Switzerland of the east - Tawang!

The week-long trip to Tawang was being planned amidst tension of 100% placement at insti. While a small portion of our hearts wanted to enjoy the last few days of our stay together through this trip to Tawang, the other larger chunk desperately wanted the final 2-3% of our battalion to find their destination soon. Finally the trip happened, 6 of us packed our rucksacks and took off in the tried-and-tested Tata Sumo for the much-awaited adventure trail to the Switzerland of the East – Tawang!

Breathtaking & amazingly picturesque landscapes, snow-capped mountains, tranquil Buddhist monasteries, inspiring war-memorials of the 1962 Indo-China battle, thousands of hairpin bends on stretches of annoyingly poor roads, are a few things Tawang is known for. And we experienced them all!!

The trip in a nutshell: (The numbers in between denote time in hrs)

22.03.10 (Mon) – Dep. from Shillong 1000 – Stopovers for lunch and Naariyal paani – via Tezpur 1700 – O/N stay at Bhalukpong (on Assam-Arunachal border) 1900

23.03.10 (Tue) – Dep. from Bhalukpong 0930 – Visit to Tipi & Sessa orchids – Photo-session at a river on the way to Bomdila – Bomdila 1500 – Visit to Bomdila monastery – O/N stay at Dirang 1900

24.03.10 (Wed) – Dep. from Dirang 0900 – Visit to Nyukmadong War Memorial 1100 – Sela Pass 1400 – Tawang 1800

25.03.10 (Thur) – Tawang Monastery 1100 – Tawang War Memorial 1300 – failed attempt to get permit to visit Indo-China border (Bumla pass) 1600 – Shopping at local market 1700

26.03.10 (Fri) – Dep. from Tawang 0900 – Stopover & photo-session at Koyla-famous water-falls 1000 – Visit to Jaswant Garh War Memorial 1230 – Another photo-session on top of picturesque cliffs 14k feet above MSL and below freezing point temperature – O/N stay at Bomdila 1900

27.03.2010 (Sat) – Dep. from Bomdila 0900 – Shillong via Bhalukpong, Tezpur 2100

Some of the things to be remembered from the trip:

- Food:

All along the way to Tawang from Guwahati, every village has got about a couple of so-called restaurants. Dimly lit, old wooden furniture, a kitchen boasting of the ancient Indian choolha to cook roties – describe these restaurants well. And these small eating outlets primarily serve good & tasty vegetarian food, with just one or two varieties of chicken thrown in for non-vegetarians like the ones we had in plenty! Otherwise, the menu consisted of Rotis, Mix. Veg. sabzi, plain rice, dal fry & maggi. Pretty much edible food and moreover, limited choice of items meant less time wasted in deciding on the menu!

- The long & tedious process to get permit for Bumla pass:

God knows why do Indians need an ‘Inner Line Permit’ (something like a visa) to visit an Indian state in the first place! (a visit to Arunachal Pradesh needs one). And moreover, anyone who visits Tawang has to spend more than half of a day in getting another permit from the DC office in Tawang to visit the Bumla Pass (Indo-China border). This has to be followed by a visit to the army headquarters in Tawang to meet the Brigadier in-charge in order to get his clearance to visit the border. One can imagine the amount of time one has to wait to get these clearances, given the speed with which Indian Government offices work! The wait is acceptable to an extent considering that this particular border is sensitive. But we were unlucky to have spent more than 3 hours at the DC office just to be told that the border would be closed for visitors for two days. And hence, our initially-planned two days stay in Tawang reduced to just one day, and as a result our trip consisted of 5 days of travel for a day’s stay at Tawang!

- War memorials:

It’s amazing to listen to the invigorating war stories, the manner in which the war heroes displayed remarkable valour while fighting the enemies. The visits to Tawang war memorial & Jaswant Garh war memorial raised Goosebumps on our skin surfaces! In particular, the story of an ordinary rifleman Jaswant Singh who fought a lone battle in the ’62 war with the vastly over-sized Chinese army for 72-long hours killing hundreds of enemies before sacrificing his life was truly inspiring! This photo taken near one of the war-memorials sums up all of it brilliantly:

- Trust the two!

Imagine yourself sitting in a car with your very good friends, driving on altitudes above 10,000 feet, the single-lane two-way road being in an awfully bad state, the condition outside being extremely foggy with visibility of less than 1m!! The only two people in the world whom you leave your life to – one is the God, and 2^nd is the driver of your car! The drivers there are really skilled, especially those who are brought up in the hills. I am pretty sure they can be groomed into excellent F1 drivers with the right kind of training and support!

- Road Safety slogans painted on rocks by BRO:

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has indeed done a tremendous job making the road to Tawang motor-able. But for years of real hard work of this organisation, tourists like us would never have got the chance to visit this heaven-on-Earth. Hats off to the people who have given their lives while building the roads in this difficult terrain and extreme weather conditions!

All along the road to Tawang, one can find safety slogans painted on rocks by the BRO. The slogans are definitely worth a read, and a real good time-pass on the long n tiring drive. Some of the slogans that I can recollect:

· Danger creeps when safety sleeps

· Safety is as simple as ABC... Always Be Careful!

· Normal speed meets every need

· Have another day, by being safe today

· Speed is a 5-letter word, so is the word Death!

· Driving is risky after whisky!

· Better be dead sure, than sure dead!

· Feel the curves, but don’t hug them!

· (One of the best) Love thy neighbour, but not while driving!! J

· If you sleep, your family shall weep

· Drink n drive, you won’t survive

· If you are married, then divorce speed!

· Speed is a knife that cuts life!

- 3 GB of beautiful photographs from 5 cams:

We had the privilege of travelling with some incredibly talented photographers! Thanks to them, the essence of the place was captured in its true form and we ended up having 3 GB of sweet memories to take home with us!