Trip to Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh

9th Oct10 Saturday. Day 1: (Guwahati – Tezpur 180kms)

Kamakhya Temple

Assamese Thali

Early morning flight from Kolkata to Guwahati. Reached Guwahati at 7.30am. Getting into a Good Tata Sumo and driving off to Kamakhya Devi Temple. Worship takes some time depending on the rush which is inevitable. By 12pm we were done at the temple and left for main city enter to meet Goswami da (papa’s friend, tata motor dealer). They took us for lovely Assamese cuisine lunch at restaurant near their showroom. Post lunch we were ready to drive out of Guwahati towards Tezpur with our driver JOHN. 

John our new found friend

Leaving the meadows behind

It took us a good 4 hours (cause of terrible traffic in guwahati) to reach KRC Palace Hotel, Tezpu. It was 3 star hotel with good dinner. We tucked into our rooms for a good sleep as the real journey would begin from tomorrow onwards.

10th Oct10 Sunday. Day2: (Tezpur – Dirang 156kms)

Bhalukpong

You call that ROAD

We all were ready for a tight breakfast early morning and left the hotel at around 7am. We were to climb the hills from today on. The roads were very good only till Tezpur but what was coming no one had even dreamt of. From Bhalukpong (ILP Check point) onwards the road was the worst I had ever seen. It was drizzling and was foggy once we got onto the hills. 

Bomdila cricket ground

But the energy level was high. On the way we halted at Durga Ma’s temple and reached Bomdila at 3pm where we had lunch at hotel Siphiyang Phong. Bomdila was foggy and cold and the USP was enjoying every bit of the change in weather. 

Yummy momos at Pemaling hotel

By 4pm we were ready to leave for Dirang but before that we payed homage at the wonderful Bomdila Monastary. We reached dirang late in the eveing at 6.30pm, the road was bad due to rain. Hotel Pemaling was a welcome respite. The hotel owner was an old man from Darjeeling, he prepared lovly momos for us. The night was cold but food was awesome we had a good sleep.

11th Oct10 Monday. Day3: (Dirang – Sela Pass - Tawang 71km + 60km)

Sunny games

Dhirang Valley view- Pemaling Hotel

Sela Pass

Early rise and breakfast for our next stop Tawang. We started at around 8am. The view from our hotel of the Dirang valley was lovely, it was a clear sky day and we were all set to face the 2nd highest motorable road in India Sela Pass at 13700ft. The climb to Sela was steep up amidst fog. We reached sela pass at around 12-1pm. Having hot steamy soup magi and momos was such a relief. After the lunch we started the very scenic descend. Stream of river flowing along side with the mountains full of lush bushes of green and red. 

Jaswanth garh

Chulbuli

Delightful Sela treat

We soon reached Saheed Jaswanth Garh, the history of this place filled us both with passion and sorrow. Proud to be Indian. The descend continued thereafter but due to fog we couldnot see anything around or far, still the passing through villages always gave us something new to appreciate. Soon we reached the gigantic and mesmerising Jung Falls!! 

Jog Falls

Next stop was at a Lobsang Restaurant not far from Jung Falls were we clicked a few snaps of the sunset while our driver had lunch. Next stop was definitely Tawang which we reached by 6pm. Hotel Buddha (Hotel decent types!!) The rooms were disappointing both view wise and the feel as well. Anyways we were all very tired after the hectic travel so we changed had warm shower and then dinner. This was a pure veg restaurant and the food was indeed good. We returned to our room to see the grand start of KBC4!! Had fun till 10.30pm, yes the enjoyment of being together peps everyone up.

12th Oct10 Tuesday. Day4:

War Memorial

Tawang monastry from town

Old Tawang Road

From the monastry

We had a relaxed start this morning. A nice slow breakfast and shower we were then set for a local sightseeing of the Tawang monastery, War memorial and Craft Centre. We had lunch at Hotel gakyi khang zhang were the food wasn’t good but the rooms and view were superb and the rate was nominal too compared to hotel Buddha. The sightseeing was done by 5pm and we returned to the hotel. Dinner was at our hotel itself post which we kids decided to have some fun by playing UNO kitkat challenge which I lost convincingly. It was a day to rejuvenate our body for 

the grand travel next.

Play time cozy

Golden Buddha

Art work

13th Oct10 Wednesday. Day5: (Tawang – Bumla 40km)

 

The pass to visit Indo-China border was with us and we left at around 8am. The climb up the hills was lovely and the road kept deteriorating. We went past a lot of check points and kept talking about the wish of witnessing snowfall and the intensity of passion kept growing to see the border for whose protection our jawans laid their lives. And then it happened, snowfall! The snowfall was such a gift for all of us especially for prachi and kuku who were so deeply wishing for it. But just 8kms from Bumla at Klemta we were halted by the officer at post. Just few mins ago we had given pass to a few army cars and they turned out to be VIPs who were headed for Bumla. Now due to this VIP movement no more civilians were allowed to move beyond Klemta. This was heartbreaking  news for everyone. We tried to convince the jawan on post who tried his best to convince his seniors. We were asked by him to leave the area immediately else he would be in trouble. We dint give up and kept waiting for something! 

Bumla Border McMahon line

Madhuri Lake

And then some senior officer Deputy CO passed by who stopped at papa’s courteous gesture. He sensed our josh and ordered that we be allowed to go on!! Oh were we on top of the world, to have come so far and then stopped when we could see the target right in front. Well the drama kept going on even after that cause we needed the nod of CO then came the moment when i was asked to have a talk with Tiger the CO. Yes he was convinced with our keenness. Finally amidst bad weather we reached Bumla and were standing on the Macmahon line in no time. We even hopped into China without passports!

Swirling road amidst clouds

While returning it was already 2-3pm and we headed towards Madhuri lake which was okay, the tea there was excellent. We headed back towards hotel, the sunset view on the way down was nice. We reached hotel by 5.30pm. Altitude sickness caught up with mummy so we were a bit worried and the hotel manager had thrown me and kuku on the streets literally. We had to shift to the next door hotel Tawang View for the night as next day we were heading back home. Heavy woollens are a must for this visit to Bumla.       

14th Oct10 Thursday. Day6: (Tawang – Bomdila 170km)

 

Early morning tawang

         

'Drink tea be part of history'

       

Lovely, Jog Falls

After breakfast it was time for us to leave Tawang. The stay was wonderful wish we had more time to just sit at some secluded high land and sink in with the view of the valley & mountains till sunset. They say march is the best time to visit this place when its snow covered and all the more beautiful. We started around 8am the 1st stop was at the rest. Lobasang where John had meal. Next we visited one last time the great Jang Falls. We moved on and since the weather was clear we had a clear view of Tawang from far away mountain before reaching Jaswanth Garh. We dint stop for long at Jaswanth Garh as we had a long distance to cover.

Chimney style cooking

We missed the samosas this time as well but did have tea and a crisp conversation with the jawans there. The climb up towards Sela Pass was beautiful and completely different from the first time when we were coming down. The colorful terrain was clearly visible as we climbed up all beside the white free flowing stream. 

Sela Pass dint have cloud cover this time around either, as if this was a completely different from what we had seen just few days ago! We ordered sufficient quantity of both maggi and momos this time as everyone was dead hungry. Rema Hotel would never be forgotten. We quickly descended from Sela and on the way down at the circuit house John met his bhai Gul, the brothers had met after 6 months! We crossed some lovely villages on the way down. Diraang looked so beautiful cause of its location just beside the river amidst high mountains as the sun set behind the clouds creating mesmerizing evening sky. 

Sunset on to Bomdila

By the time we reached Bomdila it was late evening around 5pm. We were going to stay at the hotel below the monastery this time. Me and John played a good game of badminton here, john was happy cause he was to meet his girl friend, the manager here, after a 2 months gap. 

We all quickly got ready as at 7pm we were to see the Closing ceremony of CWG. Dinner was ready by 8.30 and we all were very hungry again. Had a good night sleep.
    

15th Oct10 Friday. Day 7: (Bomdila – Guwahati 237km)
Early rise no breakfast.Yes there is no breakfast at the Bomdila Monastery before 8.30am and we needed to make an early start as it was the last day on the hills, we are to reach Guwahati today. On our way we had breakfast in Tonga, the food took too long and wasn’t good still we were hungry and dint matter.

Har Maidan Fateh

Dont Drink and Drive

We started off for a long long drive now. We stopped only at Bhalukpong at check post. The road near bhalukpong was very bad and pretty much dangerous but we made out safe and in one piece. We were on the plains now, back to realty literally. We crossed Tezpur were John had some food and we started off soon again.

Trecherous Roads the last time

The plains on goodbye eve

The road now was like butter, we were zipping through at over 70kmph now, it looked like a runway especially after having witnessed pothole and kuchha road for 5 days now. It was a durga puja frenzy in every village, with pandels and cultural programmes happening all-around. We reached Guwahati at 7pm Hotel Nandan, a lovely 3 star accommodation.

Dinner at Nandan Hotel

Goti guy John. Adios bro.

We bid a warm goodbye to John a friend through our trip and an eternal part of our memorable trip.We had a Chinese meal which was really tasty. Had some last photo session and sat down to play Pictionary and we created a new record of constant high pitched laughter, oh it was so FUNNY!

16th Oct10 Saturday. Day 8:

A super late start to the day we had breakfast at 10am, a complimentary no holds bar. Packing was done, it was raining hard since early morning our journey had ended but John was back on the same route again. Journey of life doesn’t end just the little destinations keep changing. We called up John he was missing us as well and was running ahead of the rain till then. Our respective flights to Delhi and Kolkata were in the afternoon. Ours was a one stop (Agartala) flight and we reached Kolkata at 6.30pm. The puja frenzy was nearing its end in Kolkata and everyone had this wish of reuniting soon, a trip together again in future. AShte Bochor Abar Hobe.

The gang after a memorable trip of the North East. Smarty Seven. Awesome experience.