Arunachal

My love for the mountains took me to Arunachal this time. One of the best thing of travelling to north east is that its not yet commercialized [barring few cities]. And you will find a pristine land, close to nature full of warm people, who still preserve their culture, know their roots and find happiness in simplicity.

I was planning the usual Tezpur to Tawang route. This is the most famous route done in Arunachal, Tawang being the largest monastery in India and second largest in the world. I still intend to return to Arunachal and visit this awe inspiring monastery someday. But for now, I stumbled upon an offbeat and exciting itinerary, just on time.

Me and couple of my friends chanced upon an itinerary [chalohoppo.com], where we would be hiking in Arunachal - West Siang, accompanied by few local folks, who would help us get a glimpse of their culture. What could be more exciting? We immediately signed up for it and kept our fingers crossed, that the whole thing should materialize. On arriving at Guwahati, we met Chetan [From Chalohoppo] and the rest of the group and we were seven of us who headed to Likabali via Tezpur on road. It's a long [2 days] and scenic drive. Crossed the tea estates of Assam, the endless plains with cattle grazing, the mountains of Arunachal [near yet far] which kept us company, running parallel to our road and many small towns buzzing with life. We took our halt in an eco camp, near Nameri national park near Tezpur, which was such a nice cozy place full of fire flies.

Eco Camp near Nameri National Park [Near  Tezpur]

Likabali is a border town. From our guest house, we could see the plain of Assam on one side and mountains of Arunachal on the other. Such a view added to our bubbling excitement for the upcoming days. We met our team of local folks [Minjum and Mini Yomgam and Khodam Gangkak] who would accompany us for the next few days here. We met Yomjum Yomgam and his family. Chalohoppo Team materialized this itinerary along with Yomjum, who briefed us about what all is planned along with the talk on how he is trying to promote eco tourism. 

Likabali - Border town between Arunachal and Assam

We had another day lined up on the road - yet another scenic journey, hilly this time, along with pleasant cool weather. We crossed the town Baser, where we halted to have some omlette, tea and samosas with a very spicey chutney. As we had started from Likabali only after lunch [delay in getting our inner line permits], by the time we reached Baser it was already getting dark [It starts getting dark here by 4-4:30 pm IST]. Another couple of hours and we reached a small basti [village] called Yegri, which is some 10 kms ahead of Tirbin. Already pitch dark by now, we made our way to the hut where we would be putting up.

Hut where we stayed at [Yegri]

This was Khodam's relatives house. The first few minutes after entering the hut, went in just observing it - whatever little we could in the firelight and the light from one bulb. Completely made of bamboo, these huts are elevated from the ground level, covered with leaves from a tree called "Taik" in local language. Sturdy and spacious - there is space for everything - storage, kitchen, rooms. But so very different from the houses we are used to seeing. I couldn't stop observing every small detail, all while the owner of the house, explained the significance of the centre place in the house, where there is a fire burning. Even though there are no windows, the place is not stuffy at all, all the smoke is escaping via the roof. And yet no rain water comes inside from this roof. This is also the centre place of the house, where everybody gathers to talk, cook, eat - all sitting on mats around this fire [apparently there is specific side for the ladies and the rest]. So while we were being given all these details, our black tea was getting ready in a kettle on that very fire. Dinner was rice and bamboo tunga [also called ecu]- one watery dish made out of bamboo shoots. It was tangy in taste and had no spices whatsoever. And along with this separately "namak" and "mircha" is served [salt and red chilly powder]. Post dinner, we huddled and slept in the same main room, in our sleeping bags. Me and my friend, we were so exhilarated with where we were lying down to sleep that night, that we clicked a very grainy selfie in the dark, just to freeze that very moment. :-)

Yegri

Next day started early [Sun rises at sometime around 4-4:15 am]. We got ready and got done with our black tea and breakfast [same as dinner]. After clicking loads of pictures and bidding thanks and bye to our hosts, we started walking towards Liromoba. It actually started with a slippery [due to rains] descent. We were very slowly inching our way down, when an octogenarian lady, with complete ease, not only walked past us, but also gave us tips as to where to step and how to descend. It's amazing, we in our hi-fi trekking shoes, struggling to get down, without slipping and spraining ourselves, and here for this old lady in worn out slippers, it's the simplest thing ever.

The sweet octogenarian who helped us

Enroute Liromoba - Hanging bridge

Enroute Liromoba - Lush en captivating green

Lone Hut

We were accompanied by lush greenery during our hike - farms with people working in it, mountains and river [Sii], huts scattered here and there, narrow paths with thick growth, leeches and thorns. Whomever we crossed, we bid a friendly "Aldu re", and they happily responded "Aldu", along with the usual Qs "From where have you come" " Why have you come". Weather was a bit humid and we sweated profusely. We reached Liromoba, another small basti, around lunch time. Here again lunch was arranged in one of the local resident's hut - Rice, greens - Oik and Oink, along taiyr [This was small green seeds, very strong pungent taste, was supposed to be eaten raw along with food]. I'll confess it wasn't easy to eat this. Completely different taste from what we are used to eating - The rice was very dry and greens tasted very different, with no spices. It's one thing to taste something and another thing to eat something. Our hosts hinted that according to the "niyam" [rule], we have to finish the rice if not the vegetables. So few of us including me attempted finishing the rice dipping in the salt. Can't offend the hosts. :-) After bidding bye to them, we headed to the river side, where we would be camping for the night. It was the perfect combination of river, greenery and lot many round white stones. The constant sound of running water was very soothing. Rest of the day, we just relaxed here, in the very lap of nature.

Where we camped in Liromoba village

Where we camped in Liromoba village

Another very early morning, up by 4, so as to be able to start walking early. Breakfast was different - Paratha [Puri kinds made of refined flour] and potato sabji, which was bought from some hotel [last night's dinner as well]. We [5 of us along with 2 guides] started walking soon after breakfast [Our bags were to reach the destination in a vehicle]. Today's hike was going to be longer than yesterday's - more climb and less of slippery descents. Weather was also pleasant. We crossed farms, Zhum kheti [The wild vegetation on the hill is cleared and burnt, followed by cultivating paddy/oranges/cardamom, and rains provide the required water], thick vegetation/jungle, walked on roads at places and again witnessed the lush greenery around. We tasted many wild leaves and shoots, courtesy Minjum and Khodam, who obviously knew exactly what can be eaten and what not. And every time we would try to equate it to some taste we already knew - "This is similar to cabbage or basil or something else" or simple " This is tasty". I think most of us liked Boku Surbu, which if it would have been possible, we would have happily carried to our homes.

Enroute Yomcha - Friendly farmers waving to us

We got enlightened with so many trivia around the local culture. So in these parts if a guy wants to marry a girl, he has to give her and her family "n" number of mithuns. 3 being the minimum. Contrary to other parts in India, where "gifts" are generally given to boy's family by that of the girl's. Currently each mithun costs some 50-60 K. Btw Mithun is the national animal of this state, and it is killed and eaten to celebrate festivals and occasions like marriages. Fortunately or unfortunately we didn't get to taste this. Also the local religion is "Dhoni Polo" [Sun and Moon], until the missionaries converted most of the population to Christians. Many folks of Galo tribe still celebrate their harvest festival of Mopin [April]  - Apply  rice flour [Ette] on each others face, do the Mopin Dance [Popir], and drink Apong/Poka [local drink made by fermenting rice]

Had lunch sitting right here :-)

Lunch [Rice, dal and ladyfinger vegetable] was under a rickety bridge, sitting on the stones next to the river. Mini had got it packed from Yomcha on a motorcycle. The walk after this was mostly on road in rain. On reaching Yomcha, we got comfortable in Minjum's elder brother's hut. This hut also had a similar design, made of bamboo, but bigger [more rooms] and brighter [electricity], a bigger and better sit out. The bamboo sit out is just a perfect cozy place, overlooking the stream and paddy fields. It's a perfect spot to just sit and read a book or do nothing really. We had tea and got introduced to the family - brother's, sisters, their spouses, relatives and couple of lovely little kid girls. As the evening carried on, we had their local brew [Apong], took turns singing songs, chatted, ate some rice, dal and chicken, and ended up dancing like crazies. Just forget everything and dance.

Welcomed with hot tea in Yomcha

Next day was a relaxed day spent exploring the little basti Yomcha. Even though we got up quite early, we were indoors for quite sometime, as it was raining. The original plan of doing som out door activites like rock climbing, river crossing etc didn't materialize [for good I think] and instead we just left and roamed around randomly in the place. Chatted with  whomever we met [sitting in small shops, walking towards their fields, doing some odd jobs]. It always started with we greeting them and they enquiring " From where have you come" " Why have you come". They were as amused to see us, as we were excited to meet them. It was exhilarating - so green and calm. :D

Serene Yomcha

Jumyir - Lovely daughter of our host at Yomcha

After a lunch of rice dal and greens, we headed to the near by tea estate by road. It wasn't much compared to those of Munnar etc, but the encounter with the ladies there was nice. They were really sweet and looked adorable in their matching uniform of pink Galle. Once back we again settled for evening full of dance and fun. This time the ladies of the house, brought Mopin dresses and jewelry for us. And we all did Mopin dance on few local songs, following their graceful steps. This offcourse followed by bollywood numbers and everyone, big and small, old and young, danced till 1-2 in the night. Our host also cooked some chicken in their unique bamboo cooking style - where the chicken and rest of the ingredients are stuffed in the hollow bamboo and cooked on fire. Not bad!

Bamboo cooking

Ladies in pink galle at the tea estate

After bidding our thanks and bye to this wonderful family, we headed towards Along [an hour on foot and rest on sumo] and were there by lunch time. Post lunch we roamed around in the market and shopped - I wanted to buy a local Galle, hand made and not the printed ones [Got one, after enquiring in almost every shop]. Our trip was coming to an end. Along to Dibrugarh was mostly on road - even though it was scenic, road was horribly bad. Followed by an hour long ferry on the mighty Brahmaputra starting at Bogibeel. From Dibrugarh to Guwahati in an ovrenight train and then flew back to Pune.

This has been an amazing cultural experience amidst the lush greenery, I sure intend to go back someday. :-)