Amazing Arunachal – Back to Along and Journey to Jengging

May 24, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

Day 15:

It was time say good bye to Mechuka, we really wanted to stay one more day and booked IB accordingly but then again we had to slog in some other section of road as our plan was to visit Gelling, the last Indian Village before McMahan line in Upper Siang District. We retraced back the same route via Tato to Along and this time the weather was much better and sunny and we enjoyed photography through out the journey. In a relatively eventless day, we reached Mechuka well before dusk around 2.00pm and again checked in into Along Circuit House. We did some shopping in the evening as Along had quite big a market and most of the shops were selling at wholesaler’s price. We restocked ourselves and also the fuel before we started our journey through Siang on next day. Tuting would be the destination but it was almost 320km from Along and almost impossible to drive in a day. So we decided to stay at Jengging for a night in both our up and down journey.

That day some people broken down the BSNL towers in Along and the only connection to outside world (After Ziro onwards we didn’t get any mobile signal except BSNL) was snapped. Couldn’t even call home and failed to reach the CO of Jengging as well to reconfirm our stay there in Circuit House. We had a nice dinner in Circuit House and planned to start as early as possible on next day towards Jengging.

Journey Map from Along to Tuting by Jengging:

On the way from Mechuka to Tato:

Mists all over the Siyom Gorge:

The streams beside the road:

Some Butterfly shots:

Siyom flowing through the deep gorge:

Siyom Valley:

Siyom taking a big turn:

The Bridge over Siyom:

Day 16:

Jengging is only around 130km away from Along, so we didn’t have much hurry to start the day. We had our breakfast and started the day around 9.00 in morning. The road initially went by the side of Siyom river and the road condition was worsened as we were moving away from Along. It was a nice drive through the relatively traffic less road with we being the only car traveling. We stopped in couple of the places and took the photographs as the Siyom valley was changing colors in every turn. After a drive of 16km from Along, the straight road was continuing towards Yingkiong, district capital of Upper Siyang District where as the right turn would take you would towards Pasighat. As we heard from locals, the road widening activities were going on between Along and Pasighat stretch and the condition was pathetic. We continued straight for another 30 km crossing one more small village called Panging before we crossed an iron bridge over Siyom and just while crossing it we found the place where Siyom was meeting Siyang. That was a splendid moment to have a dream come true, first view of mighty Siang. Siang, actually originated from Manas Sarovar, flowing eastwards covering a lot of lands in Tibet, known as Tsangpo, created a deep gorge (Known as deepest gorge in world as ‘Tsangpo Gorge’) and took almost a U turn near Namchabarwa (one of mightiest peak of Eastern Himalayas) to become south bound and enter into Arunachal Pradesh in India, named as Siang. This joined with Dibang and Lohit in Pasighat later forms mighty Brahmaputra river system in Assam before it enters into Bangladesh. It’s another dream for me to visit the origin of this great river system in Tibet if possible in future. The place where Siyom meets Siang is named as Boling. Now for rest of the journey till we touch McMahan line, Siang would always be with us as we drive through its right bank towards Jengging – Tuting. A further drive of 25 km up in North brought us to a place called Dite Dime, locally known as 65 miles (Probably because the distance between this place and along is around 65 miles). We took our tea break here, brought some of the cheapest and sweetest oranges we have ever bought in our lives. Here you would find the only motorable bridge so far built on Siang river, crossing the bridge and driving for another 53km would take you to district capital, Yingkiong. We proceeded straight as we wanted to visit Tuting and Gelling and further drive of 65km took us to Jengging, a relatively quieter town, on the right bank of Siang river. After you leave Along, the fuels were available in Boling and then in Jengging. After Jengging for next 220km up to last Indian road in Gelling, you won’t find any fuel station. So we did a tank full at Jengging and then started searching for the circuit house. There is no alternate accommodation at Jengging other than Govt Circuit house and it’s probably the best located Circuit house we have ever stayed in Arunachal, built at top most point of Jengging. The caretaker was a Nepali person and he was again the best host we had in our whole trip. We got VIP room there which was actually having separate drawing room, a bed room and a very nice attached toilet. The large windows in the room were overlooking the mountains and Siang river. All those cost us Rs. 50 a night, don’t think anything ever could be more value for money . We reached by 2.00pm comfortably there and stroll around Jengging enjoyed a nice sunset there. We were introduced with the officer in charge of local police station who brought his family to the circuit house to spend the lazy evening. He said the crime rate in Upper Siang is lowest among whole Arunachal and it was one of the most peaceful places he had ever got his posting. The food was also one of the best we have ever got in the whole trip. Even the next day as we had a long journey without any proper place to eat, he prepared roti / sabji for us by 6.00 in the morning (actually before sunrise in that cold). We enjoyed the day with overwhelming hospitality in Jengging and retired for the day mentally prepared for a challenging next day.

The driving distances for the day:

268 – Along
284 – Diversion to Pasighat
291 – Panging
314 – Boling
341 – Dite Dime (65 miles where the road bifurcates to Yingkiong at right)
363 – Riga
388 – Paksang
404 – Jengging

Siyom Valley from Along – Panging Road:

The point where Siyom meets Siang (at far) :

One of the many suspension foot bridges on Siang:

Oranges everywhere:

Siang Basin:

A local family going their village to celebrate Christmas:

Siang takes a big turn:

Beautiful Siang:

Jengging Circuit House Room @ Rs. 50/-

Jengging Circuit House – Outside:

Sunset on snow peaks:

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Amazing Arunachal – Mechuka Continued

May 24, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

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:

Note the New Monastery on Top of the left side Hill:

Evening approaching on Mechuka:

The Gebu Sona’s Hotel – Inside : The best accommodation as I have seen in Mechuka

The same Hotel from outside:

Mechuka’s snow covered peak in Moon Light:

Moon Lit Mechuka IB:

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Amazing Arunachal – Mechuka

May 24, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

Day 14:

This was a very clear and sunny day as we prayed for in Mechuka. Just after getting out of IB, we saw this is a place very similar to a centrally located valley like Kashmir surrounded by high barren mountains of Ladakh. Last evening due to low visibility we couldn’t see the mountains and snow peaks so close to us but in morning everything was so clearly visible, we found snow peaks all around. Actually it snowed in Mechuka just 4/5 days back, so mountains with fresh snow was glittering in morning sun. The town was small but very nicely located with small huts, the river Si was flowing across the valley, with narrow wooden bridge was bearing the signature of Arunachal. This is one of the Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) of Indian Air force, so the runway separates the town in two parts with ALG located centrally. I enquired but at least then there was no regular flight / helicopter services for locals or tourists. It was solely used by IAF to monitor the remote borders and supply rations to the remote areas.

Morning in Mechuka:

From IB, Mechuka:

Front of IB, Mechuka:

View of the town in backdrop of barren mountains:

The Advanced Landing Ground of Indian Air Force:

Road towards Yarlung:

River Side:

My kid was trying to cross the foot bridge with Ashim:

Panoramic Mechuka:

We had our breakfast and had the whole day in our disposal to roam around Mechuka. So we started around 8.30 in morning and first place to go was the river side, what a awesome place it was with that narrow bridge and snow peaks in backdrop. We spent some time to cross over that bridge and it really needed some courage to cross those bridge as those are almost broken in many places and you had to put your feet carefully and along with that it started swaying with slightest breeze, now the place was quite windy, so it would take us at least 20 mins to cross the bridge which actually could be crossed in 5 mins. There were villages in other side of the river too but all of them looked simply like painting on the mountains. Honestly I have seen very few places in my life that is more beautiful than Mechuka. We moved further had talks with new generations of Adi and Memba communities, and saw an IAF flight was landing in that short and narrow air strip, they were all amazing moments.

The signature foot bridge of Arunachal:

Shot taken from Bridge

Mechuka Town:

Mesmerizing Location of Mechuka:

This group of local guys of Mechuka were very friendly:

Winter Approaching:

Indian Air Force Flight is ready to Land:

Previous: Amazing Arunachal – Way to Along and Mechuka

Next: Amazing Arunachal – Mechuka Continued

Amazing Arunachal – Way to Along and Mechuka

May 24, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

Day 12:

As I mentioned neither the town Daporijo was welcoming nor we had a pleasant stay in circuit house, we decided to leave early even without taking the breakfast. That was a cloudy day with constant drizzle, in whole trip first time we were encountering real Arunachal weather. Initially once you leave Daporijo, after 7 km you would find an iron bridge, taking right on the bridge would take you towards Along where as taking straight the road without crossing the bridge (Subansiri river) would take you to Nacho and further towards Limeking which is close to Tibet Border. We somehow missed the bridge and traveled extra 8km before we understood we didn’t take the correct turn for Along. There is a famous temple called Meghna Cave Temple some further 20km from this junction but we decided to skip that considering the poor visibility and weather and the long 180km of travel we had to do to reach Along on that day. Also this time we wanted to reach as early as possible to sort out any issue we encounter in getting the Circuit House. In Along also we booked the Circuit house but Along is one of the biggest and friendliest town in whole of Central Arunachal where you would easily get comfortable private accommodation too. Barring last 50km road stretch from Bame to Along, rest of the road between Daporijo and Along are in quite good shape. There is no Shared Sumo service between Daporijo and Along and as a result the road is almost traffic less and for quite sometime Subansiri river would accompany you. It’s the point Bame from where you would get a Y junction, the left fork of Y would take you to Along where as right fork would take you to Assam via Likabali Check gate. If someone wants to access Along directly, Likabali is the best way to enter Arunachal as that becomes the shortest route to approach Along. The whole route is very scenic and ideal for a driving trip. We found a nice restaurant some 15km beyond Daporijo, developed by Arunachal Tourism which was located in an awesome place just beside the Subansiri River. We tried to have breakfast there but people working there were still sleeping in that idle rainy day. They said it would take almost 45 minutes to prepare breakfast and we decided not to spend that much time there and proceeded further. But this is a place where you could enjoy the greeneries of Arunachal at its best. We reached Along after taking couple of tea breaks, photo breaks were not that much required due to poor weather but still it was almost 3.00 in afternoon we reached Along. Every Arunachal towns are so nicely located, like Daporijo, Along is located just by the side of Siyom River, which we would follow during our next journey towards Mechuka. That was a Sunday, we reached Along Circuit House but it was lot more organized with much better people than what we faced in Daporijo. They easily found our names in Guest List, already allocated the room and room was specious and warm, attached toilets were clean, what more you could expect by paying Rs. 200/-. All Arunachal’s Circuit Houses are definitely value for money. Once we settled, we gone to take our late lunch in roof top restaurant of Hotel Toshi Palace, owned by Mr. Pakge Ete and his wife Mrs. Hinya Ete, very nice hosts they both were. We had some good lunch and most importantly Mr. Ete gave us lot of important information on road conditions, distances and most importantly few key contacts in various places like Mechuka, Tuting, Monigong etc.

The Driving Distances for the day:

663 – Daporijo
669 – The Bridge over Subansiri to take right towards Along
714 – Mare
757 – Tirbin
787 – Bame (Y Junction to Along / Daporijo / Shilapathar via Likabali)
835 – Along

Today’s Journey Map – Daporijo to Along:

Subansiri River:

Crossing the Bridge:

Subansiri River:

Way side Restaurant:

Towards Along:

Along Circuit House:

Bridge on River Siyom:

Day 13:

Once again we had to wake up early and without having the breakfast we left by 7.30 in morning for our next destination Mechuka. The weather was initially little foggy and misty but slowly it started clearing out as we proceeded from Along. While you are coming from Daporijo to Along, just before entering the town, the main road turned right towards Along and straight road goes towards Mechuka via Tato. Initially the road was little bad for first 10 km but then it would changed to one of the best North / South road I have ever found in Arunachal. The road connectivity established some 7/8 years back as I heard from locals and before that it was simply almost a week of walking for almost 200km to reach Along for buying their daily needs. Historically the people of Mechuka, Monigong and other border areas were actually doing their business with Tibet through Lola pass and Dumla pass, both were sealed completely since Indo-China war of 1962. The terrain is located in such a way, it’s much easier to travel to Tibet highlands than to travel to Indian Planes. As we proceeded, Siyom river with its beautiful blue water was following us constantly at right. We had our breakfast at Kaying which is the most developed place in whole Mechuka Valley. The road was excellent in Arunachal’s standard and you would find a lot of shared Sumo traveling between Along to Tato and then Tato to Mechuka and also between Tato and Monigong. The proposed Trans-Arunachal highway connecting from West to East through much higher up in mountains touching this road twice and in future would improve the importance section of this road. We have found work was going on in two different sides, Eastern side was being connected to Daporijo via Daporijo – Nacho road and Western side was connected to Tuting by crossing Siyom River. Once the road would be built, both Daporijo and Tuting could be reached by a day’s drive from Mechuka bypassing Along. We had our lunch at Tato and from Tato it was almost a 4 hours drive to Mechuka and 6 hours drive to Monigong. Road to Mechuka has made tarred but Monigong road is still not tarred and as I understood from locals even Bolero’s ground clearance was not sufficient, only possible way to drive through the road to Monigong is during dry period of Nov/Dec and that too only in a high clearance car like Sumo, mainly because the road which actually doesn’t exist in monsoon is only navigable by Tractors. We didn’t have much time as well this time to explore Monigong and only possible accommodation option there was a Govt. Inspection Bungalow which might be full as there was not even any phone connectivity there to confirm the accommodation status. Just after leaving Tato we found a very nice waterfall on road side, spent some time there, took a few snaps before we proceeded further to Mechuka. I called up Mr. Poyom, ADC of Mechuka last night from Along and confirmed our 3 nights stay in Mechuka Inspection Bungalow. It’s location is beautiful near old monastery and higher up on the hill, you could get a good view of Mechuka from top. We found the IB chowkidar quite nice and friendly and he called up the cook to come for preparing our dinner. Mechuka has no electricity, power is supplied by running generator between 6.00pm to 11.00pm.

The IB was nice and clean and it had the primitive heating system with firewood, it was very chilly but clear night outside where as inside we had a nice time chatting with Asim in nice warmth of fire place and had a nice dinner prepared by cooked before we retired for the day.

The Driving Distances for the day:

835 – Along
860 – Kampa
880 – Kaying
969 – Tato
019 – Mechuka IB

Today’s Journey Map : Along to Mechuka

Kaying – Road towards Mechuka:

Siyom flowing through the gorge:

The waterfalls beyond Tato:

Adi Tribes:

Lush green landscape:

Just entering Mechuka:

Mechuka:

Mechuka IB – Ashim in our room:

Mechuka IB – Inside

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Amazing Arunachal – Tawang, Ziro, Along, Mechuka, Tuting : Introduction

May 24, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

When I last visited Arunachal, 2 years back I fell in love with the state, the awesome landscape starting from rainforests of eastern part to alpine meadows of western part meeting mighty Himalayas, the high mountains all around, deep gorges carving its way with blue waters gushing in, you can clearly see and feel the rapids from top. Waterfalls in almost every bend, in one turn its vast blue sky and in next turn in completely filled up with fog and mist. Arunachal will surprise you in every moment, the other aspect is the diversified culture, it’s completely a tribal state and there are 101 recognized tribes in Arunachal and mostly believe in different religions like Donyi Polo (Sun and Moon), Hinduism, Christianity etc. The state has borders with 3 foreign countries, Bhutan in west, Tibet (Now People Republic of China) in North and Myanmar in East. Tourism is not developed except the western part of Tawang sector, which was developed by late Mr. Dorje Khandu, the former chief minister of Arunachal who belonged to Tawang. The state buses sparsely run through the main towns but still Shared Sumo service is the most common mode of transport for locals, in almost all districts you would still find 30% villages not having any road connectivity and still depend on long trek to meet their daily needs. Actually northern part of Arunachal was more closely connected with Tibet through 4/5 different passes until British drew McMahan line in 1913 as per Shimla Accord with Tibet. The usual business with Tibet had been going on until China disregarded the McMahan line and attacked India in 1962 in both Ladakh and Arunachal sector. Since then all the passes were closed and the whole border with China/Tibet was closed and people were forced to walk 3/4 days through treacherous mountains and dense forests to come down to Indian plains to start their new lives. When we visited places like Gelling, merely a km from McMahan line, the elders were telling us the sad stories how they suddenly got partitioned from their near and dear ones living just couple of km across other side of border since 1962. The state is covered by mountains from west to east and deep river gorges from North to South including Kameng, Subansiri, Siyom, Siang, Dibang and Lohit that created mighty Brahmaputra river system. So traveling the state is extremely difficult from west to east as there is a lack of trans-Arunachal highway which is presently being built with the aid from Central Govt. Every time you have to come down 300 km to Assam and then again have to go up another 300km to reach another spot. So you need at least 45 days just for a touch and go trip to visit the prominent areas of state. So better if you could make multiple visits. Last time we covered Eastern Parts covering Lower and Upper Dibang Valley, Lohit, Anjaw and Changlang districts, this time we covered western and part of central covering, West Kameng, Tawang, Lower Subansiri, Upper Subansiri, West Siang, East Siang and Upper Siang.

The 5 major ancient trade points between Tibet and Arunachal was through Kenzamane (Zemithang), Bumla (Tawang), Kapangla Pass (Gelling), Lolla Pass (Mechuka), Dumla Pass (Monigong) and Kibithu. Except Bumla (where civilians are allowed with passes from DC and Army) all the other borders are closed for civilians. Our main intention was to travel as close as possible to these points to trace the historical McMahan line. We covered Kibithu in last trip, so tried to touch upon the rest of the points.

Our itinerary was like this:

Day1 – Kolkata – Guwahati Flight and drive to Nameri
Day2 – Nameri – Bhalukpong – Bomdila
Day3 – Bomdila – Dirang – Tawang
Day4 – Tawang – Zemithang – Tawang
Day5 – Tawang PTso – Sengetsar Lake – Bumla – Tawang
Day6 – Tawang – Sela Pass – Dirang
Day7 – Dirang – Bhalukpong – Nameri
Day8 – Exploring Nameri National Park
Day9 – Nameri – Balipara – Kimin – Ziro
Day10- Around Ziro
Day11- Ziro – Daporijo
Day12- Daporijo – Along
Day13- Along – Tato – Mechuka
Day14- Mechuka
Day15- Mechuka – Tato – Along
Day16- Along – Pangin – Jengging
Day17- Jengging – Tuting
Day18- Tuting – Gelling – Tuting
Day19- Tuting – Jengging
Day20- Jengging – Along
Day21- Along – Shilapathar – Bogibil (By Ferry crossing Brahmaputra)- Dibrugarh – Tinsukia
Day22- Tinsukia – Dibrugarh – Flight to Kolkata