[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Travelogues Section. Thanks for sharing!

[himavanth_m]

Day 11: PT Tso Lake and Tawang Monastery

We had been in a hurry for the past 10 days and day 11 was supposed to be a leisure day. So we got up late due to which, we could not get permits upto Bum La near the China border. We roamed around the streets of Tawang upto lunch time for some souvenirs.

Streets of Tawang.


Again the drive towards PT Tso Lake took us through some fantastic landscapes.


Wild horses grazing on the slopes of these mountains


We enter the India's highest shooting range, which is at 14,000 feet


After traveling about 24 KMs that took approximately 1.5 hours, we finally reached PT Tso Lake.


PT Tso Lake Information:


The first view of the heart shaped Lake


PT Tso lake or Penga Teng Tso is at an altitude of 13,000 feet and it is in the shape of a heart. This serene looking lake is located amidst sensational natural beauty.There is a trail to walk around the lake. In winter times, the show will completely change the look of this lake. This lake also holds a spiritual importance to Buddhism

Some more pics of the lake



One can see the trail around the lake in this pic.


The fog quickly took over and within minutes, the lake disappeared behind the wall of fog


The safari parked and looking at what road she must travel in


And the drive back showed some scenes that were not seen on our way up.


The next stop was Tawang Monastery.
Tawang Monastery

The Famous Gaden Namgyal Lhatse, popularly known as Tawang Monastery was founded by Merak Lama Lodre Gyatso in the year 1680-81. The monastery stands on the spur of a hill, about 10,000 feet above sea level and has ravines in the south and west, narrow ridge on the north and gradual slope on the east. It offers a commanding and picturesque view of the Tawang-chu valley. From a distance it appears like a fort as if guarding the votaries in the wide valley below. Tawang monastery is the largest of its kind in the country and is one of the larges t monasteries in Asia. Though it has the capacity for housing about seven hundred monks, the actual number of resident lamas (monks) at present is a little more than 450. This monastery is the fountain-head of the spiritual life of the people of this region.

Tawang is also the birthplace of 6th Dalai Lama.

The entrance to the monastery


And yes, the steep and narrow inclined road leading upto the monastery.


Once we enter the monastery, it opens into wide open space with buildings on three sides. On the left, is a temple, on the right is a museum and straight ahead is an administrative block. There is a huge pillar at the center of this open area.

Pic showing the temple (on the left) and administrative block (straight)


And the Museum on the right


The Name of the Museum


Beautiful paintings on the wall.


Towards the side of the temple is a narrow walkway that leads us to the quarters of the Monks.


I do not know what this building is for behind the temple.


We headed back to hour hotel and we retired early. The next day our plan was to hit Tezpur. We wanted to start by 4 AM and exit Arunachal Pradesh.

Summary:
75,596 - Tawang
75,624 - PT Tso Lake
75,646 - Back to the hotel
KMs - 50 KMs and visited PT Tso Lake and Tawang Monastery. A leisurely day for us.

Next up: Drive back to Tezpur

[bond_bhai]

This is an amazing Travelogue! Read it all, from first post to the last! Good Adventure, makes me want to do it on My Palio!

[bharat4ever]

What a travelogue! Makes me want to get a Safari as my next car! Kudos on your trip!

[Jignesh]

Hello,

I am speechless. This is one fantastic Travelogue. 16 days - 7500 kms on self drive is a amazing achievement. Heartliest Congratualations to all of you on completing this journet safely & successfully. I went through your entire travelogue in one go & boy, I was really amazed. The photographs are really great & the raods are tempting.

Also your visit to War Memorial was indeed heart touching. Infact any visit to War Memorials makes us salute these real heros who laid their life for future of this wonderful Country.

By the way who did most of the driving? Or all four of you drove turn by turn?

Thanks,

[Jeash.vk]

great T Log Himavanth. Great narration and amazing details. Loved the way you take us through the finer details. And along with the pictures & vidoes (especially the one where Tata Sumo is slipping sideways) you gave me the feeling that I was part of your journey. Thank you very much for sharing.

Quick Q: Did you 4 guys share the driving load equally or you doing the lion's share and the others pitching in. Or - Best of all - Did you do this all on your own?

[himavanth_m]

Originally Posted by bond_bhai

This is an amazing Travelogue! Read it all, from first post to the last! Good Adventure, makes me want to do it on My Palio!

Hope your plan works out. All these places are definitely reachable in a Palio. I have seen many Altos ply in Tawang. They mention that we went to Tawang during the worst time possible. Otherwise, any vehicle will be able to make it there.

Originally Posted by bharat4ever

What a travelogue! Makes me want to get a Safari as my next car! Kudos on your trip!

Yes, the Safari gives a lot of freedom to travel. But a Safari comes with its own set of niggles. It is highly reliable car (or truck), but constant rattles from interiors and other QC issues need constant monitoring. Hopefully they fix all this in the Safari Storme.

Originally Posted by Jignesh

Hello,

I am speechless. This is one fantastic Travelogue. 16 days - 7500 kms on self drive is a amazing achievement. Heartliest Congratualations to all of you on completing this journet safely & successfully. I went through your entire travelogue in one go & boy, I was really amazed. The photographs are really great & the raods are tempting.

Also your visit to War Memorial was indeed heart touching. Infact any visit to War Memorials makes us salute these real heros who laid their life for future of this wonderful Country.

By the way who did most of the driving? Or all four of you drove turn by turn?

Originally Posted by Jeash.vk

great T Log Himavanth. Great narration and amazing details. Loved the way you take us through the finer details. And along with the pictures & vidoes (especially the one where Tata Sumo is slipping sideways) you gave me the feeling that I was part of your journey. Thank you very much for sharing.

Quick Q: Did you 4 guys share the driving load equally or you doing the lion's share and the others pitching in. Or - Best of all - Did you do this all on your own?

Thanks for the kind words and all your comments about my trip makes me want to do more. I will plan for Leh next year . And yes, the War memorial was an experience that cannot be described. One has to reach these memorials to get the experience.

As far as the driving is concerned, I have done the bulk of the driving( more than 6800KMs of the total 7500). The only place where others pitched in was on the 4 lane road from Vizag to Kolkata on our onward journey, when I took a short nap, and some time on the return journey, again on the 4 laned road.
Again I would like to believe that I did all this on my own, but without their company , this trip would not be possible. The navigation by the person sitting beside me, constant chit chatting from the people behind us, spoon feeding me with food and water while I was driving, making constant jokes and each one wanting to explore some new area made this trip a memorable one for all of us. The good thing about us is that we all love one thing, that is to travel a lot until exhaustion sets in.

More pics of the return journey coming up

[Sutripta]

Great that you had an experience of a lifetime.
Will enquire about the Phuntsoling vehicle free on Tuesdays.

Regards
Sutripta

[gajadonga]

Excellent writeup and good pictures.
Really appreciate all the members for their endurance and the enthusiasm to explore new places.
The route from Bomdila to Tawang seems to bad with lots of slush.The vehicle has
taken this road well and some good skills from your driving.
Did you any time feel that you should turn back on your long run road trip due to bad road conditions.

[//M]

Whoa what a travelogue. An amazing read. Bhutan is such a lovely place and I wish to do such a trip in the future and this is the travelogue to be referred.

Rated it a truly deserving 5-stars !!

[hvkumar]

The "perfect bad" time to go to Bhutan & Arunachal, but I guess the greenery made up for it.

During the dry season, all roads in Bhutan are superb, better than any of the Himalayan roads in India.

Originally Posted by himavanth_m

We crossed Ganges at Farakka in the night. The police there asked us to switch off lights and drive on the bridge in a convoy. The bridge is very close to Bangladesh border, but we did not understand the reason to switch off lights. The locals also did not help in telling us the reason behind this. Could anyone specify the reason for asking us to switch off lights while on the bridge during the night?

Once you switch off the headlights, they can see teh car & its occupants with the help of their flash lights.

Originally Posted by himavanth_m

We reached Bhalukpong at 1 PM. At the border the police stopped the vehicle. The asked us to park the vehicle at the checkpost, enter Arunachal Pradesh to the office, take permits and return to the vehicle. So we would indeed get the permits at Arunachal Pradhesh - Assam Border 24x7. However there in problem. The Govt. officer was not in office as it was Sunday and he was at home. However as we walked a couple of minutes, we found a shop owner who said he would send a person to the officer's house and get us ILP. We got the ILP from his house after providing necessary documents. By the time we got permits it was 3PM. We also had our lunch while getting the ILP.

We immediately showed the ILP at the police checkpost and were soon given green signal to enter Arunachal Pradesh.

Good to know that you can also get the permit at Bhalukhpong check post. Any idea if this is possible at other check posts also? I don't think so because I have been to other check posts and you have to have your permits in advance to go past.

[gajadonga]

[quote=himavanth_m;2868984]

We crossed Ganges at Farakka in the night. The police there asked us to switch off lights and drive on the bridge in a convoy. but we did not understand the reason to switch off lights. Could anyone specify the reason for asking us to switch off lights while on the bridge during the night?

Even when I crossed this bridge in the afternoon I was told at the checkpost in the local language that I did not understand.While crossing the bridge I overtook
an eight seater auto after crossing the bridge I was stopped and the security gaurd gave me his peice of mind which I noded initially and then I understood
that overtaking on the bridge is also prohibited.

[himavanth_m]

Originally Posted by gajadonga

I understood that overtaking on the bridge is also prohibited.

Yes, overtaking is prohibited on the bridge. Thankfully I saw the signboard and so I did not attempt to overtake.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

The "perfect bad" time to go to Bhutan & Arunachal, but I guess the greenery made up for it.

During the dry season, all roads in Bhutan are superb, better than any of the Himalayan roads in India.

Once you switch off the headlights, they can see teh car & its occupants with the help of their flash lights.

Firstly, thanks a lot for all the inputs during our planning phase.

Actually, the road widening work is going on across the entire West-east highway. So as such the conditions were bad especially after WanduePhodrang. The monsoons just made those roads worse and slushy. Now couple this with 3 or 4 landslides that happend just 3 to 4 days prior to our journey, and you can imagine the plight of the road. But I agree that the worst part of road in Bhutan Highway is better than the best part of the road between Bomdila and SeLa Pass.

And thanks for the info about Farakka Bridge. I searched online and could not find the reason.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Good to know that you can also get the permit at Bhalukhpong check post. Any idea if this is possible at other check posts also? I don't think so because I have been to other check posts and you have to have your permits in advance to go past.

Tawang is a tourist location and Bhalukpong falls right on the way. Hence, for the comfort of the tourists, the permits are given at Bhalukpong. However, I am not sure of if permits are given at other checkposts. I will find out and update you soon.

At Bhalukpong, the permit is not given at checkpost. There is a government office in the school at Bhalukpong. The permits are given by the secretary in charge there. So we have to park our vehicle at entrance, walk all the way to the government building or take a taxi to the govt. building, which is about 1KM from checkpost inside Arunachal, and get the permits. If you want to take your car to the building, we must leave the car's original documents and original licence of the driver at checkpost and enter, take permits, return to checkpost to collect the documents after showing the permits.

These permits are usually given for 10 days only.

Originally Posted by //M

Whoa what a travelogue. An amazing read. Bhutan is such a lovely place and I wish to do such a trip in the future and this is the travelogue to be referred.

Rated it a truly deserving 5-stars !!

Thanks. Yes, the intent of my travelogue was to help future people in their planning

Originally Posted by Sutripta

Great that you had an experience of a lifetime.
Will enquire about the Phuntsoling vehicle free on Tuesdays.

Thanks a lot for all your help during our planning

Originally Posted by gajadonga

Excellent writeup and good pictures.
Really appreciate all the members for their endurance and the enthusiasm to explore new places.
The route from Bomdila to Tawang seems to bad with lots of slush.The vehicle has taken this road well and some good skills from your driving.
Did you any time feel that you should turn back on your long run road trip due to bad road conditions.

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, the road to Tawang was very bad.
At a couple of times we thought of returning back, but not because of bad road conditions. It is because of the potential risk that some of the local people made out to be. They told stories like no car has made it down for the past 3 days, or the road near so and so place is closed because of landslides. But once we touched the slushy part, we never thought twice. We have made it so far, and no matter what we wanted to go ahead. There was no option of returning back, although we pondered frequently on how we would come back the same way once we reach Tawang.


Day 12: Return to the Plains

After a leisurely day at Tawang, the next day we got up at 3 30 AM and started by 4 AM. The aim was to reach Tezpur by night. The same route on our way up took 2 days. With this stretched target we started our journey.

If the way up showed some beautiful views, the way down showed us completely different landscapes.

As usual, the area near SeLa pass is battered with lot of rain and so the streams of water were flowing on the road. The following pic was the worst mistake I made. In order to take a pic of foggy conditions, I got down without second thought. And then I put my feet in the Chilly water. And then, I had to drive the rest of the journey without my shoes and not getting out of the car.


The roads we had to descend on our way down after crossing the SeLa pass.


And then we saw Yaks on our return trip too!


At one point, there was distinct contrast on the road ahead and the road behind.This pic shows the road ahead,


And this pic is from a 180 degree turn of the camera from the above pic.


The drive seemed like our way to the Lord of the Rings sets. The pics are a proof for that. Looks really familiar from the Lord of the Rings.



The valleys of Arunachal Pradesh. To the right of the pic, one can see the slushy road leading us down.


The sun has beaten down the past couple of days and the slushy roads we encountered on our way up was reduced drastically. Only a few places of the 60KM stretch was slushy on the way down. However, the tyres from lorrys made deep ruts with a hump in between, and the mud was hard because it dried up from the sun. It was quite a challenge to tackle these. There was no skidding, but there was a chance of the hard mud hitting the underbelly of the car. We somehow managed without any hit this time.


As we reached Bhalukpong and lower altitudes, the familiar slushy roads invited us.


The last pic of the Safari before we left Arunachal Pradesh.


By the time we reached Tezpur, it was 6:15 PM, a good 2 hours earlier than planned. Hence, we decided to reach Guwahati and then to Shillong the same night itself.

So as we proceeded with our journey and closer to Guwahati, we stopped at 9PM for some diesel. While we were inquiring about the roads to Shillong and then Chirrapunjee, the locals warned us. This warning seemed more serious. There was an Assam Bandh for the next 3 days, and the Bandh would start form 7AM the following day. These bandhs were called upon by the Adivashi tribes of Assam (As per Assam locals) for a separate state or something. I am not sure what the exact news is. There were also some problems about the Child molestation case there in Guwahati.

In order to double check this news, we stopped ever 10 to 15KMs. The news was the same everywhere, 2 to 3 days bandh, which will primarily affect the Shillong route and to some extent in the Siliguri road. We again called up many hotels in Shillong and to ask them about rooms and the conditions, and they too acknowledged the news. Some people even scared us by saying that stones would be hurled at moving vehicles in Assam in these areas. We decided, we had taken enough of risks so far and the best thing was to do an overnight journey and leave Assam as soon as possible.

There are no pics of this drive as the drive was through the night. We took the Boxirhat route and we were in Siliguri by 10 30 AM. At 10:30 AM in Siliguri, we freshened up at the KFC and Subway in a Mall that is right on the NH34. Here we had two options, either to reach Gangtok, spend couple of days and return back or start the return journey and visit some of the beautiful beaches enroute.

By this time, most of us were really bored about the greenery and mountains, so we opted for the second.

Summary:
75,646 - Tawang - 4AM
75,683 - Jung - 5:50AM
75,702 - JaswantGarh - 6:30AM
75,723 - SeLa Pass - 7:20AM
75,829 - Bomdila - 1PM
75,881 - Nechi Chu Pass - 2:40PM ( 5694 Feet)
75,900 - Sessa - 3:30PM
75,829 - Bhalukpong - 4:45 PM
75,896 - Tezpur - 6:15 PM
76,070 - 9 PM Diesel Fuel filling closer to Guwahati

Total distance - 424 KMs in 17 hours. However, it was not the end of the drive. We continued towards Siliguri, and then to Kolkata non stop.

Next up: NH34 experiences, Kharagpur and Gopalpur

[PGA]

Great effort Himavanth, some endurance driving by you guys. I wish you had spent a little more time around in Tawang valley and done it before or after the monsoons. It is breathtakingly beautiful, so very different from western himalayas, green beyond imagination. I did this trip in Apr May 2002 in my M800 and the car won't climb to Bum La, so me and my kids got down at couple of places to push it while my wife sat on the wheel. It was a great journey we all remember that. Roads were good all the way from Tezpur to Tawang except that climb of Se La.
War memorials at Jaswantgarh and Tawang will certainly make your eyes go wet. Imagine 1962, how did our army reach that place. There was no road beyond Bomdila only a mule track. Tawang memorial depicts the bravery of Indian soldier like no other place. Numbers who attained matrydom in that sector should never be forgotten and must be told to our countrymen.
By the way the lake is also known as Madhuri lake, I understand the climax shots of film Koyla were shot in that area.

Cheers and many miles of safe motoring

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by himavanth_m

Some people even scared us by saying that stones would be hurled at moving vehicles in Assam in these areas. We decided, we had taken enough of risks so far and the best thing was to do an overnight journey and leave Assam as soon as possible.

Sensible decision! The norm in Assam is to burn the vehicle! Bandhs in Assam are serious business.