O's travelogue: Monpaland- the western Arunachal Pradesh June'10

Delhi- Guwahati- Tezpur- Bhalukpong- Tipi- Sessa- Rupa- Bomdila- Dirrang- Tawang- Itanagar- Guwahati- Shillong- Cherrapunji- Guwahati- Delhi- June'10

A land so mystique, a land so powerful, a land so stubborn- the land with 306 sub tribes and 36 major tribes- the land of rising sun- Arunachal Pradesh.

Considered one of the most beautiful states in India, Arunachal was always on the topmost rank of my 'must visit' places. A place sitting in the high altitude of eastern Himalayas- geographically a part of the so called 'roof of the world'- the Tibetan plateau- where even oxygen is so sparse- land which the dragon always envied and eyed- land which it could never capture with the cunning intentions it had. The land which is hardly developed and still cries for its own rights to be called an inseparable part of the Indian Republic. A land that deserves so much but all that its been getting through the years is the invasions, the negligence, the denials and false promises.
Journey to such a land was surely not gonna be easy. Trying to peep into the life of the state itself took me quite some good amount of time researching about the places, the people, their customs and their indigenous culture.
The first step towards visiting the state, needed to be taken in Delhi itself- in the Arunachal bhawan in Chanakyapuri- for the tourist permit that is required even for the Indians to visit the state..

Heading to Guwahati!

Day1: So here I was! Morning 8ish...eating my favourite chicken sandwich in Indigo 6E,40,000 feet above the ground..!..Heading to my favorite favourite city Guwahati!

my chicken sandwich :D

Guwahati airport no longer was alien to me plus this time I had my friend touring along. This trip was sounding so much fun already yayiess….

Manoj (my driver on my first trip to Assam) was already waiting for me in the arrivals to take us to Guwahati ISBT for further journey.. Be it for just half an hour but I was glad I could meet Manoj again and even more glad that he instantly agreed to come pick us up on a short notice from Delhi just a night back..

Reached Guwahati

Guwahati ISBT

Somewhere on the Outskirts of Guwahati

While Manoj was busy telling us and likewise I was busy myself in thinking how Guwahati had changed within just a year, we reached Guwahati’s newly built ISBT!..

We were to catch the earliest possible bus from Guwahati for Tezpur- a small but famous town in Central Assam’s Sonitpur district which almost had fallen to Chinese invasion of Northeast during 1962 Indo-China war. We learnt that the ISBT has a bus running for Tezpur every half an hour and ours was already lined up on the platform ready to leave in another 15 minutes. We bought the tickets (about 200 rupees per head in a non AC luxuary bus: Rates in 2009) and bided adieu to Manoj promising we would meet him again soon…

On the way to Tezpur

A decent 5 hours road journey got us to the town of Tezpur- the so called gateway to Western Arunachal Pradesh. Tezpur seemed like a very small underdeveloped town at first glance- a sort of place that makes one wonder- where the hell am i? anybody there…….??

A cycle rickshaw from where the bus dropped us, took us to a decent hotel 5 minutes away from the Bus stand which was another no man’s land zombied location. Probably coz it was well past 3 in the afternoon which sort of marks the end of the working hours in most of eastern India due to the untimely darkness.

Agnigarh at Tezpur

Since we were to leave for Bomdila the very next morning, I didn’t want to miss out on any chance to explore this town which is fondly called the cultural capital of Assam. After dumping our bags in the hotel room, we left in the same cycle rickshaw and headed towards Agnigarh- the main landmark in Tezpur.

Agnigarh at Tezpur

Agnigarh at Tezpur- in the background is mighty Brahmaputra

Agnigarh at Tezpur

Agnigarh is a small hillock in the mythological city Sonitpur- the city of Blood as is translated in English (Today’s Tezpur) which was the capital of Hindu demon kings- the Asuras. In Mahabharata, Agnigarh is marked as the place where Lord Krishna defeated the Banasura in a bloody battle. Today’s Agnigarh is more of a hangout place with small children’s park, sculpture garden, viewing decks, space for performances and a defined trail which takes you around all this. But the quietness of Agnigarh and the Brahmaputra- on the banks of which it is sitting, immediately threw all my fatigue away…

Agnigarh at Tezpur

A 5 minutes winding walk through a beautiful narrow road surrounded by beautiful flowering trees took us to another landmark- the Chitralekha Udyan- an extremely gorgeous and well maintained park (with an equally beautiful waterbody) –probably made to house the ruins of the Ahom kingdoms (dating back to 5-6^th century A.D. ) which are well arranged all around the park. Pretty litchi trees, lilies, palms and Orchids all around are bound to make every visitor think twice before leaving the park. A must do while in ChitralekhaUdyan is having irresistible jhalmuris from the vendors outside the park. I bet no one can eat just one :D

Chitralekha Udyan in Tezpur

Ganesh Ghat- one of the main ghats in Tezpur was pretty close from where we exited from ChitralekhaUdyan. This ghat like every other in the country offers nothing but a quiet and laidback time staring at the deep waters and some personal moments to think about your own self…

Ganesh Ghat in Tezpur

The ruins of ‘Da Parbatia temple’ 5km west of the city, dating back 5^th to 6^th century AD, bear testimony to Tezpur’s ancient past and represent the earliest example of sculptural art in Assam. But all that is left today are some sculptures and exquisitely carved door frame with images of Goddesses Ganga and Yamuna on either side.

Mahabhairab temple- which is the most famous amongst many in Tezpur was our last destination of the day. This temple dedicated to Shiva, has an ancient looking stone gateway and a fairly new looking painted temple of typical Ahom architectural style. This temple is believed to be originally built by the demon king- Banasura. After collecting the prashad and having my last jhalmuri of the day, we left from this busy marketplace for the bus stand for the enquiry regarding transport options to the town of Bomdila for the next morning. Bomdila being a hilly place isn’t accessible by buses. Shared sumos regularly keep plying on this route chargin about 500 rs for this 140 km but 9 hour long journey. Us not wanting to miss the spots on the way, chose more expensive option of booking us a private taxi to take us there.

Mahabhairab temple in Tezpur

Day2: Morning 8. We packed our bags and loaded the sleepy ourselves in the sumo for the upcoming backbreaking journey.

After crossing the cantonments on the outskirts of the city, the road got surrounded by thick forest and it started reading signs like ‘drive slow’ ‘elephant’s territory- go slow’..thats when the driver told us, we were driving through the ‘Nameri national park’ spread across upper central Assam and southwestren Arunachal pradesh, some 30 km north of Tezpur. To our disappointment we failed to spot even a single deer while on the way.

Entering Arunachal

Another 20 km north, we reached a place called ‘Bhalukpong’- the bordering town which half falls in Assam and half in Arunachal. This is where the inner line permits for entering Arunachal are checked. Being such an important passing point, the town looked decently developed and equipped for the traffic that flows through it every day. With a few decent eateries around, we decided to have our breakfast here- most of which were selling momos and chowmeins as if it was their official state dish. After managing to find a place to have omelette- bread, and collecting a stock of Lay’s chips, (as adviced by the driver, we shouldn’t expect much of shops on our journey ahead) we left for our journey onwards.

Bhalukpong and the Kameng river

As we entered Arunachal, suddenly the whole surroundings changed. From the scorching heat and the plains of Assam, we were unexpectedly in the middle of lower Himalayan hills of Arunachal with Kameng river flowing past the so called 3m wide national highway-infamous for being prone to landslides.Bhalukpong at first sight resembles a lot to Manali… the lower Himalayan hills..the pine trees…narrow winding roads.. andbeas river following you everywhere…everything so typical…but yet different.. more soothing and more untouched…

Bhalukpong and the Kameng river

Just a 7km drive from Bhalukpong on the right side is perhaps the best maintained Orchid sanctuary in India and a research centre at ‘Tipi’- a must not miss spot on the way to Bomdila. Tipi feels like another world altogether.. Lush green trees..and shrubs allover.. the mist in the air..the wetness… the freshness… everything so so out of this world.

Tipi Orchid Research centre

This orchid centre which is spread across a decent area showcases 500 species of this beautiful flower which are native to Arunachal Pradesh- most importantly in their natural habitat.. I was lucky to get to see the insect eater variety of Orchid..grown inside a zoo like metal enclose as if it would eat the visitors up! Bwahahaha!…. Other few –probably rare species were specially grown inside a greenhouse there. Having vitnessed the blooming trees and plants of at least 20-25 orchids, one of my important missions on the Arunachal trip was accomplished.

Tipi Orchid Research centre

Insect eater Orchid at Tipi Orchid Research centre

Tipi Orchid Research centre

Just after we moved from the sanctuary, did we come across first of the many to follow landslides on the highway- the highway being roughly 2.5 to 3 m wide :O These being the regular thing in this area, the Border Road Organization have their JCB earth moving machines stationed at regular interval to clear up the road which takes roughly 20 to 30 minutes or more.. that meant a delay of estimated 30 minutes to reach our destination. Anyway I was glad the land slid, else I could have easily given the surrounding views a miss from capturing in my lens. The mighty roaring Kameng cutting through the hills seen few hundred feet deep down the highway is breath taking..

Near Tipi

Landslide Near Tipi

Road cleared and the newly found Orchid lover inside me was waiting for another spot- the orchid centre at Sessa. Less than a 45 minute drive got us to this quiet village called Sessa which without a doubt – the most beautiful village I have ever seen. Imagine a village that overlooks the deep basins of Himalaya, so clean, so serene, amidst the blooming Orchids where the clouds touch the rooftops…so much so that one could climb on the roof and rip some cloud apart, pack it in the bags and take it along… :D

Reaching Sessa

Sessa village

After asking at a few places the whereabouts of the Orchid centre, we realised that we were actually driving through it all this while- same way it happened while travelling through Nameri. While in the middle of the main hamlet, we spotted a private property where the owner was growing different shrub species of Orchid along with a vegetable farm. The owner or the caretaker- we couldn’t make out who he was exactly, was sweet enough to show us around his garden and a small green house all of which I had already seen at Tipi.

Orchids @ Sessa

Sessa

Somewhere near Sessa

Even at around 1 in the afternoon after crossing Sessa, we realised we had reached such a high altitude that we were driving through the clouds and our visibility became restricted to only a couple of metres and then the drizzling started- the best thing that could happen at that time.. :D

Crossing Sessa

Thankfully having an experienced driver doing to and fro on the same route every day, we had nothing to worry about. After crossing thousands of roadside waterfalls (yes I mean waterfalls! not water streams) and clicking a few, we seemed to have reached the lower altitude with a sudden change in landscape from lush wet dewy greenery we were down to more of a dry desertish arid climate. Arunachal with its quick change in disguise at every few kilometres was surprising me. This area was more or less occupied by the military with atleast 80-90 bases of different regiments along the highway alone. I also spotted a Maratha regiment base with ‘Jai Shivaji and Jai Maharashtra’ written and a small Shivaji idol at the entrance as a part of their gate. I can’t describe how the Marathi manoos inside me jumped on my sit at the sight of seeing Marathi 4000 or more kilometres across..it’s so amazing how every nook and corner of Northeast India pleasantly surprizes you ..so unexpectedly.. leaving you all smiles…:D

Entering Rupa

After crossing more than 3/4^th of the journey, we reached a village called ‘Rupa’. Rupa was always on my itinery ever since I decided to travel to western Arunachal, the reason being it is one of the main 4 or 5 villages belonging to a nearly extinct tribe called the ‘Sherdukpens’ which are said to be numbering only in a few thousands today. This Tibetan Buddhism adherent tribe follows pretty much the same customs as their neighbouring tribe the ‘Monpas’- which is the most important tribe in East Kameng, West Kameng and Tawang districts of Arunachal.

Monastery at Rupa

{Its noteworthy how these culturally different tribes of Arunachal have settled down dominating particular districts (for eg. Nishis dominate the capital city Itanagar,Papum Pare and KurungKumey districts, Monpas dominate West, east Kameng and Tawang districts, Apatanis dominate Upper and Lower Subansiri districts, Adis dominate upper, east and west Siang districts and Mishmis dominateAnjaw and Lohit districts) making them their own strongholds and hence safeguarding the future of their culture and identities.. many of them even follow different religions- from Buddhism of Monpas, Donyi-poloism of Apatanis to Christianity, Animism or Hinduism of Nishis, Adis and mishmis- but still live peacefully next to each other, for each other and unite under the same roof called Arunachal Pradesh. I have never heard of any freedom movement of any tribe nor a particular community demanding statehood for their respective districts- as is the case in rest of Northeast. I think unity is where Arunachal’s success lies- the success of keeping itself calm, quiet and peaceful while rest of the Northeast still burns with Naxal activities and separatist movements even after more than 60 years of independence.}

A sherdukpen lady at monastery in Rupa

As we entered Rupa which had a defined entry way like most other Northeastern villages, we saw our first chorten as it is called- a small stupa like structure which is worshipped or probably considered sacred and hence built at the entrances in many Tibetan Buddhist villages throughout Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Nepal, Sikkim and western Arunachal Pradesh. Further inside the village, I felt I should no more call it a village. It completely turned out to be different from my expectations after seeing a pretty, quiet, small hamlet sitting on the banks of Kameng as it is seen in Google earth. Rupatruned out to be more of a small town, with its bustling market which almost sold everything that you get in Mumbai including the fashion wears, needless to say the local guys from this remote small town in the middle of nowhere in lower Himalayas seemed to be wearing better and more fashionable clothes than these two Mumbai born Delhi guys sitting in the car were wearing :O

Rupa

At the end of the market and the settlements in one peaceful corner of the village lies its most prized possession – the Rupa Gompa, Gompa meaning the monastery. Pretty charming located, the Gompa had a little lama guarding it. With his poker face he opened the locked doors of Gompa specially for us and showed us around in sign language due to obvious lack of knowledge of each other’s dialect. After showing us inside he again shut the doors and continued guarding the Gompa like an angry young man. We roamed around the monastery and clicked ourselves in front of the prayer wheels. Just while leaving, I was lucky enough to spot an old Sherdukpen lady chanting Om mani Padme hum in her traditional avatar. I obviously didn’t miss the opportunity to click her from far and then hopped into the car for our further journey to Bomdila.

Monastery at Rupa

By 3:30-4 we crossed a gate on the highway saying ‘welcome to Bomdila’ which means we were inside the city limits of Bomdila however this district headquarter of West Kameng just didn’t feel like a city with hardly any building or people seen around except for a few wooden monpa houses tucked between the pine trees. As we reached little ahead of the bus stand of Bomdila (which was deserted- so much so that I had a doubt if a single bus came here in last 10 years), our car broke down….And refused to move even after trying for half an hour. Fearing the infamous early evenings of the east, we decided to pay off our car driver and hire another taxi from there to Bomdila’s Upper Gompa and then drop us to a decent hotel. Thankfully the car broke down just in front of what it looked like a temporary taxi stand of 5-6 omnis painted yellow n black. The cabbies asked us 100 rupees to take us to the gompa which I thought was too much to be asked for a destination not farer than 3 kilometers. Even after our nagging they simply refused to budge and settle down on anything below 100 rupees. Finally giving up to their unyielding, we got into the cab.

Winding roads of Bomdila

Upper monastery at Bomdila

Upper Gompa is situated at the highest point in Bomdila overlooking this small lazy city. This Gompa is revered by the locals and considered one of the most important in the whole Kameng. This one had a pretty idol of Buddha housed along with Avalokiteshwara, Padmasambhawa and Tara devi. The interior of the monastery was adorned with colourful flags and thangkha paintings.

This monastery complex also had a hostel for young lamas which were roaming in the whole area. How I wish I could capture their innocence in my lens.!Aah.. The whole scenario, the magnificent chromes of the Gompa and the playful lamas made the whole environment so enchanting. By now getting accustomed with the deadness and emptiness of Bomdila, I guess I had started seeing beauty in smallest of the things which we usually happen to ignore....

Upper monastery at Bomdila

Our cabbie who was a localite, told us there was no decent hotel around and those 2-3 present, were very expensive. Bomdila which had already disappointed us gravely due to its barrenness despite having some of the best locations in the country, completely put us off due to lack of accommodations and basic facilities. Not wanting to spend much of our funds in this city, we decided to cut our stay here and probably utilise it somewhere else and move from here for Tawang at the earliest- if possible, the same night.

Searching for a cheap accommodation, the cabbie took us to a wooden homestay belonging to the family of an old Monpa lady wearing traditional pink robe. I was instantly delighted with the idea of spending a night in the house of Monpas.

After ‘checking in’ for 150 bucks a night per person, we left for a stroll in Bomdila’s main market and the lower gompa situated next to it. The main market was much a livelier place I must say with shops arranged in a row on both sides of the main road and few vendors sitting on the road trying to sell their fruits and vegetables. Towards the end of the market is the lower gompa..probably the lowest point of the town. The lower gompa was much simpler and smaller a structure with hunky lamas around.

Lower monastery at Bomdila

Bomdila's main market

Coming back to where we were staying, we enquired about the earliest possible transport for Tawang. Most adviced us to leave the other morning 5ish when there are shared sumos available for Tawang from the market. Only when we really insisted on leaving the same evening, they told us that there is a govt mini bus which comes down from somewhere for Tawang which crosses Bomdila around 8 in the evening…and also added, its upto the driver whether he wishes to run the bus that day else the earliest option is only the other morning..

We decided to take a chance, and stood on the bus stop just outside our lodge with all our bags packed. Even an hour after that, there seemed no trace of any vehicle interested in passing by, we went back, had a quick dinner and slept off hoping to get up early next day and reach the market on time..

Day3:………….Morning 5:45 and we were running up the steep slopes of Bomdila to the market with both our hands occupied with luggage. After a tiring 15 minutes climbing, and once getting lost somewhwere in the town, we finally reached the market…and the last sumo for Tawang was full with passengers and was leaving..wanting to spend no more time here, we again started thinking if we could hire a sumo for ourselves all the way to Tawang. For a sum of 4000 rupees, we got into the sumo and left for Tawang. This trip was costing us a bomb at every turn.

We had started ascending from Bomdila… the scenery became more alpine, lush with pine, oak, rhododendrons and short bamboo grass.

A monpa lady in traditional robe i spotted in the town

Bomdila town

One main point on the Bomdila- Tawang road is the old historical town of Dirang famous for its Dirang dzong i.e. fort. Only a look at the dzong from outside and clicking the pictures of this extremely picturesque town, and of course after admiring its neatly built beautiful wooden and stone monpa houses, we marched ahead.

Dirrang town

Past the Dirang valley, the road starts climbing sharply towards Se-la pass. (La actually means pass in Tibetan). After a few kilometres, the landscape changed again- breathing suddenly became heavier, roads started winding at their worst, someone switched off the tree button and all of them disappeared, visibility became nil and the roaring wind became uncontrollable- that’s when we read a sign- Welcome to Se-la the second highest motorable road in the world (after Khardung-la in Laddakh) at crazy 13700 feet above the sea level! This barren, desolate landscape is softened by a serene lake- aptly called ‘Paradise Lake’ which lies just below the Se-la. Se-la with its mystic landscape is certainly a photographer’s delight.

Reaching Se-la

The paradise lake at Se-la also marks the boundary between West Kameng and Tawang districts. Around 20 kilometres inside Tawang’s boundary is the place where one of the biggest battle of 1962 was fought- the jaswantgarh war memorial at Nuranong. Famous for a 15 minute battle of three brave soldiers- Jaswant Singh, Trilok Singh and Gopal Singh against heavy artillery and troops of the equipped Chinese.

Paradise lake

Entering Tawang district

Se-la

Paradise lake

Some lake near Paradise lake

Paradise lake

Some lake near Paradise lake

Grazing Yaks on the way

Only a few kilometres after the road from war memorial which descends to a beautiful valley, took us to an enchantingly beautiful waterfall at Jang. This was certainly one of the best waterfall I have seen… Unlike the smaller once I had seen while growing up travelling to Lonavla and Mahabaleshwar. Not even close!

Jaswantgarh memorial

Jang waterfall

Finally we reached Tawang town..after a journey of 6-7 hours. It was freeeeeeezing cold. Much colder than Bomdila. As a small town, Tawang looked very very pretty and most of Tawang’s important things seemed to be concentrated in its main market- like taxi stand, eateries, shopping, travel agents and also hotels. A five minutes’ walk from the market, we chose to stay in the government tourist lodge. Quite clean and spacious duplex room costed us some 900 bucks. The toilets looked clean and they had a running hot water supply.

The lodge also had a travel booth for assistance which could assist us in no way. Searching for options on our own, we reached a taxi stand which had fixed rates to show tourists around. They had all possible combinations of tourist spots available and their respective rates just in case any tourist has been or doesn’t wish to visit any particular spot. The rates looked exorbitant! Later we realised that the fuel rates in this remotely inaccessible part of country were at least 3 to 4 times of that in the rest of the country.

Only with little time left for the sun to set, and the Tawang monastery to be seen tomorrow morning, we hired a cab for the craft centre and the Tawang war memorial. (not to be mistaken with the war memorial at Jaswantgarh)

War memorial

War memorial lost in fog

Craft centre was much deader than we expected with very few exhibits and those which were kept for sale were impossibly expensive!.. Next the driver took us to the war memorial on the outskirts of the town -which is shaped like a chorten. The chorten seemed lost in the fog. Nearby was the actual memorial with bust of a sardar jawan- Sukhwinder singh who lost his life while fighting against the Chinese in 1962. Standing at that spot for more than 10 minutes in so much cold and fog seemed so difficult, God alone knows how these brave men fought for their country at such high altitude with no ammunition, no comfort and no food most of the times. The local Monpas also must be congratulated for their role during the war. They hold extreme pride in calling themselves Indians (even if the rest of the stupid India continues to think of them as Nepalese, Chinkies, ill cultured or dog eaters) and are proud of whatever little help they were to the Indian soldiers during the war. Local Monpas in 1962 made sure to fail the Chinese plan of encroaching Arunachal with its soldiers dressed in the local traditional disguise which could have definitely costed India a bomb!

War memorial also had a souvenir shop close by. In search of a perfect souvenir to take back home, we found an innovative certificate printed by Indian army for those who visited the war memorial at Tawang. Me and my friend instantly got our names inked on it and took back with us. It still lies in the file of my certificates back home in Mumbai, as one of my most prized possessions. For me it is definitely no less than an achievement :D

After a quick walk in the market and admiring this beautiful city in the darkness of 7 o’ clock, we called it over for the day!

Day4: Morning we left by the hired car to visit Tawang’s1645 built Buddhist monastery of Gelugpa (yellow hat) sect. The monastery dramatically located on a spur surrounded by snow-capped peaks, dominates the valley and the town. This also happens to be the biggest monastery in India. When the Dalai lama fled Tibet in 1959, his route was through Tawang and he still makes it a point to visit the town regularly to hold special prayers. This monastery has over 500 resident monks. The monks here are very friendly and more than willing to smile for the camera.

Entrance of monastery complex

8m high Buddha inside the sanctum

Interiors of the monastery

Wax sculptures adorning the Interiors of monastery

Main monastery

Monastery complex as it looks from the town

Monastery’s main building- the three storied Dukhang (assembly hall) has a magnificent 8m high statue of Buddha. The statue here is often surrounded by sculptures and statues made out of butter- an unbelievably beautiful forte of the locals.

The ancient library leading onto the main courtyard has an excellent collection of thangkhas (paintings) and valuable Buddhist manuscripts. Next to it is the Tawang museum which again houses different artefacts used by the earlier monks and ancient masks and manuscripts. A must do while in the Tawang monastery is to observe the locals and the old nuns who all the way from the town come climbing the hill while chanting Om Mani Padme Hum, rotating the mini prayer wheel or manoeuvring the rosary in their hands.

Tawang museum

The Bramdungchung nunnery, associated with tawang monastery is located 12km from Tawang. The road to the nunnery which can be reached by jeep reveals stunning landscape of snowpeaks and pine trees. Fluttering prayer flags and a long prayer wall mark the approach to the nunnery guarded as are most of the monasteries in the region, by fierce Tibetan mastiffs.

An enchantingly beautiful Shangester lake (also spelt as Tsangetseror, Shungeser or something similar :S) is situated at 3-4 hours’ drive towards the Chinese border. This lake which we couldn’t visit is said to be equal or more beautiful than Ladakh’s celebrated Pangong Lake. Shahrukh and Madhuri starrer ‘Koyla’s’ song was shot here on the banks of the lake, since then the lake is more popularly known in Arunachal as ‘Madhuri lake’.

Coming back to Tawang, we enquired about options on moving to Itanagar- the state capital. None in the whole market had sumo services directly for Itanagar. Most had till Dirang or Bomdila then a break in the journey and then next day Bomdila to Itanagar by some other means. It sounds so stupid that if someone wants to go from Tawang to Itanagar, they all the way have to come back till Tezpur in Assam (15 hours away) and take another route to Itnagar which is another 3 hours away.

Somehwere in Tawang on the way to Itanagar...

Not wanting to go back and spend a day at Bomdila, we gave our mobile number and hotel address to one of the agent who promised to contact us just in case he has a sumo going to Itanagar directly.

In a few hours, he actually called up and confirmed our seats in early morning 4:30 sumo directly to Itanagar for 1200 per person! We were delighted!

Day5: Morning 4:30 we got ready on time. Not wanting to miss this one, we stood right outside our hotel gates on time. A sumo which had another 3 passangers- a lady with her kid, and a local man, came there in no longer and we left for the capital.

Curious about why on this earth were we taking so much pains travelling to Itanagar when we have already seen Tawang- according to him- the beauty at its best! Then he answered himself- ‘haan capital city haina, aap jake dekh hi lo, waise bhi kaha aap delhi se itna door waapis aoge’

Since we were travelling back on the same road, the scenes of which I had already captured in my camera and coz of the incomplete sleep, I instantly fell asleep. My eyes opened only a few times in the journey- once when the tire punctured and twice when all the men in the car wanted to relieve themselves..

The journey which had already become tiring and unbearable, seemed to be taking longer than we expected. We reached the outskirts (from where the NH 52 goes to Itanagar) only at 7 in the evening. With no halt even for lunch or dinner, we speeded towards Itanagar.

Our Sumo reached Itanagar’s Ganga market at 10 in the night, a timing which was probably equivalent to 2am for the Northeast. All shops shut, all vehicles in their parking lots, most street lights shut, not a single person on the roads, and most importantly all hotels were shut too!..

With no prior booking, we seemed to have invited trouble for ourselves. No hotel was ready to open their gates despite telling them we had come from very far. They just simply refused to open the door saying their rooms were all occupied. After a 20 minutes of us (me, my friend, driver and the co passenger) running all over the road, we finally managed to get a hotel which had only a couples' suite available to offer us for 2500. We instantly jumped at the opportunity and expired in the bed.

Day6: The first place we headed to in the morning was the tourism board’s office for some taxi driver or travel agent’s numbers for the local sightseeing. Probably not very used to having guests there, the staff was of very little help of us and instead handed us a printed pamphlet. Most of the numbers in the pamphlet were either out of reach, unavailable or switched off. It seemed my friend was gonna lose his cool soon, so I took over and started dialling the numbers. Finally a driver agreed to come on the location we called him at and agreed to show us his city in 700 bucks.

Driver with his taxi reached us in no longer than half an hour. The driver was in his 50’s and hailed from the town of Ziro- 3 hours away from Itanagar in Lower Subansiri district as he later told us.

A pretty but bumpy 6km drive north of Itanagar through thick rainforest got us to the lovely emerald green ‘GyakarSinyi lake’ – also called Ganga lake, surrounded by dense forests. Many of the tall trees here are adorned with Orchids. The best thing about travelling to Northeast is that you can have your own time surrounded by pristine nature..no mad rush.. no filthy cities… no pollution …Just you and the wonders of nature. A designed trail around the lake gives you that much needed private time while admiring the exotic plants and flowers grown around the lake.

Gyakar Sinyi lake, Itanagar

Next spot was the Biological park i.e Itanagar zoo located not where far from the lake. The zoo which is more of a size of a wildlife sanctuary or a national park, is sprawled across a huge area North of Itanagar. This zoo unlike most other in the country, attempts to keep the animals in their natural habitat. For instance, the tigers instead of keeping inside small cages are kept inside a specially created massive enclosure deep down the zoo’s level coz of which they are never needed to be kept inside a small cage. Even the hornbills and cockatoos are enclosed inside the net including their habitat inside the net, giving them enough space to fly around. Maybe thatswhy the animals here looked much healthier and livelier than most zoos in the country. Ofcourse there are some animals like vultures and langoors housed inside small cages. Maybe coz they were more prone to running away from the zoo. But this zoo with its exotic animals is certainly one of the top 5 zoos in the country today.

Itanagar zoo

Again reaching the main city and climbing towards its topmost point, we reached Itanagar’s main landmark- the Ita fort which gave the city its name. Built in 14 -15^th century, entirely made up of brick, what remains today are only 3 brick gates at the topmost point of the city. This pretty city looks even prettier from top. On one side is seen most of the main city and Rajbhavan and rest of the official area and the other side is seen Itanagar’s twin city- Naharlagun and Itanagar jail… As told by our driver, the crime rate in Arunachal is exceptionally low which caused the central jail here to remain empty for many years. Later as the years passed, the government decided to house the over exceeding number of criminals from rest of the 6 north-eastern states on contract basis…! An amazing fact, isn’t it?

Itafort- Itanagar

Plunging back to the main city, we reached Itanagar’s another central area called Bank Tinali, from where the road up in another direction got us to Itanagar’s Nehru museum near secretariat (wonder why every museum, airport, roads or stadium even in these farthest corners of India are named after Nehru- Gandhis. Wonder what they have done for Northeast that they assume themselves to deserve the important landmarks here named after them. It’s not a hidden fact who was responsible for the humiliating defeat of India in 1962 against China. Arghhh different topic altogether..)

Nehru museum- Itanagar

This two storeyed museum (0360-2212276, Open: Sunday to Thursday) offers a comprehensive look at the arts and crafts of all the tribes of Arunachal Pradesh. Cane and bamboo handicrafts, textiles, jewellery and totem objects along with life-sized models of different tribes in their traditional clothes are on display here.

Nehru museum- Itanagar

A 5 minutes’ drive further upwards is the picturesque Itanagar gompa again from where one can see the commercial areas of Itanagar and the whole secretariat complex.

Itanagar Gompa

Our last point of the day was the crafts centre situated in bank tinali where the driver dropped us and said goodbye after inviting us to his home town Ziro- with him.

After the crafts centre, we thought of doing something whacky while in Itanagar- trying Naga food. We went inside one of the many Naga eateries here and ordered local stuff..too raw, bland and uncooked for our taste, we left the eatery without finishing the food within 10 minutes before any one of us would throw up in the restaurant.

Walking back to the Ganga market where Itanagar’s main bus stand was situated we were looking for option to move from Itanagar as we had spare 2 days extra which we had cut down in Bomdila and Tawang together. We had option of Ziro, Guwahati or Shillong. Shillong winning with majority (:P), we started looking for buses for Shillong. Sadly the direct ones had already gone and the rest were only till Guwahati. We booked ourselves 2 tickets for the evening bus which would drop us to Guwahati the other morning and left for the hotel to checkout.

The bus which left on time, took us through Naharalagun- a more developed twin city of Itanagar. After a brief dinner stopover at some cockroach infested Assamese city, the bus zoomed away towards Guwahati.

Day7: Early morning, Place: Guwahati’s Paltan bazaar. We were doing this all over again after a year, bargaining for the rent for the shared cab to Shillong. The scenic drive from Guwahati to Shillong wasn’t new to me. Very quickly while flashing back the old memories; we reached Nong-poh and soon the Police bazaar of Shillong.

This unplanned end moment trip to Shillong, refreshed my memories of the 3 days spent here exactly a year back. Wanting to refresh them further, I went to the same hotel, where I had stayed last time- Hotel dynasty in Police bazaar’s AC Lane. The Sardarji there instantly recognised me and gave a smile.

Last 6 days had been really hectic for me, and Shillong gave me that much needed break. Today was decided to be a laidback day doing nothing just strolling down the memory lane :D

A walk in the Shillong’s police bazar, shopping forOrchid plants, window shopping at Iewdeh (bara bazaar or women’s market) and Burma market held over a bridge very close to Iewdeh, and the whole evening spent boating in my favourite Ward’s lake while listening to the rock songs of the musical fountain! I couldn’t have asked for more at that time! Everything felt so beautiful and complete!

Shillong's Ward's lake

Coming back to the tourism board’s office at Police bazaar, we booked ourselves two tickets for a to and fro one day Cherrapunji trip! I guess I just was in the mood of more deja-vu that day..

Day8: A fun filled Cherrapunji trip from Duwansinghsyiem point to Ramkrishna mission school to Nohkalikai falls to Eco park to missing falls to Mot-trob to Thangkharangpark to Mawsmai limestone caves! I did it allover again..! :D

Having one more day in hand, we were in two minds whetehr to continue to stay in Shillong or move to Guwahati and spend a day there. Finally we decided to spend a day in Guwahati and leave for the same next morning.

Cherrapunji revisited....

Cherrapunji revisited....Duwan sing syiem view point

Cherrapunji revisited....Near Ramkrishna Ashram school

Cherrapunji revisited....Eco park

Cherrapunji revisited....Mot trob

Cherrapunji revisited....Thangkhrang park

Cherrapunji revisited....Mawsmai caves

Day9: Here I was again at Guwahati’s Paltan bazaar.. We checked into the same Sarai lodge there and in the afternoon went to Guwahati’s zoo which was the only point (of my interest) I had missed during the last trip.

Guwahati’s zoo was as big as Itanagar’s but more zooish. Every animal inside small cage. Thankfully the zoo is a well maintained one with good number of healthy animals around.

Guwahati zoo

Evening was again spent on the banks of Brahmaputra and then to Umananda temple by ferry. Everything seemed so perfect again.. the beautiful sunset, the unending deep waters of Brahmaputra, the slow life of Guwahati and an equally slow balancing ferry taking me to my God!