Dibrugarh to Along - Mechuka

Hi Guys

I am planning to visit Mechuka and Along in West Siang, Arunachal. I am going to Dibrugarh and planned to go to Along from there. I do not know about the route.

Can someone please put some light?

Thanks
Ayan Khasnabis

Hi, wanting to know the exact same information, plus some more.

As I have mentioned in a couple of threads already, so I apoligize if this is repetitive, I am trying to find out about travelling in Arunachal Pradesh in March/April 2009, my husband, myself, and a friend of ours from Bangalore. So, in a group of three people (none of us are resident Indians so we would need to obtain the Restricted Area Permit through a travel agent - I am already working on that - that is not my query here).

The route would be as follows:

(1) Fly from Kolkata to Dibrugarh in Assam;


(2) Then EITHER take the ferry 8-hour crossing the Brahmaputra river to Pasighat in Siang Province of Arunachal Pradesh;

OR - if there is such a connection - take the Helicopter ride between Dibrugarh and Pasighat;

(3) Travel to Mechuka and as far north towards the McMahon line as is feasible.

[At this point I have to explain that one of our party used to work as a doctor in this area with the Adi tribe and with Tibetan refugees in 1958-1960 period and he is keen to retrace his steps.]

(4) .../... The itinerary is somewhat unclear here.


(5) Proceed to Tezpur, meet up with other friends (including some from IM!) in order to travel together to Tawang and thence back to Tezpur. This section of the route is already worked out.

(6) Return to Kolkata.

To those who have had the patience to read this far I have the following queries:

What is the best way to get to Mechuka?

How many days would we need to comfortably do this trip?

How can we approach the Adi without it becoming a "folklore"?

I thank in advance anyone who might have any advice.

It seems that there is a road from Along to Mechuka. Mechuka is few km northwest of Tato almost at the border of China. The Map I have is 15 years old and only shows a "road" to Tato and the Kargong Pass.

If you comes from Dibrugarh the beast way is to cross the Brahmaputra River (by ferry or by the new Boghi Bridge) to Silapathar, then Likabadi and Basar, then head north to Mechuka. Really at he end of the world.

It seems that the Gompa of Mechuka is from the same period of the Tawang's Monastery.

Jorge

It's been a year since I last saw any news about the bridge, but I think it won't be completed till at least 2010, I'm just going by memory though, so could be wrong.

I stayed in a good hotel In Dibrugarh, it cost about Rs 6-700, I can search for the details if anyone is interested, it was about half a km from the train station (come out of the station, turn right, walk past the cows eatign the rubish, continue for 3-400 metres, turn left down a main street*, hotel on left about another 100 metres, white fronted, uniformed guard on the door)

*There's a good (air con) restaurant on that corner, one of the big chains.

Thank you so much Jorge and Steve for this rare and valuable information! "Cows eating rubbish, turn left" - absolutely brilliant! You don't get information like that in the LP nor on the official Arunachal Pradesh web site!

Today I was doing some random research on the internet and came across a most hilarious article, which I will refrain from printing wholesale here, reviewing the helicopter service in the Seven Sisters. Suffice it to say that they complained about the fact that ordinary passengers are often bumped off in favour of "VVIPS", which begs the question - What is the difference between a VIP and a VVIP...??? And, which made me laugh out loud, an elderly couple of tourists who had tickets booked to fly with the helicopter from Pasighat to Dibrugarh actually landed somewhere in Nagaland... the mind boggles.

Today also I was reading the history of "The Bump", i.e. the area round about those parts which pilots in World War II had to negotiate in the Burmese campaign. Fascinating stuff.

I think this is going to be one helluva adventure!

Does your husband like steam engines?

If so, how about a little surprise for him?

There's a place not to far away from Dibrugarh that still has working steam engines.

Here's a photo.

It's Tipong Colliery, a bus ride from Margarita or Ledo, the train to Ledo passes by a place (near Tinsukia Jn) where a load of old steam engines have been left on the rails to rot (steam enthusiasts have striped them).

Also on route to Ledo is Digboi, set in a scenic location, Digboi is where India first found oil, it got it's name after an Englishman kept saying "Dig boy, dig boy".

I took a photo outside Dibrugarh station of a plan for the Bogibeel Bridge (Dibrugarh to the other side of the Brahmaputra), but it's a poor photo.

http://www.indiamike.com/photopost/s...5545/ppuser/40

Hi Steven,

Thank you for the info. I saw after sending my post the truth about the bridge, loads of work still to do...

I've also seen google's pictures of a hotel near RS (Indsurya) more or less in the place you mentionned, nevertheless did'nt see the cows eating rubish. The prices of this indsurya were higher.

I'm not sure if finally I'll go to Assam/Arunachal because I'll be traveling alone and all this questions of permits etc. and also because I want also to go again to Nepal (ten years since my last trip there) and then I also want to visit the Sunderbans and I want to see Kiradu in Barmer district and the villages between Jaisalmer and Barmer and the Bishnoi tribal villages beside Jodhpur..... too many ideas in mind. Well, I suposse is always better to work with many projects

All the best

Jorge

I'm quite sure the hotel was Hotel Natraj (H S Road), but I wish I could see a photo of the front of the hotel or a map with H S Road on it, I stayed in an aweful place on my first night and wouldn't want to send someone there.

Steve, very interesting photos. Thanks. I'm thinking about the route still but those old steam trains are fascinating. So far I've only seen the Toy Train at Darjeeling.

Jorge, you have many wonderful destinations in mind! What happened to the Toda idea? Our Bangalore friend in discussion the other day confirmed that there are still Toda villages in Karnataka.


Posted later:

Steve, I just found your Digboi/Dibrugarh/"this is not a travellogue" -

Why so few articles on IndiaMike ?


which is killingly funny but at the same time very useful (to me at least).

theyyamdancer,

You are absolutely right, too wonderful destinations in mind. For sure in my next trip I'll try to link two or three of this destinations.

About "Todas": I just came end of August from India and spent three weeks in Kerala mostly as always in non touristic places (and another four weeks in central and north India). Probably in my next trip I'll head north/north. As far as I'm a South India lover and Ooty is an easy place to go ( junction between Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, not a bad area in the world) I'll go there, although Todas seems to be a part of the history, and here and there is always easy in India to find the remains of old tribes actually phagocyted by indian culture and customs.

Jorge

Theyyamdancer:

In Jan-Feb-2006 I did a tour (mostly by Bus, Jeep & Ferry) as follows:

Gauhati-Kaziranga-Dibrugarh-Tinsukia-Digboi-Miao-Deban-Namdapha-Dibrugarh
Dibrugarh-(by ferry)-Pasighat-Alang-Itanagar-Tejpur
Tejpur-Bomdilla-Tawang-Tejpur-Gauhati

Not sure if this is of any use to you; but you if you want you might see some details of that trip in my Blog (link below) in items 12, 13 & 14 there. I did'nt go to Mechuka though.
.
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Ks bluechip, thank you so much. Your blog is incredibly useful, and well written. You crossed the Brahmaputra by ferry in the month of February, right? I suppose that in March the river would still be at a low ebb. One of our group is somewhat elderly and reluctant to take the ferry. But it seems to me preferable than relying on a helicopter from Mohanbari (Dibrugarh aiport) to Pasighat. What do you think? Which is less hair-raising?

On the subject of Mechuka, I found this clip today on You Tube:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZh4m...eature=related


In your opinion, do we necessarily need to involve a travel agent or can we do this trip on our own, after much research?

theyyamdancer: I think ferry is preferable.

I found the ferry ride very nice and wonderfully soothing and with a nice sunset (like Kerala, backwaters) before arriving at Pasighat. Though the ride is bit slow-paced and long (and a constant hum-noise from the motor);

On the boat I was lucky to meet an elderly, well-read, professor teaching in Arunachal Pradesh for many years and he kept me engrossed in a lot of regional stories, anecdotes and politics. Unfortunately I lost most of the pictures I had taken during my Arunachal trip that i had backed up on a CD.

I don't think you will need a travel agent; apart from arranging for the AP-Permit. Will see your youtube on Mechuaka.

- KS

PS: Wow that was a wonderful YouTube! ... thanks Theyyamdancer. I wasn't even aware of a place called Mechuka, till I saw your post. I just checked my copy of LP again ... it has just a few pages for entire NorthEast and just 1 page for whole of Arunachal! No mention of Mechuka and in fact the LP-Map of NE has nothing North of Alang! a big white space all the way China border!! I will have to make another trip to Arunachal. Anyway, I am waiting for things to cool down in Eastesr India. Surprisingly, this year, YHAI is organising multiple-group-trek-tours to Aizwal, in Mizoram, in Nov-08 !

I shall quote you on that one : "like the backwaters of Kerala"

Our friend hails from Bangalore and will be visiting his old haunts that he has not seen in nearly 50 years. I do hope that he will recognize some of them.


Yes, for the RAP permits we are going through an agent. I am now concentrating on the route. It is a lot of fun this planning.

I added a PS: in my earlier post while you were writing this, I think - KS