Leaving at 8:15 AM after sending our emails, we learned
going out of Dibrugarh that the road to Pasighat, where we were to spend the
next two nights, had been damaged in the storm the night before and was
impassable onward to Along. Therefore we
agreed with our new guide, Lawrence, that we would go straight to Along,
particularly as the tribe there was celebrating Moping festival, which is for a
successful harvest and year. The road
was not at all good, and we reached the banks of the Brahmaputra River after a
couple of hours, finding a very small ferry boat that could only take 3
vehicles on board by driving them up twin planks from the sandy shore. Our
driver Bishall was successful in driving on and later off, after a 45- minute
trip. Then we had lunch in a local restaurant, where we were treated as
honorary curiosities, and given tea spoons to eat our rice and daal with,
rather than just using hands, like everyone else.
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| Ferry Boat - 3 cars... |
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| Mishmi Weaver's Loom |
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| Love all the different basket styles |
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| David is in the crowd on the right |
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| Mopin Festival Entertainment |
Driving out of town, we had to present our special permit to
enter Arunachal Pradesh, a state that is considered more sensitive than even
Nagaland because it borders on not only Burma, but also China and Bhutan. As we
drove along, we stopped when we saw a celebration going on below on a sports
field, and officials rushed up to the road to invite us down to join their
Mopin celebration. We were introduced to
the crowd, given bamboo filled with homemade rice wine and leaf-wrapped bits of
wild boar and the local bison, called “Metoon”, as well as other snacks, and
watched the ladies perform traditional dances on the field. Then we thanked
everyone and left because we wanted to get to Along (now called Aalo) before it
was too dark for the driver to see the road. We finally reached our hotel in
the dark at about 6:30 PM, checked into the best hotel in town, the Hotel Toshi
Palace. This had beds with no sheets but two blankets, a hot water heater and
shower, and a TV with HBO channel! All operated by electricity which was
sporadic at best.
It also had open windows with no glass
connecting to the central hallway, where local drivers and guides, including
our, stayed and made noise fairly late and starting at about 4 AM. We are going
to stay here three nights, as we are not going back to the place with the road
access problem, even if the avalanche/wash-out problems are resolved, because
that would require 15-hour driving for at least one day.
We settled in quickly after dinner at the hotel.
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