Journeys

East India Frontiers – Arunachal Pradesh, India

Guwahati – Dirang – Tawang – Bum La Pass – Chumi Gyatse – Guwahati

Car Rental: INR35,000 – Hyundai Alcazar Automatic

The Journey begins on a mildly cold winter afternoon in Guwahati. After visiting the famous Kamakhya Temple, the drive takes you from a bustling metropolis of Guwahati to the Arunachal Pradesh border. The road to the Buddhist kingdom is flanked by tea gardens on both sides. The fragrance of tea leaves being plucked by plantation workers is a sight to behold. One can easily stop at of the many stops mushrooming all over the national highway to Tezpur. Coming from North India one must stop to enjoy some momos and noodles. After nearly dying from the local chilly ketchup, we trundled along to the border. Google Maps can be a bit misleading as roads are still being constructed. One of the most mesmerizing sights that evening was the drive across the mighty Brahmaputra driver. One can easily see the Velvet skies being adorned by the Himalayas in the distance. Such an evening can easily turn anybody into a poet. With all these thoughts in my mind, we crossed over into Arunachal Pradesh into a village called Bhalukpong. The small settlement has an ample number of 2* star hotels, cheap restaurants and a lot of alcohol shops. Not being in the mood for a drink and seeing the daunting drive that lay ahead, we decided to press on to Bomdilla which would mark our overnight halt. I was initially hesitant on a nighttime drive given the mountainous terrain and with little knowledge of what was ahead. The drive to Bomdilla was very uneventful. Please be careful as there are no road lights along the way, however there are beautiful stretches of highway constructed by the Border Roads Organization. Another important piece of information here is the scarcity of fuel stops so it would be a good idea to maybe get the tank full from Bhalukpong. Also pertinent to note the dearth of food stops. As this part of the country is still remote, commercialized eateries are far and few. For the most part along the way, you can see army establishments. It will always Suprise me how the Indian Army reaches the remotest of the places. After driving nearly 322 kilometers we arrived at the overnight halt xxx Homestay. The temperature was a balmy