Beautiful morning
As you would have read in our previous blog, we reached Bomdila under the cover of darkness and were quite tired as well after a long day of riding. Today was going to be another long day on the road so getting an early start was going to be of the essence.
We got up at 7 AM and ventured out into the corridor of our hotel and what a sight it was. Bomdila is at an altitude of 2415m which is not low by any means. We were above the clouds and could see them floating in front of our eyes. The sun was playing hide and seek with the clouds which added to the overall beauty of the place.
After soaking in the atmosphere and snapping some memories, we came back to our room to do the morning activities and have breakfast. We had bought bread and cheese the previous night so it was a simple and easy one. It served the dual purpose of saving both money and time.
Towards Dirang
The morning activities and the breakfast took us around 1.5 hours and we were down by our bike at 8.30 AM. Touring on a bike has its charm, but loading and unloading luggage is certainly not one of them. It took us 30 minutes to load everything on our bike and warm it up. It was already 9 AM and the mighty Sela was still some way to go.
But before that, we had to cross another major town of Dirang. There is a famous monastery in Bomdila which we had to skip with the promise of coming back again. We caught a glimpse but could not visit due to a shortage of time.
As it was morning time, kids were going to school when we crossed Bomdila. After crossing the town, it is mostly a downhill ride as Dirang is at a lower altitude of 1560m. The distance to Dirang is roughly 40 Km which we covered in an hour so we were making decent progress. We took a break when we sighted the entrance gate to the town with the Dirang River accompanying us.
As with any town in the hills, the houses dot the slopes with the river flowing below making the scene very picturesque. Dirang is quite a big town with a lot of options to stay, one can either choose to stay in a conventional hotel or there are several campsites along the river.
At Dirang, we fuelled up and lubed the chain for the arduous climb ahead.
The road till Sela
Dirang is the last major town before Sela, although there are smaller ones like Rama Camp and Sapper with few houses and security establishments. The distance of 40 km to Sela from Dirang may seem measly but it is a steep climb from 1560m to 4170m.
After crossing all these small settlements post Dirang, we started the climb towards Sela. The roads were in excellent condition (at least in the initial phase) which made our progress smooth without any drama. We had to take a few stops in between to rest our sore backs. There was complete solitude and pure nature to keep us company.
As we kept climbing, the vegetation started to thin out and eventually, we were above the tree line. The temperature also started to dip, and we were feeling the chills despite the multiple layers covering us. The road condition also started to deteriorate closer to the pass, but it was still manageable. The sun disappeared and we were mostly riding in fog. We also saw the road to the under-construction Sela tunnel which will provide all-weather connectivity between the West Kameng district and the Tawang.
As we inched closer to the pass, the weather got uncomfortably cold and the views got incredibly better.
The mighty Sela
Roughly around 1.30 PM we were finally greeted by “Welcome to Tawang” inscribed on a giant gate. Conversely on the other side is the greeting “Welcome to West Kameng”. We were happy to have finally made it. There were a couple of cafeterias and a monastery at the pass. We crossed the gate and BRO signs welcoming to the Sela Pass with the backdrop of Sela Lake. Throughout the entire perimeter of the lake, there is a paved path where more enthusiast travellers can take a walk. The lakeside is also dotted with prayer flags. One of us went down to the lake to just soak it in, it was a task in itself walking at that altitude. We were desperate to eat momo but there was none so our wait for it on this trip continued.
As we experienced, the weather deteriorates very fast later in the day, hence it is advised to cross it as early as possible. We would have stayed there for half an hour or so and then decided to proceed further.
Jaswant Garh
After Sela, it was more of a downhill till Jaswant Garh which we reached in an hour from Sela amidst the thick fog. The weather was turning for the worse. This is a war memorial to remember the bravery of Indian soldiers during the 1962 war with China. It specifically stands in memory of rifleman Jaswant Singh who gave his life battling the intruders.
The whole place was under renovation so there were no visitors and most of the places were not open. Still, we visited and paid respects at whatever places were accessible.
We were then caught in a heavy downpour which lasted for 30 minutes. Spent those minutes reading and knowing the significance of the memorial.
The final push to Tawang
Being in the north-eastern part of the country, it becomes dark quite early and time was already closer to 5 PM. We crossed Jung late in the evening and encountered some terrible under-construction roads that slowed us to a halt. After Jung, we crossed a bridge with water ferociously gushing beneath.
After crossing this bridge, it was all climb till Tawang. We relied on Google Maps for most of this trip. While it was accurate for the most part, it let us down when we needed it the most. We were closer to Tawang, riding in the dark and the maps kept showing us some non-existent roads or roads which passed through restricted Army areas. We had to ditch the robots and call upon humanity to save us from this predicament.
We finally made it to the centre of the town at around 7 PM which was already in closing mode. Had a booking near SBI main market Tawang, however, discovered that it had no secured parking to keep our rented bike. The hotel was good but we were in two minds if it would be safe to leave the rental bike in open. We explored a few other options nearby and then settled on a hotel which was next to our original choice.
One last thing to be done was to satisfy our hunger pangs. Checked out some restaurants in the market area. One seemed very good, but the prices were very high. Therefore, we went back to our hotel and ordered our favourite simple food there, Mix Veg, Dal, Roti and Rice. This was going to be the most popular combination throughout our entire trip.
We then retired to our beds, exhausted, tired but satisfied, dreaming about what the next day had in store for us.
Hope you have enjoyed reading till here, see you with our Day 3 adventure.
