Arunachal Pradesh, Part - 02

Arunachal Pradesh tour, Part - 02

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

Day 05.  After leaving Dirang and visiting Sela Pass and Jung Falls, let's go straight to Tawang.

Get ready early and eat breakfast. Absolutely go out with luggage today. Today we will go around Dirang and then go to Tawang.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

First let's see the famous hot springs of Dirang. Leave the car on the road and walk down the stairs to the hot water tank. This beautifully constructed hot water tank also has a bathing facility. The river Kameng flows a little further down the spring. It is an unforgettable scene of enchantment.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

Next Let's go to see Dirang Monastery. The location of this monastery is outstanding just above a valley of green. Its beauty will satisfy both the eyes and the mind.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

This monastery has been built with a lot of space. Best of all is the natural beauty of this place.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

Many tourist go to see Sangti Valley from Dirang. If you have time to spend two days in Dirang, then you must go to Sangti Valley one day. We don't have that opportunity in this episode so we will go to Tawang this time.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

Beyond Dirang, our first destination today is the famous Sela Pass. This pass is largely uncertain in terms of it’s character. Everyone respects this pass as its weather changes unexpectedly. This pass is very famous for strong cold winds and unexpected snowfall.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

The distance from Dirang to Sela Pass is about 70 km. It will take about three hours to reach this distance. There is quite a lack of food shops on this road. There is a small canteen near Sela Pass, but you won't find much food except Maggie, eggs etcs. After crossing the Sela Pass, you will find another dining area on the left side of a small bridge next to a local fountain. If you request them, you can get bread and curry. So when you leave Dirang, take more dry food with you for the road.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

Here you can witness the sudden cold wind and the sudden drizzle of snow if your luck is good. But as soon as possible try to cross this road after visiting Sela Pass and Sela Lake.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

Our next destination is Jung Falls. You can hear the sound of this waterfall from far away. This amazing waterfall is incomparable in a word. Another name for this waterfall is Nuranang Falls.  The Nuranang River originates from the Sela pass and before joining with the Tawang River in the north, it is falling down here from a height of about 330 feet. If you wish, you can go almost at the nearer point of this falls where it is coming down with a high speed.  You will remember this outstanding spring for a long time.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

Our destination today is Tawang, 42 kilometers from Jung Falls. Tawang is the last big city in the northeastern part of India. This is a very important city in India in terms of military and defense. The city has an elevation of 2669 meters or 8757 feet above the sea level.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

This beautiful city will captivate your mind at the first sight. At the beginning of entering the city, you will be greeted by a huge archway. Tawang is a beautiful city decorated with beautiful houses, shops, markets, restaurants and hotels. Arrive at the hotel, take your meal and take rest .

Day 06.  Visit local sightseeing of Tawang.

Today morning, at first you talk to your hotel and request them to arrange for your car and permit to visit Bumla Pass and Madhuri Lake tomorrow. Remember, for these two destinations, you have to take a local car from Tawang. These cars are a little special. Xerox copies of all your voter ID cards, and xeroxes of government permits will have to be given to the hotel, they will do the whole thing for a certain amount of money.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

Then have breakfast and go out for Tawang city tour. It is a hilly city, so there is little difficulty in car parking here. There is a huge Buddha statue at the corner of a three point crossing on the main road. Just below the statue, there is the temple.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

There is a lot of traffic here, so take a quick visit to this place and start to see the Tawang Monastery, which is the main attraction of Tawang city. As mentioned earlier, this very sacred pilgrimage site of Mahayana Buddhism is the largest in our country and the second largest in Asia.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

About 17 Gomfa in the entire region are controlled from this center. The location of this monastery covers a large area on the hill. The most interesting is the Library of this Monastery. Numerous ancient Buddhist manuscripts are carefully preserved here wrapped in red cloth. Expatriate Buddhist scholars come here to study these manuscripts.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

From here, the whole city of Tawang looks as beautiful as the picture.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

You can take a Lunch break after visiting the monastery. Then you can go shopping in Tawang city market. In the afternoon go to see the Tawang War Memorial.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

After touring the entire memorial site, you can buy tickets from the ticket counter here and watch the famous light and sound show of Tawang under the management of Indian Army.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

This show can't be seen unless it's dark, so you may have to wait a bit. After watching this show for about an hour, go back to the hotel, eat and sleep.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

Day 07.  Visit Bumla Pass and Madhuri Lake.

Get ready early and finish your breakfast. At about eight o'clock all the cars set off together to visit Bumla Pass and Madhuri Lake. The road is not good at all, this road is very shaky.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

On our way to Bumla pass we will stop at Pankang Teng Tso Lake which is commonly known as PT Tso Lake. After this point we will proceed further towards Bumla Pass.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

Bumla Pass is the border between India and China. This is a high mountain range all around. Hesitant piles of ice. It's too cold here.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

This pass is covered with snow for most of the year. Our fearless army personnel have been tirelessly guarding this border day after day despite enduring this impossible adversity. You will get free hot tea from the army here for  this terrific cold.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

Let's spend some time here and now let's visit Madhuri Lake. Be aware in this context, the weather in this region is also extremely uncertain. It almost always snows here; rarely does sunny nature peek here.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

Sudden heavy snowfall can be noticed here. Large amounts of snow fell like rain and blocked the road. So follow the advice of your driver and army personnel without getting unnecessarily excited about anything.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

On the way back from Bumla Pass, a little further on, the road bends past an army check post and comes straight to Madhuri Lake. Army personnel are also in charge of maintaining this lake.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

The lake is surrounded by mountain peaks adorned with white snow crowns. Until 1971, the place was a vast valley of green grass. The locals used to bring their animals here to graze. There was a terrible earthquake that year. As a result of that earthquake, that huge green field suddenly goes under ground and this huge lake was created.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

Locally, this beautiful lake is called Shonga-Tser Lake. Later, only in 1997, a  shooting for a famous Hindi movie "Koyala" was arranged here,  where the famous film actress Mrs. Madhuri Dixit shot a dance scene around the lake's magnificent scenery. Since then, the name of this lake has become popular in honor of the actress as Madhuri Lake. And this name of the lake is the most popular in the whole country today.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

This picturesque lake is very popular with photo hunters. There is an army canteen here for food.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

Come back to the hotel after seeing Madhuri Lake. In the evening, you can go out on your own initiative on the streets of Tawang. You can also try local food at local restaurants. There is also a large sweet shop of a Bengali family from Koochbihar at the corner. After visiting in the market, return to the hotel in the evening.

Day 08.  Bomdila from Tawang.

Today is our day to go down.  At first we will visit the birth place and house of the 6^th Dalai lama Tsangyang Gyatso. His house is now known as Urgeling Monastry. 

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

From this place we will Start for Bomdila.  We will return via same road as we have come. We will cross Dirang on the way to Bamdila. On this road we will first stop today to see the Yashwant Garh war Memorial. It will take about two and a half hours to reach this memorial site, about 70 km from Tawang. Leaving the Jung or Nuranang waterfall in the left side, this glorious  memorial comes a little further.

Yashwant Singh Rawat, a hero of the 4th Battalion of the Indian Army's Garhwal Regiment, was in the then North East Frontier Agency of India or Nefa, now Arunachal Pradesh, one of the frontier states of our country, during the Sino-Indian War. In 1962, Chinese troops suddenly attacked the Indian military post in Nuranang. With a very small number of comrades-in-arms and only a few rifles against the Chinese modern weapons, these fighters repulsed the attack. Even after being injured, till the last moment, the hero Yashwant Singh Rawat fought and died. About 300 Chinese soldiers were killed in the battle. After the battle, the battlefield was dubbed Yashwant Garh by the army as an example of the heroic soldier Yashwant Singh's bravery, and Yashwant Singh Rawat was posthumously awarded the Mahabir Chakra.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

You will love this beautifully decorated memorial site on the hill on the right side of the road. Warm clothes and other items are sold from the army canteen here. There is a beautiful food shop run by the army on the street. Hot tea, pokora and other heavy foods are also available here. Sela Pass is just 20 km from Yashwantgarh War Memorial. It will take about 45 minutes to reach. You can stop here to eat and if you have already eaten your food at Yashwantgarh, don't stop at all because we had stopped here at the time of our onward journey. Dirang is about 75 km from Sela Pass, it will take less than two and a half hours. The road from Dirang to Bomdila is about 45 km, it will take about one to one and a half hours.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

Arrive at Bomdila and go straight to see Bomdila Monastery. This monastery has been built with a lot of space.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

The environment is very pleasant surrounded by plants. Take a closer look at this place. Let's go around the monastery and then go to the hotel.

Day 09.  Bomdila to Tezpur in Assam.

Arunachal Pradesh Tour

We are almost at the end of our tour. Today we will leave Bomdila towards Tezpur city of Assam. So get ready early in the morning, have your breakfast and go out with your belongings. From here we will proceed towards Tezpur. The road from Bomdila to Tezpur is about 180 km. It will take five and a half hours. The condition of road is not good. You will find food on this road side. You can reach the hotel in Tezpur in the afternoon and go out to see the city of Tezpur. Tezpur is a very big city. You will find auto rickshaws in this city. You can enjoy this city as much as you like. Return at hotel at night.

Day 10.  From Tezpur to Guwahati. The journey ends at the rail station or airport.

Get ready, finish your breakfast, and start for Guwahati today. Guwahati is about 160 km from Tezpur, it will take around five hours to reach by car. The road is good enough though. As per your schedule driver will drop you either at Rail station or at Airport.

Hope you have enjoyed your Arunachal Tour with me.

Many took a day out of Bomdila to Assam's Nameri Reserve Forest and returned directly to Guwahati. In that case, if you keep one more night, it will be better to walk in the jungle.

In this brief itinerary,  I have tried to discuss the most popular hiking circuit in Arunachal Pradesh in a short time in general. Then you can add a few places if you want and you can also increase the number of days as you want to stay in these places as you like.

You can write to me on the blog to know more details about Arunachal or for any clarifications.  I will try to answer all your questions as quick as I can.

Thanks a lot for reading my blog. 

The End.