Amazing Arunachal – Mechuka Continued

Day 14 – Continued:

We proceeded further towards Yarlung and on the way found the Gurudwara in right and just before that in slightly left a temple built by Sikhs as they believe this was the place where Guru Nanak stayed while coming from Tibet and took bath in the river. That’s another very beautiful and quiet place to enjoy with nature all around. The road condition was deteriorating fast and the valley was narrowing down and we started climbing again. On the way we saw Hanuman Temple, built there in memory of a natural formation of Hanuman on the high hill just opposite to it. The natural architecture probably carved out by air erosion was looking simply beautiful. We reached till the point civilians are allowed at Yarlung. There are two posts side by side, first one is of Indian Army and next one is of ITBP, just a km apart and this is the last permanent camp of army before the McMahan Line. Lola Pass, the ancient trade route to Tibet. As I enquired it was still 25/30km from Yarlung and road connectivity is being built. We could see the Chinese controlled peaks/ ridges from there and army still had to patrol by 2 days of walking to the LAC. Tourists can take special permission from Mechuka ADC and Army/ITBP and go for these 2 days trek till border. We were given a very warm welcome by Army and we took our lunch with them, had nice chat. We saw mobile phones are kept in different open locations of hills and ridges, when asked about it, army clarified, those are the identified places where they only could have the signal and could speak to their family. They had to keep the phone on speaker as slight movement could disconnect the call. What a hard life these guys are managing especially in a place which is either rained or snowed out for 10 out of 12 months, my salutes to them!!

Mechuka – House with Prayer Flags:

Indian Air Force just about to land:

Stupa:

Mother and Son:

Colorful Mechuka:

Gurdwara:

The hill that cracked to let Guru Nanak in, on his way to the river:

Hanuman’s face inscribed in the rugged mountain, locals believe so:

Indian Army – Unforgettable warmth we received there:

We started our return journey towards Mechuka and again stopped number of times just being spellbound with the beauty of nature. We finally reached IB around 5 in evening and by that time it was dark outside. While coming back we started enquiring on the private accommodations available except the IB and Monastery GH as requested by Mithun. We found 2 hotels and out of those 2, the newer one, still being built by Gebu Sona was the best. I spoke to the person and his wife and they were very good hosts, my recommendation would be try his place if you ever be in Mechuka. Mithun recently stayed there for 4 days during his honeymoon trip and might tell us more on this place in his forthcoming log. Once we back in IB, we wanted to have just maggy as we had a late lunch but once Cook was informed that we wanted simply Maggy and Tea for the night, she refused to come, this was again surprising, in Daporijo at least we could eat something but that night in Mechuka we couldn’t change her mind even with repeated requests and finally had to bring some tea from outside and spent the night with dry foods. But whatever poor experience we had with IB, nature and its beauties compensated much more than that in Mechuka. We had another chilly night to spend and we did that comfortably. It was a full moon night but so cold it was outside in end December, it was almost impossible to take any night shots but the whole Mechuka was shining like a town made of silver. It was an awesome experience and sight which I would never forget.

The Driving Distances for the day:

022 – Mechuka IB
036 – Gurdwara
047 – Yarlung Army Camp
072 – Mechuka IB

The beautiful Mechuka in afternoon Sun during our return journey from Yarlung to Mechuka: