This post has been in the making for a long while. I did a road trip to Tawang close to an year ago (in August, 2015) and never got around writing about it.
First off, August is not a great time to visit Arunachal. It pours heavily, making it almost impossible to travel by road. However, I was supposed to go to Dibrugarh for a family function and decided to take a chance. Our luck held and the weather did co-operate for the duration of our trip (heard it started pouring just after we left).
We set off early morning from Dibrugarh via Tejpur to Tawang. It is almost a 17 hours drive which we decided to break in parts. We did the return journey in one stretch and would not recommend doing it.
We stopped for the day at Bomdilla, a small sleepy town with a beautiful monastery. We stayed the night at the monastery guest house and woke-up to the view of the Himalayas. The monastery itself is quite big and schools a number of monks-in-training. Watching the naughty kids prepare for their exams would never lead you to believe that they would one day become calm and adult monks!
We drove from Bomdilla to Tawang the next morning and spent a couple of days in Tawang. On the way, we saw snow-peaked mountains, red rivers and beautiful waterfalls.
Tawang is a well travelled area and tourist spots are quite well know. You will not want to miss spending time at Sela Pass (the highest motorable road in the world), Tawang monatery, Nuranang waterfalls, Ptso lake, Jaswant Garh war memorial etc.
I will not go into the entire trip and every place we went to, or stopped at, but would suggest a few things in general.
Arunachal is stunning and a little rough. You do not have places to stay every few KMs, nor are the roads the best. You will need to brave the cold, the fog and sometimes, the rain (braving the rain probably is not the brightest idea, since you know, hills and all). Hence, plan your trip, know that you have to get to a certain town by the nightfall in order to find a place to stay. Amenities are usually limited, but people are great and maggi and momos are plentiful. We stayed at this small place called Dolma cottage in Tawang where we had warm soupy noodles for dinner and woke up to the view of Himalayas.
Beyond that, be flexible. You don't have to reach that one tourist destination in the next 10 minutes and spend only 30 minutes there. Stop and admire if something catches your attention. Stop and admire because the world hasn't felt this green or this cold in a while. Stop and admire just to remember the feeling of being there.
I left Tawang close to an year ago, and I am not done admiring it yet.
First off, August is not a great time to visit Arunachal. It pours heavily, making it almost impossible to travel by road. However, I was supposed to go to Dibrugarh for a family function and decided to take a chance. Our luck held and the weather did co-operate for the duration of our trip (heard it started pouring just after we left).
We set off early morning from Dibrugarh via Tejpur to Tawang. It is almost a 17 hours drive which we decided to break in parts. We did the return journey in one stretch and would not recommend doing it.
The drive takes you through Kaziranga National Park which would make a great stop for at least a couple of days. Though the national park was shut, we had a great time driving along the greenery and even happened to see some one horned Rhinoceroses lazying in the sun. As I said, our luck was holding up!
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| Rhino spotted! |
Entry point from Assam to Arunachal is Bhalukpong where you need to show your inner line permit (ILP) for entry into Arunachal. ILP can be obtained at Arunachal tourism officers in Delhi, Guwahati, Kolkata, Dibrugarh and a couple of other places and gives you access to most of the parts of Arunachal. However, to go to areas which are closer to the China border, you need to get a protected area permit which you can get in Tawang.
We stopped for the day at Bomdilla, a small sleepy town with a beautiful monastery. We stayed the night at the monastery guest house and woke-up to the view of the Himalayas. The monastery itself is quite big and schools a number of monks-in-training. Watching the naughty kids prepare for their exams would never lead you to believe that they would one day become calm and adult monks!
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| Bomdilla Monstery |
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| Somewhere along the way |
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| Just after Sela Pass |
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| Nuranang waterfall |
I will not go into the entire trip and every place we went to, or stopped at, but would suggest a few things in general.
Arunachal is stunning and a little rough. You do not have places to stay every few KMs, nor are the roads the best. You will need to brave the cold, the fog and sometimes, the rain (braving the rain probably is not the brightest idea, since you know, hills and all). Hence, plan your trip, know that you have to get to a certain town by the nightfall in order to find a place to stay. Amenities are usually limited, but people are great and maggi and momos are plentiful. We stayed at this small place called Dolma cottage in Tawang where we had warm soupy noodles for dinner and woke up to the view of Himalayas.
Beyond that, be flexible. You don't have to reach that one tourist destination in the next 10 minutes and spend only 30 minutes there. Stop and admire if something catches your attention. Stop and admire because the world hasn't felt this green or this cold in a while. Stop and admire just to remember the feeling of being there.
I left Tawang close to an year ago, and I am not done admiring it yet.
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