Our childhood friend Girish was posted in Tawang. Once he had mentioned that it is a very beautiful place and invited us to visit. Hence we decided it would be Tawang. Hectic search for the information on Tawang began and we figured out that it would involve hectic journey and food constraints both of which will be pain to the kids. Ishaan and Saanvi said they would rather stay in Sangli and enjoy their vacations. Rakesh and Jyoti were just back from a long Gujarat and Rajastan trip and they were enthusiatic about Tawang trip. Anand, Anita and two year old Vineet were excited too. First thing we did was to finalize the dates and booked the flight tickets. Our Another dear friend Naveen was working with IOCL at Digboi encouraged us to visit other places in Assam and Meghalaya too.
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| @ BIA - all set for long trip |
We all met at airport had breakfast together and checked in our luggage. Most of the snaps we saw on the net were beautiful and they looked splendid with snow. However Girish had confirmed that snow had melted a month back and there is no chances of seeing any now. We carried our clothes accordingly. "Light woolen wear".
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| Some nice views of Bay of Bengal |
Flight was on time. There were a total of 3 take offs and landings at Calcutta,
Agartala and then Guwahati. Enjoyed nice views of Vishakpatnam sea coast and bay of Bengal.
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| Tawang Team @ Guwahati airport |
Our
driver Jayaramji was waiting for us, he loaded our luggage on the carrier at the
top and we started our road journey from Guwahati airport to our destination for the day at
Bhalukpong.
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| Guwahati - Tezpur - Bhalukpong |
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| Selfie @ the start of road trip |
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| Divider and the state boundary |
After Guwahati there is a stretch on the road where the divider acts as state boundary between Assam and Meghalaya. In the snap, we are on the Assam side. Took us around 5 hours to reach Bhalukpong. Hotel
owner Mr.Passang came to the checkpost with our ILP. We checked in at
around 10PM .. tired after a long day.
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| Reception @ hotel Solu |
Hotel Solu had very
basic accommodation. Has clean sheets and bathroom. We had dinner at the hotel, food was not that good. All we
wanted was to have something to eat and hit the bed to be fresh for the next
day.
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| Good Morning - View from the room |
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This snap is taken at around 5:15 am in the morning, sun rises really early here.
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| Morning walk along river Kameng |
Got up early in the morning and took a Walk on the bank of river
Kameng flowing near the hotel. Felt the presence of Indian Army at most
places. For
most part of this trip the roads are along a river or a stream and that
adds to the beauty.
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| Mist and the mountains | | |
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| Pach, Rak and buds |
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| We stayed here |
Decided to have breakfast on the way and started our journey from Bhalukpong.
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| Bhalukpong - BomdiLa -Dirang |
Our first stop for the day was Tippi orchid research centre. It was closed and not well maintained. Saw a few orchids through window. At the end of the orchidarium the river flows. A few kms further there is a Sessa orchid sanctuary which is a smaller place. We did not bother to stop.
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| Say Cheese |
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| Kameng flowing at the back of orchidarium |
We stopped for breakfast a few KMs after Sessa. It was a very small village with a 7-8 houses on a turning at a beautiful location. Devi hotel served us nice Maggi. Here we learnt our lesson useful on the trip. We need to give complete order once. This is because of the limited staff and resources available. They prepare food only after the order. The owner was visibly upset because of our repeat orders one after the other. But masala maggi, dal roti and omlet were all Yummy. There was something burning in a tin dabba infront of the house eminating nice smell. On probing the owner showed us the herb (branches of a tree) they burn as Dhoop.
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| Breakfast at Hotel Devi |
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| Dhoop infront of the hotel |
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| Order only once - lesson learnt |
We next stopped at a falls by the side of the road, although water was falling from good height, there was not much water..
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| Selfie practice |
The curvy mountain roads had already started as we climbed up the altitude. It is amazing to watch how quickly we again altitude turn after turn. The play of valleys/ mountains/ fog/ clouds added to the scenery. As we were descending a mountain to ascend another one, we saw the Tenga river flowing alongside and decided to dip our toes into its chilly waters. Water was crystal clear but extremely cold. A bridge and few peaks in the background added to the beauty. We also saw a local family picnicking on the other bank of the Tenga river. The family had parked their car and put on some music we could not hear. They were all dancing and having good fun. Tenga has a big army presence. We filled up Innova tank and bought some apples in Tenga.
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| Mountains and clouds |
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| Another view from Hotel Dawa |
We briefly visited another Monastery near Dhirang. Few of the little monks were enjoying the game of cricket. Most important was that they were playing with socks ball..Nostalgia for us Sainik School guys.
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| Monastery was closed |
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| What a beautiful place to play cricket |
Our Next stop was at Dirang Dzong. Also called Dirang fort. There are a few houses where people were staying and few kids playing cricket. Did not find any fort wall. It was used as prison, we could not find those prisons.
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| Dirang Dzong |
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| Inside Dirang fort |
Almost all houses here have the pots with very colourful flowers.
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| There are real flowers - so colourful |
We finally reached our destination for the day Hotel Pemaling in Dirang. It is strategically located to the nice views of Dirang valley. Since we had time, we visited Dirang market in the evening. We had dinner back in the hotel. Restaurant here has beautiful views. There was a pepper sized spice in our fried rice, I lost sensation on the part of the tongue for sometime after tasting that. There were lots of foreigners on birding trip staying here.
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| Dirang Valley |
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| Lemons ..hard to extract any juice out |
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| Dirang Market - prayer flags in the background |
It was pretty cold in Dirang and we wore our woolen clothes. We also heard from Girish that weather was rough last few days and there was good snow on the mountain peaks. Tomorrow evening we will be reaching Tawang. Tawang don was tracking us all the while.
Click here for more photos from Day 1 -2
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