[adc]

Originally Posted by sen2009

Common Mr. Lazy DC.... wake up!

Fully back, had been out of city for the last 5-6 days. Sorry for all the no reply.

Originally Posted by jaysmokesleaves

Im very glad I did not read your travelogue when you started writing it. It sure would have been a torture to wait for the next episode.
Sheer inspiration is all I can say.

Wow! Start your Kutch travel story now!

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

@ Anirban: Wow! That's a superlative trip, which I missed reading all this while - partly because I was travelling and subsequently writing my own travelogue. Great photographs.

Thanks, yes went through the your story today. Great minute observation pictures.

Originally Posted by MX6

Real grand stuff you got there. I loved all the snaps. Especially the three (5668, 5794, 5698).

Hey thanks.

Lets continue then..



Returning from Bum La and on towards T Gompa

As we descended down from Bum La, as it was a clear day crossed a very different P Tso Lake as compared to last day





As we descended, there's a bifurcation. The straight road goes to Tawang and all take that road. As we asked one local, came to know that its a lonely road that goes to T Gompa aka Tiger's Den. The name and road itself was enough of an inspiration for me to check it out.





The road was one lonely road I have ever driven with no one in sight. The name "Tiger Den" also made the journey kind of mysterious and interesting with wife asking me to turn, guessing that there will be some kind of "tantric" or "cult" camp out there. The road deteriorated soon and milestones dont say anything




With noone or even a villager or settlement all along, we were getting apprehensive. Suddenly on a turn we come across this local gentleman, who was carrying some timber from the forest and ask for directions and about the place. He point out to somewhere high up on the mountains, saying no one lives or travels on this road at this times, and the road will be slippery and blocked with ice on the higher levels.

The local


And he points out to out there in the mountains - T Gompa aka Tiger Den aka Takstang Monastery

Takstang Monastery or the Tiger’s Den is placidly situated about fifty kms from Tawang Township. It’s believed to be hallowed by the visit of Guru Padmasambhava in the eight century A.D. It was one of the oldest monastery in the area.

It sure was a spooky journey, no one around, not even a settlement and with evening fast approaching and as we encountered the slippery roads and wife full nervous now, its time to turn back. Just shows how a simple road to an unknown mysterious place can sometimes give you enough goosebumps than a known bad terrain.









With a clutch burning and almost stuck turning out here, it was time to go back fast towards the most known and familiar one, the Tawang Monastery


Tawang Monastery at a distance as we made drove towards it, evening time.


contd...

[kaushik_s]

That road sure looks eerie. Would love to do a trip to that place sometime. Great going ADC.

[sen2009]

Nice...
Just one word... nice!

How do you do it... I mean you can turn a perfectly normal sunny day into one with eeri roads, tantriks chanting and drinking red stuff from human skull, a nomadic settler saying "this road goes nowhere"...
All you have to do is to take a strategic turn. The hail storm of Chopta haven't tought you much...

Just that word again...
Nice!

[adc]

Tawang Monastery

Tawang Monastery: Perched atop a ridge and surrounded by thick clouds and perennial mist, the Tawang Monastery seems to be suspended from heaven in an equally ethereal space. About 400 years old the monastery is one of the oldest and the largest in Asia and can house more than 700 monks. It controls 17 Gonpas and a few nunneries of this region. Founded by Merag lama Lodre Gyatso in 1681 in accordance to the wishes of the 5th Dalai Lama, Nagwang Lobsang Gyatso, the monastery has an interesting legend surrounding its name, which means chosen by horse. (Ta-horse, Wang砲hosen) As the legend goes the site of the Monastery was chosen by the horse of Merag Lama.

Merag Lama, who had been unable to decide a site to establish the monastery, was one day praying in cave, seeking a divine guidance, when he came out after the prayers, he found his horse missing. On search, the horse was located standing quietly on a hilltop. Considering this as a sign of devine blessing he decided to construct the monastery at the very spot. The monastery was built with the help of volunteers from the neighboring villages. Even today, the villages are responsible for the upkeep of the monastery. The monastery is also grandiloquently called Galden Namgey Lhatse meaning celestial paradise and one look at the monastery on a clear night will make one realize how true its name, it stands glowing like a phantasmagoria in the blue of the night.

More info out here Tawang Monastery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

From that lonely journey it was back to the most familiar road for any traveller or tourist out here at Tawang, the Tawang Monastery. Some of the random pictures taken out there.


















































So that ends a very eventful day, from Bumla to Tiger's Den road to Tawang Monastery - tomorrow we go towards Lumla and Zemithang.



contd...

[keyurshah]

What a journey sir, simply awesome. I am at sheer loss of words.

Thank you a ton for sharing this with all of us. Reading through this, I felt as if I was travelling with you.

The way you described few of the adventures, it surely takes lot of guts to do that. Kudos to you for it.



As someone said a few posts ago, a D-BHP tag for you is a definite must.

Cant wait for you to post another one

[ampere]

Snaps keep getting better and better ! I never had AP in my list of places to go. Now I have.

[The Iceman]

ADC .. what a journey. Had the good fortune of working in Tawang for a couple of months last year. The place is just fabulous. Brought back all the memories. Keep it up sir.

[adc]

Tawang - Lum la - Zemithang - Urgelling - Tawang

Zemithang

is a Monpa settlement in Tawang District and lies near Indo-Tibet border. It is located at the head of a picturesque vale, created by river Nyamjang Chu flowing in from Tibet. Zemithang lies in the remote and sometimes isolated north-western corner of the Tawang district, sandwiched between Bhutan and Tibet.

The upper ridges and border areas of Zemithang is occupied by Indian Army. The motorable road passes through the village of Muchot and Lumpo and finally terminates at Neyla which is an Army settlement.

Zemithang-Neyla road branches of just before entering Tawang.



Our most helpful hotel owners were going to visit LumLa to visit the recently elected local MLA and we followed them on the scenic journey to Zemithang.




The hotel owners stopped at Lum La and two locals were deputed by them to be with us just for company and to show the places out there. As said amazing support and help all through!


Zemithang journey was done just for some great driving experience, hill roads, great views, the journey was very similar to the one we did to Gushaini-Bathad in Himachal

IN remotest India, a colossal monument. Who built it and why? Look on it, ye traveller, and admire! And ask not questions, for the answers are uncertain, lost in documents that have long disappeared. There are the fables, of course, stories that Monpa grandmothers in Zemithang tell their grandchildren. Of a lama bearing a monkey name who travelled far and wide in search of funds and ideas. Before Gorsam Chorten came to be built.

The Sunday Tribune - Spectrum - Travel

Gorsam Chorten: Surrounded by legends








Son was happy I gave him the S3 IS to take random pictures, he clicked me and vice versa



Dorabji Tata Trust looks to be involved actively out here - this area surely must be developed as a tourist circuit to help the local population - as most of them are BPL. Travellers take the road to Tawang without thinking much about the other road that branches off.http://www.dorabjitatatrust.org/Publ...ublication.pdf.


After a short tea break at the only shop around there, late afternoon a journey back towards Tawang and some beautiful scenery again.

Urgelling monastery stands at a short distance of 5 km, south of the Tawang Township in Arunachal Pradesh. It was the first of the three monasteries built by Urgen Sangpo, the youngest brother of Terton Pempalingpa, the famous Treasure-Revealer. Urgelling Monastery was built sometime before the year 1489 AD. This was the place were in 1683 AD Tsangyang Gyatso; the Sixth Dalai Lama was born.

.:: Arunachal Pradesh Tourism ::.

Entering Tawang, on the outskirts before returning to the hotel, late evening we go to Urgelling monastery.



As dusk came in, there ends another eventful day in Tawang and tomorrow after 4 days out here, we head back for the return journey, but then it is not the normal route back!




contd...

[adc]

Originally Posted by kaushik_s

That road sure looks eerie. Would love to do a trip to that place sometime. Great going ADC.

Yes it was kind of eerie for sometime when travelling for over an hour still there's no settlement or anyone around and dusk approaching and the bearing that we have is that there is some "cult" monastery up there in the mountains.

Originally Posted by sen2009

How do you do it... I mean you can turn a perfectly normal sunny day into one with eeri roads, tantriks chanting and drinking red stuff from human skull, a nomadic settler saying "this oad goes nowhere"...

He, he, thats what my wife started to conjure up, but then in reality it must be just as peaceful monastery as the others would be. If ever back out there, would go through the complete route again but a 4wd will be needed if done around this time and winter months.

All you have to do is to take a strategic turn. The hail storm of Chopta haven't tought you much...

Good that you take up the Chopta travel flashback, when the ice and snow roads started and the black mountains with zero population - it does have an uncanny relation other than that snowstorm.

Originally Posted by keyurshah

Thank you a ton for sharing this with all of us. Reading through this, I felt as if I was travelling with you.

Thanks much, glad that you are liking it.

Originally Posted by ampere

Snaps keep getting better and better ! I never had AP in my list of places to go. Now I have.

AP is a must visit for each and every traveller out here, once at least. This what I am covering is Western Arunachal, plan to do in subsequent years the other parts, Central and Eastern Arunachal in detail.

Originally Posted by The Iceman

ADC .. what a journey. Had the good fortune of working in Tawang for a couple of months last year. The place is just fabulous. Brought back all the memories. Keep it up sir.

Wow, a job at Tawang - you sure do have some amazing memories. If possible, feel free to share some of them out here even!

[pulsar56]

Originally Posted by adc

As dusk came in, there ends another eventful day in Tawang and tomorrow after 4 days out here, we head back for the return journey, but then it is not the normal route back!

ADC, the last batch of snaps are of the places we missed due to lack of time.
Nice to see that you explored the places around Tawang too.

Waiting for the updates on the route you took while coming back.

[sen2009]

Any trip log/ research documents avilable?
Your Kinnaur-Spiti word doc helped me a lot in planning. Please upload if you have any records of the research you have done, will help us all.

And, photos continue to be grandiose. Good that you finally bought the 450D.

[Dzire2Travel]

Breathtaking Scenery Anirban, the Urgelling Monastery looks so quaint and uncomplicated, gells with the Landscape. Please continue ....

[adc]

Originally Posted by pulsar56

ADC, the last batch of snaps are of the places we missed due to lack of time.
Nice to see that you explored the places around Tawang too.

Nazim, yes Zemithang and the Tiger's Den route would have required another day from you. These are off beat routes and one has to spare an extra day for it.

From what I read from your thread, you guys really missed is Sangetsar Lake [would be super happy if I am wrong] and which could have been done within those days itself. Its beautiful beyond comparison!


Let me have anyone reading here and having Army contacts to PM me with an offer to stay at that Army officer cottage on a full moon night! It was difficult for us to go back to the hotel room at Tawang after seeing this.

Sharing one picture again from the old post pictures [Sangetsar Lake pictures from Page 5]

Waiting for the updates on the route you took while coming back.

Well really speaking, there's only one road to and from Tawang. Coming back we took some very unique diversions - The Sangla Valley at Dirang and the very less travelled Eagle Nest Sanctuary beyond Tenga.

Originally Posted by sen2009

Any trip log/ research documents avilable?
Your Kinnaur-Spiti word doc helped me a lot in planning. Please upload if you have any records of the research you have done, will help us all.

Sen, yes one document is there with all the inputs from net that I collected before travelling. Once this travelogue ends will post it, along with some other details that other members have asked about like how to go and where to go - so that all the info is at one place.

Good that you finally bought the 450D.

450D was bought just before the Chhattisgarh tour very reluctantly as needed just for the DSLR wide angle coverage that the Canon S3 IS is sorely lacking. If not, the cost of that camera would have covered another 2 tours - the pictures better be good then!!

[adc]

Day #8: Tawang - Sela Pass - Dirang


Tawang, as normal in Dec end, was super windy cold in the night with temperatures between -2 to -6. Safari Dicor has diesel net filter at the tank itself. For the last 4 days, that filter net opening was slowly becoming blocked with ice crystals thus hampering the flow of diesel from the tank itself

YouTube - VTT Safari starting after a super cold night at Tawang.wmv

With travel the fuel tank was half empty and there was room for the diesel to play inside the tank. Immediately the full tank was done at the only fuel pump out there in Tawang, as there was no space and the fuel filter netting blocked by ice crystals, we stalled.

Tried to pump and found that no diesel was coming through. The hotel owner also came forward and tried what all Sumos do over there - put our gas stove over there and then tried to heat up the tank. But this was way too dangerous, not for catching fire but for any sensors or wires coming out from the tank getting burned and so soon abandoned this approach. Anyway all the fuel was not solid, it was the net filter that got freezed by the ice crystals.



The hotel owner came with a local mechanic out there, and he also tried as usual the manual pump and then opened up the diesel filter and plug of the fuel tank and drained some diesel out and cleaned the filter net out of crystals.




After that small hiccup, the journey continued towards Sela Pass again [now on our way back], stopped briefly at Jaswant Garh - skipped it while going up.

Jaswant Garh is a war memorial at Nuranang in Tawang District.

This memorial is dedicated to Rifleman Jaswant Singh, Maha Vir Chakra, of 4 Garhwal Rifle, who laid down his life resisting the Chinese Army's march for about 72 hours along with two other soldiers during the 1962 war.

Singh was then captured and hanged at the same place where the memorial now stands, by Chinese invaders. The memorial is about 14 km away from Sela Pass.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/aug/20war.htm

And the journey continued back towards Sela Pass, its morning and not like while going up, the weather was much clearer - tiime was also in hand to spend some some moments at that frozen stream trail at Sela



contd...

[adc]

Day #8: Tawang - Sela Pass - Dirang

As we neared to Sela Pass, morning time, clear weather - it was time to go again to that frozen stream trail that we came across while going to Tawang. Shared some pictures out here also on page 3







That stream is located at down from the main road to Tawang and what a sight it was again. Milky white ice with some water still gurgling underneath the frozen surface. We spent some time moments out there with absolutely no one around.
















With one last look at nature magic, it was now time to move up to the magnificent Sela Lake and its surroundings


contd....