Tawang Valley trip report

mikeincairns · Sep 28th, 2008, 21:35

I would like to let everyone know about my recent trip to Tawang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh. Firstly, I should point out that I enjoy places off the main tourist route, the more remote and difficult the better. Secondly, I come from a small town myself, so I prefer staying away from the large cities and concentrating on the smaller places. In my experience the smaller and more remote the place, the nicer the local people are, and the better the experience.

With this in mind I set off to Tawang. In case you don’t know – special permits are required for Arunachal Pradesh. There are very mixed reports about the cost and difficulty of obtaining a permit. I organized mine before leaving Australia, and was surprised when it allowed me to travel on my own (apparently unusual) and cost me nothing.

Tawang is famous for being the home to the second largest Buddhist monastery in the world (after Lhasa in Tibet). It is a truly amazing structure more like a medieval city – with its surrounding fortified wall and narrow alleyways weaving through white washed brick homes. It is a holy place for the Tibetans, being the birth place of one Deli Lama and the home of others.

The Tawang Valley is wedged up in a corner of India only 40km from the Chinese border and not much futher to Nepal and Butan. It is the site of a good deal of tension which erupted in a war with China in 1962 and an uneasy peace ever since. The area is home to the local Monpa tribal people who dress in unique bright clothes and drape colourful blankets over themselves when the temperature drops. There is also a sizable Nepali population and many Tibetan refugees.

Tawang is situated over 3000m and is cold. In late September I was wearing almost all the clothes that I brought to India. The valley is very impressive and the town itself is perched on a steep mountain slope. Roads are typically a series of hairpin bends making a short journey (as the crow flys) very much longer. There is a confusing maze of tracks around the town, which are basically steps up and down ridges and valleys.

English is not widely spoken here, and I did encounter some communication problems. I read that the education levels here are very low. Also all the disgusting habits of India and China seem to be worse here. Spitting is worse than ever and even the women spit everywhere. Littering and relieving one’s self on the street is also worse than elsewhere in India.

My journey…..

GUWAHATI (Starline Hotel, good central location, great service, nice rooms, Rs 450). Guwahati is a town to leave quickly. If you stay around the railway station at Palatan Bazaar it is very noisy, but convenient. Two good ticketing agents sell bus tickets to Tezpur – Blue Hill and Green Valley – they are virtually next to each other. Lonely Planet doesn’t tell you that the bus station has moved to a ridiculous 30km out of town. When you buy the bus ticket to Tezpur (Rs 150) it includes the transfer to the bus station. Travel time is around 1 hr to bus station then 5 more hours to Tezpur.

TEZPUR (Grand City Hotel, good for a bit of luxury, very quiet, AC and nice new clean rooms, Rs 900). Lonely Planet is useless when it comes to information about Tezpur. The area where the bus drops you (around Hotel Luit) is hopeless for hotels. Ask a rickshaw-wallah to take you to Grand City (around 1km away) then look around for a hotel – there are plenty of choices. There is also good eating around here, including a great selection of sweet shops serving gulab jamun and other yummies! Return to where the buses stops to organize travel to Bomdila in AP (Rs 250). Two shared Sumo jeeps leave daily. I got the 11:30am but in reality it left more than an hour later after the normal amount of Indian stuffing-around. Don’t believe anyone when they tell you 5 hours to Bomdilla; we arrived at around 7:30pm (8 hours). The Sumo is an 8 seater 4WD but they managed to squeeze in ten.

Once we got going, the road through the Assam plains was easy enough to the border town of Balikpong where permits are checked. I had some problems with my ‘dodgey’ Australian permit (see above), and it took around an hour to get permission to pass. The main problem was that the border control had never seen a permit to allow independent travel and he needed clearance for the big boss. Then we headed up the long slow road to Bomdila. The road was in very bad condition, rough, muddy, boggy, with heaps of landslides and wash-outs.

BOMDILA (Hotel La, easily the best among a small selection of basic cheapies, Rs 700). Bomdila is a pretty nice place to stay for an overnight stop. At almost 3000m it is a nice cool change after the humidity of the Assam plains. I decided to waste a day here and relax in the cool climate (and acclimatize to the higher altitude). Most travelers would probably head off straight away the next morning. From the Sumo stand next to Hotel La bought a ticket for a 6:30 start to Tawang (Rs 280). This time the driver managed to pack 12 into the jeep, making an even more uncomfortable journey. The road to Tawang was even worse than to Bomdila. It was a very slow and torturous trip which took 8 hours. The scenery was amazing with high mountains, steep valleys, waterfalls and interesting looking villages. It would have been so nice to have a car, so I could stop and look and photograph things on the way. The Sela Pass at over 4000m is very impressive; unfortunately the Sumo did not stop here. For this leg of the journey, it would be very worth while hiring your own vehicle, especially if you could share the cost with other like minded tourists.

TAWANG (Hotel DungPhoo – yes that’s pronounced Dung Poo!! Despite the unfortunate name, nice comfortable and good value, best of all run by a lovely English speaking lady Rs 450). I stayed 4 nights and had a fantastic time.

Tourism has not hit Tawang – get there before it does! The best thing about Tawang is that the local people are so innocent and honest. For example one taxi driver refused to take my fare because he said it was “not very far”. Restaurants would give me little extras for no charge. Nobody tried to rip me off. In fact I was told on many occasions by the local Monpa people, that they pride themselves on being honest. Unfortunately, I suspect this attitude will soon change as tourism develops.

Food is not a highlight of Tawang, but you can get all the usual basic dhal and breads as well as good Chinese style food, including noodles. I mostly ate in the little lane leading to the taxi stand, next to the hotel.

The highlight was obviously the Tawang Gompa (monastery); at the time there was a Buddhist festival, so the monastery was packed with monks, locals and other worshipers; an amazing sight! Other sites that I visited were the War Memorial (remembering the 1962 China war – note all the Sings that were killed – sobering stuff) and some other Gompas.

RETURN TO GUWAHATI – I had read in the Lonely Planet that helicopters flew into Tawang. I had no real interest of catching a helicopter until I found out that it flew every day (weather permitting) and it took only 1 hr to reach Guwahati. Remembering the three torturous days of travel getting to Tawang, I decided to return by helicopter (Rs 3000). It was an absolute highlight and I would highly recommend it to anyone who can afford it.

The helicopter is an 18-seater large military style chopper. It had a crew of three (including a Russian pilot) and seemed safe enough. The crew even brings around drinks and lollies and explains everything you can see out the window. Much more than an easy way out of Tawang – it is a sightseeing trip in it’s own right. The chopper flies at low altitude – around 3000m over Bhutan – just between the tops of the mountains and the clouds. The scenery is incredible.

It is not easy to get to Tawang, but the effort is a rewarding experience of un-spoilt local tribes, fantastic scenery and a rich exposure to Tibetan Buddhist culture (without going to Tibet) – highly recommended !!

PS I never saw another foriegner for the whole trip.

Sadanand Kamath · Sep 28th, 2008, 23:21

Thanks for an excellent and informative write up.

Sadanand

Shyamal Mukherjee · Sep 28th, 2008, 23:48

Excellent write up and informative. Yes we have been planning to visit Tawang next month and will take the helicopter service while returning. Your feedback will help us to organise in a better way. Thanks a lot Mikeincairns.
By the way you mentioned altitude of Bomdila about 3000m. I hope it is around 1600m

.
Anyway thank you again for such wonderful trip report with photograph.
Shyamal

shahronakm · Sep 29th, 2008, 21:45

Mikeincairns, Thanks a lot for this information / write up. Excellent picture as well.

Ronak.

Khak · Sep 29th, 2008, 21:57

photo link please

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeincairns

I would like to let everyone know about my recent trip to Tawang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh. .

sharonski · Sep 30th, 2008, 13:27

Hi Mikeincairns,
This is just what I needed to hear, as my brother and I plan to visit this area in October. Just not clear: did you book a tour beforehand from Oz and how long in advance did you book your permit?

All feedback greatly appreciated!

AnanyaBinayak · Sep 30th, 2008, 17:03

Hi Mike,
A great write up and very helpful one.
Thanks for sharing all the details.

rajiv13 · Oct 1st, 2008, 19:08

I am planning for trip to Tawang in Nov'08.
Whole article will be my guide during visit.

Any like minded visiting there during Nov first week ??
Willing to share Tata Sumo from Tezpur-Tawang (With one/two night Stop at Bomdila)
We are a Vegetarian family of 2 Adults, 1 Child, & 1 Infant.

mikeincairns · Oct 4th, 2008, 17:20

Hi sharonski - Sorry for late reply. To clarify: I only got permit in Australia. All travel was done in India indepentantly without guides or tourist agent, and I just worked out the plan as I went.

theyyamdancer · Oct 7th, 2008, 20:18

Mike, thank you for a very useful and informative, well-written trip report. Do you recommend asking for the Restricted Area Permit at the same time as we apply for the visa for India? How many days did you spend in Arunachal Pradesh finally? May I take the liberty of sending you a PM to ask you some details?

mikeincairns · Oct 11th, 2008, 19:38

Hi theyyamdancer...I did get my permit from the Indian High Commission in Australia before I left, but this took a lot of phone calls and muckin' about. I am very glad I did though, because I heard it was almost impossible to get in India.

Also - my permit allowed me to travel independantly and without a guide (I believe this is unusal). I think it just depends on the person you get in the Embassy - and how persistant you are.

In the end I spend around 8 days in Arunuchal (just Bomdila and Tawang). That turned out to be a mistake - I should have used up my whole 15 days allowance and gone to the Zero (?) valley as well. Oh well - there's always next time !!!!

Feel free to email me - mike_fairley<at>yahoo.com.au. Please use the subject line India Mike, in case it goes to junk.

burf · Oct 11th, 2008, 19:48

great writeup
i am now interested in going to Tawang

theyyamdancer · Oct 11th, 2008, 20:02

Thanks, Mike, I have just e-mailed you.

brishti · Oct 12th, 2008, 02:26

awesome write-up mike, thank you

:brishti

sm_thn · Oct 17th, 2008, 13:56

A nice and informative write-up. I am also visiting Tawang on 28th and 29th of this month. We will be going by Helicopter and return journey will be by road as we are planning to go to nameri and Kaziranga from there.

Sep 28th, 2008, 21:35	#1
mikeincairns Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Cairns NQ Aust Posts: 21	Tawang Valley trip report I would like to let everyone know about my recent trip to Tawang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh. Firstly, I should point out that I enjoy places off the main tourist route, the more remote and difficult the better. Secondly, I come from a small town myself, so I prefer staying away from the large cities and concentrating on the smaller places. In my experience the smaller and more remote the place, the nicer the local people are, and the better the experience. With this in mind I set off to Tawang. In case you don’t know – special permits are required for Arunachal Pradesh. There are very mixed reports about the cost and difficulty of obtaining a permit. I organized mine before leaving Australia, and was surprised when it allowed me to travel on my own (apparently unusual) and cost me nothing. Tawang is famous for being the home to the second largest Buddhist monastery in the world (after Lhasa in Tibet). It is a truly amazing structure more like a medieval city – with its surrounding fortified wall and narrow alleyways weaving through white washed brick homes. It is a holy place for the Tibetans, being the birth place of one Deli Lama and the home of others. The Tawang Valley is wedged up in a corner of India only 40km from the Chinese border and not much futher to Nepal and Butan. It is the site of a good deal of tension which erupted in a war with China in 1962 and an uneasy peace ever since. The area is home to the local Monpa tribal people who dress in unique bright clothes and drape colourful blankets over themselves when the temperature drops. There is also a sizable Nepali population and many Tibetan refugees. Tawang is situated over 3000m and is cold. In late September I was wearing almost all the clothes that I brought to India. The valley is very impressive and the town itself is perched on a steep mountain slope. Roads are typically a series of hairpin bends making a short journey (as the crow flys) very much longer. There is a confusing maze of tracks around the town, which are basically steps up and down ridges and valleys. English is not widely spoken here, and I did encounter some communication problems. I read that the education levels here are very low. Also all the disgusting habits of India and China seem to be worse here. Spitting is worse than ever and even the women spit everywhere. Littering and relieving one’s self on the street is also worse than elsewhere in India. My journey….. GUWAHATI (Starline Hotel, good central location, great service, nice rooms, Rs 450). Guwahati is a town to leave quickly. If you stay around the railway station at Palatan Bazaar it is very noisy, but convenient. Two good ticketing agents sell bus tickets to Tezpur – Blue Hill and Green Valley – they are virtually next to each other. Lonely Planet doesn’t tell you that the bus station has moved to a ridiculous 30km out of town. When you buy the bus ticket to Tezpur (Rs 150) it includes the transfer to the bus station. Travel time is around 1 hr to bus station then 5 more hours to Tezpur. TEZPUR (Grand City Hotel, good for a bit of luxury, very quiet, AC and nice new clean rooms, Rs 900). Lonely Planet is useless when it comes to information about Tezpur. The area where the bus drops you (around Hotel Luit) is hopeless for hotels. Ask a rickshaw-wallah to take you to Grand City (around 1km away) then look around for a hotel – there are plenty of choices. There is also good eating around here, including a great selection of sweet shops serving gulab jamun and other yummies! Return to where the buses stops to organize travel to Bomdila in AP (Rs 250). Two shared Sumo jeeps leave daily. I got the 11:30am but in reality it left more than an hour later after the normal amount of Indian stuffing-around. Don’t believe anyone when they tell you 5 hours to Bomdilla; we arrived at around 7:30pm (8 hours). The Sumo is an 8 seater 4WD but they managed to squeeze in ten. Once we got going, the road through the Assam plains was easy enough to the border town of Balikpong where permits are checked. I had some problems with my ‘dodgey’ Australian permit (see above), and it took around an hour to get permission to pass. The main problem was that the border control had never seen a permit to allow independent travel and he needed clearance for the big boss. Then we headed up the long slow road to Bomdila. The road was in very bad condition, rough, muddy, boggy, with heaps of landslides and wash-outs. BOMDILA (Hotel La, easily the best among a small selection of basic cheapies, Rs 700). Bomdila is a pretty nice place to stay for an overnight stop. At almost 3000m it is a nice cool change after the humidity of the Assam plains. I decided to waste a day here and relax in the cool climate (and acclimatize to the higher altitude). Most travelers would probably head off straight away the next morning. From the Sumo stand next to Hotel La bought a ticket for a 6:30 start to Tawang (Rs 280). This time the driver managed to pack 12 into the jeep, making an even more uncomfortable journey. The road to Tawang was even worse than to Bomdila. It was a very slow and torturous trip which took 8 hours. The scenery was amazing with high mountains, steep valleys, waterfalls and interesting looking villages. It would have been so nice to have a car, so I could stop and look and photograph things on the way. The Sela Pass at over 4000m is very impressive; unfortunately the Sumo did not stop here. For this leg of the journey, it would be very worth while hiring your own vehicle, especially if you could share the cost with other like minded tourists. TAWANG (Hotel DungPhoo – yes that’s pronounced Dung Poo!! Despite the unfortunate name, nice comfortable and good value, best of all run by a lovely English speaking lady Rs 450). I stayed 4 nights and had a fantastic time. Tourism has not hit Tawang – get there before it does! The best thing about Tawang is that the local people are so innocent and honest. For example one taxi driver refused to take my fare because he said it was “not very far”. Restaurants would give me little extras for no charge. Nobody tried to rip me off. In fact I was told on many occasions by the local Monpa people, that they pride themselves on being honest. Unfortunately, I suspect this attitude will soon change as tourism develops. Food is not a highlight of Tawang, but you can get all the usual basic dhal and breads as well as good Chinese style food, including noodles. I mostly ate in the little lane leading to the taxi stand, next to the hotel. The highlight was obviously the Tawang Gompa (monastery); at the time there was a Buddhist festival, so the monastery was packed with monks, locals and other worshipers; an amazing sight! Other sites that I visited were the War Memorial (remembering the 1962 China war – note all the Sings that were killed – sobering stuff) and some other Gompas. RETURN TO GUWAHATI – I had read in the Lonely Planet that helicopters flew into Tawang. I had no real interest of catching a helicopter until I found out that it flew every day (weather permitting) and it took only 1 hr to reach Guwahati. Remembering the three torturous days of travel getting to Tawang, I decided to return by helicopter (Rs 3000). It was an absolute highlight and I would highly recommend it to anyone who can afford it. The helicopter is an 18-seater large military style chopper. It had a crew of three (including a Russian pilot) and seemed safe enough. The crew even brings around drinks and lollies and explains everything you can see out the window. Much more than an easy way out of Tawang – it is a sightseeing trip in it’s own right. The chopper flies at low altitude – around 3000m over Bhutan – just between the tops of the mountains and the clouds. The scenery is incredible. It is not easy to get to Tawang, but the effort is a rewarding experience of un-spoilt local tribes, fantastic scenery and a rich exposure to Tibetan Buddhist culture (without going to Tibet) – highly recommended !! PS I never saw another foriegner for the whole trip.

Sep 28th, 2008, 23:21	#2
Sadanand Kamath Maha Guru Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Mumbai, India Posts: 1,044	Thanks for an excellent and informative write up. Sadanand __________________ http://www.sadanandsafar.blogspot.com/

Sep 29th, 2008, 21:45	#4
shahronakm Maha Guru Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Mumbai, India Posts: 1,851	Mikeincairns, Thanks a lot for this information / write up. Excellent picture as well. Ronak. __________________ My Picture Gallery

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Sep 28th, 2008, 23:48	#3
Shyamal Mukherjee shyamal Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Rawatbhata, Rajasthan Posts: 311	Excellent write up and informative. Yes we have been planning to visit Tawang next month and will take the helicopter service while returning. Your feedback will help us to organise in a better way. Thanks a lot Mikeincairns. By the way you mentioned altitude of Bomdila about 3000m. I hope it is around 1600m . Anyway thank you again for such wonderful trip report with photograph. Shyamal

Sep 30th, 2008, 13:27	#6
sharonski Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore Posts: 6	Hi Mikeincairns, This is just what I needed to hear, as my brother and I plan to visit this area in October. Just not clear: did you book a tour beforehand from Oz and how long in advance did you book your permit? All feedback greatly appreciated!

Sep 30th, 2008, 17:03	#7
AnanyaBinayak Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Kolkata Posts: 129	Hi Mike, A great write up and very helpful one. Thanks for sharing all the details.

Oct 1st, 2008, 19:08	#8
rajiv13 Family BackPacker Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Indore, MP (राजीव जैन) Posts: 12	I am planning for trip to Tawang in Nov'08. Whole article will be my guide during visit. Any like minded visiting there during Nov first week ?? Willing to share Tata Sumo from Tezpur-Tawang (With one/two night Stop at Bomdila) We are a Vegetarian family of 2 Adults, 1 Child, & 1 Infant.

Oct 4th, 2008, 17:20	#9
mikeincairns Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Cairns NQ Aust Posts: 21	Hi sharonski - Sorry for late reply. To clarify: I only got permit in Australia. All travel was done in India indepentantly without guides or tourist agent, and I just worked out the plan as I went.

Oct 7th, 2008, 20:18	#10
theyyamdancer lost in Mechuka member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Crete Posts: 4,426	Mike, thank you for a very useful and informative, well-written trip report. Do you recommend asking for the Restricted Area Permit at the same time as we apply for the visa for India? How many days did you spend in Arunachal Pradesh finally? May I take the liberty of sending you a PM to ask you some details?

Oct 11th, 2008, 19:38	#11
mikeincairns Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Cairns NQ Aust Posts: 21	Hi theyyamdancer...I did get my permit from the Indian High Commission in Australia before I left, but this took a lot of phone calls and muckin' about. I am very glad I did though, because I heard it was almost impossible to get in India. Also - my permit allowed me to travel independantly and without a guide (I believe this is unusal). I think it just depends on the person you get in the Embassy - and how persistant you are. In the end I spend around 8 days in Arunuchal (just Bomdila and Tawang). That turned out to be a mistake - I should have used up my whole 15 days allowance and gone to the Zero (?) valley as well. Oh well - there's always next time !!!! Feel free to email me - mike_fairley<at>yahoo.com.au. Please use the subject line India Mike, in case it goes to junk.

Oct 11th, 2008, 19:48	#12
burf wondering when? Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: delhi Posts: 375	great writeup i am now interested in going to Tawang

Oct 11th, 2008, 20:02	#13
theyyamdancer lost in Mechuka member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Crete Posts: 4,426	Thanks, Mike, I have just e-mailed you.

Oct 12th, 2008, 02:26	#14
brishti disMember Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: india Posts: 3,687	awesome write-up mike, thank you :brishti

Oct 17th, 2008, 13:56	#15
sm_thn Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Thane Posts: 14	A nice and informative write-up. I am also visiting Tawang on 28th and 29th of this month. We will be going by Helicopter and return journey will be by road as we are planning to go to nameri and Kaziranga from there.