East Arunachal Cycling Tour

Dibrugarh in the northeast corner of Assam is known as the Tea City of India as it is home to some 144 tea estates. We meet post-lunch to visit the Mancotta Tea Estate which is home to a gracefully restored 150-year-old property built in the traditional style of using stilts known as Changs. We get to learn more about the famous Assam tea here, observing at close quarters all the various operations from picking to packing that bring the world’s favorite beverage from tea estates to morning cups the world over. Assam is the largest single tea growing region in the world and its tea is unique, unlike in most other tea growing regions, Assam tea is not grown in highland areas but at or close to the sea level, giving it its malty taste and bright colors. We meet in the evening for a bike fit and a tour briefing. Tonight, our stay is at the Chowkidinghee Heritage Bungalow, an early 20th-century property built in colonial style and standing on the edge of a tea estate. Expect the sweet aroma of tea leaves to waft through the window first thing in the morning to wake you up refreshed for an exciting journey ahead.

We begin the day’s cycling with a visit to Namphake village on the outskirts of Dibrugarh. This village is one of a kind as it is home to the Tai Phake people, a tiny community of only about 5000 in India most of whom are settled in this village. The Tai Phake migrated from Myanmar and Thailand in the 17th & 18th centuries and practice Buddhism. The town has a beautiful Buddhist monastery. As we bike along the languidly meandering Dihing river, we get to witness a curious geographical feature formed by the river’s meandering curves – oxbow lakes. Oxbow lakes are horseshoe-shaped lakes formed by the meandering path of rivers with a wetland at their center. The Dihing river forms a beautiful oxbow lake at Sasoni Merbil, an ecotourism spot that is a birder’s paradise. The terrain remains flat for the most part.

We continue riding to Inthong, a village close to the Assam –Arunachal Pradesh border. Inthong is a tea-growing region, and our stay for the night, the Singpho Eco Lodge is situated among lush green tea gardens. The Singphos are a tribe found across Myanmar, China, and North-east India, known for their fighting skills, herbal healing, craftsmanship, and hospitality. The Singpho eco-lodge is a spacious property with rooms built in the traditional style on stilts, using locally available materials such as bamboo and timber. While at the lodge, don’t miss traditional Singpho cuisine. We especially recommend a local tea known as Phalap that is grown by the Singpho people in their own gardens without the use of any chemical fertilizer or pesticide. The tea leaves are processed by frying them and stuffing them in bamboo hollows, and allowing them to dry slowly in wood-fired kitchen ovens over a period of three months. Because of the long processing time, the Phalap is rarely sold in commercial quantities and is considered more of an emotional artifact close to Singpho culture than a commercial enterprise. We raise a cup of the finest Phalap tea as a befitting toast to the beginning of an exciting journey of adventure and discovery.

Today we enter Arunachal Pradesh and begin cycling due east. We cross the Dihing river and cycle through the historical town of Ledo, the easternmost railway station in India, and the starting point of the historical Ledo road – a 1726 km road built by the Allies during the Second World War to connect Ledo to Assam to China. Constructed under the supervision of General Joseph Stilwell of the US Army, the Ledo road was the lifeline that allowed the Allies to send supplies to China as it was being overrun by Japan.

We stay tonight at the Golden Pagoda eco-resort, which has charming wooden cottages spread atop a hillock overlooking the Tenga Pani river and surrounded by pristine forests. Looming large over the resort is the awe-inspiring Kongmu Kham or the Golden Pagoda, a Buddhist temple built in the Myanmarese style. In the evening, we pay a visit to the temple.

A great day of cycling awaits as we head northwards across the Mishmi Hills, a mountain range that acts as a transition between the Himalayas and the Indo-Burma mountains. The fauna and the geography alter drastically through the ride today - from tea estates to the forest near the base of Mishmi Hills. We experience the colorful lives and livelihoods of the Mishmi people who inhabit this region.

We continue riding due north across the mighty Lohit, a powerful, swift-flowing river originating in Tibet that is a major tributary of the Brahmaputra river. The Lohit is also known as the river of blood because of the high levels of lateritic soil that it brings down from the Mishmi hills. Wild orchids and rhododendrons bloom along its fertile banks. Once across the Lohit, we enter the Himalayan foothills and ride past low-rising mountains and fields of wild orchids to reach Roing, the last major township along India’s north-eastern frontier.

Roing is located on a watershed where the Brahmaputra, entering India from Tibet, takes a south-westerly bend, offering great views of the Himalayas on one side and the mighty Brahmaputra on the other. We stay tonight at the Mishmi Hills Camp, a quaint resort nestled among low hills and overlooking the Eze river, a frolicking, dancing stream that joyously goes on to meet the Brahmaputra a few km downstream. The cheerful energy of the gushing Eze river will wash over you as you look back on a wonderful adventure that comes to an end over a traditional Mishmi dinner, and under a starlit north-eastern sky.

Today you can plan your own day. Spend the day reading a book right next to the Siang river or go for a birding tour in Mishmi Hills, a heaven for bird watchers, with a local guide.

This is an exciting riding day as we cross the Siang river to head west towards our eventual destination, Pasighat. The flora consists of sub-tropical vegetation such as bamboo forests and betel nut trees. The Siang river flows through the dense forests with the Mishmi hills in the backdrop presenting a picture postcard setting to the day’s ride.

We stay for the night at the Abor River Camp, located on the banks of the might Siang.

We proceed from here in accordance with our onward travel plans and fly out of Pasighat airport.