The summer heat had taken hold I was just speaking to a friend who said it was 42 agrees. In Dehra Doon , can you believe it , it used to be a hill station once . I am all set to escape the heat of the capital as I head for the Bang Bang tour , yes I am off for a trip to The twang valley , situated in Arunachal Pradesh and how do I get their you ask , well. A Go Air ways flight will take you for Delhi to Gauhati and then connecting to Tezpur airport . Yes Tezpur in Assam state is the symbol of Assamese culture , Tezpur means city of blood and the folklore goes here Lord Krishna’s army fought Lord Shivas and the river Brahmaputra turned blood red . Being in the north east of Assam their are many temples to see in Tezpur including the Bahirabi Temple .The you have the Chitra lekha Udyan park and the Agni Grah Hill . If you want a real taste of Assam and it’s cultural heritage this is the place to see.
But my bang Bang tour has another attraction mourned 10 hrs car drive to the town of Twang situated 3000 meters above sea level . Twang is in the Indian start of Anurachal Pradesh and has Bhutan to it’s east . It comes under the area disputed with China , they claim that it is part of Tibet.It is the birth place of the Dalai Lama and the home to the oldest buddhist monastery The twang Monastery built 400 yers ago . The inhabitants of this region are for Tibet and parts of Bhutan’s they are called the Monapa and are name’s who survive on sheep , yak’s and cattle . They practice ancient Tibetan buddhism and some ancient practices of the Bon faith which even pre dates Buddhism .
Then you have the Bollywood connection the Madhuri Lake so named because the film Koyla was shot near the lake .The Gorchin Peak is worth a climb it is the highest peak in Arunachal Pradesh , at 22, 500 feet above sea level it is 160 km from Twang .The Twang war memorial built in the memory of soldiers who died in the 1962 Indo Sino war is great monument to visit when one is in the region . PT Two Lake and The Nuranag falls are the water bodies one must check out fore their photogenic picture post card look .
A return ticket Delhi – Guhati – Tejpur east me behind Rs 21,000 , room’s both in Twang and Tezpur are very affordable and one can book on tenet itself from makemytirp.com or another travel portals . Room rates in the range of Rs 2000 are available but one need to book in advance to get a confirmed booking . Rest you can explore the region in a Bolero Jeep which are available on hire and can be booked online too .
I am especially looking forward to the Bang Bang it’s Twang Odessey as I intend to finish my book The madness of the Monk here and hopefully discover some more of Bon and ancient Tibetan culture , the route of buddhism and how it spread through the east from a little Obscure town in Gaya .This will help me uncover many facts and shed light on the Journey I partake with the Mystical Monk Tenzing , it seems it is going to be form the slopes of Dharamshala to the Hill’s of Twang for me.
