I left Tawang on the morning of the 21st, getting up at 5 on a cloudy morning. I was out at the sumo stop at 5:30, but we didn't leave until 6:30. I had a window seat in the second row on the right side. We made two stops in town to pick up two soldiers at an army base and three members of a family at their home. Even though the day was cloudy I enjoyed the scenic journey. We drove down to the river (I think it may be called the Tawang River), crossed it at the bridge near where we had stopped for lunch on the way to Tawang, and drove up to Jang at about 8000 feet, where we arrived about 8 for a breakfast stop.
I ate vegetable momos for breakfast, after which we zigzagged up towards Sela Pass. The sky was hazy and I couldn't tell if I could make out Tawang Monastery in the far distance. Clouds hid the tops of the peaks as we neared the pass. We reached the stunted trees, and then the snow and the lake just before the pass. Fog swirled around under a very cloudy sky as we reached the pass about 10:30. On the other side of the 13,500 foot pass we drove through a thick blanket of fog until we reached about 10,000 feet, after which we had great views under a cloudy sky.
We arrived in Dirang, at about 5400 feet, about 12:30, where we made a 20 minute stop and encountered a few raindrops. We continued down the river and then climbed up towards Bomdilla. The views were good, despite the clouds. Some rain fell. We made a couple of lunch stops, each for about 20 minutes. We reached the pass at about 8500 feet elevation and then drove down to Bomdila, at about 8000 feet, arrayed across a steep hillside. We arrived about 3 and I found a very nice hotel, but comparatively expensive at 1250 rupees, about $20.
I took a walk around town, mostly under a light rain and swirling clouds and fog. A new gompa sits high above the town, but I didn't walk up. I did walk to the bazaar and then on to a small old gompa in the lower town. Inside was a photo of the Dalai Lama in his 20's. I could see some other gompas on the hillsides below town, but the rain drove me back to my hotel. The temperature in my room was 59 degrees at bedtime, just after 9.
I was up at 4:30 the next morning, at first light. I was out at 5 in a drippy rain as the manager of my hotel had told me there would be a bus to Itanagar, the Arunachal Pradesh state capital. There was no bus, and at 6 I went back to my hotel, got back into my room and went to bed for another hour, though I didn't get back to sleep. I was out again at 7, booked a sumo ride to Itanagar, and walked around town until about 8 in the still dripping rain. I did get a few views over the lower part of the town through swirling clouds and fog.
I had breakfast and then left in the sumo for Itanagar. The sky was still very cloudy. My altimeter showed the bottom of the town at about 7500 feet, and we continued descending to the Tenga River valley at about 4000 feet. We traveled along the river and then up to about 6000 feet through fog and rain and lush forest. Then we headed down to the Kameng River valley, getting below the clouds at about 3000 feet. We reached the border at Balukpong just before 1 and made a lunch stop. I ate chicken momos as a few more raindrops fell.
We crossed the Arunachal Pradesh-Assam border after 1:30. It seems there is no road from western Arunachal Pradesh to the state capital at Itanagar through the mountainous state itself, necessitating a return to the flat terrain of Assam. From the border the sumo headed south, then east, crossing the now wide Kameng River, soon to merge with the even wider Brahmaputra. The sky was cloudy, but there was no rain. The hills of Arunachal Pradesh to the north were mostly cloud covered. The countryside was green, with huge tea estates. Maybe 80 miles from the border crossing, at about 4:20, we turned north, with Itanagar now less than 20 miles away. We crossed the border, at about 600 feet elevation, and began to climb into the hills again on a road made very muddy by rain and road construction. We climbed to about 1300 feet in the forested hills and then traveled up and down until we reached Itanagar, at about 1300 feet, at 5:30, just before dark. I went to bed about 9.
I was up about 6 the next morning. There was a heavy rainfall from about 7 to 8, and the sky was cloudy all day, with dark clouds. After breakfast I walked to the open market and then on to the State Museum, about an hour walk away along the main road through town, filled with traffic. The shoulder was muddy, with many puddles. No sidewalk. Itanagar is strung out along the main road and was founded only in 1972 to serve as the state capital. There doesn't appear to be much to see other than the museum. I did have some views of the forest beyond town as I walked to the museum and I saw lots of tribal faces, and some Indian ones.
The museum is excellent. I spent five hours there. For the first three hours I looked at all the exhibits. Twenty-seven dioramas with mannequins dressed in the traditional clothes and ornaments of the various tribal groups are very well done. I read that there are 26 tribal groups and I noticed that the Nyishi were depicted in three dioramas and the Adi in two, so I suppose two tribal groups have been left out. Also on display are weapons, shields, tools, musical instruments, ornaments, hats, Buddhist thangkas, Apatani nose plugs (made of cane), penis shields (made of bone, cane, and wood), and much else. There are great maps. A few school groups came through and I posed for a lot of photos. One Tagin boy and girl, teenagers, were in very modern dress, the girl wearing lipstick. I heard a heavy rainfall for about half an hour and even went out to see it for a few minutes.
After I had looked over all the exhibits, I sat and read through some books, including ones on the Monpas and on the Siang District to the east, where I was heading eventually. I talked with a young Apatani woman who worked in the museum and she was very interesting. She told me her mother, aged 60, has nose plugs and tattoos. (The nose plugs expand holes drilled on both sides of the nose.) She told me the tattooing and wearing of nose plugs started young, when the girls were children, but that Indira Gandhi had stopped it with 500 rupee fines. She said that had happened after Gandhi visited the state, in the 1980's she thought, though I've seen photos of Gandhi visiting Arunachal Pradesh in 1967, before it was a state. She told me the Apatani originally practiced the Donyi-Polo religion, but that now most are Christian. She is Catholic.
She was very friendly and gave me some rice wine she had brought to work and told me how it was made. Boiled rice and burnt rice husks are wrapped in a leaf with yeast for 15 days. Then water is dripped through to make the wine. It is tan colored and sweet. She also showed me photos on her phone of Apatani and of the Ziro Valley, where they live and where I was headed next. I walked back to my hotel under dark, cloudy skies. The air felt a little chilly, but I was wearing only trousers, a shirt, and sandals.
I ate vegetable momos for breakfast, after which we zigzagged up towards Sela Pass. The sky was hazy and I couldn't tell if I could make out Tawang Monastery in the far distance. Clouds hid the tops of the peaks as we neared the pass. We reached the stunted trees, and then the snow and the lake just before the pass. Fog swirled around under a very cloudy sky as we reached the pass about 10:30. On the other side of the 13,500 foot pass we drove through a thick blanket of fog until we reached about 10,000 feet, after which we had great views under a cloudy sky.
We arrived in Dirang, at about 5400 feet, about 12:30, where we made a 20 minute stop and encountered a few raindrops. We continued down the river and then climbed up towards Bomdilla. The views were good, despite the clouds. Some rain fell. We made a couple of lunch stops, each for about 20 minutes. We reached the pass at about 8500 feet elevation and then drove down to Bomdila, at about 8000 feet, arrayed across a steep hillside. We arrived about 3 and I found a very nice hotel, but comparatively expensive at 1250 rupees, about $20.
I took a walk around town, mostly under a light rain and swirling clouds and fog. A new gompa sits high above the town, but I didn't walk up. I did walk to the bazaar and then on to a small old gompa in the lower town. Inside was a photo of the Dalai Lama in his 20's. I could see some other gompas on the hillsides below town, but the rain drove me back to my hotel. The temperature in my room was 59 degrees at bedtime, just after 9.
I was up at 4:30 the next morning, at first light. I was out at 5 in a drippy rain as the manager of my hotel had told me there would be a bus to Itanagar, the Arunachal Pradesh state capital. There was no bus, and at 6 I went back to my hotel, got back into my room and went to bed for another hour, though I didn't get back to sleep. I was out again at 7, booked a sumo ride to Itanagar, and walked around town until about 8 in the still dripping rain. I did get a few views over the lower part of the town through swirling clouds and fog.
I had breakfast and then left in the sumo for Itanagar. The sky was still very cloudy. My altimeter showed the bottom of the town at about 7500 feet, and we continued descending to the Tenga River valley at about 4000 feet. We traveled along the river and then up to about 6000 feet through fog and rain and lush forest. Then we headed down to the Kameng River valley, getting below the clouds at about 3000 feet. We reached the border at Balukpong just before 1 and made a lunch stop. I ate chicken momos as a few more raindrops fell.
We crossed the Arunachal Pradesh-Assam border after 1:30. It seems there is no road from western Arunachal Pradesh to the state capital at Itanagar through the mountainous state itself, necessitating a return to the flat terrain of Assam. From the border the sumo headed south, then east, crossing the now wide Kameng River, soon to merge with the even wider Brahmaputra. The sky was cloudy, but there was no rain. The hills of Arunachal Pradesh to the north were mostly cloud covered. The countryside was green, with huge tea estates. Maybe 80 miles from the border crossing, at about 4:20, we turned north, with Itanagar now less than 20 miles away. We crossed the border, at about 600 feet elevation, and began to climb into the hills again on a road made very muddy by rain and road construction. We climbed to about 1300 feet in the forested hills and then traveled up and down until we reached Itanagar, at about 1300 feet, at 5:30, just before dark. I went to bed about 9.
I was up about 6 the next morning. There was a heavy rainfall from about 7 to 8, and the sky was cloudy all day, with dark clouds. After breakfast I walked to the open market and then on to the State Museum, about an hour walk away along the main road through town, filled with traffic. The shoulder was muddy, with many puddles. No sidewalk. Itanagar is strung out along the main road and was founded only in 1972 to serve as the state capital. There doesn't appear to be much to see other than the museum. I did have some views of the forest beyond town as I walked to the museum and I saw lots of tribal faces, and some Indian ones.
The museum is excellent. I spent five hours there. For the first three hours I looked at all the exhibits. Twenty-seven dioramas with mannequins dressed in the traditional clothes and ornaments of the various tribal groups are very well done. I read that there are 26 tribal groups and I noticed that the Nyishi were depicted in three dioramas and the Adi in two, so I suppose two tribal groups have been left out. Also on display are weapons, shields, tools, musical instruments, ornaments, hats, Buddhist thangkas, Apatani nose plugs (made of cane), penis shields (made of bone, cane, and wood), and much else. There are great maps. A few school groups came through and I posed for a lot of photos. One Tagin boy and girl, teenagers, were in very modern dress, the girl wearing lipstick. I heard a heavy rainfall for about half an hour and even went out to see it for a few minutes.
After I had looked over all the exhibits, I sat and read through some books, including ones on the Monpas and on the Siang District to the east, where I was heading eventually. I talked with a young Apatani woman who worked in the museum and she was very interesting. She told me her mother, aged 60, has nose plugs and tattoos. (The nose plugs expand holes drilled on both sides of the nose.) She told me the tattooing and wearing of nose plugs started young, when the girls were children, but that Indira Gandhi had stopped it with 500 rupee fines. She said that had happened after Gandhi visited the state, in the 1980's she thought, though I've seen photos of Gandhi visiting Arunachal Pradesh in 1967, before it was a state. She told me the Apatani originally practiced the Donyi-Polo religion, but that now most are Christian. She is Catholic.
She was very friendly and gave me some rice wine she had brought to work and told me how it was made. Boiled rice and burnt rice husks are wrapped in a leaf with yeast for 15 days. Then water is dripped through to make the wine. It is tan colored and sweet. She also showed me photos on her phone of Apatani and of the Ziro Valley, where they live and where I was headed next. I walked back to my hotel under dark, cloudy skies. The air felt a little chilly, but I was wearing only trousers, a shirt, and sandals.
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