We got what we least expected after a great night’s sleep in Bomdila – stress. After we got ready to go exploring the little town, we were told by the caretaker of the guest house that we would have to vacate the room by 12PM! We were so happy to get a room after our arduous journey the previous day that we had assumed that the rooms were reserved for whoever was in them. Alas, that was not the case – we should have informed the caretaker that we would stay on for another night. Now we were without shelter and we were losing time trying to get one for the night instead of roaming around. We started our search for accommodation by first visiting the government circuit house – government lodging is usually the cheapest available in any tourist spot. Tough luck there – the old circuit house was closed and a new one was being built – strike one for us. Next, we went to some of the lodges whose signboards we had seen earlier. The prices we were asked were Rs. 1200 and above! We should be spending that amount over 4 days to be within budget – strike two. Now we were quite concerned, we enquired when we could get the earliest transport for Tawang – our next stop. The private taxis all start early in the morning and we did not have any at that time of the day. We thought of the options we had – request the caretaker to let us pitch our tent in the lawns of the tourist lodge, request the superintendent of police in Bomdila in the nice lawn in front of his office. The only problem was, it was a Sunday and the authorities would all be hard to reach. Anyway, we packed our backpacks and were mulling over our predicament in the lobby of the tourist lodge when Riyazul – our co passenger in the previous day’s journey came in announcing that he had found a place for his employees and rented it. Background – Riyaz is looking to set up his scrap business in Bomdila in the next few weeks and needed a house to rent so that his employees could stay here. Since he had already rented the place, we requested him if we could stay there for one night and he readily agreed – home run!
We went along with Riyaz and his local friend, interestingly named Bhai (brother) to the newly rented place. Here we met up with Bhai’s friends who stayed in the neighborhood – they were all college kids studying in Itanagar (Capital of Arunachal Pradesh) and working in Bomdila in their summer break. We dumped our backpacks there and went to the ticket counter to book our tickets to Tawang for the next morning. Now that we were set for our next journey, we had the afternoon to explore and visit the Gompas (Buddhist monasteries). Bhai and co offered to take us to the nearest Gompa and walked with us. Our first stop was the oldest Gompa in Bomdila, the sanctum sanctorum of which was closed because it was lunch time for the monk there. This Gompa was just a short climb from the main bazaar, but we were already huffing and puffing – feeling the effects of the altitude (around 8000ft).
Our new friends - Bhai and Co.
The oldest Gompa in Bomdila
Our new friends warned us that to reach the upper Gompa, we would have a climb up stairs ahead was harder than what we had seen already. However, there was a road too which was less steep but a little longer and we took that instead. This time we were a little luckier – we were able to go inside the Gompa (the first time for both of us!). We were not allowed to take pictures inside though.
The Upper Gompa
Spinning prayer wheels at the Upper Gompa
A kid spinning a giant prayer wheel at the Upper Gompa
Our friends next suggested we walk up to the Tower – a defense radio communications tower up the hill; this place is also called Bomdila Top. Since some of Bhai’s friends also hadn’t been there before, we set off in that direction eagerly. Rahul, one of Bhai’s friends in our party was saying that it was unfortunate that it was so foggy that day and we were not getting good views of the town. However, the mist and fog did clear up a little later and we got some picture postcard type views.
Now, the walk up the hill was pretty hard for us – a total ascent of nearly 1000ft over a distance of 5km. But it was totally worth it! Mithun (domesticated Gaur) grazing on the hillocks, swirling mists, views of remote Gompas on a nearby hill and New Bomdila town in the distance. Of course, we could not go check the radio tower itself, but we got pretty close to it. After resting for a little while, we headed back. There is a good road up to the hill and we had taken that while climbing, but while climbing down we were going to take ‘shortcuts’ – narrow trails used by the cowherds. Initially, we were walking but soon that turned into a run! Imagine running downhill on wet, slippery trails about 10 inches wide – exhilarating and scary at the same time! Thankfully, neither of us twisted our ankles or anything like that. But we did get caught in a torrential downpour. Luckily again, we were able to take temporary shelter at the water treatment plant being built on the way. Once the rain abated, we continued back to town and had our lunchinner J. We then visited the Lower Gompa which was at the end of the Bazaar Lane before the swirling mists closed in.
The Lower Gompa
We finally got to use our sleeping bags and rest for the night before waking up early for our journey to our most anticipated destination – Tawang!