Ziro Festival of Music

Ziro is one of the oldest town in Arunachal Pradesh located at a height of 8000 ft. Ziro has been nominated for World Heritage Site. It is the home to the Apatani tribes of Arunachal Pradesh. 

The Apatani tribe is sub-divided into number of clans. They live in fairly large villages. In the Apatani villages the house are closely constructed and bamboos are the initial part of their construction. It is said that the Apatani women were beautiful and in order to protect them from other they have start practising tattooing and nose plug.

We (THE TEAM) had decided to visit Ziro Festival of Music to promote our newly formed adventure travel company called “Pedal roads”. Half of the team travelled by train and others will hit the road. Me, Nitu, Pranab and Shashank have decided to travel by train.

Ziro host the India’s greatest outdoor music festival every year. It is organized in the month of September every year. This year it started from 24^th September till 27^th September, 2015. The venue has two stages one is name as Danyii stage and the other as Piilo stage. The artist at Danyii stage performs from 1400 hrs to 1700 hrs and after that the performances start in the Piilo stage till 2200 hrs. Many prominent artists like Tetseo Sisters, The Koniac Net, Barmer Boys, Prateek, Guru Rewben, F16’s, and Boomarang etc were part of the ZFM 2015. There were also tented accommodation facilities available which are offered by Shoes on Lose, Kite manja and Camp Venture.

 Day 1; 21^st September, 2015.

At 2130 hrs we boarded the train till Naharlagun from Guwahati railway station. After fixing up our luggage and we chatted for few hours and decided to sleep as we had to travel the following day too till Ziro.

Day 2; 22^nd September, 2015.

We reached Naharlagun railway station at around 0530 hrs and had to wait till our vehicle arrived at the station. Finally our sumo had arrived at 0900 hrs along with our friend Duyu. Immediately we started our journey towards Ziro. On the way stopped to have our brunch, we all had some simple awesome food at Potin.  After an attractive but bumpy ride through rough terrain we had reached Ziro at 1400 hrs. As we already had decided to stay at Duyu home in Bulla village (one of the Apatani village) near Old Ziro so went directly towards Bulla.

Day 3; 23^rd September, 2015.

We had decided to ride our mountain bikes through the Apatani villages nearby and to the venue of the Ziro Festival of Music at the Biirii ground but unfortunately it started raining so we had to ride back to Bulla basti (village). In order to finalise the route for the tour we planned to organise at the festival, I went out with Duyu and his brother on his bike. We covered all the 9 Apatani Villages viz Hong, Dutta, Bamuchi, Mudang, Tage, Hija, Lempia, Bulla, Hari and Old Ziro (town). Based on those visit we had decided to reduce the distance and exclude Hong and Lempia from the route due the road condition.  

Day 4; 24^th September, 2015.

The first day of the Ziro Music festival 2015. The programme started post lunch time .Before being a part of the festival we had planned to explore the Apatani villages nearby with our mountain bikes on the route we had decided. So we started our ride from Bulla basti and covered five different Apatani villages nearby.

Route: - BULLA – HARI – BIIRII (festival ground) – MUDANG TAGE – DUTTA – HIJA – OLD ZIRO (town) – BULLA.

During the ride we had seen the some unique culture of the Apatani people like the paddy-cum-fish cultivation,  Lapan – a wooden platform for traditional gathering of each clan, Babo – a wooden pole erected near the lapan where aerial dare devil act were performed.

After the beautiful ride the rain God had again delayed our plan to visit the festival ground.

Day 5; 25^th September, 2015.

On the 2^nd day, officially we were a part of ZFM 2015, we were there at the “things to do” counter, organising a guided cycle tours to the different Apatani villages as a team “Pedal roads”. The counter was just in front of the main stage i.e. Piilo stage. After finishing off trips for the day, we headed towards the stage to enjoy the live music. After a while we had to rush back to our workstation counter , as we had more enquiry for the following day , credit goes to the announcement made by  the management committee about the various activities in ZFM’2015.

Day 6; 26^th September, 2015.

The next day, we had reached the ground early, as our trips starts from 0800 hrs and we were almost fully booked for the whole day. After completing the trips for the day, we had time to enjoy the live music in the evening till the show ends.

Day 7; 27^th September, 2015.

The last day of the music festival , many people started leaving for their next destination and even there were new visitors, who had specially came to enjoy the last day show. The last day was quite a scene of people pouring in and out of the ground .We had cancelled our afternoon trips as the whole team was invited for lunch at Duyu’s sister residence, so it was a day for some homely food. So at 1300 hrs we had left the ground heading towards Duyu’s sister’s place. The food was delicious and after spending some few hours in productive discussion we had decided to move back to the ground as few of our team member was heading back to Guwahati.

We had reached the ground at around 1630 hrs and Guru Rewben was performing at the Danyii stage at the same time. We locked our cycle and were all set to enjoy every movement of the show as we have closed our booking for this season in the ZFM 2015.

Day 8; 28^th September, 2015.

We decided to travel back the next day to Guwahati by Arunachal State Transport from Ziro along with the cycles. So the whole day was all ours, we had planned to help Duyu and his mother in their paddy field in harvesting their crops. After cycling for around 2km us tasty lunch at the paddy field, a new technique for harvesting crops.  After a long tiring but work full of fun at the field we were exhausted.

Rested for a while and started with Packing and planning for the next day.

Day 9; 29^th September, 2015.

The next morning we had reached the bus stand before the schedule time, booked our tickets and fixed the deal with conductor for the extra luggages.

It was a long bumpy ride till Guwahati however due to tiredness of the whole week we had slept all the way long. The bus had arrived the next day at 0230 hrs.

A Life time experience ZFM 2015.

In the Land of Lamas

Season:- June to September.

Even during my second visit to Leh I could not visit the places of interest beside the Nubra valley. So I finally decided to cover as much as places I could with some adjustment in my busy work schedule. To add up to the beauty of Leh my wife had visited me so we could explore more scenic areas of Leh. We had stayed in a beautiful room at Jimmy Guest House near Hotel Gawaling run by a family who are well known to me from couple years. So, if you happen to visit Leh I would suggest not to miss the opportunity to enjoy their warm hospitality.

Next day we both decided to hire a bike every evening to ride and cover as many places we can on the bike ride. Based on those experiences I am writing this article to help travelers to plan out their visit to the nearby places in and around Leh.

So, the trip goes as follows.

Day 1:- Leh town - Shey Palace - Thiksey Monastery - Leh town.

On the very first day after the day my wife’s arrival, we decided to ride on the Leh-Manali road, so we hired a 350 Royal Enfield, there are many option in choosing out the type of two wheeler you would go for , I opted out for a Bullet Ride as it’s the favorite ride for my wife. The two wheeler lend you the bike for a minimum of 600 rupees for a day that starts from morning 8 or 9 to evening 8 O’clock, well it depends on the bike too, so it varies. We started our journey at around 1530 hrs towards Sindu Darshan which is 8 km from Leh on the bank of Indus River but we decided to visit the same on our ride back to Leh, and so we headed towards Shey Palace which is 7 km away from the ghat.

Shey Palace was build in sixteen century AD and was the royal residence of the Namgyals which latter shifted to the Stock Palace and was converted to a Gompa (Buddhist Temples). The palace has a 7.5 meters Buddha statue made with copper and brass, plated with gold, silver studded with gems and precious stones.

From there we planned to head towards Thiksey Monastery which is 5 km from Shey Palace which resemble to the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet so it is called ‘Mini Potala’. The monastery is a twelve storey complex. One of the main attractions here is the Maitreya temple which was installed to memorialize the visit of 14 Dalai Lama to the monastery.

Though our planning was to include the Stakna Monastery in the ride but as the day light was getting deemed  and it was time for the sun to take a Nap we had to rush back to Leh town to hand over the bike to the bike shop owner.

Day 2:- Leh town - Guruduwa Pathar Sahib - Magnetic Hill - Spituk Monastery - Hall of Fame -Leh town.

Like the previous day we decided to hire a bike for our next ride and to our good luck, we had the same bullet to accompany us.  The next day we planned to hit the Leh-Srinagar highway.  We decided to visit Gurudwara Pathar Sahib then magnetic hill and the Spituk and Hall of Fame on our way back to Leh town.

Gurudwara Patthar Sahib is about 25 km from Leh town, dedicated to Guru Nanak which is being maintained by the Indian army. It is believed that when Guru Nanak was offering his prayers a demon pushed a large boulder to kill him but the boulder turned soft on touching him. The demon came down and found that Guru Ji was perfectly alright and he kicked the boulder with his right foot, but as the boulder was still soft, his foot got embedded in it. After seeing this he fell at Guru Ji feet and pleaded mercy for his act. So, in return Guru Ji advised him to devote the rest of his life in service of the people.

Magnetic hill is just 5 km from Gurudwara Pathar Sahib; it’s a place to experience the unique phenomenon. There is a box marked on the road, where if a car is kept at neutral mode and positioned inside the box, the vehicle will start moving covering a short distance at a speed of 10-20 km per hour on its own.

On our way back to Leh we visited Spituk Gonpa which is situated on a hilltop just 8 km ahead of Leh and was built in 14^th century AD. Higher up in the hill there is a small Palden Lama Temple. Spituk Gustor, the annual monastic festival take place from 26^th to 28^th of the 11 Tibetan months.

Hall of Fame is a museum which is located at a distance of 4 km away from Leh town, maintained by the Indian Army in the memory of the soldier who had lost their life during Indo-Pak war. The museum exhibits memories related to the Ladakhi culture, history, animals, battles, equipments of the Indian army etc. It also includes a 30 minutes film on ‘Kargil War’. In order to visit this museum one can avail the tickets easily from the ticket counters which cost around Rs 25 for Indian and Rs 50 for foreigners.

Day 3:- Leh market - Shanti Stupa.

On the Third day we decided to explore the local market and to enquire about share taxi services for our trip to Pangong Lake, which is the largest salt water lake and is situated at a distance of 150 kms from Leh. There is not much to watch out in the city but wandering in the lanes of the market and watching the crowd is a unique experience. The antique and silver jewelry shops by the road side will have some interesting things to attract your attention towards them. After a round of the market we decide to head towards Shanti Stupa.

Shanti Stupa is about 2 km from the Leh police station. This Stupa was inaugurated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1985. There are two ways to reach this religious monument one is by drivable road and the other is by 500 steps to the hilltop; we decided to take the steps route to the Stupa. It gives you a marvelous view of Leh town from the top. It was build to promote world peace and prosperity. The stupa is open for public between 500 hrs to 2100 hrs.

After a long relaxing walk we decided to go back to the market to finalize the taxi services for the next day trip. Luckily we got a taxi service providing the service on share basis on Rs 1500 per person. It was for an Innova car service and we had two more people with us .We booked the taxi and hurried back to our guest house after an awesome dinner at a restaurant as we had to get ready for an early morning trip the next day @ around 500 Hrs.

Day 4:- Leh town - Pangong lake - Hemis monastery - Leh town.

We woke up early and walked to the pickup point near the town amidst the chilling light wind. After few minutes a white Innova arrived at the location and within another 10-15 min a couple had arrived

with whom we were going to share the taxi we greeted each other and started our journey to Pangong. On the way we had some interesting interaction by which we came to know that the husband was an Indian tourist guide and his wife was a foreigner. After few kilometers of drive we had a glimpse of the Chemdey monastery.  We cross the Chang-La pass the third highest motorable pass luckily it wasn’t snowing on that particular day. On the way we stop at a place where we met few friends the cute marmot playing in the field near the road. 

After spending few minutes there we resumed our journey. Finally we arrived at the Pangong Lake after a beautiful drive by the countryside. We had our breakfast at a restaurant nearby the lake, the blue water, the chilling wind and Colored Mountain had added a new taste to our breakfast. The lake is about 150 kms long, 2-10 km wide situated at an altitude of 14,100 ft, and nearly three-fourth of the lake is situated in China territory. Sitting ideal near the lake and enjoying the view of the birds playing in the water will surely hypnotize you.

At around 1300 hrs we headed back to Leh and decided to visit the Hemis Monastery on our way back which is around 45 km from Leh.

Hemis monastery is one of the largest and oldest monasteries in the region. The museum of the Hemis monastery has a collection of rare statues, instruments, weapons, jewellery etc. The annual Hemis festival is held here in early June.

We had reached our guest house by 700 hrs and went to bed after a quick dinner, as the next day we had our flight back to Delhi.

The mesmerizing hanging valley of Gods –"Har Ki Doon".

Level: - Easy to moderate

Season:- May to June, Sept to Oct.

Route:-Sankri - Taluka - Seema - Har Ki Doon - Sankri.

Finally, done with the official order to explore the Har Ki Doon Valley trek. I packed my bags and started my journey along with one of my colleague Mr. Dewan. In the evening we boarded a bus to Dehradun. The next day at around 0500 hrs we reached Dehradun . Rested and refreshed for a while with a cup of tea and then boarded a bus till Purola- a small town in Uttrakhand. At 1300 hrs we reached Purola .Mr. Bachan Singh was there to receive us and joined us for the trip. We booked a local taxi, which are easily available from Purola to Mori and then to Sankri -the place where we would be spending our night. Travelling for around 24 hrs had made us so tired that gave us a very good sound sleep.  The next day we decided to do our official work at Sankri and decided to start our trek soon after that.

Har Ki Doon the “Hanging valley of Gods” is at an altitude of 3500 m above sea level in the Garhwal Region. This region falls within the Govind Pashu Vihar wildlife sanctuary.

  

Day 1:- Sankri – Taluka – Seema/Osla. (11 km) (5-6 hrs)

As planned to start our trek on the third day, we hired a taxi till Taluka, had our breakfast in a dhaba, bought some biscuits, chocolates, battery etc for the trip. After completing our work at Taluka we started our trek to explore the valley. A narrow descent path next to the forest rest house of Taluka leads us somewhere nearer to the Supin River. There are many places in this stretch which leads you nearer to the river. To our bad luck suddenly it started to rain, luckily we were well prepared for this natural calamity with rain sheet to cover ourselves and protect our belongings from rain. Beside this to my surprise my camera was not working. That made my mood and energy to swing to a low level but with a hope and a positive thought that it would work I kept it back in my knapsack.

After walking for few kilometers we reached Gangad Village. We took a break on the shade of a tea stall which was closed indeed, as it was off season for the trek.  We ate some biscuits to fill in some energy and were getting a glimpse on the structure of the village at the other side of the river. After few minutes it stop drizzling so, we decided to continue our journey.

We had to cross a wooden bridge over the river taking a few snapshots with it. The rain had made the route slippery and hard for us to trek. After walking for about half an hour we felt so exhausted that made the trek till Seema turn out to be a never ending journey. We desperately wanted some tea to energize ourselves and to our favour there was a place nearby where we could have a cup of tea. Finally at around 1500 hrs we reached Seema. To add on to the list of surprises on the very day, the caretaker of the forest guest house was not there even after information was send that we would be there for a stay. We even check the GMVN Guest house but no one was there at the premises. We sat down at the campus of the forest guest house and were discussing to how to spend the night, the dinner, how to deal with the cold and etc etc. Suddenly we heard some noises and found out that the local villagers were returning from their daily paddy field visit with their cattles. We enquired about the owner of the dhaba which was in front of the rest house and asked them to deliver the message to him that we are waiting.

The owner of the dhaba arrived after about one hour. He was like an angel for us at that point of time and that relieved us to some extent. He also informed us that the care taker had left the keys with him to accommodate us at the guest house.  We went to our room and asked him prepare some tea for us. That cup of tea had worked on our body like an herbal medicine. After about an hour we had our dinner and went to sleep in most luxurious way in that environment.

Day 2 Seema – Har Ki Doon – Seema. (21 km) (8-9 hrs)

Next day we woke up at around 0700 hrs with a nice cup of bed tea. One of my colleagues Mr. Dewan was not feeling well so we decided to leave him back at Seema, so that he can rest for the day .I and Mr. Bachan Singh decided to trek till Har Ki Doon and would return on the same day to guest house.

We had asked the Dhaba owner to prepare some paranthas for breakfast and to pack some for our lunch.

At around 0800 hrs we started our trek to Har Ki Doon, crossed the bridge near the Guest house to be on the other side of the river. From here, there was a steep climb to meet the main narrow path that leads to the village when we take a left and to the right is Har Ki Doon . After trekking for few kms of ups and downs we meet the care taker of the Forest Rest house at Har Ki Doon, He was a man in his late fifties. After talking with him for a while we decided to continue our trek and also requested him to prepare our lunch.

We crossed a paddy field where we found few villagers who were still working at the field. The scenic beauty of the paddy filed with local people working and at the same time the river flowing below on the right hand side of the field made me felt the importance of my camera which was not functioning for some technical malfunction.

On the way ahead we crossed a waterfall followed by a small wooden bridge. The trek route after crossing the bridge is little bit steeper. After about a half hour of trek we stopped to have the packed paranthas . After resting for few minutes we started our journey to Har Ki Doon. Finally at around 1230 hrs we reached Har Ki Doon and after crossing a bridge we arrived at the Har ki Doon Forest Rest House.

After a cup of tea at the rest house we decided to spend some time with the spell bound scenic beauty of the area. As the weather was little cloudy the view of the peaks so the way to Jaundhar glacier was not visible on that very day. We wanted to trek ahead but left with no option as we had to move back to Seema on the same day. After few minutes as it start raining, we decided to have lunch at the kitchen near the fire place, to have our lunch in a warmer way.

At around 1330 hrs we started our journey back to Seema with the hope that some other day we would explore the nearby area. We reached Seema Forest House at 1800 hrs and Dewan ji was waiting for us at the dhaba. As soon as we arrived they offered us with some tea .We had our dinner early and went to bed early to ease our tiresome journey after the day  long trek.

Day 3: Seema – Taluka - Sankri. (11km) (5-6 hrs)

Next day we woke up late as we had planned to start our trek back to Taluka by 0900 hrs. After having our breakfast we packed our bag and decided to start our trek back after collecting the packed lunch from the dhaba owner and wished him luck and with promises that we would meet him soon some day. We almost run all the way back to Taluka and reached there at 1300 hrs. After spending few hours at Taluka we hired a jeep to Sankri.

There was a mela(fair) at the village due to presence of “Devta” idol in the village. So after few hours of rest we decided to pay a visit and offer a prayer to the idol at the temple and at the same time we would also experience the unique culture of the locals. We came back to our place and decided to leave for Delhi the very next morning. 

So, we boarded a bus from Sankri to Purola and then travelled by bus till Delhi. Our journey came to an end with a hope to trek again to explore more hidden treasures of the beautiful nature of the nearby areas.