Lazy Travels

Documents my travel journeys with my reviews

[lazytravels]

Ziro

Day 8

After night stay at Itanagar, travel; to ziro 3 hour journey. The drive had many trees, remarkably cherry blossoms here and there.

First we went to Shri Siddheshwar shivling temple. The temple was established 2004 years ago when a woodcutter found the shivling in the forest. The surrounding forest trees were cleared. There is another stone statue behind believed to be Parvati. The temple also has continuous water source believed to be from Ganga.

Seeh Lake- Second stop was seeh lake. It had a ticket of 20/-. Boating can also be done. On the way multiple paddy fields can also be seen. 

Nara-aba winery- In Hong village, a small winery makes wine from fruits- kiwi, plum, passion fruit, apples. For 100/- pp we had a short tour of the winery and wine tasting, a novel experience for us. 

Seekhe Lake- Another lake surrounded by mountains with many fish. Ticket of 20/- pp with 20/- for vehicles. There was a board for Butterfly park but not operational.

Integrated Aqua park- Situated in Tarin, ziro this is a research lab for fish and an aquarium. They sell fishes and seed as well. Ticket of 70/- pp with fish spa for another 50/- for 15 min.

Day 9

Pamu Yalang view point- About 2.5 km from main city this view point gives a view of ziro valley.

Old ziro view point- About 5 km from Pamu yalang this view point gives entire view of ziro valley, ziro airport.  

Day 10

Return to Delhi from Itanagar airport. The hollongi airport is about 30mm from main city. The flight are in the afternoon so if needed you can sightsee Itanagar accordingly. there is daily direct indigo flight from itanagar to delhi but the booking opens later than the one with one stop at Kolkata.

[lazytravels]

Itanagar

Day 7

ITA fort- enter from southern gate. It has a view of entire city. More like a park, has some old walls still standing. Ticket 20/-open till 6pm.

Nehru state museum- Ticket of 20/- pp. The museum has clothes. Old ornaments, utensils, weapons and excavated remains. In my opinion, a must visit.

Gompa Buddhist temple- Only monastery in which I saw the monks in the prayer hall. Has a stupa as well.

[lazytravels]

Tawang Diaries part 3

Day 5

Brahm Dung-chung ani Gompa- 12 km from city. Exclusive nunnery. Houses 52 nuns.

Buddha statue and park- Has 30 feet tall Buddha statue on the top of the temple. They serve free tea and free food(12.30pm-2pm). 

Tawang war memorial- Dedicated to indo china war 1962 and to major Ralengnao Bob Khating and to martyrs of the war. Ticket 70/-. Has a light and sound show of 30 minutes. We could not see it because of construction work going on.

Urgyelling monastery- Birth of 6th Dalai Lama who is the only Dalai Lama born in India. Has a room of stupas build my villagers dedicated to him. It also has a stone water pot which is considered holy. The tree at the entrance grew from his walking stick.

Khinmey monastery- About 8 km from urgyelling monastery, this is located near Taj Vivanta Hotel. Khinmey means barking sound. The monastery was built by hunter Sonam Rinchin after the found Rev. Yeshe meditating there after following the barking sound of hunting dogs. The monastery opens at 4.30pm.

Day 6

Travel to Bomdila- 5 hour journey and on the way visit Chakzam iron bridge.

Bomdila monastery- Bomdila monastery aka GRL monastery. The school and prayer are  in upper gompa. It also gives a scenic view of Himalayas. The war memorial closes by 2pm and craft center in the city is closed from 2-2.30 and open till 5pm.

Stayed at a guest house for the night. After stay at Bomdila, early morning start to Itanagar- 6 hour journey.

[lazytravels]

Tawang Diaries part 2

Jaswantgarh memorial-Made in memory of Rifleman Jaswant Singh Rawat who laid his life fighting off Chinese during the a battle of Nuranang in 1962. The memorial also has the tree under which he died fighting.

Nuranang falls-Fong-Fong Ma falls/Jong/Bong falls is a 100 feet fall on Sela lake. It has a ticket of 20/-. Popularised by shooting of koyla film.

On the way to the falls, had lunch at North East Dhaba 2.0 in Jang which had this Muriel.

Day 4 

Ptso lake- Reached Tawang on day 3 and stayed the night. In the morning left in a local taxi for BumLa pass and other sightseeing. The taxi charges 5500/- and we booked it through the hotel owner 3-4 days prior. Needs ILP and Aadhar cards of all. Carry hard copy of same. The view on the way was something else.

Nagula Lake

Madhuri Lake- Actual name is sungetsar lake. It is called Madhuri lake after shooting for film Koyla. It has scenic beauty of a lake surrounded by snow capped mountains. The lake has a Ranveer Hooda point as well.

BumLa pass -At the height of 15200 feet, the pass has info china border as well. The military managed canteen and hospital are also there. Has a ticket of 100/-. The military clocks a photo at the border for 400/-.

Tawang Monastery- Largest monastery in India it was established by Gyatso monk. Tawang has been named so because of it. Tawang means chosen by horse- his horse stopped here so monastery was established. Takes 2 hours to see, has museum(ticket20/-pp) which as utensils and clothes of royal family.

[lazytravels]

Tawang Diaries

Recently I travelled to Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, India with my parents who are 72 and 70 and can walk about. I went in April and planned the trip myself. Hired a local taxi after searching on google.

Day 1

We started the trip from Delhi, took a morning flight to Guwahati and then a taxi to Bhalukpong, a 6 hour journey due to traffic issues. If you plan the same itinerary, better to take flight to Tezpur which is 1.5 hours from Bhalukpong.

Bhalukpong

We reached around 5 pm, crossed the border after checking the Inner Line Permit and stayed the night at Orchid home- cheap hotel with great rooms and good food.

Day 2

Tippi Orchid Research center

Opens at 8am, closes at 5pm, closed on Sunday. Ticket 20/- per person. Must for someone like me who has not seen a lot of orchids.

Bonus-view of Kameng river.

Afterwards, we started for Dirang which was a 5 hour journey. On the way we saw a seasonal waterfall as well.

Dirang Dzong- Fortress, but it was under construction. Takes about 3.5-4 hours from Tippi Orchid center. On the way though we saw a waterfall and Nag mandir. Then we took an 1.5 hour trip to Mand La top. The weather turned cold demanding light sweaters. 

Mand La top -Has big Buddha sculpture about 2 feet tall with 108 stupas. The view of entire Dirang can be seen from the top. We reached around 2 pm but by that time it was too cloudy to see anything.

Thupsung Monastery- A relatively new monastery which also acts as view point for Sangti valley.

Stayed at Sangti valley Ngoedrup Homestay. Bad experience. Booked it for the view of the valley but no view was possible. It was a closed room on the opposite of the riverbed. The food was costly as compared to rest of Dirang. But people were friendly And helpful. 

Day 3

We started from Sangti valley hotel around 8.30 am and reached the lake through Dirang around 11am. Cold weather, very windy. Saw my first snowfall there. On the way saw Baisakhi war statue. The view on way was amazing.

Sela pass- Sela Lake. Named after Sela of Mongpa tribe. She played a vital role in supplying food and supporting Jaswant Singh Rajat during Indo-China war in 1962.