Day Two (25.11.2021): Road trip from Guwahati, Assam to Bomdila, Arunachal Pradesh via Tezpur
We woke up early morning, got ready and kept our luggage outside the room. The breakfast area was dim lit; I had poha and fruits. I had already given up on chai. The kadak-chai is something I will get at home only. We had to take a print of the Vaccination Certificate from the reception for the ILP (Inner Line Permit) at Arunachal border. It was a task for Babul and Chote to load the luggage every-time we checked out. We left the hotel around 8AM and started our journey towards Tezpur. Guwahati was no less than any other metro cities. It had shopping malls, silk saree centers, a lot of food joints, etc. On the way, we saw river cruises at the bank of the Mighty Brahmaputra river. I had read about the river in geography textbook and must have plotted it on the maps during exams. And today, I was crossing the same river over the Kaliabhomora concrete road bridge at noon. Travelling indeed takes you places! There is another Bhomoraguri-Tezpur bridge, in parallel to Kaliabhomora, currently under construction.
We halted at the Bhalukpong Tourism Complex for lunch at 1PM. Bhalukpong is situated on the banks of river Kameng. It lies near the Assam-Arunachal border and is an entry point to western Arunachal. The complex was covered with lush greenery and rabbits hopping from one bush to another. There were many guest houses across the area. We had lunch and clicked many photos here.
The only disappointment of the day was that we could not do River Rafting! It was one of the reasons why I booked the 12 days tour over 8days! Never mind. I was hoping that we do not get more such surprises. We reached the Arunachal border; Bhushan and Tapan went ahead to submit the documents. Fifteen minutes later, we entered the Land of Rising Sun (in India). The journey began: ascending on the convoluted roads (constructed by Border Roads Organization) with the river streams flowing on the right; and then descending through the convoluted roads of Tenga Valley. We crossed a couple of bridges over the river stream. Unlike the barren mountains of Leh, the Northeast is covered in greenery. The sun gave an orange smile and ran away, leaving behind a chilled and dark evening at around 04:30PM. We halted at Palchok for tea-break and washroom break at 05:30PM. We still had an hour or so to reach our hotel in Bomdila; it felt like a late-night journey. We passed through many military cantonments, could see little bit through the night lights. Finally, we reached the Hotel Grand. We were served with tea and coffee. Rooms were allotted; we got Room no. 307. Temperature was 4 degree Celsius. Dinner table discussion included places where each one of us had travelled so far. This happens on initial days, works as an ice breaker. We further had a kind of get together at Mallika and Shraddha's room. Here I met Shreya Tilwankar. She has joined the tour along with her mother Smita Tilwankar. She is an intern at Kesari Tours and doing her MBA course. We discussed on the life of a tour manager. Mallika is an Image Consultant. Hiteshree (and so were others) was curious on knowing what exactly an Image Consultant is. My mind was thinking of computer graphics. Finally, Mallika elaborated on it with examples. Image consulting is a professional field that aims to improve the image of the client personally or professionally through appearance, behavior, and communication. Shraddha is a gynaecologist, while Hiteshree and Krupali are in Information Technology. Meeting new people helps in learning new things. We share personal and professional experiences. Chats continued on random topics for an hour or so. Then we went to our rooms and dozed off.
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