Travel 'tips' for a Tawang trip

We went to Tawang from 11th Feb to 14th Feb, the 10 of us. It was naturally a wonderful experience. Here is detailed information about everything that I used to plan the trip which may be useful for everyone, especially the IITGians :)

Firstly, you could go via a travel agent. Probably the best would be Himalayan travels. The biggest advantage is obviously that you don’t need to plan anything and there is very low possibility of things going ‘wrong’. On the other hand, you would naturally lose your freedom and would have to follow the agent’s schedules, which includes quite a lot of extra stay in hotels (for obvious reasons!) e.g. a night stay at Guwahati, a night stay at Bomdilla. In addition, it costs easily 30-50% more due to high hotel changes. It would probably suit professors and their family, as the agent told us. Still if this option interests you or if you want to find out more about it, you can contact Himalayan Holidays - Himalayan Holidays, Kabar Khana Road, Tezpur. Ph: 03712-223580 (O), 221646(R), 9957178796.

This was supposedly our first plan which never materialized (isn’t that obvious ;) ). I finally asked a few of the people around who had already been there, and from what I gathered, I found what I finally planned to be quite the optimal. Of course that was the best that suited us, which may not be the case with everyone or every group. The main thing was that the stay part at Tezpur and Bomdilla were absent. This also resulted in a considerably less time required for the whole trip.

The final plan:
Someone very recently asked me what the phrase ‘back seat driver’ meant. I can now explain it to him more clearly :)

We started from IIT Guwahati in the night on Wednesday, about 11:30 pm. The reason was that it seemed pointless to include a night stay at Tezpur. This was the only ‘not the best/optimal’ choice I had to make, but was unavoidable since no one wanted to go to the city to get the best bargain. It took the 10 of us Rs. 3500 to go to Tezpur, which was costly since the travel was during the night, the pickup was from IIT Guwahati and the driver whom I contacted couldn’t manage to get a sumo :( We finally ended up in two vehicles – a Maruti van and an Indica. To those in the Maruti van, we would remember that the best moments of the trip would never be possible without this division into two groups :P The tyre got punctured a couple of times, but it didn’t take long to fix it and the story going on inside was way too interesting for anyone to bother even the slightest bit :D Use this contact only in the worst case. The best thing to do would be to go to the city and book a sumo for the trip. Taxis and other vehicles like Maruti vans are available too. The vehicle can be decided by the size of the group. In any case, the cost of hiring a vehicle isn't really proportional to the number of people or its seating capacity, so you can always book a larger vehicle like Sumo instead of a Taxi at almost the same price. In the worst case, you could call up these drivers: Khan – 9864055474 (preferable), Bapan – 9859156172 (NOT preferable! Was drunk!) We reached Tezpur in the morning, about 4:00 am. Spent some time at Bapan’s house on his continuous insistence. Then we went to Himalayan travels, which opened about 5:00 am, Thursday.

The driver that we got was seriously the best. Lots of people had previously complained about getting grumpy or poor drivers, but we seemed quite lucky with this. I would very strongly recommend that if you are considering a trip, do contact Himalayan Travels and book yourself this guy. He’s from Arunachal Pradesh and originally from Tawang. His contact: Lakpo – 9402070455. The charge was Rs. 4000 for the trip to Tawang, (Rs. 400 per head). It is a standard rate and I don't think you can get it for any less. This is where the real advantage of 10 people came in. Each sumo carries 10 people, so if you are more, you will have to split and if you are less, then there would be other passengers along with you as well. Otherwise it might also be good to consider paying the whole 4000 rupees and getting the sumo for yourself – perhaps more comfortable. Going by my personal experience, I would always prefer a Sumo over other vehicles like a Taxi or Maruti Van at roads such as these, for the sheer performance of the Sumo - somehow gives you much more confidence. During winters, the roads are all covered with ice and it becomes very difficult to control the vehicle.

We started around 5:30am. Had a stop at Bhalukpong to get the passes. It is a very easy procedure there. I went with Lakpa to the officer’s house. He gave us a few papers for the application, then went to another person for the approval. Finally got the passes in a relatively short time span. Cost us Rs. 300 in all for 10 people with absolutely no bribe!
Finally reached Tawang at about 9:00 pm in the night. Had no idea about the stay. We did go to a few places mentioned by people who had gone before, but they were out of the ‘common rooms’ that had cheaper accommodation. After seeing about 3-4 hotels, finally decided on this one. It was quite good, we took 2 rooms with double bed and a single bed in each room. For two days, it cost us Rs. 4500 in all, including the stay, heater (they charge extra for this!) and one dinner and one lunch. Contact is Hotel Tawang View Ph: 03794 – 223009/224548/222433 Mob: 9436895447 (Lohit Sharma)

About sight seeing in Tawang, we were lucky when Lakpa agreed to take us on a day’s trip around. Charged us Rs. 2500, which is quite cheaper than if you go by the standard procedure of hiring Taxis or perhaps even other sumos. Places worth visiting are a couple of lakes – frozen, semi-frozen, the Madhuri lake (good and famous!), an army memorial for the war heroes of 1962 (closes early but should visit!), a monastery. All views are extremely beautiful, especially the sceneries on the way. Sela pass is the highest point on the way. Took one day to roam about in Tawang. Actually there isn't anything special in Tawang, it is the surrounding places and the scenic beauty on the way that really makes the trip worthwhile.

Return again we went with Lakpa to Tezpur. Took comparatively lesser time than the earlier onward journey. Also stopped by on the way for playing around in snow – was great fun :) Return again cost Rs. 4000. Then finally booked another sumo from the Himalayan Travels office in Tezpur for Rs. 2500 to IITG back.

Was a great trip overall. Food is pretty good – rice and curry are standard meals. Helpful to carry some anti-vomiting tablets if anyone isn’t very comfortable with the mountainous roads. The time December-January and even February beginning are very cold, so do carry adequate woolens. Gloves and a monkey-cap are a must during this time at least :) Any other queries, you are welcome to ask anytime :)

References (on request :P)
1. Pranjal, IITG, 2011