We had earlier been told that the tourist lodge in Tawang was booked full and we could only get a room if there were any cancellations. Still, we decided to test our luck and walked up to the lodge, a short distance up old bazaar. Luckily for us, we did get a room! The caretaker was apprehensive and was telling us that the rooms were not that great, little did she know about where we had lived in the past one month....
After our hair-raising Sumo taxi ride to Bomdila, we were more careful this time and booked our tickets early to Tawang. This time we asked for the front row seats and got them too – that meant we could get better views of the drive. After traveling in the last row of almost every vehicle we had boarded (excluding trucks where the first and last row are the same), this was a welcome change....
Sela top/pass The lake at Sela Pass (on the way to Tawang) The Tawang Monastery in the distance The main Buddha idol at the Tawang Monastery A procession of the monks in the Tawang Gompa The Buddha in various Mudras The Monyul Autonomous Region office in Tawang
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....
Winding roads in Bomdila The same road, the next morning. A remote Gompa (Monastery). The lower gompa Bomdila - a bird’s eye view The Upper Gompa
Our journey to Arunachal was the most difficult to handle. We had no help there in terms of accommodation and as expected, it is the one costliest tourist circuits. Our journey was along the Balukpong – Bomdila – Tawang circuit. As known, all the domestic tourists have to take an Inner Line Permit – ILP – to enter the state of Arunachal Pradesh. There are five government approved tourist circuits and one can get a permit for one circuit in a single permit....