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From Tezpur we took a bus to reach Rangia. Rangiya (also spelt as Rangia) is a city and a municipal board in Kamrup district of Assam. It is the regional divisional headquarters of the North East Frontier Railway. From Rangiya Bhutan border is about 30 km so we decided to go to Bhutan. The Kingdom of Bhutan is a landlocked nation in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalaya Mountains and is bordered to the south, east and west by India and to the north by the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China. Bhutan is separated from Nepal by the Indian state of Sikkim. The Bhutanese call their country Druk Yul which means “Land of the Thunder Dragon”. That’s the entrance gate to city Samdrup Jongkhar. Samdrup Jongkhar is the regional head of Samdrup Jongkhar district and the largest town in east Bhutan.

We stayed for one day in Bhutan. The next day we returned to Rangiya and then went to Guwahati. From Guwahati we took a train to reach New Jalpaiguri. New Jalpaiguri is a sister city of Siliguri. The appellation Jalpaiguri means olives in Bengali. The town is popularly known by its acronym NJP. It is located at a distance of sixteen kilometres from Siliguri. New Jalpaiguri is a major railway junction linking north eastern India to the rest of the country. The station has all three gauges — broad gauge — linking regular rail traffic between Assam and other parts of India; narrow gauge — the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway — a World Heritage Site connecting it with the hill station of Darjeeling and the metre gauge which connects parts of Assam and used as local rail services.

From NJP we hired a sumo to go to Darjeeling. Darjeeling is a hill station in the state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of Darjeeling district, in the Shiwalik Hills on the lower range of the Himalaya, at an average elevation of 6,982 ft (2,128 m). Darjeeling is internationally famous for its tea industry and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, nicknamed the “Toy Train”, is a 2 ft (610 mm) gauge narrow-gauge railway from Siliguri to Darjeeling in West Bengal, run by the Indian Railways. It was built between 1879 and 1881 and is about 86 km long. The elevation level is from about 100 m. at Siliguri to about 2,200 m. at Darjeeling. It is still powered by a steam engine. A modern diesel engine is used for Darjeeling’s mail. Since 1999 the train has been a World Heritage Site as listed by UNESCO. That’s the famous toy train of Darjeeling:

Then, we went to see the rocks to learn trekking. Tenzing Rock and Gombu Rock are situated on Lebong Cart road in Darjeeling. Tenzing and Gombu rocks are also commonly known as monkey rocks. Tenzing Rock was named after Tenzing Sherpa and Gombu Rock was named after Nawang Gombu. It is a challenging masterpiece of nature’s oddity for the rock climbers. It is where Tenzing Sherpa climbed the Tenzing rock in the presence of Late Prime minister Jawaharlal Nerhu without a belay. That’s Tenzing Rock:

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After that we returned to Shillong. The next day we took a bus from Shillong to reach Guwahati. From there we took a bus to reach Tezpur. Tezpur is a city and a municipal board in Sonitpur in the state of Assam. It is an ancient town on the banks of the river Brahmaputra and is the largest of the north bank towns. It is also the administrative headquarters of the Sonitpur district of Assam. The name Tezpur is derived from the Sanskrit words “Teza” meaning blood and “Pura” meaning town or city. Legend has it that the original name of this place was Sonitpur (“sonit” in sanskrit also means blood) but when the battle between Krishna’s army and Banasura’s army fought for the rescue of Aniruddha (who was the grandson of Lord Krishna) there was so much bloodshed that the whole place was stained in red. This led to the name of the place becoming Tezpur. From Tezpur we took permission to go to Tawang. The next day morning we hired a Sumo. On the way we saw the Sela Pass which is 14,000 feet high.

In the evening time we reached Tawang. Tawang district is an administrative district in the state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Then, we went to the Tawang monastery. Founded by the Mera Lama Lodre Gyasto in accordance to the wishes of the 5th Dalai Lama, Nagwang Lobsang Gyatso, The Tawang monastery of the Gelugpa sect is the largest Buddhist monastery in India. The name Tawang means Chosen Horse. It is also known in another Tibetan name known as Galden Namgey Lhatse, which means a true name within a celestial paradise in a clear night. Located at an elevation of 10,000 feet (3,300m) in the district capital, Tawang Town, it is home to more than 600 Lamas. It also houses the Parkhang library: a collection of the 400-year-old Kangyurs which consists of 110 volumes with 400-500 pages in each bundle in addition to invaluable manuscripts. Other large collections include the Sutras, Tangym, Sungbhum, old books and other manuscripts, both handwritten and printed, many of them in gold. The collection has a total of 850 bundles. Dances and ceremonial celebrations are held in the courtyard, the most important of which is held on the night of Buddha Purnima. It also houses a small printing press. The most fascinating part is or the assembly hall – a three-storied building housing the temple and the 8.3-m high Golden Buddha.

We also visited Ani Gumpha which is which is run by women monks. Only ladies are allowed to stay in this monastery. Then, we went to see the Tawang War Memorial. Tawang War Memorial at Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh is dedicated to the martyrs of the 1962 Sino-Indian war. The memorial is nestled among picturesque snow-capped peaks overlooking the imposing Tawang-Chu valley. The height of the war memorial is about 40 feet. The memorial was designed by the Army and was constructed at a cost of about Rs 15 lakh. The imposing structure in a stupa design is locally called “Namgyal Chortan” and has names of 2420 dead soldiers etched in gold on 32 black granite plagues.

China border is quite close from Tawang:

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Starting from: Bhilai

Destination: Tawang

Crew: Pawan, Rajkumar, Rishikant, Raja and Vasu.

We started our journey from Durg station by a train and went to Howrah. We stayed at a Railway’s Yatri Nivas in Howrah. Howrah is an industrial city, a municipal corporation in the Howrah district, West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the district, and also the headquarters of Howrah Sadar subdivision of the district. Located on the west bank of the Hooghly River (also spelled as Hoogli or Hugli) it is a twin city of Kolkata. It is West Bengal’s second largest city in terms of both area and population. The two cities are connected by the Howrah Bridge (also known as Rabindra Setu), the Vidyasagar Setu (also known as the second Hooghly Bridge) and ferry services between various jetties in the two cities. We took a steamer and crossed the Hooghly River to reach Kolkata. Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) is the capital of West Bengal. It is located in eastern India on the east bank of the River Hooghly. When referred to as “Kolkata”, it usually includes the suburbs, and thus its population exceeds 15 million, making it India’s third-largest city and urban agglomeration. This also makes it the world’s 14th largest metropolitan area. Then, we took a taxi and reached the Dakshineswar Kali Temple. The temple is situated on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River and the presiding deity of the temple is Bhavatarini, an aspect of Kali. The temple compound, apart from the nine-spired main temple, contains a large courtyard surrounding the temple, with rooms along the boundary walls. There are twelve shrines dedicated to the aspects of Shiva, Kali’s companion, along the riverfront, a temple to Radha-Krishna, a bathing ghat on the river, a bookshop, a shrine to Rani Rashmoni, and a parking lot. The chamber in the northwestern corner just beyond the last of the Shiva temples, is where Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa spent a considerable part of his life. After visiting the temple at Dakshineshwar we took a boat and decided to go to Belur Math. Here, you can see the view of Dakshineshwar temple from the boat:

Belur Math are the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission, founded by Swami Vivekananda—a chief disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. It is located on the west bank of Hooghly River, Belur, West Bengal. then, we went to the Kalighat Kali Temple dedicated to the goddess Kali. It is situated in Kalighat. This is one of the 51 Shakti Peethas. The right toe of Dakshayani is said to have fallen here. The Shakti here is known as Kalika, while the Bhairava is Nakulesh. It is a very famous place and a pilgrimage for Shakta followers. The next day we took a train to reach Guwahati. Guwahati (also spelled as Gauhati) is a major city in eastern India, often considered as the gateway to the North-East Region (NER) of the country and is the largest city within the region. Dispur, the capital of the Indian state of Assam is situated within the city. We hired a hotel room in Guwahati. We decide to go to Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati. Just near the temple there is a natural pond full of turtles in Kachapukhuri. Nobody knows as to how, when, why and who brought these amphibians from the plains to so high an altitude. Here, you can even find 1000 year old turtles.

Then, we went to see the Kamakhya Temple. The Kamakhya Temple is a shakti temple situated on the Nilachal Hill in western part of Guwahati. It is the main temple in a complex of individual temples dedicated to different forms of the mother goddess that include Bhubaneshwari, Bagalamukhi, Chinnamasta, Tara, etc. It is an important pilgrimage destination for general Hindu and Tantric worshipers. The current temple structure was constructed in 1565 by Chilarai of the Koch dynasty in the style of medieval temples.

After the darshan we hired a sumo and reached Shillong. Shillong is the capital of Meghalaya, one of the smallest states in India. It is also the district headquarters of the East Khasi Hills District and is situated at an average altitude of 4,908 ft (1,496 m) above sea level, with the highest point being “lum shyllong” at 1965 m. Shillong is a beautiful place where you can find nice hotels, gardens and churches. We visited the Cathedral Church. The Cathedral Church of Mary Help of Christians is the principal place of worship of the Catholics. The Cathedral Church was built over 50 years ago. Since it also has the “cathedra” – the seat or throne of the Bishop – it is known as a Cathedral Church. This place of worship stands on the very site of the first Church built by the German fathers.

Then, we went to a garden. Check out this view:

After that we hired a taxi and decided to go to Cherrapunji. On the way we took some nice shots:

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1. Trip to Varanasi aka Banaras aka Kashi: Chapter 2: Part 1: Sri Digambar Jain Temple, Buddha statue in black stone, Sri Lankan temple, Sarnath