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As the traveler who has once been from home is wiser than he who has never left his own doorstep, so a knowledge of one other culture should sharpen our ability to scrutinize more steadily, to appreciate more lovingly, our own. ~ Margaret Mead
Arunachal Pradesh Trip* Most of our Trips to Arunachal Pradesh are Customized to Clients Interest - or adjusted from some of our ItinerariesSome ItinerariesThe following is a story about one of our trips to Arunachal Pradesh. A Trip to most part of the world requires a certain type of person. A trip to Arunachal Pradesh in North East India in particular requires an adventurous and easy going type of person. I had the pleasure in Oct of 2003 to take 3 Canadians including myself that makes 4, to the west side of Arunachal Pradesh - Dave, Bill and Kathy were ready for something new in India. Canadians are generally easy going and easy to travel with. It was with this in mind that we were willing to discover things along the way. Arunachal Pradesh is a seldom traveled area of the world, with little infrastructure. The disadvantages of this are obvious - few places to stay, no set trekking routes with maps etc. As well it is a Restricted area, requiring a bit of red tape to get into the state in the first place. The advantages of this are that there are few other people traveling this area, you can be assured of being one of the first foreigners into some areas, seeing the place and its people in its natural state. It is a bit of a two way street you sacrifice some things to get the other. As the four of us traveled we realized the many advantages that were inherent in traveling in such a place. Despite some last minute phone calls and the final fax with our Restricted area permit coming in at 8:30 am on the day we were to enter Arunachal Pradesh - we found the whole experience refreshing and exciting. We left Shillong Meghalaya on Oct. 25th - driving down from the Khasi Hills into Assam. In Assam we drove mostly plains bordering the Bramaputra River reaching Tezpur (Assam) about 1 hour or so from the Border of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. Here we spent the night and hoped for the fax copy of our Restricted Area Permit to come in the next morning.
Tezpur is a busy Town - we were able to enjoy the evening walking around the busy streets of Tezpur with the fireworks and lights of the Diwali celebrations. In India this type of celebration requires a lot of noise in the form of Fire Crackers and fire works of all sort. It was a pleasant evening spent just wandering and seeing the Assamese people enjoy this festival of lights. The next morning our you guide from Arunachal Pradesh arrived with the news that our permit would be faxed the next day sometime. In India one is never sure when sometime means, but we patiently hoped for the best. At 8:30 am a fax came in with the copy of our permit - a lot of red tape and phone calls, had finally paid off. Although the permit stated that we were 4 British Nationals. Being of the spirit that so be it - we can call ourselves anything as long as we can in, we assured each other that we could convince the check gate people that we were indeed British Subjects. We arrived at the check gate, located at a small town called Balukpong near Nameri National Park. Here the process went quite nicely with no need to explain the fact we were British Nationals carrying Canadian passports. With a sense of relief we were able to enjoy the beautiful drive from Balukpong up to Bomdila - passing through thick Rain Forest - steep climbs and spectacular view of cliffs and rivers down below. In a space of about 100km or so we climbed up to approximately 7000ft. I had assured the border gate guard (upon being asked) that I was a Canadian and so was experienced in driving on hilly roads and in winter conditions, what I did not tell them was that I was not experienced in seeing Army trucks coming down the hill and not giving space or way to pass easily. But with a little caution and conservative driving we arrived in Bomdila in the evening - having had a little taste of Tibetan - momo's along the way (steamed dumplings with meat or vegetables in a pastry). A unique aspect of Momo's in these areas is that you get a large variety - pork, chicken, vegetable, yak and fish. Quite a selection and a meal in them self. In Bomdila we stayed at the Tourist Lodge - enjoying a meal cooked there. With a little joking around with the cook who insisted that we have more and more and more. With a short time to do the entire trip we wanted at least a couple days of trekking (Arunachal has incredible potential in this area, for those interested). So we drove about one hour to a village called Mannu Camp; parked our car, carried only what we needed and started on our first day of walking - nothing overly strenuous. It was a pleasant walk to a village called Namshu - our guides village. On the way we had a pleasant cup of tea at his parents farm, where they had a small hut for the time they were away from the village and working on the farm. On the way we passed several groups of people coming down (locals, not foreigners). We were particular intrigued and felt it fitting that 4 Canadians should meet up with a young boy coming down on horse back wearing a Montreal Canadians sweat shirt. He of course did not realize what the sweat shirt meant nor had he ever seen somebody from Canada - so was puzzled I am sure by us wanting to take a snap shot. Arriving in the pleasant village of Namshu in the mid afternoon we were hosted in our guides house. We took a walk around the village, most houses build with stone and wood and set close together.
with their paddy fields and farms outside of the main village area. Namshu is a pleasant little village set in the valley surrounded by mountains. The next morning we woke up to a spectacular sunrise, and perfect skies for another days walk. We were heading to a village called Sangti - in a valley famous for the black necked crane. This days walk was better than the day before; a pleasant trail climbing up to the crest of a hill - from which we could then see down into the valley. We passed through several picturesque villages with the local people busy at their daily chores. Hard to believe we were in INDIA!! We arrived in Sangti in the mid afternoon - got some noodles and asked a house in the village if they would not mind cooking them up for us. The people were very helpful and were happy to do so. Because of lack of time we got a jeep to take us into Dirang, we dropped off everybody and went on to get my car where we had parked it a couple days earlier. In Dirang we found that most places were full up - as people were heading up to Tawang for a festival, (Buddha Mohotsava). We finally met up with the officer in Charge of the tourist lodge and were able to get a couple rooms. It was the old tourist guest house so was not in the best condition - however it was suitable for our needs. On Oct. 29th we decided to leave early in the morning and go all the way up to Tawang (mainly a Buddhist town, with several monasteries and nunneries). It is said that the Dalai Lama had stayed here on his fleeing Tibet. The main monastery is over 500 years old. We were lucky to get the monasteries Guest house to ourselves and happy to have wood stoves in the bedrooms, as the temperatures were already starting to get cool at night time. The route from Dirang to Tawang took us through the second highest motor able pass in the world (Sela Pass) at 13,700 ft.
We also felt privileged and lucky to have arrived on the night a cultural troupe from Dharmsala was performing. We were able to witness a wonderfully professional performance for almost 2 and half hours with no breaks. The costumes and dancing were incredible. We enjoyed a taste of fish momo's and yak momo's for dinner with a clear soup. One sees the influence of Tibet throughout the area - in food, dress and traditions. The next day we spend a short time watching local dances and singing, but decided to head out on a short afternoon walk to one of the Buddhist nunneries that we could see on the crest of a hill. A tremendous and wonderful walk and setting. From the nunnery one looked down on the back side of the main Monastery - separated by a slopping hill and valley. On the hill lay a serial setting of cattle (sheep, cows, horses) grassing amongst small huts with the warmth of fire showing by the smoke stacks on the roofs - as the evening fog rolled in. We had about a 10 minute window of clear viewing before we were unable to see anything because of the fog. I would have to recommend the Tawang area, from Sela Pass to Tawang, as an interesting trekking area, with certain trails and the potential for many more. Incredible landscape and a culture to make the area that much more interesting. Our time and trip was coming to an end - so on the 31st. we headed out after witnessing Monastic Dances at the Monastery - we drove back down to Dirang (with a little snow fall as we came up to the top of Sela Pass). We spent the night in the new Tourist Lodge -a big improvement on the old one. Left the next morning and drove through to Kaziranga National Park in Assam. We did a quick jeep Safari on the morning of the 2nd - (just enough to get a bit of a glimpse of the One Horned Rhino the park is famous for) We then headed back toward Shillong for the flight out of Shillong Airport - Dave, Kathy and Bill went on to Kolkata - I stayed back in my home in Shillong to be with my wife and two boys.
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