Tawang: A way of life amid natural beauty!

Wanderlust, travel, explore, traverse…  Are these just words we’re talking about? What do these “words” mean to you? A smile to your face? Nostalgia? Friendships? Peace? Late-night fun? Those mountains, or the seas? Have you ever paused for moment and thought why do you travel? Maybe you are Bunny from Yeh Jawaani hai Deewani who just wants to keep exploring his entire life and never take a break. Or you’re Naina who wants to enjoy the moment she’s in. Or better yet, you are Arjun from ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ who wants to earn money till 40, chill for the rest of his life and see the world in luxury. Or most probably, you are YOU which sets you apart from others! A lot of questions, but the best thing about them is that their answers keep changing with newer experiences and perspectives!
Tawang, not just a name, but a feeling. A fearless feeling to travel across cultures and explore people. Been to Assam, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Nagaland in North-East, I knew this was going to be my next stop. Are these trips just how they’re shown on Facebook or Instagram? We all know they’re not! A budget trip with so many obstacles in it is where the fun part lies. We haven’t even started and guess the time-period not recommended for visiting Tawang? Of course, November! The trip should’ve been postponed later. But then, life is seldom about doing the logical and right things.
I’ve always wondered which types of trips are better - trips with planning that spans across months and includes complete research about the place, or the spontaneous ones where we just decide the destination, place our faith in our Gods and out we go. We all know the stories of both. But for us, Tawang was more of a latter type of trip. It was Ishita ,who came up with the idea just 2 days before. I was the next to be asked, followed by Aakanksha and Sakshi.
We applied for Inner Line Permit (ILP) required to enter Arunachal Pradesh online a day before leaving. Our cab was scheduled to arrive at 4:30 AM, and we were in a doubt as usual whether to sleep early and wake up at 4 am or just not sleep the entire night! Departing from Guwahati and reaching Khanapara at 7:30 am, we took a local Sumo to reach Tezpur at 11:30 am. Another Sumo at 12 pm from Tezpur helped us reach our first destination, Bomdila at 6 pm. You’d get several homestays and hotels nearby at cheap rates of around Rs. 1000 per night for 2 people.
Next day, we visited the Bomdila Monastery! There’s an unquestionable beauty to the peace one finds in monasteries like this. Since, we were the only tourists there at that time, we got to explore the place as we wished. In that serene atmosphere we found some monks who gave us priceless knowledge of Buddhist culture. After visiting a couple of other places, we reached Dirang. With my first ever experience of a “Hot Water Spring” and a few other places, we decided to stay there for the night.
From Dirang, we left at 6 am and reached Tawang around 12:30 pm. Soon I had my first experience of snow at Sella lake! Though we couldn’t be there for more than 15 minutes, it was totally worth it. People in Tawang were so happy, caring and kind. They would greet everyone with a big heart and be there for anything we asked for. Such people make us realise what it takes to be a happy person after all! 
The monastery at Tawang was huge and the most amazing part of it was its museum which had items kept as ancient as the 7th century! We stayed there for 2 days and came back the next day.
A journey to remember because of the moments to cherish! Thanks to Abode of Clouds for being the best Travel Partner we could have asked for!