India Travel Blog Newsletter

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Below is a copy of India Travel Blog Newsletter that was mailed out on May 30.

The India Travel Blog newsletter dispatch is sporadic and infrequent, but I try to send it out once a month. Last newsletter was circulated on 2nd May. To get this occasional newsletter, which announces important happenings in India Travel Blog and also summarizes the recent content, subscribe to it by keying in your email id on the box at the top-right corner

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Hello,
Thank you for subscribing to India Travel Blog Newsletter. Feel free to forward this mail to any one you know who would be interested.

This May has been the most active month ever in India Travel Blog, with 22 posts made in the month and at least 2 more to go. This month is also the first time that the average page views over the month on India Travel Blog has crossed 1000 views per day.

This month, I completed writing about two major places in the North East - Eaglenest National Park and Tawang. My journey to Tawang was an eventful and memorable one, and writing about it made me recall it fondly.

Other than the north east diaries, following content was added to the blog in May.

1. Book Review - Tales from the Torrid Zone by Alexander Frater

2. Spiritual Journeys - A meditation retreat

3. Pictures from my recent trek to Thadiyandamol peak spread over many posts.

In the coming month, I am going to be back on the road again, travelling to Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh. I will be away for the first three weeks of June, and updates are most likely going to be sporadic, if at all. Once I return, I shall continue writing about more places about North East, on which I still have a lot more to write and lots of pictures to post.

Happy Travelling and Happy Reading!

-from India Travel Blog

Compilation of Posts on Tawang

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Travelling in the North-East in the summer of 2006
Guwahati >> Eaglenest >> Tawang >> Nameri >> Kaziranga >> Shillong >> Cherrapunjee
+Go to the beginning of the series

1. Travelling from Eaglenest to Tawang - I
2. Travelling from Eaglenest to Tawang - II
3. At Tawang Monastery
4. PTSO - Snow and the lakes beyond Tawang
5. About Tawang
6. Returning from Tawang

Returning from Tawang..

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Travelling in the North-East in the summer of 2006
Guwahati >> Eaglenest >> Tawang >> Nameri >> Kaziranga >> Shillong >> Cherrapunjee
+Previous: In and Around Tawang
+Next: Nameri National Park
+Go to the beginning of the series

We did not stay for long at Tawang and headed back after two days. The journey on the way back was uneventful. We retraced the same path via Sela pass, Dirang and Bomdila. We had thoughts of staying at the beautiful town of Dirang for the night, but the hotels there were all booked. So we moved further and halted for the night at Tenga village. The only reason we chose the place was that it was familiar to us, as it was the gateway to Eaglenest and we knew a few people there.

We started easy next morning towards Assam. The road from Tenga to Bhalukpong is very pretty and goes through some thick undisturbed evergreen forest. We continued down the Bomdila - Tezpur highway in Assam to Haathi gate, where we were planning to stay for the night in an angling camp bordering Nameri National Park. It was late in the afternoon when we reached there. We checked in at the angling camp and spent rest of the evening walking around the place.

In an Around Tawang

Monday, May 28, 2007

Travelling in the North-East in the summer of 2006
Guwahati >> Eaglenest >> Tawang >> Nameri >> Kaziranga >> Shillong >> Cherrapunjee
+Previous: At Tawang - Snow and Lakes
+Next: Returning from Tawang
+Go to the beginning of the series

Tawang is not very different from any town on a hill in the Himalayas. People are friendly, and everything you buy is expensive! My friend wanted to get some clothes washed and ironed in 24 hours, and expressed his shock when he heard the prices. The lady of the laundry laughed and replied - "Yeh Tawang hai saab.." - "This is Tawang sir!"

It is a small town with a small city center crowded with a few hotels, some military presence at one end of the town and the monastery at the other end. Petrol is not available in or anywhere a few 100 kilometers around Tawang. The only fuel station serves Diesel but don't expect stocks to be available all the time. The 5-6 hotels that you find around the city center tend to be full most of the time during the tourist season. There are no upmarket hotels or resorts, so if you are used to comforts, be prepared to live without it while you are in Tawang.


Kids waiting for school bus in Tawang

We also took a short trip to a village near Tawang. Surprising, men are not to be seen anywhere in and around the villages and people you see are usually women and children. Agriculture seems to be the primary source of income for most families. Unlike in the rest of the high ranges, we did not see much of livestock though most people eat non-vegetarian food. Wood seems to be the primary source of fuel in the houses. Hardly anyone in the village seemed to own any automobiles.


A woman belonging to local Mumpa Tribe

Most businessmen in Tawang are outsiders. Like the tourists, these businessmen also need to get permits to be in Arunachal. A restaurateur said he is from Rajasthan and they need to renew their residential permits every year. There were many Bengalis too. Tourism, though is a happening thing in Tawang, doesn't seem to be an organized industry and is not contributing much to the local economy yet, but things may change in the days to come. The few hotels and restaurants in the town were not exactly customer friendly. One night in a restaurant when we gave our orders, we were rudely told to order the same thing for everyone so that it is easy to prepare. Next morning, another guy told that us that sandwiches and parathas are available, and when we ordered parathas, he said it is a pain to make them and will serve sandwich for all instead!


ABOUT TAWANG

Tawang is a faraway place by any standards. Bluntly speaking, unless you are very keen, you are better off travelling somewhere else instead of getting to Tawang. Not to deny the fact that the way is beautiful and so are the regions above Tawang. But the road is very long from Tezpur and feels monotonous at times. And you can't move around freely in the region above Tawang, since it is controlled by army. You need permits, and then you can go only in the designated path. You don't have any options of staying or camping in the higher regions as you are expected to be back in Tawang before sunset. Monastery is a nice place, but not really inspiring enough to travel that far.

To reach Tawang, you need to start from Tezpur, which is 5 hours by bus from Guwahati. Although I can't recollect exactly how long does it take(we split it into two days), it should take more than 16 hours of driving between Tezpur and Tawang. People usually hire Tata Sumos for the journey. If you intend to split the journey, you can choose to stay in Tenga, Bomdila or Dirang. Book your accommodation in these places in advance, especially if you intend to stay in Dirang. You also have a limited number of buses plying between Tezpur and Tawang. It is better to plan your journey properly and book your bus tickets and hotels in advance.

The most important place to see in Tawang in the monastery. PTSO and surrounding high altitude region have some beautiful lakes. Sela pass on the way is a nice stop-over. I suggest skipping Madhuri falls near Jung.

Preparing for the mountains..

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Mridula's post on sunburns provoked me to make this entry. She says - "Every trip in which we trek, I get sunburned." That's very likely to happen to everyone who is at the mountains because of rarefied air and strong sun up there. But some preparation helps to avoid it completely. Here is a list of everything you need to be prepared for the mountains.

1. Carry a sun screen. This is a necessity because of the strong sun in higher regions. If your journey takes you above the treeline, you must have this with you. It is generally recommended to use sunscreen with SPF 30, but I have seen that anything more than SPF 15 will do. For the uninitiated, SPF is Sun Protection Factor, a measure of how much your lotion can protect you from the sun. The larger the number the more protection. Products available in the market usually have SPF from 15 to 30. And when you apply the sunscreen, along with your face, don't forget to apply it behind the neck too. This is an area most people forget to apply sunscreen on, and end up with burns.

Update(16-Jun-07): From my recent experience in the mountains, may be it is better to use sunscreen of SPF 30 and above. A SPF 15 worked fine but needed repeated re-application through the day.

2. Goggles. I recommend using them every time you go out anywhere in summer, not just mountains. And if you are likely to touch snowline, never ever go without these. Intense snow can hurt your eyes so much that spending four hours in sun where there is plenty of snow can cause swelling in and around the eyes. Use good quality stuff, not the cheap plasticky ones.

3. If your skin is sensitive to sun, carry a good, wide hat that ensures shade all over your face.

4. If you have dry skin or likely to get skin problems in winter, carry moisturizer and a lip gel. You can easily suffer from dry skin in cold weather and your lips could bleed.

This is pretty much all that you require to come back home with your skin completely unharmed. But I often wonder how people in the mountains manage to do without any of these. May be it is in their genes?

At Tawang - Snow and Lakes

Friday, May 25, 2007

Travelling in the North-East in the summer of 2006
Guwahati >> Eaglenest >> Tawang >> Nameri >> Kaziranga >> Shillong >> Cherrapunjee
+Previous: Tawang Monastery
+Next: In and around Tawang
+Go to the beginning of the series

When we headed towards the region above Tawang towards the country's border, we were not sure what we are up to seeing. The road went up steep and within no time we had gone really high from Tawang. We had to pass several military barricades on the way, and we noticed that army had cut down a large number of alpine trees all over the slope. After 30 minutes of drive we started seeing snow which was melting fast, and plenty of water flowing down from each snow pile.



A little later, the road was getting flat again and the slopes had mellowed down. Thats when we saw our first surprise. I shouted when I looked at the beautiful lake amidst the snow - 'look there..!'. We got down for a few photographs of the pretty lake and walked all around it. What I did not know was that there are many more to come. As we moved forward, we kept seeing lake after lake, each one surrounded by thick snow, and each one prettier than the previous. It all looked heavenly. I never imagined seeing so many beautiful water bodies in such a short distance.



There was no one around to tell, but from whatever I gathered from the signs, I think the region is called PTSO, whatever it stands for. We kept driving and stopping at short distances. We would hop into the jeep for a few minutes and then someone would shout a 'look, one more..!' and we would stop again and walk around another lake. It was evening when we headed back. On the slopes, the waterways created on the snow melting through the day had made some beautiful scaly patterns.



It was an incredible and short lived experience high in the mountains. The beautiful region was access controlled by the army and we have little freedom of movement. It depressed me to think of the neighbors that we have, who have forced our warriors to live in the harsh environs like this to protect our lands, be it in Siachin, Arunachal or Sikkim. It depressed me to think that such beautiful regions have to be restricted from us who worship the beauty that these mountains are. And C'est la vie is all I could say about it.

At Tawang - The Monastery

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Travelling in the North-East in the summer of 2006
Guwahati >> Eaglenest >> Tawang >> Nameri >> Kaziranga >> Shillong >> Cherrapunjee
+Previous: From Eaglenest to Tawang - II
+Next: At Tawang - Snow and Lakes
+Go to the beginning of the series

The first thing that comes into the mind when talking about Tawang is the the monastery. And that is where we headed next morning.


The monastery, blue skies and the snow caps

Tawang Monastery is said to be the largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in India and second largest in the entire world. It did not look very big in size though. When we went there, the morning prayers were finished and it was quiet inside. We were the only people inside, though we found a few people and monks wandering around the monastery.


Buddha statue at the monastery

We walked in and spent a few moments in its beautiful interiors. Every inch of the monastery is decorated in bright colors. Several lines of mats are laid out in parallel as seating for prayers, between a tall statue of Buddha and the main entrance. We lit incense sticks and sat inside quietly for a while. I love the prayerful feeling emanated from the interiors of a place of worship, and the quietness of the monastery made it all the more charming.


The Monk's Assets

We struck conversation with a monk student when we came out. He told us a few things about the monastery, and when we requested if we can walk around with him and see his room, he was very obliging. He was happy to help us around, treated us like worthy guests and served us coffee and snacks when we were in his room. The approach to his room was through a narrow wooden staircase that led to his small but warm wooden dwelling, shared by two monks. It was a neatly arranged place with many books, tools of prayer and pictures of worship. A tape-recorder and a some Hindi movie tapes were a few things that seemed out of place!



Smiles..


More Smiles..


and more smiles..


even more smiles..

One thing that often strikes me with the Tibetans is how friendly and open they are. I see them smiling and happy all the time. They open up very easily and without any qualms, and seem to be comfortable with anyone at any time. It is the same story I have seen with the Tibetan Buddhists in all places. I don't know if it is something in their blood or if it is their practices that keep them so alive. Even children are friendly, open and smiling all the time. The monk we met was also extremely humble and seemed to follow the phrase 'athithi devobhava' in every instance, even with us strangers. We saw so many smiling faces all around Tawang in the day, it would take many months to see so much smiles anywhere else!

From Eaglenest to Tawang - II

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Travelling in the North-East in the summer of 2006
Guwahati >> Eaglenest >> Tawang >> Nameri >> Kaziranga >> Shillong >> Cherrapunjee
+Previous: From Eaglenest to Tawang - I
+Next: At Tawang Monastery
+Go to the beginning of the series

The part of the journey from Sela pass to Tawang was exciting. Soon after we crossed Sela, it was colder and we kept seeing patches of snow here and there. The valley beyond Sela was equally gorgeous as the one before - deep and wide and with great vistas.


The enormous mountains and valleys of the Himalayas make us feel humble

We now started driving down into the valley, which we had to cross and climb up again to reach Tawang. The road here passed between a few pine trees here and there, small streams emerging from melting ice and military barracks now and then. We were just getting hungry after the long journey when we arrived at Jaswant Garh.

Jaswant Garh is a place out of nowhere. It hosts a monument to Jaswant Singh, an army man who is known to have single handedly tackled an enemy Battalion during Chinese occupation of Arunachal. We stopped to take a look at the monument and walked around a bit. Army has a small snack shop near the monument where we had a cup of much needed coffee before moving ahead.


A Yak looks at us with curiosity

A little more driving took us to some nice views of the valley, where we could see Tawang far away on the other side, and some habitation just below us. We stopped here for some time to rest and enjoy the views. It was later hours of the afternoon with some haze filling the valley, but the layers of mountains around us still looked beautiful. The realization of the scales of the mountains and valleys of Himalayas always manage to humble the tiny bodies that are us. A few yaks(or is it dzo?) were grazing around and looked at us with keen interest.



The Gompa near Jung village


Jung village

The habitation nearby turned out to be the Buddhist village of Jung. A small Gompa with a beautiful golden colored crest stood at the entrance of the village. The place itself is a small hamlet with a few wooden huts and brick houses and little else. We stopped to take a look at the village but did not see any elders around. A bunch of enthusiastic kids were playing with a bicycle on the road, and when my friend aimed his camera at them, got all happy and excited. But another set of small kids looked confused at the camera and wondered how to react.


Some Children playing in the village...


..and some more looking at us confused

Apparently a Hindi movie named Koyla, starring Shahrukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit was shot here. There is a waterfall nearby which is now called Madhuri falls! We drove past the village and crossed the valley over a bridge. My friend wanted to take a picture of the pretty bridge, but was chased away by an army man. It seems they had four of them guarding that bridge!

On our way further, we noticed a few monasteries high on the hills and away from the motor road. Long and winding steps descended from these monasteries to the motor road, and it was easy to say that reaching there is not all that easy. Equally hard would be carrying supplies to the place. I guess they are deliberately kept farther away in a difficult to access place, which would ensure some quietness to the monks and also provide them with some physical activity.

As we drove up towards Tawang, we went past a few more villages. Many villagers were breaking stones and working on the road. It was nearly evening and some were packing off from work. A bunch of young girls flagged our Sumo, and we packed them along in our vehicle. They were high-school going girls who were using their vacation days to make some money by working on road construction. They were bubbly and enthusiastic lot - the typical feature you see with people in the Buddhist regions. Once in the vehicle, they started chattering and set our vehicle in a very enjoyable mood for the next fifteen minutes.


she was full of smiles.. and full of joy..

It was already dark when we reached Tawang. We drove around the town looking for hotels and a good number of them were fully occupied. After looking around in 3-4 places, we finally found a place to settle down. It was a long journey from dawn to dusk, and an eventful one indeed.

From Eaglenest to Tawang - I

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Travelling in the North-East in the summer of 2006
Guwahati >> Eaglenest >> Tawang >> Nameri >> Kaziranga >> Shillong >> Cherrapunjee
+Previous: About Eaglenest National Park
+Next: From Eaglenest to Tawang - II
+Go to the beginning of the series

We left Eaglenest after a week in it's beautiful wilderness. We hired a Tata Sumo which picked us up around 6am.

I knew the distance to Tawang, but in the Himalayas, knowing the distance doesn't mean you can tell how long it takes to get there. We drove and drove and drove and Tawang still remained far off. But unlike many other journeys I have made, and unlike my usual resentment to journeys, I loved this one.

We stopped at Bomdila first to shop for some clothes for the higher region. Our next stop was a leisure stroll at the beautiful town of Dirang. We continued to move upwards from here and stopped somewhere on the way for lunch. An hour of drive after lunch, I realized that I had left my jacket at the restaurant during lunch. And it turned out, the lady of the restaurant had kept it aside for me and gave it to me when we were on our way back!


The Sela Pass at 13,700 feet

The ascent continued from here and kept climbing higher and higher for a long distance. There was little habitation after Dirang except for a few patches of military establishments. Later in the afternoon, we were at Sela pass at a good height of 13,700 feet. Sela pass has beautiful views all around it. Vast and steep Himalayan valleys on both sides of the pass are great to look at. The pass was also the point where we first encountered snow.


The lake at Sela Pass

We had a surprise waiting for us at the other side of the pass - a small lake with some snow around it. A few Ruddy Shelducks(a kind of duck) were floating in the lake. I was told later by someone in Tawang that they saw a huge pile of them on the lake the previous day. I wished to stop by and walk down to the lake, but it was getting late and we had to keep moving.

And another image...

Monday, May 21, 2007

Probably the last one I have that is worth sharing. Another image from the same place..

And another image...

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Yet another image from the same place..

Another image..

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Another image from the same place..

The beautiful Sahayadri

Friday, May 18, 2007

An image I made recently. I thought of posting a teaser, asking people to identify the location. Then I realized it would not be hard for people who have been reading this blog to guess which place is this. Anyway, do you want give a go at it?



The title of the post and all the tags below offer some clues. If you still don't get it, look at the previous posts.

Himachal questions

Monday, May 14, 2007

I posted some questions about Himachal Pradesh in a forum, but could not get any answers. I am looking some information on travelling in Himachal Pradesh before I head that way next month. Below is what I posted on the forum, if you know anything about these, please do drop a comment and let me know.

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I am planning to rent a bike in Manali and drive around in Himachal Pradesh for a week. From whatever research I have done, it is possible to rent Bullet 500cc or 350cc bikes, but I did not see mention of modern bikes. I am not too particular to hire a Bullet and would rather prefer a Pulsar or equivalent and if they are not available, may be smaller bikes. Bajaj Avenger is my ideal choice though.

I will be on Manali approximately on 5th of June.

Now the info I am looking for.

1. I am wondering if any of these bikes can be hired in Manali or Bullets are the only available choice.

2. I have nearly a week for biking ex-Manali. I am thinking of riding to Darcha and back to Manali, and then via Kunzum La to Kaza and back. I presume road to Darcha would be bikeable anyway, but how about the road to Kaza? Is it worth taking? Or should I simply head to Leh instead?

3. I also want to bike to Sangla, but doing it from Manali would be too much. Will there be any bikes available for rent in Shimla?

Thanks in advance for all the information.

Spiritual Journeys

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Backpacking, adventure travel, sightseeing, leisure travel, driving trips are all sorts of things you can see on India Travel Blog. A spiritual journey is another addition.

I have made many such journeys, some half spiritual and some completely. My trips to Rishikesh and Varanasi did have a spiritual angle to it but not entirely; seeing the places was the main agenda. But once in a while, I escape from the everyday world and spend a few days in a spiritual retreat, meditating and looking inwards.

I spent the last five days at the Art of Living center in Bangalore and have just returned back refreshed. The changes that come after five days of grind and torture are amazing. After all these days of sitting almost entire day with legs folded and pain all over the body, trying hard to follow strange instructions and trying harder not to break off in the middle and runaway, life suddenly looks a lot more better than it was five days ago. There is new energy and enthusiasm, a will to go for anything, a never fading smile and happiness oozing from every part of the body.


Meditation hall and amphitheater at the Art of Living Center, Bangalore

The intricacies and details of things spiritual are beyond my comprehension and I would rather not get into details of all the things we did on these five days and what we felt every day. Often it all looked strange and we wonder what is going on. It is not exactly pleasant when you are there, and sitting on the floor for long hours can be a pain. Some yoga exercises feel like no less than a torture and it is not surprising if you feel like running away at the end of your first day itself. But those who manage to hold on and complete(every one did) seem to find a new vigor in life and appear full of happiness and smiling all the time.

End of five days, I feel sufficiently energized that I am already thinking when should I consider another such meditation retreat!

Wildlife Destinations on India Travel Blog

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Over the last (almost)two year, I have compiled information and travelogues on many National Parks of India, from south to north and even in the north-east. The latest additions are Eaglenest National Park. Summer is the best time to visit the parks, and some of them will be closed for visitors during monsoons. So if you had plans to see wildlife and wilderness, it is time to get ready and head that way quickly. Here is all you can read about wildlife sanctuaries and national parks of India on India Travel Blog.

1. Bandipur National Park
2. Corbett National Park trip report and images
3. Rajaji National Park
4. Periyar Tiger Reserve
5. Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary
6. Eaglenest national Park
7. Nameri National Park
8. Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary
9. Wayanad(Muthanga and Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary)
10. Nagarahole(Rajiv Gandhi) National Park
11. Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary
12. Trekking in Kanchenjunga National Park - trip report and images

I am yet to write about two more places I have visited - Kaveri Wildlife Sanctuary and Banneraghatta National Park, both near Bangalore.

Compilation of Posts on Eaglenest

Monday, May 07, 2007

Travelling in the North-East in the summer of 2006
Guwahati >> Eaglenest >> Tawang >> Nameri >> Kaziranga >> Shillong >> Cherrapunjee
+Go to the beginning of the series

1. Journey to Eaglenest
2. About Vacation for Conservation in Eaglenest
3. First day at Eaglenest
4. Birding and Walking in the next few days
5. Haathi Trail
6. About Eaglenest National Park