Blog - Page 2 of 2 - Eastern Routes

Ziro Festival of Music in Arunachal Pradesh

Ziro Festival of Music : Join Arunachal Pradesh Ziro Festival 2019

Ziro Festival of Music is an independant music gathering happening every year since 2012 in Ziro Valley, Arunachal Pradesh. Created by Bobby Hano et Anup Kutty, the whole set-up is an eco-friendly initiative. It employs local bamboo artisans and is hosted by people of the Apatani tribe of Arunachal Pradesh.

Ziro Valley Festival features a magnificient list of musical talents from India and abroad, with an amazing audience, ready to enjoy the melody. The festival has a rich combination of Indian music, vibrant culture and art.

The experience is immersive, balancing between the two stages, and eventualy to the third one, namely the food and beverages corner. Musical expression is rather eclectic and the program will transport you from traditional music coming from all over India and abroad to Jazz and Rock or even Rap.

13-05-2019 22-08-2019

Meghalaya : Tour Mawlynnong, India’s cleanest village

Located in the Indo-Bangladeshi border, this village gained great popularity when it was adjudged the cleanest village in India in 2005 and cleanest village in Asia in 2003. Attracting tourists from all over the world, it deserves a blog post.

God’s own garden

Also known as ‘God’s own garden’, the Khasi community who reside in this village practice an eco-tourism initiative. The village is located 90 kilometers south of Shillong and offer natural beauty and a phenomenal view of the plains of Bangladesh. The village is known for its cleanliness and it is quite common to see bamboo bins outside every house. The locals have adopted the habit of picking up garbage, dead leaves and cleaning roads which has made the village look beautiful. The village also boasts of 100% literacy rate with most of the locals fluent in English.

21-02-2019 10-04-2020

Living Root Bridge in Northeast India - Mawlynnong, Meghalaya

Ambubachi Mela: The Cradle of Tantrism

My first connection with India’s spirituality was a book on Hinduism iconography that I bought many years in a small French bookstore long before my first trip to the subcontinent. Its colorful cover with statues of gods and goddesses with multiple arms and artefacts left a lasting impression on me.

I usually escape the suffocating summer of the plains to fly to the high plateau of the Himalayas but this year, I decided to postpone my Ladakh pilgrimage for a yatra of another kind. I already attended the Kumbh Mela twice (in Haridwar and Allahabad) and I was starting to miss the energy of such extravagant events. This year, I could not miss the Ambubachi Mela taking place in Kamakhya Temple, Guwahati.

12-07-2018 08-05-2019

Garo Calling (Part 1/8)

I had heard of Mande Burung; the local yeti, mysterious caves and wildlife sanctuaries hidden in this unknown land that were beckoning me to explore it. I knew it was just waiting to happen, taking space in my mind and patiently waiting for the right opportunity. And one day, Paul my friend called to inquire about a one-week adventure bike trip in the North East. This was my golden chance for Garo Hills. I proposed him a road trip with me beginning in Assam riding into the Garo Hills and finally entering the Khasi hills at the south-west border. It was approved and met with eagerness and excitement.

This was literally an adventure trip planned by joining dots on the map, which is not at all an accurate geographical representation of this constantly changing landscape where nature and political unrest alter their border lines and topography every day. I used all my research and contacts to plan the trip in such a way that we ride through untouched emerald expanses and visit most highlights along the way.

Paul and I met in Guwahati, our starting point for the trip on the 8th of April 2018, to begin our much-awaited tour the next day.

Tawang, the Land of the Monpas

So much is going on in Tawang, and is definitely a place to visit while traveling in northeast India. It radiates Buddhism and has natural beauty and serenity. It is surrounded by lakes and is the home to the Monpas, a community in Arunachal Pradesh.

Tawang Monastery – Arunachal Pradesh

Being the biggest monastery in India (2nd in Asia), Tawang Monastery houses more than 300 monks and is the most visited place in Tawang. The monastery has several structures within its premises and the architecture is simply stunning. There are several paintings within its walls and prove to great works of art. The Monastery itself provides a breathtaking view of the whole Tawang valley.