Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh: My shortest road trip ever

Delhi to Tezpur

It was mid March when we boarded our flight to Guwahati to head towards the place that I had never visited earlier. The true unexplored and untouched part of India.

After landing at Guwahati we boarded our cab that was supposed to take us till Tezpur the last major town of Assam before we enter Arunachal Pradesh from Bhalukpong.

Excitement was at it's peak because before heading towards Tawang I had to stop for a couple of days to spend with my brother who was posted there at the time, couple of days got extended to a week and we got too comfortable in Tezpur. The beautiful skies, fresh air and greenery all around got too overwhelming for our Delhi lungs which had no idea what was in store for them in Tawang.

The start of a short yet epic roadtrip - Day 1

Finally the day arrived when we started our journey from Tezpur to Guwahati. We started our drive at around 3pm and with a short halt at beautiful Tippi village at the border of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh we took our 1st night halt at Tenga.

Tenga being a military zone closes very soon and doesn't have too many civil establishments to accommodate travellers and tourists. So my advice would be to start early from Tezpur so that you easily manage to reach Dirang which is half way from Tawang and can enjoy the local cusines at the market there.

Day 2

We began early morning on day 2 with a target of reaching Tawang directly, but we encountered a lot of unexpected that day for which we were clearly not prepared, but, to be honest, we loved every bit of that unexpected. On this drive we had no idea that we would be crossing one of the highest motorable passes of India, Sela Pass which is at 13700ft from sea level. This day, in last 10 years of my travelling I encountered my 1st snowfall. We were dressed in shorts not expecting such a change in weather and were just carrying wind cheaters with us.

We quickly changed to denims and those thin jackets and jumped out of the car to enjoy the 1st snowfall of our lives.

Soon, the weather packed up and sun went down faster than expected, the drive became difficult and a literal nightmare but beautiful as well.

We managed to reach Tawang by 10pm but Tawang also welcomed us with very steep climbs and heavy rains. Though the experience of driving there was great but still scary at times.

Day 3

This day we explored Tawang monastery - the largest monastery in India and also one of the most beautiful ones. The view from the monastery was beautiful and the experience was very peaceful.

We grabbed a quick bite a beautiful cafe and started our drive back to Tezpur, we had to reach back to Tezpur today at any cost because of my brothers work emergency. On the way we stopped at Jung falls had a taaasty lemon tea and finally reached Tezpur by 9pm. The drive was beautiful and the waterfall was amazing.

I know we didn't explore Taawang, but this short trip gave me a reason to visit it again and to explore each part of the road that leads there properly. Soon, I'll be doing that and sharing the experience with you all. For now i'll end this short blog here. Travel hard people.

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