Rugged Beauty of Tawang. Review on Tawang

Couple of months back we completed our Arunachal Tour. On the date of 1st November, 2017 night we entered Tawang. It was the final destination.Oho. I mean Tawang was the last destination of our trip. There are several amazingly scenic routes for sightseeing in Arunachal Pradesh. We took the Tezpur, Bhalukpong, Bomdila, Dirang, Sela Pass and Tawang route. A lot.I mean it.a lot of journey is involved in reaching Tawang from Guwahati. The road until Bhalukpong is very good. But then it seems endless mountains of landslides over landslides. After the trip we nicknamed Arunachal as mountain of landslides. At times we really felt that it may be our Final Destination. Although we got beautiful clear weather almost throughout.

Once you reach there you will feel it's worth visiting. Even in some stretches of road you will be really thrilled by the untouched and raw natural beauty of Arunachal. It is like a wild girl who is gaining her womanhood. A little unstable but at the same time ravishing.

Tawang is a comparatively smaller hill station. Moreover these areas are still lesser developed mainly due to their geographical position and to some extent due to political indifference.

Tawang is full of military establishments due to the vicinity of the nefarious China. There was a brutal Chinese attack quite a long time back in the year of 1962. The chinese army battled at Nuranang and almost proceeded to Sela Pass. A lot of Indian soldiers as well as few civilians had lost their lives here.

There is a beautiful monastery in the heart of the town which is called Tawang Monastery. It is the largest in India and the second largest monastery in the world. It will easily take a few hours to see the whole of it. A 20ft Buddha idol is elegantly sitting in the main building. Definitely climb the stairs to the second floor. The light and the colour of the paintings have created an excellent soothing ambience inside.

A war memorial is also there in Tawang in the memory of the brave martyrs like Jaswant Singh Rawat and more than 2400 soldiers who laid down their lives for mother India. The memorial regularly hosts light and sound shows depicting the Indo China War of 1962& 1964.

But the actual beauty of Tawang as well as our Arunachal Tour is the Sangster Lake. This lake is lovingly called Madhuri Lake since the beauty had danced here during the shooting of her film Koyla. As I heard from the locals that this breath taking lake was actually created by an unfortunate event of earthquake followed by severe landslides. A village uphill was totally uprooted and all came down making a gorge where the lake was formed later.

The place is so serene and beautiful that you will definitely fall in love at the first sight. The cloud in the blue sky reflecting in the clear water of this lake is mesmerising. On one side there is a barren mountain and on the others there are lush green mountains. It's like an artist's perfect landscape. The burnt tree trunks inside this lake is another speciality. The road from Tawang town to this Lake is so barren and so lovely that you will feel like walking all along.

This lake can be seen almost 15 minutes before reaching it from the mountain top. Do stop your car here and spend atleast half an hour. You will remember me.

The most interesting part is that all of a sudden just two minutes before entering the Lake the whole barren area turns all green.

Moreover there is an Indian Flag flying high in the backdrop of the cloudy mountains which will surely fuel you up with intense patriotism. A full day will seem not enough. If you are a walker then you may make a round of the Lake which is truly worthy.

There is also an eatery here maintained by our beloved Indian Army.

During our visit we saw an Army cafe named Gamrala at an altitude of 14615 ft on the way. You may have some snacks here if you like. There is a view point up here. The flat land with lot of curved roads and few water bodies in the backdrop of the mountains under the clear blue sky is quite a view.

You will also witness a Gurdwara excitingly built on the wall of a barren mountain. If you like to reach it there are lot of iron stairs which will take you to the top.

There are several other lakes around this place which are all beautiful. To name, Nagula and PTSO Lake are two of them.

Bumla Pass is another tourist spot situated at an altitude of 15200 ft. It is the Indo China Border. You will definitely feel for the soldiers posted here. It is completely barren land with oxygen less strong winds.

Most of the tourists on tight schedule and budget will try to cover both the spots in one day. But this is not advisable according to me. Get the best of the Lake in the first half of the day when the sky remains clear and weather beautiful. Then again the next day travel to Bumla in the first half of the day. Though it will cost almost twice for the car expense. But you will be happy to remember your journey forever.

Tips: Fooding is not at all standard in Tawang and oddly expensive. Even the best restaurant in town is not able to make a plate of decent momo let alone any other dish. Lodging is just ok. Car will take almost Rs. 5000/- for each day sight seeing. Tawang market is too costly. Although varieties of stylish jackets are sold here which are all available in metros or online stores at half the rate. But you have to understand that there is a huge transportation cost involved here. Better not to take kids to Bumla Pass due to the scarcity of oxygen at that height. But kids do adapt better than adults. Snow started just after 20 days from our return. So if you want snow you have to visit there starting last week of November onwards.

That's it on Tawang my friends. Ciao.

#MouthShutTraveller