Yurlung – Explore The Unexplored

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:

Previous: Amazing Arunachal – Mechuka

Next: Amazing Arunachal – Back to Along and Journey to Jengging

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: