"The tougher it gets, the better is the experience!"

Written on : 21 March 2019

Visted During : December 2018

Some more Information

To visit Arunachal, people from rest of India need inner line permit (ILP). Apply for ILP online. You may need point of contact etc. Contact hotel owners and they help with their details to fill in ILP form.
This is a subset of the list I had provided in my previous article -

Many a times you may not reach the desired destination. Just enjoy the view and the landscape on the way.
1. Taxi rates differ from Rest of India in North East India. Taxis are provided on rate/route basis and not in distance. Assam taxis do not go to Bumla pass. ~5K for Arunachal taxi to travel to Bumla. (Sangetsar they charge additionally)
2. All taxis charge you full amount even if trip gets cancelled due to snowfall/landslide etc.
3. If you are travelling during winter, carry enough warm cloths. Temperature goes really low
4. Do not be heartbroken if you do not reach your destination due to snow fall. Just enjoy what you get. During winter, places like Bumla pass, Sangetsar lake etc may not be reachable. But, try to find a right driver who dares to take you even if it has snowed heavily.
5. Carry medicine, food, water while travelling as well. If you get stuck due to snowfall, you hardly get any shops/restaurants nearby.
6. Days are very short in winter and it’s pitch dark by 5.30PM
7. Respect and co-operate with local people and army. They are the saviours there. Money cant buy somethings but a smile might.
8. Plan well ahead and book your hotels in advance. Internet is still in it’s kinder gardens and most of the hotels have not registered in major hotel booking websites like makemytrip/yatra ( as of 2018-19) Detailed plan is described below.

My Experience and Opinion

Arunachal Pradesh in the far North east of India is one of the less travelled states in the country for many reasons - The tough weather, bad roads, its infamous tough China war days, and most importantly very less stories in internet.
I personally like places that are little tough to visit. Because they have the natural essence undisturbed. I believe that sometimes, the toughest travel experiences give you the longest and best memory. So, this time Arunachal had to happen and happened in best possible way.
People of Arunachal are one of the sweetest and nicest people you can meet in entire country. However, as everywhere, there are exceptions here as well. Be careful in business while booking cabs etc. We kind of had bad experience with a travel agent from Assam who provided us the rented vehicle as well as booked hotels for us. Our experience in travelling helped handling the situation when we got to know that he had taken over 60-70% percent commission. Finally, he had to settle for 0% commission on showing proofs of each hotel's actual price!
My suggestion – contact hotels in Arunachal directly and book. Check for detailed Plan given below.
Do ask for an experienced driver if you are travelling during winter. During winter, the roads of Sela Pass gets heavy snowfall and inexperienced drivers may screwup your whole plan. Again, we narrowly escaped from something like this happening with us. If you are travelling during winter, make sure your driver has chains to wrap around the tyres and has the skills to drive in snow-covered roads. A good taxi driver can make your trip successful and memorable one.
A lot of things were common in our Sikkim and Arunachal visits. Post Sikkim trip, we flew from Siliguri to Guwahati Airport. Until we got down in Guwahati and travelled to our Hotel, all of us had a totally different perspective about the city. Had a feeling that it would be something similar to a hill town with calm and nice weather. But, Guwahati city is as huge as any other big cities in the country and is as polluted as other cities too. Took over 1.5 hours to reach our hotel and our travel plan was from the next day.

Detailed Trip plan

Below information is per experiences of 2018-19 trip. A lot of construction activities are underway and I see it will take good time to get these to a state of completion.
Below plan is if you are travelling by road from Guwahati to Tawang.
Helicopter service is available from Guwahati to Tawang. Since we travelled during extreme weather season, we did not opt for helicopter ride. Helicopter rides can be booked from Airport itself or online. However, there is no guarantee of the ride being done on any given day. It all depends on the weather.
Trip to Tawang by road is one of the most tiresome and time taking one. It takes good 2 days travel with one night stay to reach Tawang from Guwahati.

Day 1: Guwahati - Bhalukpong – Bomdilla or Dirang

Start early morning from Guwahati (Do check about road closure time. Bhalukpong is the border. Due to construction, roads are closed during some intervals in the day. Do check regarding the timings else you might simply waste a few hours.)
Both Bomdilla and Dirang have monasteries. Dhirang monastery is located in a beautiful place.
Some nice road side views on the way.
Road condition is pathetic and is under construction.

Day 2: Bomdilla/Dirang - Sela Pass - Tawang

Sela pass is one beautiful pass. Since we travelled during winter, it was all snow covered and we were not even sure to cross Sela. Our driver turned his vehicle back when it was still 7 Kms to Sela. Came back 2kms and then for our luck, we met another driver who helped our driver by asking to reduce pressure in the tire. Also army helped in one more location where the vehicle started skidding. We even planned to hike for 7kms at least to see Sela and then return to Guwahati. But, luckily we were able to successfully reach Tawang too.
Reach Tawang by evening.

Day 3: Local taxi tour to Bumla pass, Sangetsar lake and local site seeing

You will need to hire local taxis for highlands of Tawang. Also, you need additional permit to go to Bumla. Hotel guys will arrange required permits. Inform them before hand and provide necessary documents over email.
Bumla pass is a China border and we could not go there since it snowed very heavily.
We could go to Sangetsar lake which was one of the most adventurous journeys we ever did. Since it was winter, entire route was covered in snow and our driver drove by having chain around the rear tyres. On the way even the Chain was cut but our experienced driver Lobsong drove us back safe. Sangetsar lake or also called as Madhuri lake was so amazing when it was completely frozen. I guess its hard to explain in words how beautiful an experience it was to see this after fearing on Day 2 that we may not even reach Tawang.
Lobsong – Our local driver who drove us to all these places in his Tata Sumo was one amazing guy. (Contact Number - 9774094062). He even denied taking additional tip for the trip he made to Sangetsar. Hard to find such amazing people!
A walk in the Tawang town in the evening was very beautiful. There is huge cultural difference between rest of the towns in India and this one. Some local shopping can be on the list too.

Day 4: Local site seeing + (day out in Tawang city)/Return to Dhirang or Bomdilla

One of the must visit in Tawang is War memorial which is in the form of Stupa. Do visit and pay respect to the great souls who martyred in Arunachal during China war. Army has Soldiers around the memorial who also provide complete information about the war. Do not miss this.
Tawang Monastery is one amongst the famous monasteries in India. Museum here has some amazing photographs that say stories from the history – esp about Dalai Lama 14.
There are also other minor options for city tour.
Post that, one can choose to take a day break and stay in Tawang or head back to Dhirang or Bomdilla.

Day 5/6: Return to Guwahati

Nothing much to do on the way back. If time permits, a quick visit to Kaziranga can be done. However, I recommend to dedicate a day or two for Kaziranga ( We could not cover Kaziranga. So, a reason to visit NE India again :) )

Photos

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