the forgotten worlds - arunachal pradesh and meghalaya - day 4 - tawang monastery, ani gompa, buddha statue, war memorial

day 4
today is about local places to visit in tawang.
first stop is the tawang monastery
Tawang Monastery, located in Tawang in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, is the largest monastery in India and second largest in the world after the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet.
at the entrance they have this water feature which rings the bell above it.

Next to this water feature is this giant prayer bell

above is the entrance to the monastery

kid monks at the monastery

 main courtyard of the monastery. the pole you see in front is cut from a single tree log.

 the monastery in all its glory

to the left is the museum of the monastery

big statue of buddha inside the monastery

large decorations inside the monastery

view of tawang town from the monastery

next place to visit is the ani gompa or nunnery. this is another monastery run by woman monks.

 first entrance to the monastery

second entrance

women monk burning fern leaves as an offering and it supposedly has therapeutic uses.

the main gompa

 inside the gompa

view of tawang town on the return back from the nunnery. you can see the tawang monastery in the background as a patch.
next stop on the return to tawang is the giant buddha statue overlooking the town.

prayer hall inside the giant buddha

views from the giant buddha of tawang town and the mountains behind

 prayer flags tied all around the buddha

 on the return you can see bunkers used by the indian army

generally army guys refuse to pose for a pic but this gentleman was gracious enough to pose with us.

after returning to tawang and a lunch of fried rice next place to visit is the war memorial

 names of all the soldiers who laid down their lives in the 1962 war etched in stone forever

 guns used by the forces at that time

 the orange line across the pic is the original border. the orange boards are the places till where they intruded into india in the war

 the only decent bar in town, orange bar. looks like it has seen better days. power is a problem in tawang, keeps going and coming as it wishes. beware of the bill at the end, the owner is a lady, tends to have her own pricing apart from the menu card.

end to a great day.