Are you ready to embark on an exhilarating journey that will push your cycling skills to the limit while immersing you in the breathtaking beauty of the Himalayas? MONDURO, the ultimate Enduro cycling event, awaits you in the enchanting Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh this November. Let’s delve into what makes MONDURO a must-experience adventure.Unlocking the Name “MONDURO”
First, let’s unveil the meaning behind the name. “Mon” stands for Monpas, the local inhabitants of Tawang. MONDURO is not just a cycling event; it’s a celebration of local culture and an invitation to explore the incredible terrain of this region.
A Trailblazing Mountain Biking Experience:MONDURO offers a brand new perspective on mountain biking. Participants get to conquer virgin trails that wind through lush Rhododendron forests and vibrant meadows. These trails aren’t just paths; they’re gateways to history, with each one hiding ancient stories waiting to be discovered as you ride through time.
MTB: More Than Just Cycling:When we say “MTB,” we’re not just talking about mountain terrain biking. We’re talking about adventure, the thrill of discovery, and the joy of conquering uncharted territory. Tawang’s terrain provides the perfect canvas for this adrenaline-pumping experience.
Tawang: Your Elevated Playground:At an awe-inspiring altitude of 10,000 feet in the Himalayan range, Tawang offers the ideal mix of challenging terrain and favorable weather conditions. It’s a paradise for mountain biking enthusiasts, where you can test your skills against nature’s most formidable obstacles.
Why MONDURO Should Be Your Next Adventure:
Spectacular Scenery: MONDURO promises a visual feast as you navigate untouched trails weaving through Rhododendron groves and lush meadows.
Rich Heritage: Each trail holds an ancient tale, offering a glimpse into the fascinating history of the Monpas.
Adventure Awaits: Conquer diverse terrains and elevations, making each ride an adrenaline-pumping experience.
Perfect Timing: November’s pleasant weather ensures a safe and enjoyable cycling adventure.
Are you ready to embrace the adventure of a lifetime? MONDURO is more than an Enduro cycling event; it’s a journey where nature and history merge to offer an unforgettable experience. Don’t miss the chance to be part of this thrilling adventure in the heart of the Himalayas. Join us in November for MONDURO and create memories that will last a lifetime. It’s time to saddle up and conquer the Himalayan trails!
I am sure, you are interested by now. Kindly share your details to participate in this thrilling cycling event at gunanehu@gmail.com
Have you ever imagined how a piece of land make you feel as a different world surrounded by a river. Yes, that’s true. A river island declared as a district , the largest river island named Majuli is located in mighty river the Brahmaputra in Assam.
Don’t you want to experience this unique piece of land completely untouched by modernization, separated from mainland of Assam with its natural surroundings , cycling in Majuli.
Highlight-Worthy Gatherings
Craft extraordinary gatherings filled with productive workshops and memorable experiences.
Empowering you to fully immerse in the significant moments of noteworthy occasions while capturing them, ensuring reminiscing opportunities!
To explore this natural environment , pleasing your eyes deeply with the paddy fields , the small small huts of the villagers, fragrance of seasonal flowers can only be experienced by cycling . Away from the mainland of Assam, Majuli has almost no traffic. Few cycle rental shops are the evidence of its popularity of cycling in Majuli to explore this largest river island.
So , let’s start
There was a time , when I was dreaming about to witness this naturally rich piece of land away from urbanization .And I found it can’t be better explored better than cycling in Majuli.
These points will motivate you to visit this largest river island:
Naturally Untouched:
Amaze with the broad flat paddy fields at its river bank .I imagine how beautiful will it be when covered with the green paddy.
Tribal architecture of home:
Have you noticed the unique architecture of the bamboo huts of the Mising tribe. Completely made up of wood and bamboo , these home tells us how these people are living amidst nature , conserving their traditional style out of modernization. You can also see their handmade weaving machine in most of their home.
A tribal culture in Assam:
Mising culture is one of the unique tribal culture . It’s so nice to see the Mising ladies with their traditional dress with their lovely simles on face . And yes, these traditional dresses are absolutely handmade. Don’t forget to enjoy their Mising dance if you get a chance .
Famous Mask art:
Won’t you be surprised to see the creation of those mask created uniquely with bamboo sticks, cow dung, clay and cloth. Don’t miss to see this world famous mask creation in Samaguri satra. They are not only used in local drama but also exported to abroad. And I was very blessed to see such a mask creation by one of the professional mask artist at Samaguri .
Living with an active lifestyle:
Have you observed how fit their physical appearance are. Do you think it’s god gifted or a way of living . Their active village lifestyle is the answer. Away from modern physical luxury, working on the field for their bread and butter,cutting woods for their cooking and building their home and house holds , walking or cycling as a mode of transport are keeping these people very active.
River crossing by boat:
Experience the joy of crossing this mighty river Brahmaputra by machine boat. You should be excited to cross such a broad and strong river by boat.It can’t be a better way to observe this island from is surrounding water, and that’s only possible when you cross by a boat. Even these boats can carry your cars , bikes along with other passengers.
Local food:
Let’s have a taste of local delicacies from the kitchen of the local villager. A special kind of rice Beer (apong) with pork is a must if you consider food in this largest river island . This river island is self sophisticated to produce home grown rice and vegetables and it’s taste will let you know how organic those food are.
Satra:
The trip to Majuli will be incomplete without a visit to the world famous Satra . These Hindu worshiping places since the era of Ahom kingdom are not only contributing to conserve our Assamese traditional culture of worshiping but also attracts many tourists across the globe. The pleasant surrounding with the greenery and the old temple with the residential homes of their devotee gives a unique feeling in the satras .
Lovely poeple:
Majuli is known for their lovely people and their hospitality.Its not unusual to see the villagers waving hands while you are on road. Don’t be surprise if they offer you a visit to their home. Will you get these kind of hospitality anywhere in the globe usually. Even though a 3 start hotel is un-imaginable at that island , but their hospitality and their traditional home will make you forget about those modern architecture and luxury.
Today I am going to show how to go for a bicycling trip to Majuli.
Reach Nimatighat :Starting from Jorhat town , it will be around 17 kms to reach Nimatighat ferry port. Enjoy the Nimati ghat road from the town crossing the Assamese villages , paddy fields and temples (naamghar) which leads to Nimati ghat ferry port. I am sure that shades of the trees and the riverside breeze will make you feel for a pleasant ride.
At Nimatighat: Admire the magnificent island from the mainland of Assam . The breeze at the riverside and the broad spread of white sands (only seen at winter) in few middle part of the river will excite you to visit Majuli. Take a breath and take some beautiful clicks of the broad landscape of water and sands.
There are few food stalls and public transport you can see at Nimatighat.
There are scheduled boats to cross the river which may take around an hour.
Don’t be surprised to see how they load the cars and motorcycle on the boat.Enjoy the process of loading these vehicles on boat.The cars are usually carried in the open space of the boat and the motor cycles are on the roof of the boat.
You can carry your bicycles on the roof of the boat itself with the support of the boat crews.
Lets board on the boat and be ready to get some nice clicks of the mighty river .
From the river on the boat you can observe how the flood and riverbank erosion is contributing to extinction of the great river island. It’a very sad to listen those talks about the erosion of the island from the local villagers of Majuli.
Reach at Kamalabari Ghat : Don’t you fell like a different world altogether once you land that other part of the river. Don’t miss to enjoy the trial from the ferry port till you hit the main road. You may need to go few hundred meters to reach the main road from the ghat. But feel the experience of cycling on the sandy earth from the port to the main road.
Soon you will feel that pleasure of cycling in Majuli on such a traffic free road surrounded by paddy filed and Mising villages. Apart from the few small localities , hardly you can see any modern architecture there and enjoy this environment from hustle and bustle of your city life.
Defiantly our visit and cycling in Majuli will enrich your experiences in much deeper way . So, don’t miss this unique world of human civilization and plan for your next cycling trip in Majuli.
Shillong the Scotland of East is the capital city of the Maghalaya , situated at an altitude of 1500m above sea level.How exciting the place will be where the misty cloud suddenly passes through you letting you feel a chilly sensation .
After All we are all set for the much awaited ride to have that experience. Though the distance is just a 100Mkms from Guwahati , still changes in biodiversity can be observed once entered in Meghalaya . As part of stored energy we carried few packets of mixed fruit jam and soach, and resins .Resins are proved to be good energy banks to maintain salt in the body. Just after having our a tiny breakfast with few bread and eggs ,we started our journey from Guwahati .
That was end of December and the morning was of foggy. As we move slowly towards Burapahar (at Assam-Meghalaya border), we got the feel of Climbing at the first instance which was a considerable gradual climb to test our energy level at Burapahar hill.
after Burapahar hill climb
Never forget to fill you energy with few pieces fresh juicy pineapples from the roadside stalls
Then the road was almost flat till we continued through another long uphill of around 7kms , giving a good sign of Shillong hilly terrain . Indeed needs a recovery after the constant climb. Never forget to fill you energy with few pieces fresh juicy pinepples from the roadside stalls, which made our teeth sour for the whole day.
The Silver shines on Umium lake
Umium lake ,Barapani,Meghalaya
Continued our paddling through a rolling road and mid intensity climbs till we reached Umium lake ,Barapani which is a adventure spot for river rafting. A nice landscape of hill, water, ground and the sky at the same place. Time for us to re-energize for lunch before the long climb to Shillong.
From Barapani it is all gradual slow climbs, which starts giving the feel of Shillong atmosphere. The road snakes through the rocks with the pine trees and the chilled air of this hilly region. Enjoyed the last stretch of the pleasant ride of around 15 kms through the shades of the green hills with the hairpin bands.
Managed to reach the city before dark. Could not miss visiting Shillong Police Bazar, where the street always be like a fair with lots of shops .We were lucky enough to have a glance the Shillong Salt lake as part of New year and Christmas calibration. And certainly the time for celebration for a successful ride to the Scotland of East India.
Fig: Shillong to Dawki and back route with the elevation map
No trip can be considered as completed in Meghalaya without enjoying the route from Shillong to Dawki. A river of crystal clear water at Indo-Bangladesh border .
With that spirit to see the clear water of the river , I started the most exciting day of the trip as soon after the sun rise.Taking the previous day’s remaining pieces of smoked pork as breakfast, whose fats oils became like grease in the freezing cold of Shillong. Tried to gear up the pace of my solo ride as fast as possible followed by a warm up walk accompanied by my friend. Throughout the whole ride , I was only imagining the breathtaking view of the crystal clear water of Dawki river. Even though the destination was a much lower altitude, but ride started with a lengthy climb of around 4 kms .The view started to be more stunning .
on the midway to Dawki
Wow!!! hills hills and everywhere the green hills.
The climb was enough to make my body warmed up ,defeating the morning cold. As proceeded further after passing through a village at end of the climb, mesmerizing view of the giant hills started attracting the eyes.
Stunning view of morning sun rays penetrating through the clouds and shining some portion of hill was mesmerizing. Hills were also preparing to clear their foggy cover with the morning sun.
For few Kilometers of road, one side of the road was a steep slide of the hill, while the other side was the wetly hills with dense forest standing like a wall . Some time when u passes through between the hills with dense trees, body starts shivers with the morning cold breeze.
at a Khasi local hotel
I did not want to miss the opportunity to have a breakfast with the local Khasi people, with a bowel of rice and few pork pices, that seemed to be their traditional way of food habit.
Apart from a couple of steep killer climbs, the almost whole route can be travelled without pedallng. This was the most luxurious part of the whole journey, as you get a chance to utilize your top most speed gear ratios of your bike. Same time it was realized the challenge of the return journey ;).
Without spending much time for photography, I tried to reach the bottom of the hills as fast as possible considering the duration of return time through the up hills. Within 3 hours I could able to reach Pongtung from where Dawki was around 25KM with continuous downhill.
This junction was the diversion for Mawlynnong , the Asia’s cleanest village and the double decker living root bridge;and towards Dawki which was my destination.
After crossing few Km , the water land of Bangladesh can be viewed from some part of the route. We could feel the mixture of low altitude climate and the hills .Trees were also looked like similar that grown in plane land. Sweet fragrances of flowers were floating in the air, so refreshing it was!! It made me feel like I was living in my own village itself. Temperature also gradually started increasing with the decrease of altitude.Last around 6KM was steep downhill till the Dawki river. With the sudden change in temperature, body also got pumped up.
It was so amazing to see the green crystal clear water , the surface of the river and the nice pebbles can be viewed very clearly .This was my motivation to ride till Dawki !! Many boats were there for the tourist attraction. There is the Indo-Bangladesh open boarder monitored by Indian BSF and Navy forces. Spending not much time in the river, within a hour I finished re fuelling with a stomach full of rice plate before heading back towards Shilling before noon .
The real game started.If you werelooking for a ride to challenge your endurance level with low intensity gradual climb,look no further than the route from Dawki to Shillong of around 80kms. Aaah…!! I prepared mentally for the never ending gradual climbs .
Due to the steep climb in the broken tarmac road and the raising temperature at noon, body started releasing fuels after few kms at the starting itself. Indeed a break was needed after a couple of Kms .Kept some bananas and oranges as reserved energy as there happened to be less frequent fuel stations for the legs in the coming miles.
Never ending continues elevations were exhausting where your body was driven by the mind only. Here you may need some stretching as well, to make your constantly used muscles relaxed.
A few packets of jams and soch packets.Route passes through the green desert having hardly any populated area. Desperately waiting for a shop for a cup of coffee. Apart from the few private tourists vehicles, road was also almost silent. Had a break with some snacks after struggling around 45kms .Through out the ride,the packets were keeping my energy level running.
The rolling lonely road goes from Shillong to Dawki
Ohh..another 45km to go!! from Tambill town to Shillong . Tried to keep my pace increased once started the rolling road and climate also becoming moderate as I moved towards higher elevation. Sun was also gradually sliding from top of head. Never know when to get another chance to ride in such a winter afternoon under clear sky of Meghalaya. Started to capture some memories in some view points of the hills in each ride break.
Energy got some boost as distance coming nearer to the end of the trip.Last 25kms was more of rolling and some downhill, that I started enjoying again. By the time , it was about to getting dark,but comfortably managed to reach Shillong before dark where I ended my trip.
What a self satisfactory accomplishment by ending the tour of such a naturally virgin portion of the earth , the whole memory of the trip is captured in my vain.
Don’t just enjoy the destination, keep experiencing throughout the journey.
The road goes through the tea- gardens ,crossing mighty river amidst the hills , can u imagine such a ride towards the northern edge of the Indian map . Here we are heading towards a valley of oranges , called Orange festival in an winter evening ,Dambuk in Arunachal Pradesh.
To experience such a journey filled with adventure , we started our bike trip in a December winter evening from my home town Sivasagar , Assam around 270 Km from Dambuk with my friend .
You have to cross mighty river Brahmaputra to reach Arunachal from this side .And only way to cross was through ferry from the other end. Keeping in mind to catch the last ferry we rushed with our fullest speed . Once entered Dibrugarh, you can feel the beautiful tea-gardens of Assam covering both the side of the road.It was just amazing feeling with the cold breeze flowing against our direction and the beautiful tea gardens with fog covering like a bed sheet over the gardens.
Though we tried to catch the ferry, it was quite late for us as it was full of dark till we reached Dhola, a small own at the bank of Brahmaputra. May be it was a chance for us to stay nearby the riverside in that cold winter. Chillness was magnified near the riverside in that winter evening. As there was no such hotel, we planned to stay in a local guest room at Dhola .It was more exciting as the hotel rooms were of made of wooden walls.
Next early morning we headed towards the ferry point .It’s more difficult to reach the ferry side from the bank of the river as ferry point dynamically changes based on the water level of the river and you have to go a long way from the bank on that sandy path. That pitch of road was nothing less than thrilling ride on the sand.You can hardly balance on such road.
Crossing Brahmaputra was also amazing with these ferry , which can even carry a fully loaded truck on it .
Clouds were getting reflected on water with the mountains .Once we were approaching the other bank of the river, you could observe the stunning beauties of those mountains at distance and the mild cold breeze. The other part of the river is Sadia where mighty Brahmaputra forms joining there rivers Dihang River, Dibang River and Lohit River.This is the Eastern most part of Assam surrounded by Himalayan woods.
Then we headed towards Roing after crossing few villages in Sadiya. Roing is the border of Assam and Arunachal ,and we need to get a permit which is easily available at the entrance . You can enjoy the broad road with the huge trees standing both the side of the road and the blue hills at far.You will defiantly feel the freshness of the air amidst the jungle road.
Crossing small small streams by the small boats was also exciting.You could see the small vehicles and two wheelers being transferred by those boats. Clarity of the cold water on the pebbles were eye catching.You can expect burning more fuel on the way on those rocky uneven path.
After a journey of around 4 hours we reached our destination, Dambuk. It was a valley with oranges orchard which produces some of the best quality oranges in India .The place was busy with different activities like adventure sports tv rides,river rafting, dirt biking, zip-lining .Main attraction was the off-road motor sports through those challenging bumpy rocky path.
On the river streams .You should never leave this place without clicking some of the pics with the blue sky getting reflected on the clean water with those mountains . It was simply fantastic.
At the evening the gathering was busy with the music show at the field. Few famous Indian and western musical bands were performing their music.
You can even taste some of their local authentic dishes of those tribes. If you are a pork lover definitely you should not miss the roasted pork pieces with a plate of rice.
Experiencing the chilled evening in the tents amidst the hills with the drum beats around the orange orchards was a kind of experience.This was defiantly one of the best place to enjoy the year end for the adventure and music lover .
Stunning view of morning sun rays penetrating through the clouds and shining some portion of hill was mesmerizing. Hills were also preparing to clear their foggy cover with the morning sun. 
