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Bus India

Eden in the East: Riding in Arunachal Pradesh

There are many wonderful things to see when touring this country, especially on two wheels. Breathtaking views, isolated landscapes and phenomenal roads – all of these can be found in the vast nation we call home. However, once you keep that in mind, it is relatively easy to run into one or even two of these things together. but all three – this is a fairly rare phenomenon, especially if it is for days. And that’s exactly what makes India’s easternmost state a riding heaven you never knew about. There are two reasons why this trip took place in the first place. The first was that Honda was keen to show that its “royal” motorcycle could also be a good companion on a long trip through an exotic location. The other is that Arunachal Pradesh has been interested in opening up to select forms of tourism in recent years, including adventure and motorcycle tourism. The state has been fairly closed so far and an inner line permit is currently required to enter, although this can be arranged quite easily in numerous locations, including Dibrugarh Airport in Assam. Mind you, this permit will only get you this far, and there are still many restricted areas in Arunachal that require separate permits of their own. FIRST DAY: INITIATION Our journey started in Dibrugarh and it only took a couple of hours to cross the Bogibeel Bridge over the amazingly wide Brahmaputra. Not long afterwards we reached the state border marked by the small town of Ruksin. At the transition to Arunachal the world suddenly becomes a little quieter and it seems as if there are far fewer people around. “Exploring” via Google Maps shows you that Arunachal has the darkest shade of green you will see in our country, which can only be associated with a general shortage of people. Over the next five days, traffic was kept to an absolute minimum, so we often only saw one vehicle every 10 minutes. Our first destination for the day was the beautiful river village of Bomjir. I had been here for the Orange Music Festival five years ago and remember getting there by a hair-raising, about an hour-long drive in the dark over the dry bed of the massive Dibang River. Halfway through we were crossed by a rickety old motorcycle emerging from the dark, a land rifle slung over the rider’s shoulder and a freshly shot deer carcass in the back seat – welcome to the wild zone. This time things were a little different. Instead of fear of the dark, we were greeted by some smooth and spectacular mountain roads with no pothole in sight. They were so smooth and fast that we reached our destination long before sunset, which happens much earlier in these parts. It must have been a sight to see a Honda CB350 train scratching the life out of their pegs as they caught up with the lead driver of an Africa Twin. The CB has an impressively nimble and neutral chassis, but its painfully high gearbox meant we squeezed every last revolution out of the long-stroke motor to keep up speed. It’s certainly not the way this bike is supposed to be ridden, but it didn’t seem to mind. In recent years massive bridges like the 6.2 km long Dibang River Bridge have opened. This story of impressive roads should remain a constant for the rest of our time in the state. In fact, the new Sisseri Bridge in Bomjir is the second longest in India at 6.2 km. Sure, some minor interior roads might be bad, but all of the major highways we drove through were just magical. If we imagine that, we probably encountered no more than a handful of potholes in five days. Of course, much of this stems from the growing threat from our ever-optimistic neighbors to the east, and a good road network is vital in supporting a strong line of defense. Speaking of which, we came across the strange army vehicle, but not to the extent that you would see it in Ladakh. Maybe that was because we never approached the more sensitive border areas like Tawang or Kibithoo. Our original itinerary had more mountainous destinations like Walong and Hayuliang, but they were dropped due to landslides. Although Arunachal also features Ladakh style terrain with extreme weather, it was not part of this trip. DAY TWO AND THREE: IN THE WILD On the second day we had a base in Bomjir and did a scouting drive up the road towards Hayuliang. Here we only found more spectacular views, including the mountain road that you see on the opening picture of this story. On the third day, however, we were faced with a change of scene. This time we would go to Miao City and then on to Namdapha National Park. All of Arunachal is a biodiversity hotspot, but this tiger reserve is a true nature-loving paradise, and there are countless endemic species of flora and fauna to call it home. We got special permission to go pretty deep into the park to stay in a government-run forest hut. The journey inside was one of the most memorable moments of the trip. We’ve asked some pretty unreasonable questions of the CB350 at times, but its chassis never did anything unpredictable. About half an hour on a slippery, muddy path through the forest, we reached the lodge; maybe a little faster than we should, but still with dirty bikes and big, silly grins. The CB350 has again shown that its chassis can accommodate far more abuse than the role it was designed for. Despite things like the intrusive heel slider, the non-switchable ABS and the heavy standing Ergos (duh!), The CB did a good job hammering through the dirt. If anything, we have to apologize to any wildlife that probably wouldn’t have appreciated the motorcycle’s loud and somewhat synthetic-sounding exhaust as much as most owners seem. FOURTH DAY: FRONTIER GAMES After a wonderful, peaceful day without a cellular network in the park, a treat was on the program for the next day. From Namdapha’s forest trails we hit the border town of Nampong via some spectacular roads. With another special permit, we were allowed to climb the road to the Pangsau Pass to the Indian-Myanmar border. Pangsau Pass follows the original Stilwell Road, built during World War II and named after the American General Joseph Stilwell. The history of this route from Ledo, Assam, to Kunming in China is fascinating and deserves further reading. In essence, it played a significant role in World War II Asian theater. However, thousands of people were killed in its construction, which included forging through an almost impenetrable jungle. Rich and varied cultures in Arunachal, almost always accompanied by smiling faces. While part of the original Stilwell Road was reclaimed by the jungle after the war, the Pangsau Pass was used regularly by the locals until the beginning of the pandemic. Unfortunately, it has even been closed to the locals for over a year. When it was open, locals from both sides would meet in the market upstairs to trade every 10 days. Pangsau Pass Market is now a ghost town, but given their warm relationships with the army on the other side, the forces guarding our border actually let us walk over the headstone that marks the pass on the other side. To be able to stand on a pass and breathe the fresh air on strange ground without formal paperwork … that was quite a feeling! FIVE DAY: PEACE AND REFLECTION The last day of our time in Arunachal was in the city of Namsai, where we stayed in a hotel that bordered the beautiful golden pagoda of Namsai. A quiet evening in the pagoda gardens was the perfect place to reflect on the biggest hits of the past few days. We only saw part of Arunachal and I long for more. It’s not just the promise of beautiful streets, strange and wonderful foods, or even the warm and welcoming people. What excited me is the feeling that time has moved a little slower in these parts. The forests look ancient and almighty, and even when you’re on pristine asphalt, the landscape looks like a scene from a Rambo movie, with nothing more than simple bamboo mud houses making up the little villages. People themselves have a deeply ingrained connection with nature and there are a large number of tribes and communities, each with their own languages ​​and cultures. I fully understand the state’s desire to feed on the limitless buffet of tourism, but they also have a massive responsibility to look after what they have. The average Indian tourist can unfortunately be a terribly destructive species, which is evident in the remains of the more popular locations in Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, as well as Himachal. It seems that the Arunachal leadership knows this because the many honorable ministers we met along the way kept talking about wanting limited but quality tourism for their state. Isn’t it nice to know that motorcycling falls under this umbrella? Honda says it is also considering more events like this for its own customers, here and in other similarly special locations. Everything you see behind the barbed wire fence is in Myanmar. If you’re just sitting at home and thinking of a great motorcycle escape once life regains a sense of normalcy again, add Arunachal Pradesh to your list. It’s not the easiest state to be in, nor is it the easiest to get around, but I can tell you from experience that it’s worth it. LAKE WITHOUT RETURNS From the top of the Pangsau pass you have a clear view of a lake in the valley on the Myanmar side. Of the many folklore stories that give its name, the most popular is that it contains the remains of several Allied aircraft from WWII. Legend has it that if the Pangsau summit suddenly appeared in front of them, these planes fly in poor visibility and would not make the ascent. While desperately trying to make an emergency landing in a shallow valley, they ended up in the lake instead. True or not, the fact is that many crashed WWII planes are lost in the wild jungles of the northeast.