Day 1 (Guwahati to Tenga):
We started early from Guwahati for our destination Tenga in Arunachal Pradesh. Tenga is a nice little military base with a few small hotels. I prefer Tenga to Bomdila, which is another hours drive for a night stay. Bomdila is a little too crowded for me.
We soon reached Bhalukpong, the border town and got our ILP details entered at the gate. When I had crossed Nameri some two years back, the road passing though the forest was still under construction. Now the road was a nice, smooth two lane road right upto Bhalukpong.
The scenery changes once we cross the border. The hills start and the weather cools down. The road to Tenga from Bhalukpong is a narrow road with many twists and turns. However, the road is in good shape. You have to constantly keep watching for vehicles at the blind turns. It is much more comfortable to drive at night on such roads if you don't factor in the fog (We did drive at night during the return leg but more on that later).
One thing I have observed in Arunachal Pradesh (I worked here for nearly 3 years) is the good quality of road-side dhabas. Though they might not look like much at first glance, these dhabas offer great quality food, clean sparkling water and almost always a crackling fire. Enroute Tenga, we took breaks in such dhabas for tea. The weather got colder as we near Tenga and out came our warm clothes.
We were fully enjoying the drive. This was the first time my wife was traveling on this circuit and we wondered how peaceful it is to drive here. The traffic as in other parts of the state is sparse and the traffic is generally well mannered.
We reached Tenga in the evening and checked in a hotel (forgot its name) by the river. During my ride to Tawang, me and my rider buddies had stayed here. The rooms are clean and the food is also quite good.
As we had an hour of daylight left, we took a walk around the small Tenga town. It is a military base and is very clean and well laid out.
Some pictures:
At Bhalukpong:
Taking a walk at Tenga:
Day 2: Tenga to Jang
Woke up with a sprain in my left ankle. I secretly wondered if I would be able to drive and if I should cancel the trip. But decided to take some pain-killers and move on. Holidays are not easy to come by.
After moving past Tenga, there is a road which forks to the left. As it looked well tarred, we took it
.
The views along this road was amazing and the road condition was great. After travelling for around 15 kms, we enquired where it led from a local. Turns out we were heading to Kalaktang. Now, this is an alternate route to Tenga and Tawang from Assam which I have heard to be newly tarred. We made a note to come via this route on our next trip and turned around.
Soon we were back on the route to Bomdila and Jang. Time for some pictures:
Towards Bomdila:
Views:
Towards Kalaktang:
We soon crossed Bomdila. There is a small cluster of Dhabas at a place called 6-Mile right after crossing Bomdila. Its a good idea to have an early lunch here as food options become scarce after this place.
Some Pics:
Towards Dirang:
We crossed Dirang town in the afternoon. Its a nice little town. There are good resorts for staying here. After a quick lunch, we proceeded towards Sela Pass. I wanted to cross Sela Pass during the afternoon as it gets really difficult after dark when the snow starts. During my previous ride, some riders from our group couldn't cross the Sela Pass as it had become too dark. Constant snow forced them to take shelter in a military camp there.
The road conditions on this route is acceptable if there are no rains. Though the progress was slow, the amazing views kept us engaged.
Soon we reached the gate to Sela Pass. The weather was looking ominous.
Driving with caution:
We ambled across the Sela Pass at a leisurely pace. There was still some snow on the roads. The weather was too cold and gloomy for taking pictures. We still tried haha:
Then all of a sudden, the weather cleared and for the briefest of times, we got a clear glimpse of the imposing landscape:
Just as soon the weather had cleared, it began to rain. The slush increased and visibility was reduced. All of a sudden, a group of 4 girls who were working on road construction hailed us. They were from Jang and requested us to drop them off. I still don't know how they fit in the car with all our luggage but they did haha.
We dropped them just short of Jang. We then proceeded to a small by-the-road hotel which I knew to have room heating from my previous trip. We could have proceeded towards Tawang but the long drive had tired us and all we wanted was a good meal and a nice warm bed to rest.
We checked in the hotel and retired for the day.
