adventurous journeys of my life. No one including the driver knows much about the route. There was heavy fog and hardly few feet were visible. It was difficult to believe there are villages on the way and people are actually living here. We have even come across small landslides happened just a while before. Thankfully the roads are good and well lit at dangerous curves. We reached the plain safely after 15 hours of downhill journey. We also caught the train on time and reached Guwahati.