January has gone by in a haze and we are in a daze.
Not to mention that February is almost gone too.
 |
| By the River Siang. |
We have been busy dear folks and if you have been following our updates on our Facebook page, you have a good idea of what we have been upto.
 |
| Capturing the beauty of the land. |
Halfway into January, we made a trip to the beautiful state of Arunachal Pradesh on the invitation of Boney Darang, famed Designer for a photo shoot (the results of which will be made public very soon).
The trip was bewilderingly chaotic and tiring but Arunachal is so vast and amazingly beautiful.
 |
| Boney at work |
 |
| In the middle of the fields, a game in progress. |
We had some real good moments and some unreal moments but all of which made it a memorable experience. And giving great company was the spirited Zevi Keditsu, Ace Shutterman Rokovor Vihienuo, his partner in crime Yaomi and our hostess Boney.
 |
| Conquering the Siang. |
River rafting on the Great Siang from Marying to Ranughat after dark wasn't on the agenda but it happened and it was pitch dark, mind you. Moonless and not even a star to guide us. Scary and exciting.
Mercy even let out a panic stricken scream at some point. But we went down the Siang in broad daylight again and it was fun. We even learnt a few paddling tricks from our gentle but super cool guide, Ninong.
 |
| Photography by Rokovor Vihienuo |
 |
A huge bonfire awaits us......
(Photography by Zevi Keditsu) |
Wet and cold, we rushed to the shore and warmed ourselves by a huge bonfire and spent the night in comfy tents in the open. Sampled a few glasses of local brew. Heady stuff they got there too. We do have a lot in common with the Arunchalis. Especially our love for pork, river fish and heady brews.
 |
| Somewhere along the loooong rides. |
While our Naga villages have roaming pigs, Itanagar has an interesting scattering of casually strolling pigs akin to stray cows on the streets of Delhi. What an interesting sight!
 |
| A typical house on stilts. A common sight in Arunachal. |
 |
| Girls returning from school. |
 |
| Pasighat finally. |
The drive to Ziro and Pasighat and back to Itanagar took us through some very different landscapes and took our breath away. Pinkish White Mithuns greeted us along the way and young men and children enjoying a game of volleyball was a happy sight.
 |
| Mother Mithun out with baby mithun. |
Our favorite memory of Arunachal Pradesh would have to be an evening spent at Boney's ancestral home, with her parents in their traditionally built 'home on stilts' made entirely out of bamboo and cane and eating the local style home cooked food by the family hearth. We also squeezed in a few sips of the blackish local rice brew which appeared to be quite inedible but was quite refreshing. It almost put us all to bed immediately.
 |
| Watching dinner being prepared. |
 |
| Preparing the fish to be stuffed into bamboo and cooked. |
 |
| The spicy mix of fish and herbs. |
 |
| Stuffing the fish into the bamboo pipes. |
 |
| Fish cooked and ready to be gobbled up by watering mouths. |
 |
| Chomp! Chomp! Chomp! Slurp! |
Dinner was quite late but worth the wait - juicy roasted pork, fish cooked in bamboo seasoned with schezwuan pepper leaves and Naga king chilli and steamed bitter herbs with rice wrapped in leaves. What a feast it was!
 |
| The hearth where we gathered and made merry. |
 |
| Happy girl after the feast. |
Our visit to an orange orchard was great fun too. After sampling as many oranges as we could, we lunched on delicious chicken curry and freshly squeezed orange juice.
 |
| Kuvelü helps herself to some fresh juicy oranges. |
 |
| Pile of oranges. |
And then it was time to head back to the crazy madness of the City, after all we had a date with Delhi.
 |
| Photo source:Wikipedia |
It feels like a dream………..our weeklong trip to Arunachal.
We'll be back to create more memories soon.
Content copyright © Tetseo Sisters 2012. All rights reserved. Do not use any images/content without permission.
