Before we embark on our journey, we must know a little about the river we are on. The river owes its origins to the Himalayan glaciers that melt down to form the Siang in Arunachal, flowing down to Assam where the Brahmaputra begins. As the Brahmaputra journeys along China, India and Bangladesh, it is called by different names but revered all the same, making it the largest rivers in the world. In its length of about 640 km in Assam valley, the river also known as Luit in Assamese is aligned almost east-west. The valley is enclosed by the eastern Himalayas on the north and the Assam range of hills on the south. The Brahmaputra receives a good number of tributaries during its course, leading to its size growing progressively. There are 26 important tributaries which join the river from the North bank side and from the South bank side, 12 important tributaries. You will be surprised to notice that the characteristics of the north bank and the south bank greatly differ. The tributaries on the north bank have very steep slopes and shallow braided channels. They have boulder, pebble and coarse sandy beds and carry a heavy silt charge. The south bank tributaries, on the other hand, have comparatively flatter grades and deep meandering channels almost from the foothills with beds composed of fine alluvial soils, and carry low silt charge. In our many voyages across, and to and fro the river, we hope you will notice this difference aboard the MV Kohuwa Bon.