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SAM CLUB DAY ‘16

On coming back to the town, we visited the Monastery. 'Tawang Gompa', as it is locally known, is open to
tourists up un l the evening and no special permissions are required to visit. It houses an 8m tall Buddha
statue and the walls are adorned with pain ngs and depic ons of his life. Prayer services are carried out at
specific mes and standing in the main compound one can strongly connect with the energy flowing
around. It also has a school a ached to it and groups of tradi onally clad students murmuring and
chan ng hymns add to the mys cism of the place.
We ambled about the streets of Tawang for the rest of the evening and discovered that finding the right
place to eat in Tawang might be difficult if one limits oneself to pure vegetarian, chicken or mu on-based
cuisines. Almost all the local prepara ons offer a different taste, but are not very sapid to the North-Indian
pale e; except, of course, the 'dimsums' which come with a variety of stuffing inside. There is also a special
red wine that is famous for being a local produce.
Having played a quick round of cards a er returning back to our hotel, we re red for the night. We le
Tawang two days a er we'd landed. And this me we did not bother to stop over at Tezpur, which meant a
19-hour drive straight from Tawang to GHY and plenty of me to finally arrive at the answer to the one
ques on that kept coming back, “Why Tawang?”

The Tawang valley from above.

If you are wondering about the tle, it is portmanteau for Tawang-Shillong-Bhutan. See you in Shillong and
Bhutan in the next ar cle, if the Ed. agrees to publish it.

(Definitely, Pranjal. We'd like to read more about your accounts, in the next issue. – Chief Ed.)

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