Blogs from Arunachal Pradesh, India, Asia - page 3

One of my main reasons for traveling to Arunachal Pradesh in the first place was to visit the Tawang valley in the far north-west corner of the state. This is definitely the Himalayas and very Tibetan. In fact before the British took control of it, it was a district of Tibet. Almost as soon as we entered Arunachal, we began to see Tibetan prayer flags. The Kameng river which we traveled up for the beginning of the journey is fast-flowing and in a steep forested valley - some spectacular rainforest which gradually gives way to more temperate species of trees, including Rhododenrons in bloom, so I really enjoyed the botanical/ecological aspects of the scenery. The road is narrow, poorly surfaced and very winding and steep, so sometimes scenery is difficult to really appreciate, especially when crowded ... read more

There's a saying: "It never rains but it pours"...and it comes to my mind not only because we are in the middle of flood season here near Byron Bay, but because after a couple of months of no interest in my ads for travel companions, suddenly I have several enquiries. Not only that, but now there seems to be the real possibility that I may be able to spend some time riding a motorcycle during my explorations. So this tantalising opportunity has arisen...and yet it makes planning even more complex! Now I have to see whether the motorcycle tour will get me to the places I want to go...and whether it will even run,,,and whether it'll run on dates that I can join it,,, and if other possible travel companions who are interested in my general ... read more

My first Travelblog entry...in fact my first real blog entry, even though I've played with the Internet for many years (yes, I even remember when it was all text-based). I thought I'd try and record some the planning that can go into a trip in these first few entries. I say "CAN", because it doesn't have to be all planned ... I remember my first journey out of Australia in 1978 was for a whole year through Asia and around Europe, and planning more or less consisted of getting smallpox and other shots, grabbing a copy of a Student's Guide to Asia, and buying tickets to Singapore! These days with the 'net, many hours can be spent meticulously planning ... though I suspect the plans will still go awry ( and perhaps that'll be even more ... read more

Once a not so long time ago one man and his friend wanted to visit some of the north-eastern states of India... But little did they know that this was not so easy... To visit most of those states a permit is needed and to get such a permit one often has to be with 4 people or more or be a (not de facto) married couple... Depending on which state one wants to visit... So they came to Guwahati, the gateway to the northeast in the hope of finding other people with the same desires... Little hope had they of finding such people, as so far all the people they knew who had been to Assam and some of the other north-eastern states said that they had met no other tourists... But lo! They were ... read more