"3 Banjaare" on astonishing expedition into Seven Sisters's Land from Bangalore - 12

Day 13-14

As the place was named Ziro, it indeed seemed to have touched 0 degree temperature in the Royal suite of Mr. and Mrs. Tarzan and the night was freezing, though the heater had worked its best to spread warmth which could only be felt by a couple of feet beyond it.

Sun had already announced morning through the windows by throwing in sunlight filtered by a bunch of bamboo trees, though it didn’t make any significant improvement in the room temperature. Mrs. Tarzan was struggling to get up, but in order to set off on the exploration one has to leave the bed and it would be tough task to wake up Mr. Tarzan as well. Lazily, she reached out to call room service for tea while still wrapping around the blanket. With hot tea only Mr. Tarzan was able to lift his head and sipped it with closed eyes, after which he went for a walk to be awake. Mrs. Tarzan meanwhile ordered paratha and poori for breakfast to get charged up as she knew there would be hardly any chance of lunch since they decided to go off route toward Koloriang.

It was late morning when they finally started, around 10.30 AM. As they stepped out of the resort they realized it was surrounded by huge fish farms on both the sides of the approach road. Aptani tribe who are local inhabitants of this region practices paddy and fish farming which adds to this place being more interesting and picturesque.  

They were heading back on the route towards Itanagar from where the diversion at the foot of the mountain on opposite side would lead them to this off-route adventure as per Mrs. Tarzan's navigation, the same road she spotted the previous day.

It was a familiar road which was shining bright in sun and the orchids which bloomed at regular intervals drew Mrs. Tarzan's attention every now and then. This was the best part of that mountain which was again as inhabitant as it was the last day but was not stranger any more. In an hour they reached the other side where the junction arrived, straight road leading to Itanagar and right turn towards Koloriang. 

It was a small junction with a handful of small shops along the narrow dusty road. Skeptically they both entered the road expecting it to be rickety yet motorable one, leaving rest on what it awaits next. It was narrow road for initial couple of kms and then amazingly transformed into dark smooth highway adding to their pleasure. The road construction was in full swing and thereby there were rough patches at regular intervals which would slow them down, yet letting overall experience a good one. They were moving on mountain which had several cliffs and at times adjoining the nearby mountain, all and all giving wider area for angle of view to take a moment to adore. This highway looked much similar to the one from Kargil to Leh in its appearance and frequent twists and curves along several cliffs and folds of densely packed bare mountains.

This went on for around 40 km while they were enjoying the highway till they suddenly slipped into a rickety road which lead into densely vegetated interiors of East Kameng. The road was matching to a wild life reserve having only trees welcoming the creatures from another world while hiding their own wild life safely in the dense forest. At times the valleys were dense green and so shallow adjacent to the opposite cliff that Mrs. Tarzan wouldn’t mind zipline over this small hobitton from The Lord of the rings.

After few kms they entered into further remotest lands which bore similarity to the way towards LumLa where they had spent Mr. Tarzan’s birthday, very sparse villages populated with handful homes and road was merely a muddy trail. However, it was literally no road from there on. Couple of times it felt like they were trespassing the small huts by the road side or say trail which was so narrow and full of mud. It was by then Mr. and Mrs. Tarzan decided, “Enough adventure for the day, god knows whether this trail will also vanish further few meters making impossible to turn back”. It was already 1.40 pm by then.

Cheetah was slogging hither and thither on the narrow sloppy trail to turn around for return. 

It was peak of noon and they were not hungry surprisingly. Actually they had done nothing achievable so far ;)

So, here they were moving through the same trails with same trees among same bunch of green mountains and handful of houses on the way with a blabbering Mrs. Tarzan who would occasionally sing along the songs being played. 

This hiccuping ride continued for a couple of hours till they reached the highway under construction again, which soothed Cheetah with its newly built butter smooth patches. It was late noon by then and the sun’s intensity decreased who was peeking out of the clouds again.

Being seated for a long time, Mrs. Tarzan had urge to get down at one scenic point on a hairpin bend which offered a view of several mountains past a vast valley at one side and the other side was a chewed away mountain bearing a goatee of green plants, whatever was left out of the chewed chunk. The wind blew fast enough to make sure its presence felt strongly, had they brought kite to fly it would have been an amazing kite flying day.

Mr. Tarzan took another break by a bunch of small huts selling tea. This place also offered amazing view of a small hillock at the center of the valley which housed a couple of trees being overcast by train of grey clouds which only allowed rays of the sun to scatter.

They went on for another hour to reach the small junction and then the mountain which is the gateway for the beautiful town of Ziro. 

By the evening they were in Ziro city while Mr. Tarzan was trying to locate an ATM as they barely had any cash; but wherever they would head to, it would either be non-functional or would not have cash. Mrs. Tarzan calmed him by saying she has some cash reserved for emergency, and anyways in case of emergency they can pay the hotel online as the mobile network was working in city.

They still had an evening to spend and Mrs. Tarzan wished to see old Ziro, so Mr. Tarzan headed towards a direction which would also lead to Mechuka village as per their itinerary, hoping in case he could locate a bank or ATM.

The houses in old Ziro are peculiar in architecture , being made up of majorly wood at an elevation but having small doors. They all had one thing in common - a white flag with red blazing sun depicting their culture of worshiping sun and moon. Many of them also had altars and showcased near the doors the collection of sacrifices they perform as per their rituals.

They were peeking out of their windows to have a look around Ziro when they noticed a comparatively tall walled compound decorated with several paintings and couple of slogans which startled them for a moment until Mrs. Tarzan identified that it was Ziro Airport. It had huge gate securing the compound which also had couple of small aircrafts which flashed through the grills of the gate. However, it looked like only being used for army purpose.

Moving ahead to continue hunt for an ATM or bank, they were amazed with a rickety old building withering away with no one in the vicinity and was holding a plain torn away board of bank which was good enough to send spooky feelings.

So, they returned empty-handed and wondering about the life at old Ziro which was quiet enough to be spooky.

However, the valley was vibrant during the sun set and did offer several picturesque shots. 

The evening was long and it was good to be back under the blankets to sip a hot cup of tea along with pakodas. It was coziest laziest evening at 6. 

Mrs. Tarzan wouldn’t miss this chance of a relaxed evening and bombarded Mr. Tarzan with the pictures they took during the trip with a quick swirl which made Mr. Tarzan to fall asleep, while she stayed by his side watching him sleeping over a pile of heart shaped pillows under 2 blankets sheet and herself smiling at the memories with each picture. She ordered his favorite for dinner and only woke him up once it arrived. So, the Jungle king had sound sleep then great dinner and then a relaxed sleep in his cozy suite in front of the heater. How much more royal treatment can anyone get !!

The next day…

Another lazy cold morning at Ziro and again Mrs. Tarzan was struggling to get Mr. Tarzan up on his feet, thankfully tea is that magic wand which at least works partially in worst cases. 

They were thinking since past day about where to head from Ziro. Should it be the planned schedule towards Mechuka or rather unplanned one at random. Actually the way to Mechuka seemed to be more rough through Daporijo as they had already seen the road condition around this area in past two days that even the major connecting highways were too bad for Cheetah’s health. And it was not sure how worst it will be ahead, so it was wise to continue exploring other parts of this majestic land which would have comparatively better connectivity. Mrs. Tarzan wanted to visit Talle valley and shiv temple which needed to be identified through the locals, but that would mean another night at Ziro since they couldn’t reach anywhere else owing to the road conditions and Mr. Tarzan was a bit bored by then. 

Hence decided with the last sip of tea that they were heading towards Assam through the route yet to be finalized by Mrs. Tarzan and by the way who cares about the route, after all they are nomads ;)

They left the place with a fuller stomach by 10.30, moving among the fish farms and enticing valleys towards Itanagar highway crawling over the same mountain the fourth time which connects this place to the other part of Arunachal Pradesh. In an hour they crossed Koloriang junction and were moving over the plain land of dusty narrow trail connecting the two mountains, the one which leads to another mountain where it offered majestic view of a big water reservoir couple of days back when they were approaching Ziro. They took a short break there to take a good look at the dam.

The path was still rough but it was okay since it was familiar, moreover their personalized favorites were boosting their hopes for the forthcoming adventure on their journey.

Mrs. Tarzan had been looking for route options for a while, then uttered, “We will take another route by taking diversion, if it appeals after having a good glance at its appearance”. Chuckled Mr. Tarzan , and nodded. So, it was noon when they reached at the diversion at left which was a sharp bend going down and was quite crowded comparatively at the bus stop. Mr. Tarzan took the turn and approved it after having a look at it. It seemed to be fair enough at the starting and again there were lesser vehicular movement here. However, this region was even denser in vegetation with shallow valley and low hills. The road turned out to be smoother beyond their imagination but was narrow with frequent curves which was adding to the adventure. 

There was literally no other creature seen on the road other than Mr. and Mrs. Tarzan who seemed to have owned that place and would stop and admire its beauty with each crook or notch they fell in love with.

This place resembled a lot to Munnar except for the tea estates which were compensated with a lot of banana trees. The vegetation was so dense at places that it appeared to be another world which only had flora. The grey clouds were hovering nearby peaks and shallow valleys to create a mystical impact with mists at times or a bright sun was peeking behind the peaks at other times. Such a beautiful location from nature's canvas.

They made frequent stoppage while zooming on their own road as they started feeling it being their kingdom and captured its beauty from several angles. 

With frequent halts they descended towards a shallow valley when they noticed a milestone reading Lichi. Yes, the place was called Lichi and hence became Mrs. Tarzan’s attraction where she took couple of shots.

 Further down, the road was getting rough intimating that they were close to the Assam border. The construction was also in swing with couple of patches while for rest there was no road at all. 

Slowly they were descending into the plains of Assam where they crossed the last HQ. From there they slipped into a beautiful world disciplined enough with people cycling along the road side which was lined up with small quarters at regular intervals. By then they realized that they had been into the era of tea estates which Mrs. Tarzan realized a bit late as she was used to see mountainous lush green tea plants in Southern part of India while here it was plain land covered with tea plants till horizon, though Tezpur also has similar plantation. Then she realized that the bunches of people cycling were the staff of tea estate. It was a small township in itself and being there Mrs. Tarzan realized she was hungry. Anyways Mr. Tarzan had to recharge himself with his tea, he pulled over and came back with some snacks to continue their journey. 

Mrs. Tarzan snapped, "You see, how much advantage you have being with me. You are blessed to see the places which only few would have seen as no one knows about their existence."

Mr. Tarzan smiled, couldn't agree more. 

They reached Lakhimpur by around 3:10 pm and started to wonder, “Now what !”

Cheetah was crawling over the crowded highway which crosses through the market. Mr. Tarzan said, “Let’s fill up the fuel first” and then stopped by a petrol bunk where Mrs. Tarzan asked about the highway ahead and this infused them with the idea of going towards Pasighat.

The highway was indeed smooth except for a few patches and occasional herds of cattle on road once they were out of maddening crowd of city traffic which was surrounding the highway.

On going reasonably far from Lakhimpur the greenery surrounded them again, tall trees were swaying across the highway welcoming their visitors. The road was still fine with couple of rough patches.

They were amazed to move forth on this highway along the length of Assam which is backbone of north eastern states. The evening had already started losing its warmth as the sun had started off its journey to the west but still it was much warm for them since they had been spending past couple of weeks in the chills of Arunachal Pradesh.

They saw several bridges on their way until the dusk. By then they were near the Arunachal border again which is gateway to Pasighat. The road was good from the check-post and smooth enough for their continued joyful ride. This part of Arunachal Pradesh is warmer yet being hilly. 

They reached Pasighat by 7 and were trying to hunt for a stay. Actually Mrs. Tarzan had already looked for homestay options but they couldn’t find any of them appealing. So, as they entered the city they hoped to have a look around and luckily in few minutes they identified a decent building and thought to enquire about the stay. It was indeed good enough beyond their expectation. 

Hungry Mr and Mrs. Tarzan asked for nice tea and pakodas while relaxing in the room. The evening went pleasant while Mrs. Tarzan was busy reading the information brochure and planning for the next day.

Mr. Tarzan’s favorite fish was again in the menu and it was prepared well to pamper his taste buds on the call of Mrs. Tarzan.

All in all, it was exactly Mr. and Mrs. Tarzan’s day, as unplanned as it could be !!

Part 11 Part 13