Meghalaya: The land of waterfalls

So, this is continuation of my previous blogs on Tawang and Kaziranga. In case if you have missed it, here is the link for a quick revisit : Tawang: The peaceful land of the Rising Sun,    Kaziranga : The land of one horned Rhinoceros

Quick Recap:

We, a group of 5, landed at Guwahati in Assam, and then drove all the way to Tawang. We were lucky enough to witness the first snow of 2021, both in Bum La and Sela pass. The last 5 days we were travelling around the beautiful Tawang, exploring its mystical beauties. Tawang had us fall in awe. From Tawang we headed to Kaziranga, where we got the chances to see the famous one horned Rhino. We did both elephant & jeep safari, and elephant safari turned out to be a truly amazing one. Also, we visited the Kaziranga National Orchid and Biodiversity Park before heading towards Meghalaya.

Day 0: Drive to Shillong

We had started off from Kaziranga around 4pm in the afternoon. Shillong was still about 5hours away from here. We managed to reach Shillong only by around 10pm. But since we hadn't made any bookings we were out to search rooms for our stay. Rooms in Shillong, especially if visiting over weekend, are quiet costly, and remains booked in advance. In case someone's planning for visit to Shillong, kindly book your stays in advance. After some searching, we finally found one. 

Day 1: Double decker root bridge, Rainbow & Elephant falls 

We tried to start early, but due to the previous journey we were all quiet exhausted. We managed to leave our room only by 9 in the morning. Without wasting much time we headed straight to elephant falls. Elephant falls was quiet empty early morning. I would say early mornings are the best time to visit this place as later it would be quiet crowded. Elephant falls is actually a 3 layered falls The name "Elephant falls" comes from the gaint rock near the falls that looked like an elephant. However this rock was later destroyed during an earthquake.

The Elephant Falls

From elephant falls we drove all the way to Cherrapunji. On our way we did stop for sometime near the Mawkdok Dympep Valley View Point, enjoying the view for quiet some time. For someone looking for any adventure there's also a zip line here. From here, we headed straight to Double decker root bridge, Nongriat. 

Usually the double decker root bridge takes almost an entire day. But due to our schedule we didnot have much of time. it was already Saturday today, and we had our returns scheduled for the coming Wednesday. Morevover, we heard that double decker is closed on Sunday's. 

We started getting down from the Nongriat side, only by around 1pm. The time we were getting down, people were already coming upstairs, finishing their double decker trek. However, we were quiet quick, as we managed to reach the double decker base by around 3pm. From there we decided to head further to the Rainbow falls. 

One of the Root bridges

The Rainbow falls

It was a trek for one more hour to reach Rainbow falls. However, the Rainbow falls was worth all the efforts of trek. The falls was utmost beautiful with a perfect rainbow sighting as the name suggested. After spending some time here, we headed back the same way, covering Blue Lagoon on the way.

The Blue Lagoon

Blue lagoon too is a very calm place, with not much people around. Usually Rainbow falls is much crowded and one can find blue lagoon almost empty. After spending some time here, we started to head back. We had some pit stop again at Double decker  bridge, and finally started climbing back.

We were done for the day. It was already dark and we just had few of our mobiles for source of light. We finally reached back to Nongriat by around 8-9pm.  In case if someone's planning to climb post sunset, kindly carry enough light with you. 

After having something to eat at Nongriat, we headed back to Cherrapunji. We didn't have our stay booked today either, and were yet to search for one. We went around searching and we finally found one on the way back to Sohra. 

Day 2: Cherrapunji Sight seeing

Though we had planned to visit Wei Sawdong falls early morning, none of us could get up early due to the tiring previous day's trek. We managed to vacate our room and head out only by around 8 in morning. 

We were just roaming around searching breakfast, suddenly we spotted Wah Kaba falls board on our way. Since it appeared like a  view point, and moreover, all of us were quiet tired after yesterday's trek, we just quickly visited this Wah Kaba falls.

Then after finally having breakfast, we decided to visit Arwah caves. Arwah caves is a limestone cave very famous for its fossils. One can see some fish and Mollusca fossils, but this might require some guide as its quiet tough to spot them on your own.

Inside the Arwah caves

After Arwah caves we headed next to  Wei Sawdong falls. Wei Sawdong falls was soo crowded. Its always advisable to visit this falls early morning when visiting on weekends. The Wei Sawdong falls has a small trek for roughly around 20mins. The beauty of falls is so thrilling that one would just like to sit there for the whole day. Its also a 3 layered falls but unlike elephant falls, all the 3 layers are visible from the base of falls. Also, one can even get into water here, as many places are quiet shallow.

Wei Sawdong falls

Wei Sawdong falls from the view point

Wei Sawdong falls took most of our time of the day. We were all hungry and upon a friends repeated request, we headed to Labana Hotel for lunch. The hotel did provide nice food & service though, and is advisable for anyone visiting Sohra.

It was almost around 4pm by now. We had to head to our next destination, Shnongpdeng, via Dawki. After seeing the sun set over the Shora hills, we set off to Dawki. Dawki was around 2.5 hours drive from here, and we reached only by 8pm or so.

In Dawki, one can see the famous Dawki bridge, over the Umngot river, and also visit the India Bangladesh checkpost. We did visit the border in night, but weren't permitted to go to Tambil on the other side of the border. However, if one manages to visit this place over day time, one can definitely cross the border and visit the Tambil 0 point.

The Indian-Bangladesh Border, Dawki

From here we headed next to Shnongpdeng. We had no booking here either, but somehow were sure of finding some tents by the Umngot river. We drove straight to the last point, parking our vehicle there and then started searching for tents. Finally after some search and bargain, we were able to get 3 tents for Rs2000.

We had some snacks near the river base and headed to our tents. Shnongpdeng is now completely changed, its completely different than the place I had been 4-5 years before. There were a lot of tent providers, eateries, shacks that had opened on both side of the river now.

By the side of Umngot river

After spending some time over the camp fire doing some star gazing as well. 

Day 3: Umngot river & Krang Suri , Phe-Phe Falls

We were all sleeping in tents just besides the beautiful Umngot river since last night. Whole night we could listen to the hushing sound of water over pebbles and rocks around. The early morning rise of light woke up us all, and we were just awestruck with the beautiful view around us. We went around taking a stroll over the beautiful place. 

There are couple of beautiful hanging bridge, which connects us to the other side of river. Umngot river is the most transparent clean river one could find. One can literally see the pebbles beneath, on the river bed, when observed from the bridge. 

The morning view from the tents

The hanging bridge across the Umngot river, Shnonpdgeng

The clear water of Umngot river

There were water activities too here, scheduled to happen after 9, however, we didn't have much time for that. Post having some snacks here, we headed out to our next place.

Today we had initially planned to cover Krang Suri Falls, Phe Phe falls and then head back to Shillong.

However, we started out from Shnongpdeng only by around 11, Krang suri was still around 1hour from here. Krang Suri is one of the beautiful waterfalls one could see. From the parking area one has to trek down towards the falls reception. The trek is well paved steps with nice barriers whole the way. Upon reaching the falls, one would be mesmerized with the water, which is all blueish-green colored. Plus there's a small lake formed at the bottom of falls, where one can swim around, life jackets are provided at the reception in case someone wants to head near the falls.

The Krang Suri falls

The Krang Suri falls

After spending some time here, we were all quiet hungry. We were now headed towards the PhePhe falls, however, Phe Phe falls too was a trek. Plus we were hungry. Hence we decided to have some food before heading out further. We had a good lunch at a restaurant on the way. 

It was already around 3:30 now. We didn't have much time, but we didn't want to miss Phe Phe falls either. We were on the direction towards Phe Phe falls, when we saw a small board saying Phe Phe falls parking. We parked our car here, and a person helped us cross the small river by his boat. There were path markers all the way till falls. Phe Phe falls is a two layered falls. We reached the first layer only by around 4:30, but it was already getting darker. Plus, upon reaching the first layer, we found one more place where people had parked their vehicles and were trekking downwards towards the falls. This place appeared to be quiet closer to the falls than we had parked. However, we still did try to go down, but were limited by running day light. We could just manage to have a glimpse of the beautiful Phe Phe falls from far. The Phe Phe falls was very much mesmerizing, I could say the color of water was so gorgeous making the falls much more beauty to watch. One should really try to visit Phe Phe falls when around here. Also, there are plenty of other falls around here, most of which aren't explored much. If time permits I shall come once again here, exploring the beautiful nature.

The stage-1 of Phe Phe falls

Phe phe falls

We were though limited by day light and hence headed back towards the parking area.  After spending some time here, we drove all the way to Shillong and called off for the day.

Day 4: Last day in Shillong

Today was our last day here in Shillong, as were off back to Karnataka tomorrow. We had kept this day as an additional buffer day. However, our entire journey went in smooth not needing the necessity to use the additional buffer day. 

So we thought we'll just roam around Shillong. Morning we headed towards the city center, but due to the peak time, all the roads were chocked. Hence we headed out of city, towards the Laitlum grand canyons. This is actually a very beautiful scenic place in Shillong, though very less people visit here, probably due to its offbeat location. Laitlum canyons is around 1hour drive from Shillong, but the place is definitely worth the long drive.

Laitlum canyons is a very vast land with greenery all around. On to one side of it one can see series of mountains, while on to the another, there's continuous green grassland. This is also an ideal place to come for picnics and spend time with your closed ones. There are also few villages down the hill which one can visit if time permits.

View from the Canyons

The grasslands at Canyon appearing like Windows Bliss !

We spent major portion of our day in the canyons. We started to head back to Shillong only by around 2pm. We were gonna head to Guwahati today as we had our flight the next day. On our way we did stop at Umiyam lake, but it was quiet dark already. 

We reached Guwahati and after searching for room, called off for the day.

Day 5: Back to Bengaluru

We had nothing planned for this day. as we had flight to catch. Morning we just gave a visit to Kamakhya temple, and from there straight to Guwahati Airport

This was the end of our splendid north east trip. In the last 12 days, we had been to 3 states, visited 2 international borders, played in snow, seen temperature drop to -5°C, covered the great Sela & Bumla passes, visited so many monasteries, seen one horned Rhino, did an elephant safari, visited numerous waterfalls, stayed by the side of Umngot river, and so many other adventures. The 12 days now seem to have gone in a fraction of second. Every day of the trip was a day well spent and very very memorable.

Overall it was a perfectly timed trip. I would recommend everyone to visit these places at least once, to experience the unique and amazing life here.   

Additional Info:

Here are some of the contacts :
Shillong: RJ Homestay (9774874508)
Shnondgpeng: Chester Tents(8414896858)

Kaziranga : The land of one horned Rhinoceros

This blog is an continuation of my previous blog on Tawang. In case if you have missed any of it, here's the link for a quick revisit : Tawang: The peaceful land of the Rising Sun

Quick Recap:

We, a group of 5, landed at Guwahati in Assam, and then drove all the way to Tawang. We were lucky enough to witness the first snow of 2021, both in Bum La and Sela pass. The last 5 days we were travelling around the beautiful Tawang, exploring its mystical beauties. Tawang had us fall in awe. Unfortunately, as they say all good things come to and end, our stay in Arunachal Or Tawang in specific had now come to an end, and we were now heading towards Kaziranga.

Day 1: Drive to Kaziranga

We started from Bomdilla in Arunachal, going via Sessa, Tippi, Bhalukpong, Tezpur. Since this was quiet a lengthy journey, we had plenty of pitstops on our way.

We even visited the Nameri national Park. We reached Nameri somewhere in the afternoon, around 3-4pm, but to our dismay, we found that it was not the right time to visit. People here, generally visit early in the morning, and can have safari, boat rides, and even surfing to some extent. Instead we headed to Kameng river bank and spend some time by the banks of river.

Kaziranga was still 2-3hours from here. After having some snacks, we headed straight to Kaziranga. We had previously made reservations for our stay as we expected it to be quiet crowded.  We reached our resort and post having dinner called off for the day.

The next morning we had a elephant safari planned. This safari has to be booked in advance and during the peak season would be very crowded as well. Usually the hotel/resort people will help in getting the safari booked. 

Day 2: Rhinoceros spotting from top of an Elephant  

We had our safari booked in the western range , aka, Bagori range. Good thing about this range is there are plenty of private elephant safari providers. Hence the chances of getting safari slot is higher than central range. We had opted for the early morning safari, which starts around 5:30am. Elephant safari usually take around an hour or so. Post this, there is one more slot, starting around 7am.  

One has to reach at the reporting time mentioned, around 30mins prior to the starting time of ride. At the reception, based on your booking, your name's called and you would have to collect the token for elephant ride. Then one heads to the next section, where he/she climbs the elephant. Usually 4 adults sit on an elephant.

We managed to reach well in time and were all set for our elephant safari. The elephant safari was worth the experience though. Starting from the Elephant boarding station, the mahout guide the elephant towards the Rhino's based on their previous days sighting. One more good thing about elephant safari is one can see the One horned Rhino from a very close distance. Elephants can go up to as close as 2-3meters. We all did enjoy the elephant safari very much and to add to it, we had chosen the first safari ride of the day. The weather too was all beautiful making the safari a much sweeter experience. Its said that one would see at least one Rhino in this morning safari, we had lucky to have spotted more than 10.

The elephant safari in slight mist at dawn

The One Horned Rhino

Sunrise at Kohra Range

Post the elephant safari, we still had some time left. Hence we decided to peruse the jeep safari, but the only change was the venue. We were in western, Bagori range. But we wanted to explore central range as well. Hence we headed to central Kohra range for the jeep safari. Jeep safari unlike elephant safari doesn't require an prior bookings. One can directly visit the respective safari check post and can book any available jeeps for safari.

In the central Kohra range, just like in Bagori, elephant safari too was in 2 slots. Post the elephant safari was the time for jeep safari. And we just reached on time for the jeep safari. Jeep safari usually is of around 2 hours, and if ones lucky one gets to spot tiger as well. Its always advisable to do jeep safari in the afternoon session, as the probability of spotting tiger is more that time.

The Jeep safari at Kohra range

Jeep safari too was  a wonderful experience. Though after having done the elephant safari, we were not as excited before, we did  manage to capture Rhino, elephant, hog deer, and other animal and birds.

Our jeep safari lasted a good 2 hours. It was now around 11, post having some breakfast we headed to our resort to checkout. We were now heading towards Shillong in Meghalaya for the next destination.

Just before we leave Kaziranga, we decided to visit Kaziranga National Orchid and Biodiversity Park. Initially we imagined this place to be a small park, which would get over in some 30mins or so. But after reaching there we found it completely opposite. This park is spread over a huge area, boasting of so many things like Arts, Culture, Traditional, Medicinal plants, Bamboo's, Lake, boating including Orchid. It took us almost 3 hours to cover the park. One good thing about this park is that its very well maintained. Each area has dedicated guides who explain with so much patience, and even answer your queries. One must definitely visit this when in Kaziranga.

One of the Orchids in Kaziranga Orchid park

Orchid Varities

It was almost 4 in the evening. We still had a long way to go. However our small stint in Kaziranga had now come to an end as we were headed to Shillong. I shall continue the remaining part of our journey in my next post.

Kaziranga, is an amazing place to be. One can feel so close to nature here. And especially the elephant safari's are worth the experience. If anyone's planning visit to Assam do include the Kaziranga Safari and visit to Kaziranga National Orchid and Biodiversity Park. 

Continue reading the next part of our trip : Meghalaya: The land of waterfalls

Additional Info:

Our stay in Kaziranga
Kodom Bari Retreat: Akash (7896022622)

Tawang: The peaceful land of the Rising Sun

I had heard a lot about Tawang and was even told by many that it is heaven on Earth. Tawang, located near the tip of the Land of Sunrise aka Arunachal Pradesh, is the house of many Buddhist monasteries. Tawang boasts of immense natural beauty, valleys, mountain ranges and many beautiful glacial lakes.  It was finally the time now to visit Tawang and explore its beauty. 

Even though we had time span of around 12 days with us, we had a very minimal plan for this trip. The plan was to fly to Guwahati, take self drive car, head to Tawang. Post that Kaziranga and then later cover Shillong Cheerrapunji. We had made booking of stay in 2 places, Tawang and Dirang. And we were gonna book remaining stays on the go. Also we had booked for ILP for Tawang. Anyone visiting Tawang requires an ILP, this can be easily booked online by paying a minimal amount of Rs101/head.

Since this will be a huge post in itself, I will be splitting it into multiple posts. 

Day 1: Enter Arunachal Pradesh 

Since everyone was working from home, all 5 us of met directly at airport on Friday, just before boarding our flight. Our flight departed from Bangalore by around 11p.m. Since it was a connecting flight we were gonna reach Guwahati only by next morning 8am. Post reaching Guwahati, we all got freshened up in the airport, had our car picked up directly in the airport and set off.

There are couple of roads to reach Tawang from Guwahati. One can either choose to enter Arunachal Pradesh from Tezpur, followed by Tezpur - Bhalukpong - Bomdilla - Dirang - Tawang or can enter from Bhariabkunda, ie., Bhairabkunda - Rupa - Bomdilla - Dirang- Tawang. We chose the latter as we were gonna return in the former road anyhow.

When heading from the Bhairabkunda, on the way one would get chance to see Bhutan border. Though the roads to Bhutan were closed due to Covid19, we could visit till the checkpost for some quick snaps. From there we have to cross Bhairabkunda bridge. This is a small picnic spot on the way with a river flowing beneath a bridge. One can even get into water and spend some time here.

Entry to India at Bhutan border checkpost

Bhairabkunda bridge

Just few kilometers from the bridge, one would get the ILP checkpost, Balemu. One has to produce his/her ILP's and make entry here. At this point we are officially inside Arunachal Pradesh. From this point, there's not much in this road to see except for a couple of monasteries and waterfalls. We decided to head further as we still had a long way to go. Almost near Rupa, there's Zangdokpalri Monastery. If time permits one can plan visit for this monastery too. Also there's a Budha heritage park before this monastery which can be visited too.

We managed to reach Bomdilla by around 7pm or so in the night. And one more thing to notice is that the sun sets by 4-4:30 pm, so it might take couple of days to get adjusted to the slight time variations. The time we reached Bomdilla it was already dark. Thankfully we had our stay booked at Anu Homestay, Bomdilla. 

The hosts of Anu homestay are so welcoming and you will definitely have a pleasant stay here. Most of the beds here had bed heater, thus helping us fight the sudden cold. Post having dinner, we called for the day.

Day 2: Bomdilla to Tawang via Sela pass(13700ft)

We had decided previous night to start from Bomdilla early morning. However, we were still not completely adjusted to the time variations here. We managed to leave homestay only by around 9am. The homestay usually remains quiet full in seasons given the pleasant charm that they offer. Anyone planning to book, kindly book in advance. 

And BRO wishes you a happy journey!

Dirang welcome board

There are couple of small eateries available near the 5th Mile. From Bomdilla we arrive at the next town Dirang. Dirang has a beautiful monastery Thuksang Dargeyling Monastery. This monastery is all calm and hardly had any one inside. One can definitely spend some time here. 

Thuksang Dargeyling Monastery

Post the monastery, we headed to an small hot springs. However this was a small tank with luke warm water. When enquired we were informed that there's another hot spring near Tawang which was better than this. 

After covering Dirang hot springs, we headed further and reached Padma. There are few restaurant's here where we had a good breakfast. We headed further to visit Nyukmadung War Memorial, which is quiet close to Padma. The war memorial was built in memory of all the soldiers who fought bravely in the 1962 Indo China Nyukmadung war and helped defend Dirang. The war memorial is located on top of hill and is very well maintained. One must definitely visit this place on the way to Tawang.

Entrance to Nyukmadung War Memorial

From Nyukmadung, we proceeded further to reach Sela. From Nyukmadung, its climbing uphill to reach Sela pass located around 13700ft above sea level. On top of the Sela pass, there's a arch welcoming you to Tawang.  We managed to reach Sela pass around 2pm in the afternoon. There's a small cafeteria just by the arch, popularly known as Sela Cafeteria, with good food. Sela lake is situated nearby. The time we reached Sela the weather was a bit cold. However, the sky was clear with no snow around. 

Sela Pass at 13700ft

Amry vehicles crossing Sela Lake

Sela Lake

After spending some time here we continued our journey further. The plan was to reach Jaswantgarh war memorial and have something to eat in the army canteen there. However, we reached only by 4pm and the canteen and memorial was already closed by that time.

Hence we headed further, and reached Jung. There's a beautiful waterfall here, at Jung, which we decided to cover in our return journey along with the war memorial.

After having some food at Jung we headed straight to Tawang. We managed to reach Tawang only by around 8pm in night. Luckily we had our stay booked here as well, Choedar homestay. We had our dinner in the homestay and called off for the day.

Day 3: Bumla Pass & Madhuri Lake

Bumla pass is located north of Tawang, near the India-China border and needs special permit to visit.  We had made this pass through an agent, just before we were to reach Tawang. They charge around Rs. 5,500 for a vehicle like Xylo, which accommodate 5 persons. 

However, we weren't sure of visiting Bumla today as we heard that there were some army dignitaries arrived in town, and they might close entry to the public. Luckily for us, the entry was open today. Our car arrived at the homestay in the morning, and we started after having a good breakfast.

We were very lucky as the moment we started heading out of Tawang, it started snowing. It had been snowing since yesterday night and we were the firs to witness snow this season en-route to Bumla. The roads were all covered with snow, mountain cladded with snow, lakes starting to freeze. It was just like we are entering to an wonderland. All of us were so awestruck with the beautiful fresh snow around us.

On the way to Bumla pass, our first stop was Pt Tso lake, aka, Panga Teng Tso lake. The lake is surrounded by a vivid backdrop of the snow-clad Himalayan Mountains.  The time we reached it was all covered with snow. However, there's also a track along the lake where one can walk around and spend time. The lake is very huge, and might take around 1-2 hours to cover it completely. We didn't get down to the lake as we had to head to Bumla,  but we did play with snow here for sometime. Also, for visiting this lake, there's no need of special permit. However, in case if one wishes to proceed further one would have to get permit.

From Pt Tso lake, we headed further to Bumla pass, which is around 19kms from here. On the way we get a Y junction, where one road of it leads to Madhuri lake, and the other to Bumla pass. We decided to cover Bumla first.

It was snowing in Bumla too, and the moment we reached, it was quiet cold here. We headed straight to the reception area, where we have to submit the permit taken. From the reception area we are then grouped into batches and taken to the border. Since the area is entirely managed by Indian Army, it makes us feel so safe even in such cold conditions.  Due to the cold, some people were facing short of breath, but were in good hands of very able army doctors. Also, there is small army run cafeteria in the reception area, where one could have snack's like momo's along with hot cup of tea. Photography isn't allowed when heading towards the border. 

Bumla pass reception

India-China Border at Bumla

Post clicking some pics at the reception area of Bumla pass, we headed back to Y junction to drive to Madhuri lake. The original name of Madhuri lake is Sungester Lake, and is popularly known as Madhuri lake, as the famous heroine Madhuri Dixit had once shot a song in this lake for her film Koyla.  The lake is around 30kms from the Bumla pass but would take a good one hour drive. The road condition isn't too bad considering the location. This lake, at an altitude of roughly 12500ft was actually formed due to a devastating earthquake that jolted the place around 1970's, and now sits between two giant mountains on either side of it protecting it.   

The lake is a very picturesque lake, with vast swarm of water body and trees in middle standing like Indian soldiers guarding our nation.  One would typically spend around an hour enjoying the beautiful lake. There is also a cafeteria run by army available for public use. 

The beautiful Madhuri lake

Post spending some time in the Madhuri lake, we were heading back to Tawang. Since it was snow clad everywhere, everything seemed like a fairy tale. We did stop at another lake on the way to spend some time there, and then finally headed back to Tawang.

By the time we reached our homestay it was already around 3pm. However, our homely host had made arrangement's for our lunch already. They had prepared delicious local cuisine just on our request. 

After having a nice lunch, we headed out to roam Tawang city in evening. We managed to do some shopping. For anyone looking to buy something, there's Monyul Gift Corner, located right in the city center with a nice collection of gift items.

After shopping we headed back to room to have a nice dinner and called off for the day. Choedar homestay is a very homely homestay with very warm welcoming host. If anyone's looking forward, kindly request to get in touch with them for making reservations.

Day 4: A day in Tawang

Today we were gonna explore Tawang local. We left our room post breakfast to head first to Tawang monastery. The monastery is a huge 3floor building with a giant statue of Budha in it. Legend has it that this was founded somewhere in 1680 at behest of 5th Dalai Lama. The monastery also has a museum, a library worth visiting.

At the tawang Monastery

Entrance to the monastery

Post Tawang monastery, we headed next to Gaint Budha statue. Though the statue entrance was closed due to some maintenance work ongoing, we managed to get some photo's of the great Budha statue from outside.

Giant Budha Statue at Budha Park

 

From here, we then headed to Gyangong Ani Gompa. This is a monastery built for the lady monks or the nuns. The Gompa is located alomst at a hill top with scenic views around. 

From Ani Gompa, we headed further to Urgelling monastery. Its reckoned to be the birthplace of Dalai Lama.

Now it was already around 2:30pm. We had planned to visit the Tawang war memorial as there would be light and sound show in evening. However we still had some time in hand. Hence we decided to cover one more place, Chagzam.

Chagzam, around 25kms from Tawang city, is very famous for its bridge. Chagzam bridge is a iron rope bridge built around 1400's. The architect of this bridge was a disciple of Dalai Lama and is accredited with building more than 100 iron bridges over the Himalayan range. There's also one more hanging bridge built next to the iron rope bridge. 

The Chgazam bridge

The original 1400's Chagzam bridge

From Chagzam we then headed to Tawang war memorial. We reached just on time for the light and sound show. The show usually starts at around 5:30pm everyday, and would continue for half an hour. The show is really beautiful and signifies the beautiful Tawang and the sacrifices made by Indian soldiers in the war. Also there's a small gift shop located in the war memorial where one can buy souvenir's.

Tawang War Memorial

Flag post at war memorial

Peace Stupa at War memorial

Post war memorial we headed back to our room. Our dinner was ready and waiting for us. This was our last day in Tawang as we were heading back down to Bomdilla tomorrow morning.

Day 5: Bye Tawang

We decided to head back early from Tawang as it was snowing in Sela pass, and we didn't want to get caught in snow again.  After bidding good bye to our amazing host, we headed out from Tawang.

On the way we had few pitstop's one near a small falls by the road, an army bridge, and also a temple atop a hill along the road.

Falls enroute to Jung

An old bridge

Our next stop was Jung waterfalls. Jung waterfalls, also known as Nuranang waterfall,  is a spectacular waterfall unknown to many. There are stairs that lead to falls from the Hydel power station. The falls usually would be not crowded at all and one can witness the spectacular beautiful falls.

The majestic Jung Falls

Beautiful Jung falls view from top

From here, our next stop was Jaswant Garh war memorial. The war memorial is around 40mins form the waterfall. This memorial was built as a memory for the sacrifices done by our Indian soldiers , and also to the brave Jaswant Singh Rawat who scarified his life for India. Also, there's a small cafeteria run by Indian army here, where one can savor snacks like dosa, idly, etc. 

We were now headed to Sela pass. Sela pass was now all covered with snow. Very different from the sela pass that we had seen 3-4 days back. 

A snowy road 

Snow near sela pass

We were lucky to have witnessed both the variations of weather here. The lake was all filled with snow, roads covered with blanket of snow, vehicles tyre's chained to protect from skidding. We stopped at the cafeteria here for some snacks and then headed downside.

Sela lake

Sela pass entrance covered in snow

Sela lake in snow

We drove straight to Bomdilla, with few pit stops on the way. We had made booking at our previous visit in Anu homestay, and called off for the day post reaching homestay.

Day 6: Last day in Arunachal.

This was our last day in Arunachal Pradesh. Our short stay in Arunachal Pradesh had now come to and end. We were heading back to Assam today and from there Meghalaya for rest of our vacation.

Nag mandir near bomdilla

Falls enroute to Bhalukpong

The drive from Bomdilla to Sessa was a nice one with curvy roads all along. Though there were few construction works going on at places, Border Roads Organization, aka BRO, had done a tremendous work in maintaining these roads even at the worst weather conditions. We did however have some pit stops on the way stopping for few scenery, waterfalls along the highway. 

Overall Arunachal Pradesh, or Tawang to be specific, is an amazing place to be. One must visit Tawang, especially during winter season to witness the nature and its adaptability. People of Tawang are very helpful and caring. Tawang is such a place that calls you back again every time, which one wouldn't want to miss. 

Here's the link to next part of the blog: Kaziranga : The land of one horned Rhinoceros