Central Arunachal- Ziro Dapo & Aalo

Visiting Central Arunachal Pradesh had always been a dream for me. Although I travel pretty often throughout India, no other place has been able to quench the thirst I have had for travelling to the North-eastern part of the country. I was always fascinated by the culture, people, flora- fauna, variety of climatic conditions & diversity of landscape of Arunachal. Thinking of it, to me it always felt like mini India. Just like how India has people belonging to various religions and linguistic groups, same way Arunachal has 16 major tribes and 40 plus sub tribes; all totally different from each other. Some tribes like Monpa, Memba follow Tibetan Buddhism, while some like Apatanis, Galos, Tagins largely follow Donyi- Poloism, some of the Nocte & most of the Mishings are Vaishnav Hindus while large chunk of all the above tribes follows Christianity. Ditto when it comes to the landscape & climate. From the snow clad peaks & freezing temperature of Tawang & Mayodia to the humid plains of Brahmaputra near Pasighat, from the incessant rains of Ziro to the summer heat of Aalo- the state has it all!

Having already visited the western Arunachal i.e. Tawang, Bomdila, Dirang during my earlier trip to the state, I finally decided to visit the central Arunachal Pradesh this time. Soon I prepared and finalized the itinerary along with my friend who was super excited to travel with me to Northeast for the first time. Shortly we booked our tickets, got the inner-line permits ready through a friend in Delhi, fixed places to stay and (not so) patiently waited for 5^th March 2017.

Day 1:

We boarded the early morning Vistara flight for Guwahati which was gonna take us there in 5.5 hrs via Delhi & Bagdogra. The last leg of the journey; from Bagdogra to Guwahati lasted barely for half an hour or so. As we entered Assam’s aerial space, I looked down from the window. That shimmering serpentine silhouette had grown familiar over the time; after all I was travelling here for the fourth time. Seeing Brahmaputra- the so called lone ‘male’ river in India; from flight is always a sight to behold. The sheer vastness of its width and the grandeur with which it flows is unmatched anywhere else in India.

Finally around 2 pm, we arrived at the ‘Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport’ at Guwahati. We had pre decided to keep it a low budget trip as even a budget trip to NorthEast often ends up costing a bomb due to limited transport options, dearth of good hotels and extremely high cost of vehicle renting; we almost have to be ready for anything! Accordingly, we collected our bags and instead of a cab, booked ourselves two bus tickets to the city centre known as Paltan Bazaar- the area around Guwahati Railway station.

As we got off at Paltan Bazaar, seeing bags in our hands, various travel company guys approached us themselves rather than us having to search for them. We told them our intension to travel to Ziro. As I was already aware & now the same confirmed from the travel company guy, Guwahati- Ziro direct buses had stopped plying a month ago due to bad roads and the only way to reach Ziro was via Itanagar. Accordingly we booked ourselves two semi- sleeper seats for the 6:30 pm bus by Deep Travels, which would reach Itanagar around 5:30/6 in the morning. (Deep travels & Network Travels are two reliable private road transport services for various destinations in NorthEast. Deep travels currently has an advantage of online ticket booking facility on redbus.com over its rival, however the kind of road connectivity that Network travels has in nooks and corners of NE is unmatched. Network travels: 0361- 2605335 & Deep Travels: 09435118527)

Having quite some time in hand before boarding the bus, we kept our luggage in the cloak room at Deep travels and headed to Guwahati zoo. Introduction of private taxi services in Guwahati saved a lot of our time and energy in bargaining while doing these small intra-city trips.

Coming back to Paltan bazar in time, a mini bus was arranged to take us till Guwahati Inter State Bus terminal (ISBT) on the outskirts of the city. Another 35 minutes and we reached the ISBT and boarded our Itanagar bound Volvo bus. The bus that was supposed to leave from Guwahati at 6:30, finally left at 8. The reclining seats were pretty comfortable if not luxurious- good enough for the night journey. With all the day long travelling through various means, it didn’t take us too long to fall asleep. (Guwahati- Itanagar 2017 Rates: Semi sleeper Rs.490, Sleeper Rs.590)

Day 2:

Our eyes opened directly in the morning around 5. The scenery outside was almost unbelievable! Having travelled from the scorching heat of Guwahati, we were surrounded by misty plains near Arunachal border. Soon we reached Bandardewa check post- the first town in Arunachal Pradesh. As the formality goes, all the passengers in the bus were asked to get down and cross the border on feet after showing the inner line permits to the security guards. In the meanwhile our bus was thoroughly checked and we were finally allowed to enter Arunachal Pradesh.

After another 45 minutes or so we reached the town of Naharlagun- often called as twin city of the capital Itanagar. Our bus dropped us at the Naharlagun bus stand. Just outside the bus stand, there were a lot of sumo counters running shared sumo service to various towns in Arunachal like Ziro, Daporijo etc. We booked two front seats in the sumo for Rs.350 each and headed towards Ziro.

The road from Naharlagun to Ziro was very scenic. Winding roads, greenery, water streams…  everything was perfect…. Other than the pathetic condition of road. The road distance although just 100km, takes 3.5 to 4 hours to cross.

After about 3 hours we reached a place called Yachuli from where Ziro was about 12km away. We thought we were about to reach Ziro, hence gave a call to our hostess in Ziro to let her know that we would be reaching in about 15 to 20 minutes so she could leave in sometime from home to pick us up at the Hapoli (New Ziro) sumo stand. She replied saying the road from Yachuli to Ziro was worse than what we experienced till now and would take us another long hour to reach Hapoli!

Finally from the hills, we descended down to the valley and entered Ziro. Hapoli town is the first place we approached while entering Ziro valley. The never ending sumo ride was over! Our hostess Amu had come to pick us up in her car.

Seemed like our tryst with bad roads was far from over, as the roads in Ziro valley seemed almost inexistent. Most of the times the car was going up and down struggling to move ahead and find its way through the massive ‘craters’ that had formed on the roads! For once I thought that Mumbai’s roads after all are not that bad!

In about 15 minutes we reached the house of Amung family in Old Ziro- our hosts here for next two days. Amu showed us our room so we could settle down and freshen up and she went to prepare breakfast for us. (Home stays in Ziro are a great way to experience the local culture and flavour which would not be possible in hotels or resorts. Homestays here typically cost about 1000 rupees per head per day inclusive of breakfast & dinner as of 2017.) Homestay of Amung family is located just next to the Ziro military airstrip. Their house mainly comprised of a traditional kitchen cum dining & family room built in traditional Apatani way and a modern house with bedrooms just next to it. Their backyard had a small kitchen garden and a well for themselves. Further ahead, they had a small bamboo garden and endless paddy fields just after the bamboo garden.

After freshening up & having breakfast, Amu took us out in her car to show around. First we headed to Kardo forest where a 25’ stone was discovered in 2004- shaped like a Shivalinga. Kardo despite being just 7km away from Old Ziro, winding and mostly kaccha road took us half an hour to reach the ‘Sidhheshwar Nath Temple’. Needless to say, it has now become a frequently visited place by Hindus who have shifted to Ziro from outside states for work and tourists alike. What startled me was that the Shivlinga is surrounded by White-red Donyi-Polo religious flags along with the saffron flags of Hinduism. When asked Amu about it, she said that even the Donyi-Polo believers in Ziro valley come here to pray to the Shivlinga. Another stone of lesser height just next to the Shivlinga is believed to symbolize Goddess Parvati while a comparatively much smaller rock at the base of the Shivlinga naturally looks like face of Lord Ganesha.

Moving from Kardo, we drove back to Hapoli and took another road leading outside the town to go to Tarin high altitude fish farm owned by the government. These are basically 6-7 numbers of large terraced ponds where fish seeds are sold. Apatanis follow an efficient practice of rearing fishes in the same field that of the paddy, which helps them earn money after paddy is harvested.

Driving back towards Hapoli, we halted at one of Amu’s friend’s newly built resort called ‘Holiday Time’ for some coffee. Amu mentioned that her friend is very creative and most of the resort was built by himself with very little help from labours. The resort basically had a dining area and small cottages- barely enough for two people constructed on water in a mid-sized pond. The pond also has fishing and boating facility.

Next she picked up a friend in and we drove to Hari Basti. The road leading to Hari Basti seemed very beautiful. It gave look of a narrow causeway with the paddy fields filled with water appearing like endless waterbodies on both the sides. We parked the car in village and roamed around the village on foot observing the village. Babo- the tall wooden T-shaped towers instantly attract one’s attention. Babos are erected during Myoko festival in front of Apatani homes (only that of Donyi-Polo followers- as a large number of Apatanis follow Christianity and have completely abandoned their old practices) as well as one for the entire clan near Lapang (an open air wooden stage prepared for meetings and gatherings during festivities). Nago- small makeshift hut like structures are prepared in the village open areas for the departed souls to come and stay with the villagers and enjoy festivities. Bamboo skeleton topped with egg shells and decorated with chicken feathers are also seen outside most houses. We even saw a Nyibu (Apatani Shaman cum priest) tying a cock to the bamboo structure and sacrifice it later. Nearby there was a Donyi Polo temple known as Medar Nello. Sadly it was shut. We were then told that these temples are opened only on Sunday when weekly prayers are held.

From Hari village, our hostess took us to one of her friend’s home in Bulla village in the traditional manner. The host of the house, his wife, mother and two cute daughters were gracious enough to welcome us inside. The host seemed more than happy to show us all the essentials of an Apatani home. From daos (Apatani daggers) & cane backpacks to dried meat &utensils made out of dried bottle gourd, he showed us everything. He was happy to show us a special dao he had; the handle of which was adorned with the teeth of tiger and boar and the belt of which was made of cowry, its cost being somewhere around 15,000 Rupees. This house, just like all the Apatani houses was scattered with different body parts of the pig sacrificed during Myoko festival rituals. Legs and some other unrecognisable parts of the pig were hanged from the hearth; entire skin was cut open and was being dried just next to them. Intestines and liver which looked still fresh were hanged in the open in Sun for quicker drying. Despite all this their house didn’t stink at all! While we were talking, the hostess served us with glasses of warm Apong- the rice/ millet beer. After savouring some more, it was time to leave. Before that, I asked them if I could take their family picture and they happily agreed.

We then headed home and rested for a bit. Amu informed us that due to the ongoing Myoko festival going on, there was a cultural program happening in Hari village in late evening that day and that she was planning to go with her husband and we could join them if interested.

After an early dinner, the four of us headed to Hari village. A lot of crowd had assembled. It was quite a chilly night. The dancing and singing performances had started. Straight away, we went to one of their family friend’s house from where there was a direct view of the stage where the performances were going on. As we experienced, during Myoko, every Apatani opens up his heart as well as the doors of his home to anyone and everyone, to come, drink as much Apong/ Chai, eat pork or whatever is there on the menu; everything for free. There is no stopping! And if you are a traveller like us, then just be ready to be subjected to the unbelievable level of hospitality and warmth you’ll experience. I won’t lie, I had totally fallen in love with the concept and taste of Apong and I didn’t leave any opportunity to have some more of it here as well.

From one home to another! We went to one more family friend of our hosts in Bulla village. Just as we entered in, we saw an entire gang of friends sitting and joking around amidst all the alcohol flowing and all sorts of delicacies served on the table in front of them. We were warmly asked to join them in. As I said earlier, us being the only non-locals there out of approx. crowd of 20 people, we were subjected to a lot of curious questions and glances. Soon came more glasses of Apong- this time home brewed Kiwi flavoured variety! Don’t even get me started on how tasty it was! I couldn’t resist another two refills of the same which was anyway forced poured into my glass without giving me any option! But hey I wasn’t complaining… A lot of food just kept piling up in the plates with more speed than what we were eating with. Eggs, dry fruits, salads and what not! We literally had to show them the shape of our inflated tummies so that they stop serving more. A bit tipsy, I was wondering if it had been our festival time, back in Mumbai or Delhi, would we have been so welcoming to strangers and showering them with so much love; especially when it’s our own private time to enjoy it with our families…? In most probabilities not! The owner of the house then gave us small gifts- a small golden silhouette of Babo towers and a small container of homemade ‘Tapyo’- the local Apatani herbal salt made from various grasses. (Apparently the process of preparing Tapyo is painstakingly long and very time consuming. Also the ratio of amount of raw material used to that of the quantity of final product is miniscule due to which the salt is sold at almost Rs.400/KG.)

After all the attention that we received, it was time to leave. It was almost 10 in the night- a lot late compared to the local standard time. After all the customary goodbyes and thanking the family for all the amazing time we had there, four of us left for Amung family’s home.

Day 3:

While planning for the trip, I had contacted Mr. Christopher Michi Tajo- who is the owner of Ziro based Northeast Tours and Travels. He had been very helpful and patient throughout all the calls or messages I sent him while planning for the trip. In fact I was supposed to be staying in his homestay in Michi village in Ziro valley. But his family had to head to their native place at the end moment and there was going to be no one at his home; even he was away touring entire Northeast with his loyal European clients who visit NorthEast every year. Within no time, Christopher arranged for homestay for us- with the Amung family.

As was discussed earlier, Christopher sent his cousin Bentu to drive us around. Bentu was a young enthusiastic boy. He gladly agreed to show us around. We quickly had the aloo paranthas Amu had made for us and left with Bentu for sightseeing around 8:30 am.

Bentu took us through various Bastis. First Hari then to Hong then Hija, Bulla etc etc. In every village, we parked our car and walked around clicking portraits of old Apatani ladies. It was still pretty early, the village streets still looked empty. Old ladies and men seemed to be in rush to reach the paddy fields.

Later he drove us to the beautiful hillocks some 10 minutes driving distance away from Hong to the venue of annual Ziro Music Festival that’s is held in September. It was quite a sight! Since the festival ground is at a considerable height, we could see a 360 degrees view of all the bastis and the seamless paddy fields between them. This ground is surrounded by a lot of Kiwi fields; sadly it wasn’t the season and we couldn’t spot any kiwis in the farms.

Next we headed back to Hapoli to see the District Museum. We were the first ones to enter in as the caretaker Aane opened the locks of various rooms for us. The museum has an extensive collection of Apatani utensils, bamboo crafts, hunting equipment, fish traps, traditional weather protection shields, traditional handloom, jewellery etc. divided in various galleries. What surprised me was that there were no entry fees taken from us to see the museum.

Not very far from the museum is Hapoli market. Although we couldn’t spot any in the farms, the market very much had a lot of kiwis being sold. Maybe they had learnt the technology to cultivate kiwis even in off- season. We walked ahead and we saw the stall owners selling dead rats and beef steak. Rats are apparently eaten on occasions and are not part of their daily food.  Another stall had the vendor selling fiddleheaded fern- a local fern plant used as vegetable- which if not eaten grows into a massive tree resembling palm! She also had dried squirrels stuffed with wooden rods. Out of curiosity, we asked if even this was eaten, Bentu said that the squirrels aren’t eaten but are used as essentials in Apatani rituals. Bamboo shoots- another widely used food item in all of North-East was the only food item common at all the stalls!

Then we went to the Government handicrafts and handloom emporium. There they have live demonstration areas for various arts such as shawl knitting, carpet making, bell metal arts, cane & bamboo workshop etc. We were successful in catching glimpse of an old Apatani artist making smoking pipe by moulding bell metal. I couldn’t resist picking it up from the emporium just next door!

Driving through the narrow streets surrounded by lush green bamboo groves on both the sides, we reached Tai Lampii- a shallow cave formed by huge rocks piling on each other. Tai Lampii cave is associated with seclusion one would have to go through when one caught a particular epidemic disease called ‘Tai Sliime’ so that everyone doesn’t get affected by the disease. Tai Lampii is known as an important landmark in Ziro valley as there is no other place in Ziro valley which has a natural cave and the unique formation of similar massive rocks around it. 

While driving back, alongside the road we noticed peculiar formation of bamboos topped with skull of Mithun (local breed of cattle). Bentu quickly told us that this was a graveyard of the people following Donyi-Polo faith and the families who didn’t have their own piece of land beside their homes, come and bury the deceased in this open land, while those who have their own land, they often bury their relatives just next to the house or in the bamboo grove owned by the family in the backyard.

Bentu then took us to a smaller basti known as Nani village. Due to ongoing Myoko festival, we caught a Nyibu (Apatani Shaman cum priest) performing rituals and chicken sacrifice. The red white Donyi-Polo flags seemed furling outside almost every house here which meant very few in the village had converted to Christianity and were sticking to their indigenous faith. From Nani basti, we went to the circuit house which is situated at one of the topmost points within the city. Cold breeze and the beautiful view of Old Ziro and Nenchalya basti in the background provided us with quite a few opportunities to pose for the camera!

It was our lunch time by now. We quickly ate some puri sabzi and omelette in one of the North Indian eateries on the main road and moved ahead. There are no restaurants in Ziro. Maximum you will find are either these small North Indian eateries or the dining service provided by various hotels and resorts.

From here, we went to a place called Kelya where a number of underground bunkers were made by the Indian army during wars. Quite a few of these army bunkers are present in the area which are no more in use and are surrounded by lush green forests and wild grown of fiddleheaded ferns.

We then went to the oldest Hindu temple in the town. The Shiv Mandir here is constructed around a small stone shaped like Shivlinga. Just next to it is a Gayatri Mandir. A five minutes’ walk away is the Assamese place of worship- known as Namghar.

Driving through Mani Polyang hillocks- locally famous as picnic spot, we went to Michi village. A lot of old Apatani ladies had gathered there for a traditional dance. Sadly it was over by the time we reached, nevertheless I got to click a few amazing candid pictures of the ladies in their traditional clothes, jewellery and cane baskets on their back.

We then drove to Mudang Tage basti. Bentu promised us to show an interesting place. We parked our car near a small lane in the village and asked us to follow him. He got us to this small metallic spade hung on a tree enclosed within bamboo fencing. An information board by Department of cultural Affairs, Govt of AP read that- this metallic spade known as ‘Turu Dipe’ is locally worshipped and was first found in this very location and has been an object of worship since time immemorial. Bentu added that the spade often goes missing from its place but comes back to its location on its own, something which i had to unwillingly digest in front of him.

Then he took us to another ritual site known as ‘Dora Kullu’. Dora Kullu is basically a unique case where a small area within the basti has grown Banana trees- something that is not found anywhere within the Apatani valley. The site is revered as the divine intervention of the environmental deity- Su Myoro.

Bentu satirically told us that this was all that’s there to see in the Apatani valley and that he would drop us back to our homestay. We shared a cup of tea with him in our homestay, paid him Rs.1500 as was decided previously and said goodbye to him.

Tired with all the wandering around, we rested in our room for a bit.

It was getting pretty cold again as the Sun had already set. We went to the kitchen to sit around the hearth to warm up ourselves. Amu with her elder son was cooking bamboo stuffed chicken and egg- a local speciality. After cooking it in the fire for about half an hour or more, she split the bamboos with daos and scooped out the chicken that was cooked inside. She also made the fern sabzi which we had seen earlier today in the market. I couldn’t wait to try it all! Not to mention, both the items were so yummy that I had to repeatedly help myself to refill the plate!

Day 4:

….. and then it was time to leave from Ziro. Throughout these two very happening days we spent in Ziro, we had created a special bond with the Amung family- especially Amu who had now become like an elder sister. Although it was just two days, the every bit of time that we spent here was making it difficult for us to leave. Amu too looked visibly a bit sad. 

She then served us the sticky rice porridge and chicken along with the fern veggie for breakfast. She even packed a bottle full of Apong for us to drink later and good 2 kilos of their homegrown rice.

Since mister Amung was busy that morning, Bentu on his own came to pick us up and drop till the sumo stand which was approx 7km away. We then took goodbye pictures with Amu & family and left with Bentu for sumo stand.

We reached the sumo stand around 9 45 am. Bentu refused to take any money for coming all the way to pick us up and drop so far. People here were being so kind to us at every step that it all started feeling very unreal- especially for someone like me who has grown in a metro city where nobody has time for one another leave alone taking so much pain for someone who you met only a day ago!

Bentu said that 2 sumos were waiting to go to Daporijo and thankfully 2 seats at the back in one of them were empty. (There is no official sumo connection between Ziro and Daporijo, which means if one has to go to Dapo from Ziro then he has to get into one of these 5-6 sumos that leave from Itanagar for Dapo via Ziro. If you are lucky and if someone gets down at Ziro, then and only then will you be able to travel to Daporijo else you have no option but to try the same thing next morning or hire an entire sumo for yourself costing somewhere around 8000-9000 rupees. Ziro to Dapo sumo tickets are not sold beforehand, however one can definitely talk to people at the counter as they have information as to which sumo would have empty seats or seats getting empty at Ziro. Cost for one person for Ziro- Dapo journey is Rs.500- 2017 rates)

Share sumos generally are cramped up to their maximum extent by stuffing 2 people in front, 4 in the middle row and 4 in the back row. And even if one of these people is even a bit on the healthier side, it becomes uncomfortable for the entire row- especially in an arduous journey like Ziro- Dapo that takes almost 7 to 8 hrs to cover just 167 km distance cutting through the serpentine roads that are in awful condition. Luckily it was just me and my friend sitting in the last row and we didn't have to face the nightmare of sharing it with 2 more people.

Thankfully at least, the landscape outside was on our side. From the flat terrain of Ziro, we reached considerable height within no time. From the Ziro valley that grows almost no bananas, we were crossing the outer hills which were totally covered with banana trees!

Soon we stopped for a 5 minutes break. Two of our co-passenger girls walked little bit down the hill and plucked some fresh vegetables for themselves. We noticed that they were eating something from a plastic container during the journey, we looked curiously looked into container and we were horrified to see live caterpillars in it. Apparently these caterpillars are eaten by almost all the tribes in Arunachal as they are supposed to be protein rich. They noticed our curious glances and told us that these worms are sold at 400 to 500 rs per kilo and are a local favourite.

Although the Apatanis are the dominant tribe in the Ziro valley, just as we cross the valley and move towards the hills, we start seeing settlements of Nyishi and Hill Miri tribe alongside the road.

Around 1 PM, we reached a major Nyishi village named Raga. Further ahead we stopped at Godak village for lunch. Godak had a small dhaba and a roadside vegetable- fruit market. Except for the driver, nobody had lunch there as we all had our supplies stuffed in our bags.

After an hour or so, we crossed a place called Laa… and the unthinkable happened… our Sumo completely broke down in a reserved forest. Our driver got down and analysed the damage. The looks of despair on his face us very worried. He said we may not be able to move ahead as its condition was beyond repair. We were stuck in a reserved forest wow!

A few sumos travelling behind us stopped and tried to help our sumo driver fix the problem. Although Dapo was still some 44 km away, it seemed like today was going to be a long long day!

While they were fixing the sumo, everyone started walking around to kill time.  We could hear sound of a water stream around. We walked in the direction of the sound and saw a very beautiful stream running under the road. A board closeby read that it was a medicinal plants conservation area. A list of plants roadside read that this small conservation area was home to some 30 rare to extremely rare herbal plants used as medicines.  Our sumo had indeed chosen one awesome place to break down at!

After an hour or so, the sumo was fixed and we drove further ahead. It was almost 4 pm and we were clearly running very late.

Around 5:30/6 pm, we halted at a place called Belo, from where we could see a distant but spectacular view of Daporijo town! It had already started getting dark. Our co-passengers had gotten pretty friendly by now. Although they totally refused to buy our claim that we were travelling to Dapo on a vacation and not for any work. It was very difficult for them to digest that why on this earth would someone come almost 3300 km far from Mumbai to Daporijo for nothing!

When we had started from Ziro, we were hoping to reach Dapo around 4:30pm but the unexpected delay caused on the way, got us to the sumo stand at 7 pm. Mr. Dosh Dasi, director of Mell Botom resort in Daporijo, was sweet enough to come to pick us up in his car. While driving towards the resort, we observed that Dapo was much bigger a town than expected. Mr. Dosh showed pointed to various landmarks of the city while driving. We drove along the unused airstrip, the helipad, Dapo fire brigade, office of the Indo-Tibetan police force, camp of CRPF and a unique place of worship where a Hindu temple, a Gurudwara, a Namghar (Assamese temples) and a mosque stood next to each other. Just across them was a catholic church. We soon reached Mell Botom resort on the banks of Subansiri River, however it was pitch dark by now and we couldn’t see it but could just hear it. We checked into the room and rested for the night to recover from the dreadful journey we had survived today.

Day 5:

This morning, I woke up quite early. I took my camera and decided to take a walk in the front garden of resort. From the gazebo viewpoint in the garden, I could see stunning view of the Subansiri River. Taking a glance bit farther, I could see a small river- Sigin flowing into the much bigger Subansiri. Just a little ahead of the river confluence are two riverine islands better known as twin islands.

Just within the garden of the resort, there is a famous landmark of Daporijo- the Laila Majnu tree. These are two trees entangled with each other. The Laila tree looks identical to a female anatomy with two legs, female genitals, breast, naval etc. while the male tree is largely burnt. As told by Mr.Dosh, the story goes like- there was a couple in Daporijo (timeline unknown) who loved each other a lot. However, the girl’s father was against their love, making things difficult for the couple. This pushed the couple to commit suicide at this very spot. Since then these trees have become a symbol of love and are often visited by couples who write their names on the trunk of the tree to get blessing for their love.

Just outside the resort, there was a series of steps leading down to the river. With the beautiful misty view of the river I could see from the resort, I could hardly control my temptation to go to the river and dip my fit in it. It was such a quiet time of the morning- my own personal time. No one around to disturb or to see me. I enjoyed every bit of that time clicking pictures and happily walking in the shallow waters of the river. I realised I walked too far when I reached the confluence point of the two rivers. A few mithuns were grazing along the bank feasting on whatever grass that had grown along the river bank.

As pre decided, Mr. Dosh came to the resort to take us around to see a few places in town. After freshening up and having breakfast, we first headed to the Ligu basti. Tagin tribe is the main tribe in Daporijo while Nyishis and Hill Miris tribes form the remaining minority in Daporijo. Ligu is one such village of the Tagins. It is just about 2 or 3km at the max from Daporijo- just a right on the Dapo-Ziro road towards the exit of the town.

We roamed in the village, walking through the streets, clicking photographs… We observed the unique way in which the Tagins made their houses. Just like Apatanis, even tagin houses are made on stilts- purpose being the same, to provide shelter to poultry and pigs under the raised platform. However other than this one thing, everything else is different- the roofing, the way the house is supported, the criss-cross bracing of bamboos for additional strength, outward tilting bamboos acting as buttresses to hold up the house against the earth.

From the village, we went to the local market. The local market was full of all kinds of meat being sold. Dosh ji also told us about the local variety of oranges grown in Daporijo and bought some from a vendor for us to taste. Indeed the oranges were very juicy and very sweet opposed to the sour oranges we are used to eating. A lot of vendors even seemed to be selling handicrafts and traditional ornaments.

We then went to the Arunachal state transport bus stand to check out options to go to Aalo- our next pit stop. We were willing to start for Aalo either today or tomorrow morning at the latest. As enquired in the transport office, there was no vehicle that was scheduled to go to Aalo that day. (Just like Ziro- Dapo, there is no official road connection between Dapo and Aalo as very few people happen to travel on this route. A bus for Aalo leaves once or twice in a week depending upon the number of travellers and most importantly availability of drivers. If we had to leave for Aalo, the only option was to catch one of the private uncomfortable ancient looking buses to a place called Basar and get off at Bame and catch a shared sumo for Aalo which is another 40km from Bame. By look of the overstuffed buses and the luggage piled above and every corner inside we knew it would turn out to be another nightmare journey. Plus the bus would leave at 2:30 PM and would drop us at Bame at around 11 in the night if everything goes as planned. Any untoward incidence on the way would just aggravate the travel time. 11PM in Arunachal is as good as post-midnight as all the hops, hotels would shut by 8 PM max. Dosh ji also warned that Bame is a small village and we may not find any place to stay at night. We instantly gave up on this option. Other option was to hire a sumo privately which would cost something around 8000. This option was crossed out too! By now me and my friend were getting a very weird gut feeling of being trapped in Daporijo forever!

Helplessly we went back to the transport bus stand and enquired for options tomorrow. The answer wasn’t very comforting. He told us that a bus will leave for Aalo next morning 6:30 AM if there are enough number of people else a sumo will be sent to Aalo. If there are no enough people even for a sumo, then there was a doubt even about a sumo leaving from here. If that wasn’t enough, there was a third condition, that the bus/ sumo even if it gets enough passengers, it will leave for Aalo only if a driver is available!

Dosh ji being an influential person in town, he cajoled the person at the counter into giving preference to the two of us as we were travellers. He cited some orders of local DC to give preference and assistance to tourists as and when required. That man at the counter looked pretty convinced and asked us to reach the bus stand at 6 30 AM sharp and assured us that he would do his best to look into the matter. Half convinced about the entire conversation and with the uncertainty of being able to travel to Aalo the next day, we left from there.

Dosh ji then took us to the circuit house which he had recently taken over for operation from govt on few years of contract. We sipped some hot milk tea there and then climbed the hillock called ‘Tanium Putu’ just outside the circuit house- which is the highest point inside Dapo town. Within 5 minutes we were at the top of the hillock. It was overwhelming to see a 360 degrees view of Dapo from here. Daporijo although considered a comparatively dirty and unsophisticated town compared to others in Arunachal, it certainly looked very pretty from top. (A few of travel blogs and guides I came across while reading about Daporijo, mentioned that Daporijo is extremely dirty and should be avoided if possible etc etc. Although it is partially true that the city is dirty and has piles of garbage collected on the roads every few meters and feels especially dirty after having travelled from a pretty place like Ziro, in my opinion, it’s a bit harsh to call it unsophisticated and worth avoiding. Every place in North-East has its charm and Dapo certainly has its own. Dapo minus all the garbage looks like a dreamy place always lost in fog. That misty feeling one gets while roaming on the streets of Dapo is not even felt in Ziro.)

While at the top point, Dosh ji mentioned about Menga cave temple situated 19km away from Daporijo. Even I had read in one of the blogs that while in Dapo, one must go to Menga cave, not for the temple but for the scenic landscape along the way. Dosh ji told us that the road is really bad that side (I was wondering how worse it could get!) and it would be better to take a tempo rickshaw for the journey. He then took us to the local rickshaw stand and bargained with the auto guys. He got them down to 1100 for the round trip (a total of 38km) from their original quote of 2000. Dosh ji was carrying out some renovating work in the resort that time and had some work back there; hence he stayed back in Dapo while me and my friend left with the rickshaw driver to Menga.

While travelling, we actually realised that the road was worst we had seen until now and had no traces of concreting or tar work done in recent past. Due to the continuous raining large puddles had formed on the way and the patches without puddles had become muddy and extremely slippery. (Although rainy season starts in the mainland around mid-June, it starts as early as end of February in North-East. If you travel to North-East around March-April like I did, chances are that it would keep raining every now and then)

As we crossed first 7-8 kilometres on this stretch of road, we started ascending in the taller mountains. This is exactly when I realised why everyone was recommending travelling to Menga. Subansiri River flowing in high speed, suspension bridges built across its large span, tall mountains covered with lush green trees- everything was spectacular! If this was less, the clouds had literally come down appearing as if they were moving along with us to Menga. Words are literally falling short of what we experienced and saw there; hence I’ll let my photographs do the talking here!

Soon we crossed Sippi village- another picture perfect location! The village is so beautiful that it almost seemed unreal. There was so much mist around that the visibility had become less. Other than the road and the houses alongside, nothing beyond was visible. Everything was so dreamy and flawless!

After another 8 kilometres of clicking uncountable pictures in my camera, we finally reached Menga village. Menga village is although much smaller than Sippi, it’s no less spectacular! A stairway from the village leads up to the Menga cave temple. Menga cave is basically a large shallow natural cave with few small entrances for entering much narrower and deeper cave chambers. The main cave has a Shiva temple. There is nothing much to see here other than visiting the temple. The other smaller chambers are extremely narrow- barely enough for one person to crawl- and hence may be unsafe.

One can see astonishing view of the entire Menga village as well as the confluence point where a smaller rivulet meets the Subansiri. After clicking pictures, we then headed back to Daporijo and reached an hour and half later around 3 P.M.

Having nothing much to do for the later part of the day, we chose to relax at the resort while enjoying the spectacular views of Subansiri.

Day 6:

As decided on the previous day, we reached Dapo bus stand at 6:30 A.M. with our bags. For very long time, it was just the two of us in the entire bus stand. Apparently, nobody else from the entire town was interested in travelling to Aalo. Guy at the counter was doubtful as to whether it is feasible to allow a sumo to leave for Aalo with just the two of us. We too were pretty tensed about getting to travel to Aalo today. Other than this state transport sumo, the only other option we had was to hire an entire sumo for ourselves. The situation here was so bad that the two of us had actually decided to go for it as our last option. That would mean a huge hole in the pocket for nothing! Just when we had no hopes, two teens came to the counter to enquire about travelling to Aalo. Before the state transport guy could tell them, we excitedly told them that this sumo is leaving for Aalo if they get enough number of passengers to travel there. They quickly went out and came back with their luggage! Another lady soon joined us.. Finally it was five of us and the sumo was definitely leaving for Aalo. The state transport guy then called up a few drivers to enquire about who was free and ready to drive to Aalo that day. In 10 minutes, the driver showed up too! We then bought the tickets and finally left from Dapo and heaved a huge sigh of relief!

Today’s was going to be another long journey just like what we faced while travelling from Ziro to Daporijo. As we started cutting more and more distance, the driver kept filling the empty seats with people wanting to travel to the places on the way. Just an hour after starting, our sumo was stuffed with 10 adults including the driver and 3 kids!

On the way, we crossed places like Marde, Maro, Tirbin etc. Tirbin-which is almost halfway through, seemed like a decently big sized settlement. 3 adults and 3 kids from our sumo got down here while one person joined us for the journey ahead.

Another hour and we reached a place called Bame which is a junction on the Aalo-Silapathar road, from where a left turn goes to Aalo and right turn goes to Silapathar in Assam via Basar & Likabali. From Bame, our driver took a shortcut via Nyorak village.

Finally we reached Aalo in another 1.5 hour that is, around 3- which means an 8 hours journey including the lunch break. I definitely deserved a medal for this! Thankfully our hotel- Hotel Toshi palace was right opposite to the APSTC stand in Aalo. We checked in and rested for some time. I could see from the hotel corridor that, there were quite a few other hotels & restaurants around- something which was missing Ziro & Daporijo. Aalo is bigger and more modern city than the two. Wider roads, large play grounds, schools, shops, restaurants, bakeries, shopping complexes, travel assistance, liquor shops, bars- one will find almost everything in Aalo.

In the evening, we met the owner of the hotel- Mr. Pakge Ete with whom I had had a telephonic conversation while I was still in Mumbai. Pakge ji is a very knowledgeable man. We had a great conversation with him in his terrace restaurant. He gave us great insights into the Galo society and how Galos have remained largely unaffected despite rapid conversions taking place by Christian missionaries in rest of the state. He stressed how the Galos are highly educated and have been on highest posts in the government- be it chief ministers of the state or various IAS officers! (Galo tribe is the third largest tribe in Arunachal after Nyishis and Adis. Galos mainly occupy the West Siang district in Arunachal of which Aalo is the district headquarter. About 90% of Galos still follow Donyi-Poloism.)

After dinner, Pakge ji left for his home and we came back to our room to rest. Pakge ji asked us to be ready by 9 AM next day so that he could show us around the town and take us to a few Galo bastis around.

Day 7:

Pakge ji was here at sharp 9 with his son. Four of us then drove to the handicraft emporium in town. The emporium here was very similar to that in Ziro- a large central retailing area and studios for various kinds of handicrafts and handlooms at the back. Variety of crafts done in cane was especially worth seeing. A smaller replica of suspension Cane Bridge especially caught our fancy. The emporium although had more stuff belonging to the Galos, it even had wooden toys made by the Memba tribe who occupy Northern part of East Siang district close to Tibet border.

Just across the main road is the Donyi Polo temple. Mopin- the biggest festival of Galos was right around the corner. Obviously so, the entire town seemed to be in the mood for celebration. Pre- Mopin community gatherings were happening everywhere. A football match was being played in the large front ground of the Donyi- Polo temple. As Pakge ji told us, this temple was originally being constructed as a Hindu temple but later was occupied to serve the Donyi-Polo believers. That pretty much explained why the temple looked like any other Hindu temple in mainland India.

Donyi- Polo beliefs although ancient, it was only recently that the religion was officially founded and all its oral traditions were put into writing. During this process and maybe due to aversion to Christian conversions, this ‘new’ religion seems to have picked up most of its rituals from Hinduism. Couldn’t help observe how there was a notice board at the steps of the temple to remove shoes before entering, the way a machete was hung at the entrance which is to be vigorously shaken (just like how we ring bell) while entering the temple, the ‘humanized form’ of various Donyi-Polo deities, ritualistic mantras, tying of holy threads around the wrist, usage of incense sticks in front of deities etc.

Next we went to the district museum situated in a busy of the town. This museum didn’t seem to be in a very good condition. The exterior was ill maintained, the paint had worn off. Looked like the museum here didn’t get many visitors and was in a neglected condition. Nevertheless, it had a very good collection of exhibits and artefacts related to the Galo, Adi and Memba communities of the district.

Next, our host drove us to outside the town- to the Galo villages on the outskirts of Aalo. First we went to see the hanging suspension bridges near Paya basti. These suspension bridges used to be the only means of crossing the rivers in Arunachal. All these bridges are still very much in use, the only change being, most of these have been converted into metal suspension bridges than the earlier bamboo & cane ones. An abandoned broken bamboo-cane suspension bridge can still be seen just next to the Paya suspension bridge.

Ngune Bane village- just about 5 minutes drive away, was where Pagke ji took us next. There he took us to a typical Galo house made with traditional materials. He explained us each of elements of the house in detail. Largely, all the Arunachali houses look similar from inside although different from outside. He explained us how the local wine is made. We even got to sip some freshly brewed wine while he showed us the decorations inside the house made of horns of Mithun & tusks of wild boar! We thank the hostess for the tasty wine and took a walk around the stepped village and met other locals.

Next we went to Kabu basti- the closest village to Aalo town. A very well kept clean village situated right at the banks of Siyom river! A local informed Pakge ji that a Donyi- Polo Pooja was taking place in a house nearby if we would like to go and see it. A lot of locals had gathered outside the house. As they saw us approaching, they graciously welcomed us inside their house. The host requested the helper woman to serve us some Apong. Next she got us big green stems of bamboo filled with Apong each for all of us. She also served cooked French beans to munch on. The host, although busy with the function going on at his place made sure that we were comfortable. During the short time we spent there, he talked to us about various topics ranging from tourism to politics. Soon it was time for them to have lunch. Pork – rice was served to all the male visitors. We were offered the same, but we politely refused as it was time for us to leave. As we stood up to bid goodbye to the wonderful hosts, the lady of the house rushed inside and got a large jar filled with apong to refill our empty bamboo vessels to drink on our way back.

In less than about 15 minutes, we reached Aalo town. I and my friend visited a few sumo counters to enquire for options to reach Guwahati. Apparently there was no direct service to Guwahati from here. The only two options of break journey we had were either via Itanagar or Pasighat. The option through Pasighat would have been to go further ahead in the East and come back to the West through the plains of Assam. The Itanagar option made more sense to exit the hills of Arunachal via Basar, enter Assam and reach Itanagar via North Lakhimpur. The only problem was that this sumo journey to Itanagar would be a 13hours back breaking journey on bad roads- which meant no sleep for sure. Seeing no better option, we decided to just go for it. (Aalo-Itanagar shared sumo cost Rs.1200/head in 2017)

Our sumo left from Aalo around 4:30 PM. To our luck, although we got two seats at the backside, the other two seats were unoccupied making the dreadful journey at least a little bit bearable.

Day 8:

The sumo was running before time (or maybe the sumo counter guy lied to us regarding the drop time in Itanagar), we reached Itanagar at 3:45 AM!!! Other passengers with us being locals, soon dispersed and we were left to wander around the dark streets of Itanagar looking for a place to crash. Expectedly, all the hotels were shut. We tried knocking a doors at a few hotels to no luck! We spent the rest of the time on the streets with a few suspicious looking people around. The least we needed after a painful overnight sumo journey was a bed to crash in. To add to our misery, it started raining. The feeling of helplessness started sinking in. Felt bad more for my friend who isn’t a regular traveller and I had made him go through so many long journeys just by luring him to tag along with me to see some of the best landscapes India has got! Poor fellow still wasn’t complaining!

Soon it was 5AM. The city seemed to be slowly coming back to life. Tried my luck with hotels again, and this time we got a single bed room in Pine ridge hotel just in the main road, F-sector of Itanagar.

Sleeping till good 11 AM, we freshened up and left for a brief city tour of Itanagar before catching an evening bus for Guwahati- another overnight journey!

Farthest place first, we went to the serene Gyker Sinying lake aka Ganga lake. We took a circular walk all around the lake and refreshed my memories of the first time I had come here in 2011. Ganga lake is definitely a not to be missed spot while in Itanagar.

Next we went to the zoological gardens just on the way from the lake to the city centre. Itanagar zoo was surprisingly very well maintained. Healthy animmals, cleanliness, and internal signage everything was in place!

Itanagar’s Jawaharlal Nehru state museum seemed recently refurbished in part and they have done it so well! They have completely changed the museum from inside, also added new exhibits and galleries. After the refurbishment is complete, it will definitely be one of the best in eastern India.

Along the same road on the opposite direction is the Itanagar Buddhist Gompa. A short winding road took us to the Gompa which is situated at a height compared to the rest of the city. Just the next day, the Gompa was expecting visit of the Dalai Lama. For HH’s visit, the entire gompa was re-painted only the finishing touch being given to them when we visited.

Reaching back to the hotel, we had a late lunch and boarded a comfortable sleeper bus for Guwahati and then to the second leg of the trip- Meghalaya!