Amazing Arunachal -2

Along-Mechuka

Woke up and walked upto the bus station to get the share jeep to Menchuka. It wasn't a very good start to the day when I saw a motorcyclist being mauled down by a sumo and people trying to get in touch with emergency service and non came for almost 45mins I was there. Later heard the biker had succumbed to his injuries on the road itself. I tried to put the morbid thoughts behind as we started our journey through those long and tough winding roads, one mistake and one could go missing forever! There were bunch of passengers some who got down on the way and some who went all the way to Menchuka.

We stopped for nice hot breakfast on the way and a hot cup of tea in the biting cold tasted out of the world. I spoke to some of the passengers in the jeep and again was thought of as a researcher, one of them mentioned a nice guest house run by a buddhist there. The journey took about 8hrs over the winding roads and huge rainforest like mountains and rivers and towards the end one could catch glimpses of snow peaked mountains. As I got down from the jeep I knew I had arrived!! It seemed as I was transported to a place similar to Mongolia. It was out of the world.

I walked across to the guest house suggested and found a nice little room for just Rs 300. Pema, the guest house owner was there with his 2yr old grandson Pasang. The kid soon started playing with me. The guest house was right infront of an army runway and a bunch of army soties landed and took off. After a hot bowl of maggi and tea I walked around the village and saw some kids playing football.

The evening turned out to be freezing cold and I spent it around the Bukhara (in the kitchen) sipping warm water and talking to Pema, the guest house owner,his daughter and playing with Pasang. Everybody was surprised how soon the kid had become my friend :) That night,I survived the cold wearing two layers of clothes and tucked inside a quilt!
   


Woke up to another cold morning and I was immediately inside the kitchen next to the fire. Slowly, folks got busy and started preparing the breakfast and we waited for the sun to be out and the weather to clear before the trek to the old Gompa.

The foreign group would take a jeep to a certain point and Pema asked me to join them since the tourists didn't want to give me a ride in their big jeep :)  So, I started an hour before them and meet them in between where the trek was suppose to start. Pema, knew all the short routes around the mountains to reach the top. We had to cross through some flaky hanging bridges that was a bit scary and some of the inclines up the hill wasn't easy to navigate, with lots of loose stones It was difficult getting a firm grip even with my trekking shoes. I did have to call out to Pema for a lending hand once or twice. 

Pema at 62 was fighting fit and was racing through the mountains. Finally the Gompa was in sight perched up in the sky. We then climbed down the mountain and walked around fields and again small hills and swampy fields and more hanging bridges to reach the village and then the guest house. After a long day , goobled up the steaming hot momos and noodles soup! The evening was again spent talking around the fireplace while the folks cooked. Then there was some music played on the mobile for entertainment.

I was up early again maybe 4am and it was pitch dark and waited till atleast there was some visibility and tried getting out but it was freezing cold again so just stayed and waited for the kitchen to be open to go near the fireplace. The tourists then left and after a good breakfast I walked upto the gompa where there were young lama boys who opened the gompa for me and then I let them fiddle around with my ipod. They said they had given up being lamas and joined the regular school.

   
The houses around menchuka have mostly buddhists and adi residents. The buddhists houses can be identified by the prayer flags and early morning smoke from the fire they burn. Menchuka is just 30kms from the border and its an army base where frequent army sorties get ration for the soldiers that's again carried forward. There were no roads from Along to Menchuka about 15yrs back and it would take 10days to hike across and those days the only means of communication was the army helicopters.



I spent the rest of the day exploring the place and also lazying around reading a book. I was told that the share jeeps were on strike and the alternate day bus might just arrive and take off next morning. I just had to get to that bus since again there were only alternate day buses from Along to Daparijo, so I blocked a bus seat for next morning. In the evening I was the only traveller around and sat chatting with Pema about reincarnation, buddhism etc. An interesting evening spent around the fire.


Woke up at 4am to catch the bus at 5am and found there were quite a few passengers without a seat in the rickety bus braving the journey of 10hrs. The bus was the only means to get to the next big town. On the way a critically sick patient was picked up and I was hoping the person survived the long ordeal.
The bus driver and conductor also acts as messengers picking up letters/goods etc and delivering it on the way. The bus has starting trouble and required a push every time it started . We meandered through the misty green mountains and valleys and then there was a puncture that was quickly fixed. After about 10hrs we reached Along and I checked into a hotel.







Mechuka-Along-Daparijo-Ziro

Having spent few days at Along and with nothing much to do , I spent the evening watching IPL matches on TV. I again had to wake up and get to the bus station at 5am to get the bus Daparijo (Only alternate day buses and no jeeps) . Reached Daparijo at 4 in the evening . Daparijo was a sea change from beautiful Menchuka and I somehow survived in claustrophobic room for the night. I was at the jeep station at 5am next morning to get to Ziro. The roads seemed a lot better now with it progressing towards the capital Itanagar and the sumo driver was breezing past though it was misty and there was quite a bit of rain. I had tried calling a recommended hotel in Ziro a few times from Daparijo but couldn't get through and just wanted to try my luck. Reached Ziro around noon which seemed like a nice little place but couldn't find accommodation there.   

Walked around quite a bit in the rain looking for a room ,all the places seemed booked with a festival happening at the nearby Hong village , however finally found myself a room. I couldn't make out much since there was no electricity and it was dark. I just dumped my bag and try to find a way to Hong village about 9kms away. There were no autos willing to go ,so I decided to walk in the rain to see what the festival was about. It was quite a tiring walk.

 
Once at the village on asking the locals nobody seemed to know about the festival,but after walking around for a bit I found a bunch of foreigners and then the festivities seemed to start. Its a nice little village with the young people in modern clothes but the older apatami folks still in their traditional clothes and wooden locks in their nose. All tired from the day's walk and midway through getting back a biker gave me a lift all the way to ziro . Once in the room, i found it was almost inhabitable with mold all around and really cold and damp. I just decided to cut my journey by a few days and head home. So got myself a jeep tickets for 5am next day for Itanagar and preponed my air tickets.


Heading home -- Ziro-Itangar-Guwahati
Reached Itanagar by 11a.m and it was still pouring but the jeep guy dropped me at the bus counter for Guwahati. The bus to guwahati was at 5pm but thankfully there were chairs to rest and to dump the bacpack.

The whole town seemed to be on strike with not a shop open even for tea. After walking around town i finally got back and asked the ticket counter guy if I could find some food , he then took me too a hidden dhaba someplace where I found some rice and dal. The first meal of the day. I sat there reading and getting in touch with mum and some friends, yes I was back to the connected world. The bus took off on schedule and I was in Guwahati early next morning. I headed to the airport at 5am with my flight taking off at noon wondering if they would let me in. But the airport guards were kind of to let me in and I spent my time listening to music and reading. Was back in Calcutta where mum was waiting at the airport to pick me up. It was good to be back after spending a great time around the mountains and valleys of amazing arunachal to the comforts of a shower and home cooked food.