Tawang Trip - Notes

View of the Tawang Monastery

Following are some generic notes for friends who need information in planning for this trip.

What this trip is: 

• One lifetime experience.
• Soak in the beauty of Himalayas.
• Get to know the life of the people in these regions.
• Realise how tasty an apple can be and how colourful the flowers can get.
• Appreciate the sacrifices done by the great men of our Indian Army.
• Realise that photos we saw on the Internet do not do the justice to the beauty and magic we experienced.

what this trip is not: 

• Not a relaxed luxury trip. You might not find many luxury hotels on this circuit.
• Smooth roads and well planned itinerary. (These are young mountains and depending on the season and weather, there may be landslides and interruptions/delays)
• Google maps is wrong for the time taken. (You will have to go slow over curvy roads.. do not expect to cover 300kms in 6 hours)
• Not for checklist travellers.

ILP:

• ILP (Inner Line permit) is required to enter Arunachal Pradesh. More details here.
• While proceeding to Tawang from Guwahati, ILP is checked at the border post in Bhalukpong.
• In Bhalukpong, Hotels are on either side of the border. If you are planning to stay in Bhalukpong, you may require ILP to reach your hotel.
• Hotel owners will help you get your ILP done before you arrive.
• Our ILP was done before we arrived. After booking hotel, we had sent scanned copies of address and ID proofs to Mr. Passang owner of Hotel. He had got the ILP done at a nominal cost.
• Scanned  copies of Aadhar card and election ID card should be enough( or any other ID proofs).
• Remember to check your names properly in ILP. Some times they get mixed up.

How many days?

• For only the Tawang circuit (Guwahati - Tawang-Guwahati) : 5-6 days should be good enough.
• You can add 2  more days if you want to cover Nameri / Kajiranga
• Another 2 -3 days for Shillong / Cheerapunji.
• For Guwahati - Tawang-Nameri- Kajiranga-Shillong-Cheerapunji-Guwahati. We took 10 days which we felt was comfortable.

Food: 

• We liked the food at most of the places.
• You will get Daal roti / Daal Chawal at all the small places. We found this food to be good and hygienic.
• You can order chicken curry  / Omelet / mixed veg curry etc as side dishes.
• Food will always take time to arrive at the table. Almost all the hotels prepare food after you order, so please keep buffer time of 20 -30 mins.
• Also remember to order at once, if you order during your meal, it will again take time.
• Vegetarians should not have much problem. 

Vehicle: 

• Depends on itinerary and Budget. 
• Innova worked very well for us. If you are group of 5-6 people; innova is the best option. Remember you need a carrier at the top to keep your luggage.
• Lot of Boleros, Sumos, Maruti Altos, 800s, A-stars ply on this road.
• Many patches of roads not suitable for Sedans. 
• Vehicles with Assam passing cannot go to some sight seeing places in Tawang, check that before you book.

Places we stayed:

you can find many options on the net. Please make your selection depending on your itinerary.

1.  Bhalukpong

Hotel Solu

( It is Basic, No luxury, clean sheets, clean room, food was not that good)

Contact: Mr Passang email: 'info@hotelsolu.com'; 'passang_08@yahoo.com'

Prashanti cottages

Good Cottages, although on the bank of the river, it has no access to the river. 

Good Food, spacious clean rooms.

2. Dhirang

Hotel Pemaling 

(Good hotel , nice views. Nice restaurant, rooms were not spacious)

Hotel Awoo resort while coming back.

(Good hotel, nice views from here too, rooms were spacious) 

3. Tawang

We stayed at a friend's place ..

Heard that Zax star is a good place to stay

4. Kajiranga (Kohora region)

Namdung house

(Nice place, excellent hospitality, also guest house for IOCL/BPCL)

5. Barapani, Shillong, Meghalaya

IOCL guest house

(Excellent, good views, spacious bungalow, Good food)

6. Orchid Hotel, Shillong, Meghalaya

Good place to stay, good food, remember to book delux rooms only

Other points: 

• Oxygen is less at higher altitudes, do not run or strain yourself too much.
• Carry regular medicines.
• Sun rises pretty early here. You can expect to see the brightness of 7:00 am in Bangalore at 5:00 am in these regions.
• Shops close pretty early too. (7-8 PM)
• Drink a lot of water.