Offbeat ArunachalZiro, Pasighat, Along, Menchuka.

Day by day

The unfolding.

1. Day 01

   Guwahati → Tezpur

   Met at Guwahati airport and driven about four hours east along the north bank of the Brahmaputra through tea country to Tezpur, the cultural capital of north Assam. Afternoon at the 9th-century Mahabhairab Mandir, a walk through the sculpture park at Chitralekha Udyan, and a sunset over the river from Ganesh Ghat. Overnight in a riverside heritage hotel.

2. Day 02

   Tezpur → Itanagar

   Three-hour drive into Arunachal Pradesh and its capital Itanagar. Afternoon at the 14th-century Ita Fort (the brick fort that gives the city its name), the Jawaharlal Nehru State Museum's tribal galleries, and the gilded Buddhist gompa on the hilltop with prayer-flag views over Ganga lake.

3. Day 03

   Itanagar → Ziro

   A slow, beautiful climb (about six hours) up into the Apatani plateau through Nyishi tribal country, with halts at hanging cane bridges and roadside Nyishi villages. Arrival at Ziro by late afternoon; check into a homestay among the paddy fields at 1,500 metres.

4. Day 04

   Ziro — Apatani villages

   A full day with the Apatani in the villages of Hija, Bulla, Hari and Hong. The famous paddy-cum-fish cultivation system (where rice and fish grow in the same flooded terrace) is in front of every house, bamboo aqueducts carry spring water through every kitchen, and the older women still wear the distinctive nose-plugs and blue tattoos of their generation. Visit the small Ziro museum, walk the Talley Valley fringe forest, and end the day with apong rice beer in a traditional kitchen.

5. Day 05

   Ziro → Pasighat

   Long descent (about nine hours, with photo halts) eastwards back down into the Brahmaputra plains and across to Pasighat, the oldest town in Arunachal and the gateway to the Adi tribal heartland on the Siang river (the Brahmaputra by another name as it enters India).

6. Day 06

   Pasighat → Along (Aalo)

   Morning at a riverside Adi village with bamboo-cane suspension bridges and a traditional Adi breakfast of marua millet. Drive five hours up the Siang valley to Along (Aalo), capital of the Galo tribe. Visit the Galo villages of Kabu and Paya, and end the day at the Donyi-Polo temple — the religion of the Sun and the Moon, the indigenous faith of the central Arunachal tribes.

7. Day 07

   Along → Menchuka

   One of the most dramatic drives in India (about eight hours): up the Siyom valley through dense subtropical forest, past the Siko Dido waterfall, climbing steadily into Memba (Tibetan-origin Buddhist) country, until the road tops out at 6,000 ft and the Menchuka valley opens below — a wide flat-floored Himalayan valley of grazing yak, log-cabin homes and a meandering Yargyap Chu river.

8. Day 08

   Menchuka — Samten Yongcha gompa & valley walks

   Morning at the 400-year-old Samten Yongcha gompa perched on a ridge above the village, opened privately by its caretaker monk who walks you through the old thangkas and butter-lamp chapel. Picnic lunch beside the Yargyap Chu, an afternoon riverside walk to a Memba hamlet, and an evening of butter-tea and Tibetan tsampa porridge with the host family.

9. Day 09

   Menchuka → Along

   Slow return drive (about eight hours) down the same valley, with different light and longer halts for photography. Overnight in Along.

10. Day 10

    Along → Dibrugarh

    Down out of the hills (about seven hours), across the Bogibeel bridge over the Brahmaputra, and into the tea country of upper Assam. Overnight in a heritage planter's bungalow.

11. Day 11

    Departure

    Transfer to Dibrugarh airport for the onward flight.