Sivasagar mesmerizes German couple on World Tour

A CORRESPONDENT

GAURISAGAR: A retired German couple - Tina and Uwe Griesbach- was mesmerized by the cultural heritage of Sivasagar when they visited the place on November 17 in an impromptu stopover.

The septuagenarian wanderer couple, young at heart and full of zeal, is on a tour across the globe on wheels over the past more than one decade. During their visit to Pohugarh, Tina and Uwe Griesbach revealed that they had already covered over 150 countries driving across myriad terrains for over 6,20,000 km since 2007. Uwe Griesbach was a civil engineer posted in Saudi Arabia where he bought his Toyota Land Cruiser exactly 25 years back. Later when the couple embarked on their world tour, they modified the vehicle to their requirement which is now solar powered. The vehicle is equipped with a folding rooftop bed and other basic amenities like a refrigerator, a water purifier, a sink, a food processor among other things. The vehicle has been their constant companion across the globe in all kinds of terrains.

Sivasagar was in fact not in their itinerary in this year’s visit to Assam. They were in Majuli and enjoying the traditional Raax festival when they came across information about the history and culture of Sivasagar. Fascinated by what may be in store, they decided to drive down to Sivasagar only to return spellbound. In their opinion, they were simply bowled over by the rich cultural heritage of the place which was once the proud capital of the erstwhile Ahom kingdom. Their impression of the archaeological sites of the Ahom regime in Sivasagar was evident in their glittering eyes. Tina particularly mentioned the magnificence of the Shiva Doul and Vishnu Doul which she found ‘very impressive’. Uwe Griesbach especially praised the hospitality offered to them by the officials in particular and the common people in general.

“Everything here is well managed and very tourist-friendly,” he opined. The presence and maintenance of clean toilets and drinking water facilities were what also impressed Griesbach, which he admitted was missing in many places across the country. Later in the evening, during an informal sitting with Sivasagar Deputy Commissioner Dr. MS Lakshmi Priya and a couple of other officials, the German tourist couple offered several suggestions to promote tourism in the district. They requested the district administration to share information about various developments in the tourism sector from time to time which they would happily upload on their website. They suggested that cultural projects could be taken up on a larger platform to increase visibility among global tourists. They also suggested to get information shared through travel magazines and sensitizing tour operators in order to rope in more domestic and foreign tourists. They also assured to strongly recommend other tourists across the globe to visit Sivasagar and get blessed by the rich cultural heritage of the place that speaks volumes of a glorious bygone era. They also lauded the initiative taken under ‘Soulful Sivasagar’ launched recently by the district administration under the able stewardship of the Deputy Commissioner.

The German couple also requested the Deputy Commissioner to take special measures to ensure that the archaeological monuments were preserved for posterity. The Deputy Commissioner also shared her ambitious plans to work for promoting tourism of the district. Dr. MS Lakshmi Priya said various schemes under tea tourism, silk tourism, river tourism, religious tourism, heritage tourism, eco-tourism, and the likes were in the anvil to take Sivasagar to the global tourism map. The German couple left Sivasagar on Monday morning en route to Tezpur via the Bogibeel Bridge.

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