Day 21- Dirang and the road to Tawang

Finally we have reached our most far flung destination, Tawang, home to the 2nd largest Buddhist monestary in the world, only superceded by the one in Lhasa, Tibet. Unfortunately it was getting dark as we arrived so we haven't yet really had a chance to see the town or the monestary, though in the fading light we could see the monestary out of our hotel room window so we are hoping for a nice view in the morning.

Yesterday, on paper, was not a great day. Our trek suffered various misfortunes - overcast weather, our inability to contact the real guide, the failure of the monkeys we hoped to see to appear and the fact that the "guide" we did use was the closest to a monkey we got to see! He was clueless and had to stop everyone we met to ask for directions. Nonetheless it was nice to get out in nature and walk through the forests for a few hours, and get some exercise ahead of today's drive.

This morning we started off at about 7, after breakfast. We drove slowly through the heavy fog. Then suddenly there was a clearing and the sun came out revealing stunning mountain scenery. Peaks appeared above a sea of clouds, snow-capped mountains behind the colourful Buddhist prayer flags that hung between trees. The fog came and went as we drove, hiding, then revealing stunning pine tree forests clinging to the mountain sides. Towards Sela Pass (4400m) our car struggled through the ice but we made it to Sela Pass, where our imitation North Face jackets came into their own... it was damn cold! We stopped in a little hut restaurant (the only one there) and joined a group huddled round the fire. It was very cosy, and we had some tea and noodles.

From there the road meandered down through the valley. We got stuck in the mud at one spot but thanks to some locals managed to extract ourselves and were headed on towards Tawang. We stopped briefly in the very picturesque village of Lhou for tea and a wander, then on into Tawang where we are staying in a very nice little hotel. Tomorrow we leave here at 7.30 to catch the morning prayers at the monestary.

-Dave