After spending a night in Itanagar, a fairly non-descript town that didn't feel like a state capital, I caught the 5.30 am shared sumo taxi to Bomdilla, a large town to the north-west of Itanagar and a useful stopping point on the way to Dirang, where I had arranged to commence my trek. Unfortunately the night before the long sumo taxi journey, a very noisy party in the hotel I stayed in took place, and the staff's inability to quieten it down meant that I had virtually no sleep.
The journey to Bomdilla in a cramped sumo taxi involved driving uphill around a series of narrow, zig-zagging roads and often with no barrier separating the road from the cliff edge. The further we travelled, the more I came to appreciate how little developed tourism is in Arunachal Pradesh, which on the whole is a strength in that many people have yet to discover its majesty. Road maintenance was actually going on as we traversed our way up the mountainside, as on one occasion we waited for a stretch of road to be cleared before we could venture further, and on various occasions a blanket of fog descended suddenly, so that we came to a virtual standstill. I was glad that I'd reserved a hotel room in advance, as there are relatively few places for accommodation in the town. A combination of poor sleep and being jerked around in the back of the sumo for so many hours - we arrived in Bomdilla after about 9 hours - had given me a terrible headache, so I slept for hours that night.
Bomdilla has two main attractions: the Chillipam Gompa (monastery) and the Bomdilla monastery. Chillipam is about an hour and a half's drive away, so I hired a vehicle to visit them both. It was a long and largely uphill road to reach Chillipam Gompa, and the views of the valleys on all sides were marvellous on such a clear day.
The Chillipam Gompa is built on a promontory that gives fantastic views of the Eastern Himalayas all around. The interiors are painted in lurid, gaudy colours, and are reputed to be some of the highest points of Buddhist art. Some of the carvings were extremely ornate.
The Bomdilla monastery was situated in a less spectacular setting on the outskirts of the town, and the building itself was not as physically impressive, although it was surprising to see images of the Dalai Lama in the main shrine area, something i'd not seen before. Recently he had visited Buddhist places of worship in Arunachal Pradesh, and in so doing had caused extreme anxiety within the Chinese government against India's decision to facilitate the visit, as it claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet, and hence part of China. Since the Dalai Lama's visit, places in Arunachal Pradesh had been given Chinese names. So revering the Dalai Lama's image seemed more to do with asserting support for him and, by definition, Indian political control over the territory than religious sentiment.
The rest of the week was spent updating this blog, as well juggling different places to stay in Bomdila. I managed to find a homestay for a night, and then wandered into the semi-derelict local government-owned tourist lodge the following day, which was in the process of being renovated. The manager kindly offered me a room at a considerable discount, which was a huge stroke of good fortune, as choices for places to stay had become very limited.
The journey to Bomdilla in a cramped sumo taxi involved driving uphill around a series of narrow, zig-zagging roads and often with no barrier separating the road from the cliff edge. The further we travelled, the more I came to appreciate how little developed tourism is in Arunachal Pradesh, which on the whole is a strength in that many people have yet to discover its majesty. Road maintenance was actually going on as we traversed our way up the mountainside, as on one occasion we waited for a stretch of road to be cleared before we could venture further, and on various occasions a blanket of fog descended suddenly, so that we came to a virtual standstill. I was glad that I'd reserved a hotel room in advance, as there are relatively few places for accommodation in the town. A combination of poor sleep and being jerked around in the back of the sumo for so many hours - we arrived in Bomdilla after about 9 hours - had given me a terrible headache, so I slept for hours that night.
The Chillipam Gompa is built on a promontory that gives fantastic views of the Eastern Himalayas all around. The interiors are painted in lurid, gaudy colours, and are reputed to be some of the highest points of Buddhist art. Some of the carvings were extremely ornate.
The Bomdilla monastery was situated in a less spectacular setting on the outskirts of the town, and the building itself was not as physically impressive, although it was surprising to see images of the Dalai Lama in the main shrine area, something i'd not seen before. Recently he had visited Buddhist places of worship in Arunachal Pradesh, and in so doing had caused extreme anxiety within the Chinese government against India's decision to facilitate the visit, as it claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet, and hence part of China. Since the Dalai Lama's visit, places in Arunachal Pradesh had been given Chinese names. So revering the Dalai Lama's image seemed more to do with asserting support for him and, by definition, Indian political control over the territory than religious sentiment.
The rest of the week was spent updating this blog, as well juggling different places to stay in Bomdila. I managed to find a homestay for a night, and then wandered into the semi-derelict local government-owned tourist lodge the following day, which was in the process of being renovated. The manager kindly offered me a room at a considerable discount, which was a huge stroke of good fortune, as choices for places to stay had become very limited.
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