10 years ago, I went to Sikkim and at that time, I found it to be as Indian as any other place: Buy viagra The not so clean streets and the people understanding Hindi were 2 of the many other things that connected it with India. And honestly, I wasn’t really surprised to find out that the people there understood Hindi. I thought the place was close to Nepal and Buy VPXL Online Pharmacy No Prescription Needed since the Nepalese could understand Hindi, so the people of Sikkim shouldn’t really have a problem either. 10 years later, my dad and I decided to visit the North east again. The year was 2008. This time it was the turn of Arunachal Pradesh and Shillong. This time however, my maturity level was higher and the surprises, bigger.
We departed on the 15th of December. It was only my second trip on the plane. (The first one was taken 10 years back when I visited Sikkim). After reaching Guwahati in the afternoon, we took a taxi for Tezpur in Assam. Our ultimate destination was Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh and there are two ways to reach that place: If you wish to take the land route, you need to reach Tezpur from the Guwahati via taxi (or perhaps bus but I don’t know) and then from Tezpur, you take a Sumo to Tawang. It takes about 4-5 hours to reach Tezpur from Guwahati and then about 12-13 hours from Tezpur to reach Tawang. I will talk about the other route perhaps in the next post.
We reached Tezpur at around 8 PM and spent the night in our hotel. I had the worst momos of my life in that hotel and the chowmein was an apologetic mess of the great Chinese cuisine. I think in the north east you need to tell them what Viagra generika you mean by chowmein. Because what I got for ordering chowmein was not the Chinese hakka noodle but some slimy spaghetti shit which tasted worse than the momos. The morning after, I puked my stomach out and caught fever. But I was so determined to leave Tezpur that I decided to take the 12 hour trip to Tawang in spite of dad’s insistence on reconsidering the options.
I slept through most of the journey which was absolutely gruelling. The road to Tawang can be called a “road” only by UP’s standards. At places there was only a surface with stones and pebbles and devoid of any bitumen, tar-coal and the usual materials used in the construction of roads. It is not too hard to imagine what it must have felt like going on such roads. It felt as if someone was dealing my head with some hammer blows. In moments when I was awake, I took pictures of the mountainous landscape. Here are some of the scenes I witnessed in my waking moments in the sumo.
There were not a few stops in the journey. But unfortunately at none of the places we stopped to have food, could we find anything more than rice and dal fry: two other north eastern dishes I had begun to hate. There was one good thing though: cheap kiwis. Very cheap indeed. Nothing compared to the ones we get here in Delhi (but then the quality of the ones in Delhi is far more superior too.). We reached Tawang at around 8 PM. Crossing a point 13,000 feet high is some achievement. By now, our phones had stopped working. In case you are not aware, the Arunachal Pradesh you see in the map that is presented to you is not the actual Arunachal Pradesh that is a part of India. A large part of it is under Chinese occupation and the line of actual control is very close to Tawang. As such, this makes Tawang a strategically important place for India and this is one reason why no cellular operators, except for BSNL, is allowed to operate here. The low population and remote location also deters big brands from coming here to do business.
The following morning we decided to visit the different places in Tawang worth visiting. The first place we visited was Buy Brand Cialis Online the monastery which as it turned out was quite prominent. On the way, we were also surprised to find out that the people in Tawang spoke Hindi. In fact little kids talk with each other in Hindi only! It could be because of ethnic diversity in that region but all the same, we weren’t really expecting little kids to talk in Hindi. The way from the hotel to the monastery was around 3 kms and on the way I once again clicked a few photos.
The monastery is a reddish white structure which stands out from the rest of the city. It is a place where Buddhist monks study religion apart from the western sciences and languages. The one at Tawang contained a museum, a school and a place of worship. Here are some photos of the same.
On being asked, a young monk told us that they were taught Hindi, Maths and English at the monastery.
We decided to take another trip to the war memorial but by then we had gotten tired and the war memorial was way too downhill for us to climb back. So we retired for the day. The next morning, I got sick again but decided to go with dad to what the locals like to call “The Madhuri Dixit” point. The movie Koyla was apparently shot at this point. It was a lake located at a point 14000 feet above the sea and surrounded Buy asthma drugs by snow capped mountains. Viagra o levitra The place was a visual treat and there are many other lakes on the way. Unfortunately the way to the MD point is worse than the way to Tawang itself but I believe, it is worth taking the risk. Here are some photos of the way and the point itself.
In conclusion, all I can say is: Visit Tawang if you are the adventurous type and are not fussy about food and electronic gadgets. And no it isn’t a very big deal to actually get there. Certainly not unless you are the Dalai Lama. Tawang is as Indian as any other place. It can never be a part of China. As I mentioned before, people speak Hindi there and not Chinese. Even amongst themselves. But yes you do need special permission to visit the place which you can easily acquire by virtue of being an Indian National.
It will be a very unique experience. Especially getting to Tawang via the other route I talked about. It is by helicopter. And believe me: that view from the helicopter is simply breath-taking.
Amazing account of the journey. The pictures are very nice!
North East seems to be a relatively unexplored paradise .
Thanks man. But when you call North East a paradise, bear in mind the fact that you’re only talking about its scenic beauty and weather. I won’t exactly like to settle there permanently for sure.