A Road Trip to Tawang 

Airbnb Link - https://www.airbnb.co.in/rooms/4379856?location=Dhekiajuli%2C%20Assam%2C%20India&source_impression_id=p3_1561305338_U03baMYu0%2FxuZwvT&s=JGzV5tpV

Our host Keshav and his grandmother were very cordial and welcoming to say the least. We were greeted with "Chandan Tika", as we parked our vehicle at their well decorated portico and entered the bungalow to discover its aesthetically pristine interior - the lavish furnitures, the antique belongings, a fireplace from the yesteryear, a huge "cheetah skin" hanging from the wall, the old hanging maps of Assam valley, dated and drawn some hundred years ago and many more adding to the subtle grandeur of the place. The organic food grown in the back yards, the tea garden tour, the tea factory visit and the warmth of the Bonfire in the chilly evening added to the wonderful experience we had at Dhekiajuli.

A two and a half hour drive from Sapoi, Nameri National Park and forest reserve shares its northern border with the Pakhui forest reserve of Arunachal. Though Nameri was only our pit stop before we delve deep into Arunachal's landscape, we had our fair share of "Forestry experience", all thanks to the beautiful camping destination (Lalimou Camp). We had a sumptuous lunch with local chicken and rice and a lazy afternoon stroll amidst the chirping birds and mild sounds made by various animals (my knowledge is too limited to identify the animals and birds by their names though).

The world seemed so calm and peaceful here! That chilly evening we again had a bonfire in the woods and an early dinner as we plan to start early for our next destination, Dirang in Arunachal Pradesh.

One point I must mention here - there are two routes from Guwahati to Dirang to choose from,

1. Via Mangaldoi, Kalaktang, Rupa, Bomdila, Dirang

2. Via Tezpur, Bhalukpong, Rupa, Bomdila, Dirang

Though the ETA is almost similar for both the routes, travelling on the second one might take a bit longer time due to the intermittent bad patches. The first route carry lesser traffic and has better scenic beauty to offer. On the flip side, we got to stop by some of the best tea gardens and the forest reserves on the later route.

We stopped briefly at Bhalukpong (Arunachal border) for document verification by the border force (ILP and Driving License were checked) and filling the fuel tank up to its brim as we were apprehensive about the diesel availability high in the mountains. (We later found out that in normal circumstances, fuel availability is usually not an issue in these routes)

ILP application link - https://www.arunachalilp.com/index.jsp

From here onward to Tawang, we drove through roads of almost all types - twisty, muddy, dusty, smooth, relishing and what not. All I can say as a driving enthusiast is that the drive was extremely challenging but satisfying and enjoyable at the same time.

This was my first time drive through the Himalayas, which did give me some butterflies in the stomach initially, but the sheer beauty of the surrounding mountains, the valleys that we passed, the tiny villages that we came across, the chilly morning breeze - all culminated to make our maiden road trip to the north eastern Himalayas a splendid experience.

On our way to Dirang, we got a view of the majestic Gori Chen mountain peak, standing tall at 22500 feet, the highest mountain peak in Arunachal.

Our destination in Dirang was a beautiful cottage called Gonpalok Homestay, which belongs to a very cordial young gentleman named Tsering Tashi. When we were booking the homestay through Airbnb, I could not gauge how the place and its surrounding will be. As we stepped in and saw our room we were pleasantly surprised by the size of it, the aesthetics of the entire property and the two attached balcony, one of them being a river facing one.

Airbnb link - https://www.airbnb.co.in/rooms/20559272?location=Dirang&source_impression_id=p3_1561890926_gWp3fLmQVTOR4XG3&s=HW45-64S

We had our lunch at Dirang with local sticky rice and chicken cheese curry which gave us the much needed warmth for the afternoon. The Kiwi orchard in the backyard of our homestay (though fruits have already been plucked for the season) was a beautiful sight and was something new for me.

As a first time driver in the high mountain passes, we had lot of unknown possibilities in our mind. Though we were well acclimatized to the high altitude by now, we took precaution by having some medicines to avoid any high altitude sickness as we would be nearing 14,000 feet today.

As we started gaining altitude and nearing Sela, we saw snow on the leaves of the shrubs by the side of the road, we noticed the magnificent blue color of the clear sky that we, the city dwellers, can hardly get a chance to experience, the clouds hovered in the deep gorges as we look down from the high altitude mountain roads.

We cautiously drove through the icy roads to Se La and reached the highest point at around 9 am in the morning. Both of us did feel the lack of oxygen to some extent as we stopped by the frozen lakes of Se La but we adjusted ourselves quickly by reducing the running around and taking slower steps as we walked to the banks of one of the frozen lakes. As we were standing by the lakes, we could hear a strange sound, which on the first impression seemed to be a sound of some wild animals nearby. But soon we realized that the sound was coming from the frozen lake itself. Later, we came to know from a local that this sound is created when lakes are frozen and there are air pockets created between the layer of ice and water. The ice layer moves slowly creating a "GLOB- GLOB" sound. Standing by the lake, we stared at a distance and discovered the absolute beauty of nature. All the hard work that went behind reaching the destination seemed to have paid off immediately as we took a 360 degree view of Se La.

With a brief stop at Se La, we carried on with our journey and reached Jaswantgarh War Memorial in another 50 minutes. The war memorial was made to honor the bravery of Jaswant Singh Rawat, an army man who bravely defended our territory against the impending Chinese invasion during the Indo-Shino war of 1962. Near the memorial, we met some very helpful and cordial military personnel who offered us some hot tea and refreshments. We interacted with them for a while and got a sneak peek to their life in these snowy passes of Tawang. After a halt of 30 mins we carried on our way to the nest we booked in Tawang - The Dondrub Homestay.

Link - https://www.booking.com/hotel/in/dondrub-homestay.en-gb.html?aid=356980;label=gog235jc-1DCAsobEIQZG9uZHJ1Yi1ob21lc3RheUgzWANobIgBAZgBCbgBCMgBDNgBA-gBAYgCAagCA7gCoefx6QXAAgE;sid=a3e2d3379d6858e12078323d92da5cb6;dist=0&group_adults=2&keep_landing=1&sb_price_type=total&type=total&

We reached the Tawang homestay by noon, and met our host Lahm and his wife. The homestay was perfect for us with a large space to park the car just in front of our room. A road trip like this comes with a lot of risks and challenges and I believe luck also plays a vital role in making a trip like this cherish-able in the years to come. We felt really lucky to have chosen Dondrub for our stay in Tawang - the beautiful couple and their family hosted us with utmost care and were ever-ready to help us in any kind of problems we faced. Be it asking for heaters of all sizes possible to survive the December cold in Tawang or helping us to repair the puncture of the car tyre or serving us butter tea in the shivering sub-zero temperature at night, Lahm and his wife had been awesome.

After our lunch we went for a tour to the Tawang Monastery, the largest in India and the second largest in the world after Lhasa, The Giant Buddha Statue at the center of Tawang city, the Handicraft Center of Arunachal Pradesh (good place to buy souvenir) and the Tawang War memorial. It was around 4 pm in the afternoon when we reached the war memorial. After a quick tour inside the memorial, we watched the ceremony of lowering the India flag by the army. At around 5 pm in the afternoon the temperature dipped to around 0 to 1 degree when we decided to drive back to our nest for the night - a very cold one indeed.

Bomdila unlike Dirang or Tawang, is a place with many people - crowded market area and business centers, sellers marketing their products from their shops - all in all Bomdila appeared to be a small but bustling and colorful town amidst the high mountains. After lunch in a local restaurant, we dropped our bags in our homestay (Anu Homestay, Bomdila) for the day and traveled to the helipad just outside the city which is also a good viewpoint of the entire Bomdila town. In the evening we roamed around in the market area to try some sweets and street food and bought some local Rajma for our family back home.

We did not want to strain ourselves too much that day and crashed early in bed as tomorrow we were to do the longest stretch of driving in the entire trip - Bomdila to Guwahati - A 280 kms. drive without any major break in between.

Day 8: Back to Guwahati

We drove through the beautiful forest reserve of Sonai-Rupai near the borders of Bhutan, we stopped by the lonely roads for a while just to breathe the fresh air and savor the winds caressing lazily through the leaves of long pine trees standing upright from the deep gorges, the dry leaves fallen on the sides of the road creating magnificent colors that we only get to see in a canvas of a painter.

As the winding mountain roads came to an end the canvas outside our car started changing rapidly - miles of open field with cattle grazing on them, the tea plantations on both sides of the road and blue mountain ranges of Arunachal in the horizon bidding goodbye to us.

After 8 to 9 hours of drive, we reached Guwahati at around 3 30 or 4 pm in the afternoon. We paid a quick visit to the Kamakhya temple and parked our car at our hotel to end our amazing road trip to Tawang - An event that we will cherish for a long time to come.

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