Friday, October 3, 2008

Arunachal - The Divine Beauty

To be at a place, which you can surely call as paradise on earth, you need to have a permit for security reason. Nowadays it is much relaxed. Follow this link to find the details.

In this post I will write how you can travel Arunachal covering Tezpur, Bomdila, Dirang, Tawang and Bhalukpong.


Day 1

We reached Guwahati to start our journey. Guwahati, the Capital city of Assam is well connected from all parts of India by Rail and Air. Reach Tezpur 180 Km from Guwahati, from where we hired a car to travel our destinations. The tariff of a 10 seater car 'Tata Sumo'" is INR 1300 / day exclusive of fuel.

Bhalukpong is situated at the border of Assam and Arunachal 60 Km from Tezpur. It is a beautiful place with all its natural beauty, we will stay here while returning. We proceeded further to reach Tipi orchid centre. What a collection of rare orchids! From here our car started climbing the hill. Expert driver, Ramswarup was really friendly. The greens beside the road was getting denser as we were climbing and slowly converting into dense forest. Different lush green plantations, bamboo, banana, variety of ferns and very old banyans were greeting us. Time to time fog was obstructing our views. Ultimately we reached Zero Point, from here the road divides. One is going to Seppa town, the district town of Kameng district, and the other is going to Bomdila 8200 Ft, via Nagmandir, Rupa, Tenga valley.

Day 2

Bomdila:

Bomdila is city of clouds. As the day progress cloud covers the whole place. Drizzling now and then and shiny sunshine suddenly thereafter. Really really blissful! There are two Gomphas here, one newer , at market place popularly known as Lower monastery, full of beautiful flowers. We stayed there for a while to enjoy the colours. From there we visited the Crafts center near by. Really overwhelmed by seeing the crafts work of the tribe of West Kameng District.

The other Upper Monastery is at the top of the hill. It was little tiring to reach there by walking but once there forgot all the efforts by seeing the landscapes we saw from there. Monastery itself is also beautiful.

There are many apple orchards around Bomdila. Tenjing Gang is a Tibetan refugee colony is near Bomdila.

Where to Stay?

The best hotel in Bomdila is Sifiang Pong (+913782 222286) Tariff of DB room starts from INR 1100/day.
Government Tourist Lodge (+913782 222409)
There are other many hotels of all kind of budgets too.

Day 3

Dirang:

On the way to Tawang from Bomdila at 42 Km we dropped at Dirang, small township on the wide valley of the river at an altitude of about 5500 Ft. There are many apple and pear orchards. seen the hot spring, yak research centre and breeding center for sheep. The cool beauty of Dirang forced us to stay there for a night.

Where to stay:

Hotel Pemaling INR 1000 for DB to start with
Tourist lodge ( +9103780 242157, +919436248136)


Day 4

Dirang to Tawang via Sela Pass:


After a drive of 40 kms from Dirang we reached at 13721 Ft. Sella Pass. We were blessed with clear weather and were spellbound! It was an awsome experience to be there. Many army camps bulding the roads are working relentlessly. Devmandir, a temple we saw at the pass. Sella lake with all its beauty is just after crossing the pass. Driving downhill we reach Yashobantgarh.

It is a memorial of a renowned brave soldier Yashobant Singh. He fought alone with Chinese soldier in 1962. Thereafter we reached a small village Jang. Enjoyed kachori and tea and again drove to reach Noornang Falls. Could not move for long time from there...it was so nice to sit beside the falls, but our destination was Tawang.

Day 5

Tawang:

Possibly one of the best hill stations in India at 10200 Ft. Apart from her scenic beauty, this place had many more things in store for us. The main attraction was Tawang Monastery. It is 400 years old, where 500 Lamas permanently resides. This is probably the largest Buddhist monastery outside Tibet. We spent hours to see the monastery and it was worth. There is an idol of Lord Buddha of about 26 Ft. Exclusive paintings with bright colours depicting the life of Buddha was there inside and outside the walls of the Monastery. The museum has priceless collections of old religious books, ancient crockery, musical instruments, huge lock and key, wooden masks, Buddha idols and so on. We saw 300 years old a pair of huge elephant's teeth (Ivory) . The view of tawang town and the valley from the compound of the monastery was mind blowing.

The other places of inerests are Tawang craft centre, Sales Emporium of Arunachal Pradesh, war memorial. Pitisho lake and Sangestar a little away from Tawang one can also see.

Where to stay?

Government Tourist lodge: (+91 03794 222359) DB INR 300 onwards
Moniul Lodge, Tawang view, Tawang Inn DB INR 12oo onwards
There are plenty, choose according to your budget and likings.

Day 6

Bhalukpong:

We reached Bhalukpong from Tawang and left our vehicle. Bhalukpong is easily approachable from Tezpur and Guwahati. Lush green vegetation, mountains all around and a dancing river, what more one can expect! We spent time just siiting on the balcony of tourist lodge and relishing the memory of our whole journey.

Really Arunachal - A paradise on earth - one cannot afford to miss.

4 comments:

Hanan Nagi said...
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Mehak said...
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anirbaner-chokhe said...
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ashwin said...
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