Along

ALONG or AALO: Along (Aalo) the headquarter of West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh located at an altitude of 300 m from the sea level. Sitting amidst abundant natural surroundings, Along in Arunachal Pradesh is a small town with beautiful villages. Along Arunachal Pradesh is a most ideal place to spend the hot summer seasons. The picturesque surroundings laced with brilliant plantations makes Along in Arunachal one of the most perfect health resorts of India.

Places of interests:

Pangin Village: The inhabitants of the Pangin village are Adi Minyong tribal people. Minyong, Padam and Passi are sub tribes of Adi. They practice both tarrace farming and shifting cultivation. Solang is the main festival of Adi tribe celebrated during the first week of September every year. Adi people have a community hall called Dere where children of different age groupgather to learn about social norms from elderly citizens.

Kabu village: The inhabitants of the Kabu village are Galo tribal people. Both monogamy and polygamy are prevalent in this tribe following a patriarchal system of society. The base of economy of this tribe is agriculture. Initially shifting cultivation was practised by Galo people, but at present wet rice and tarrace cultivation dominates the agricultural scenario. Even though Galo language is spoken by 95 % of their total population, people also speak Assamese, Hindi and English language.

Dony Polo Temple: Established in 1972, Dony Polo Temple at Aalo (Aalong), is a religious centre of the followers of the Dony Polo religion. Out of 400 community centres of Arunachal Pradesh, it is designated to be the only worshipping centre of the Dony Polo religion in the entire state. The religion possesses no written scriptures. The rituals and the traditions have been orally passed from the ancestors to the next generations. There is a belief among the Dony Polo animist of a common lineage of the people of Arunachal Pradesh as the descendents of Abotani. The rituals of this religion includes invoking of the spirit and nature along with holy sacrifices to the spirits. The Dony Polo Temple acts as the centre of worshipping objects of nature, the Sun and the Moon. The temple premise consists of a community hall, a meditation room and a prayer hall.

Padam  Village in Damro and the Hanging Bridge: The best place to get a glimpse of traditional Adi life is the Padam village in Damro. Derived from the tribe name Padam and Aro, meaning “real or original”, Damro is the original village or fontainhead from where Padams dispersed across Arunachal Pradesh. The Hanging bridge on the  river Yamne is another thing to see at Damro. This bridge is local made of cane and bamboo. The bridge is around 60 to 70 m long connecting to the others hill tribes, fishing are the sports for these tribe.

Confluence of Siang and Siyom: The spectacular look into the scenic beauty of confluence of two rivers – Siang and Siyom is worth watching. The source of Siang river is Talung Tso Lake in South Western Part of Tibet. This trans boundary river is named as yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet, Siang in Arunachal Pradesh, Brahmaputra in Assam and Jamuna in Banglagesh.