Day 2

 Day 2: We kicked off the day at a leisurely 8:35 am  - basically afternoon by our previous day’s schedule  - and launched ourselves out of Guwahati, aiming for Dirang in Arunachal Pradesh. Little did we know, we were signing up for a full-blown “highway to the mountains” marathon, punctuated with random “bio breaks” and the occasional energy bar diplomacy. One of the highlights of course was the break to see the proposed memorial sight of the talented Zubeen Garg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zubeen_Garg)

Along the way we also got to see the local giant sized lemon at the veggie stall ( As a choice we had opted for Air BNB and self cooking at all places, so the occasional stops at fruit/vegetable stalls was a routin feature of our entire trip ) 

The real adventure wasn’t the winding roads or the missing roadside Dhabas  - it was our pumping-heart GPS challenge. Our saarathi, Rajesh ji, experienced a few grey hairs in real time as our homestay host decided Google Maps was too mainstream. Instead, it was “turn left at the yak , right at the suspicious-looking tree, and follow your intuition.” We did finally pinpoint Nima Homestay, possibly running on sheer optimism (and a little bit of cell service).

Exhausted, we voted unanimously to boycott “sightseeing” and instead held a homebound summit featuring Kadi Rice  - a true comfort food hero  - and, of course, the universally-agreed-upon roasted papad for dinner. K was by default, designated as our in house Master Chef, with S performing roasted papad duties. I opted be the resident ‘chaiwala’ and of course managing odds and ends enabling the Master Chef to concentrate on their forte. Our accommodation: two bedrooms, a kitchen, a hall, and a couple of bathrooms (plural!). Naturally, tomorrow morning’s hot water situation was left as a suspenseful cliffhanger - would it be a steamy paradise or an icy wake-up call? Tune in for Day 3!

Click her to continue for Day 3