INDIA & BANGLADESH 2014: 6 From Shillong to Mokokchung, Nagaland, India

Sunday, October 5, 2014

An early departure made our way out of town much easier in light traffic and quickened the horrible road we came in on. We stopped at a viewpoint stop to see the large Umiam Lake and to cross over the dam that created it. When we turned towards the Himalayas before Guwahati we were on good four lane divided highway. The speed limit was often a ridiculously low 60 kph (37 mph) but for some lengthy stretches it got to 80 kph (50 mph). Our driver's comfort zone is between 40 and 60 kph, so we just puttered along.

To get a driver's license in India one must be 18 and pay 2,500 rupees (about $42). According to Simar no education, medical, written or driven test is necessary. That explains a lot!

We crossed the mighty Brahmaputra River, which originates in Tibet and provides Bangladesh with its huge river delta lands before emptying into the Bay of Bengal. The bridge is the second longest in India at 3.5 km (2 mi). It is the only male river in India, others have a female designation.

Once in the small, low rise city of Tezpur we visited a filthy Hindu temple, where we had to take off shoes and walk through an accumulation of pigeon crap to get to the main religious area. It was being cleaned after the festival, but the place stank and was crawling with huge cockroaches, which are not killed due to religious significance. It would have been better missed!

On the shores of the river there was little to see. This is one of the more littered cities we have been in. In the Indo-China war of 1962 the Chinese army advanced out of Tibet this far south before India sued for peace and the Chinese retreated.

We were in the near new deluxe Fern Residency Hotel, which again had good free internet, super comfortable beds and a good restaurant for dinner. There was even ice buckets for the wine!

Monday, October 6, 2014

Breakfast at the hotel was a disappointment, but we were soon on the road to Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh. This state, 82% covered by evergreen forests, climbs the Himalayas to the Tibet border. It is the only state with India's four big cats in its jungles – the tiger, leopard, clouded leopard and snow leopard. Many of the tribal people still worship the sun and the moon. The state has a literacy rate of less than 67%. There are a lot of wild elephants, and "elephant crossing" signs indicate their migratory routes.

On the way we passed many large tea estates, including the largest one in Assam. Tea estate workers were brought in from other areas long ago, as the locals did not work hard enough, and have been living on the tea estates for many generations since. They seldom leave the estates, which provides schools, housing and shopping. We stopped to photograph net fisherman in large muddy pools of water and passed an elephant strolling down the road with his owner sitting on a cushion on his neck..

This is a sensitive area, and special permits provided by Bestway plus passports are required. Once in the state the roads deteriorated into single lane mud that was close to a four wheel drive track. They had extremely heavy rains in September, which washed the clay/sand cliffs along the narrow river valley down onto the road, burying the pavement.

We were at the hotel by 2 PM so had lunch there. We dropped a few stars for the Hotel Todo, but they had free internet, a reasonable restaurant and the room was pretty clean. There are only about 100,000 people in Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh, which is at an altitude of about 1,200 m (3,936 ft).

After lunch we visited a beautiful, small Buddhist Temple, and drove up to see the remains for a 14th century Mughal fort located on the highest point in the city where the view is great. At the hotel we bought a bottle of South African wine with dinner, planning to pay by credit card, but their machine didn't work. It was hotter than Haydes, but the A/C didn't work either.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

The desk wouldn't accept a credit card, so we had to pay for the wine in cash. Breakfast was the worst of the trip, a bit of toast and a dried out omelet – nothing else. We are glad to move on.

The roads today were the worst of the trip, counting the Himalayas. Very rough, potholed dirt roads with patches of destroyed pavement. It didn't sit well on top of the lack of sleep, as dozing wasn't an option. Today is Marilynn's birthday, so Samir and the driver had gone out and found half a dozen diet cokes for her as a birthday present. It is very hard to come by in this area and was well received.

After an hour and a half of bashing about we came to the Brahmaputra River back in Assam, and the ferry landing. It was early for the ferry, so we walked down the riverbank where fisherman were casting their nets, and watched the river dolphins surfacing quite close to shore.

The ferry was interesting. The side is against the river bank and wooden ramps are laid from the bank to the wood planked deck Motor cycles are parked 2 deep across the boat, pushed right into each other. There were two trucks piled high with furniture that I would have bet couldn't get on but did. Even our car hung over the side in the back. A rock was placed under a front and back wheel as the sole safety measure. More motorcycles and another car were balanced across the deck while passengers crammed into the seating area, sat on the roof or stood in any opening on deck. We stood for the 25 minute trip. There was no way to get into the car, as they were only a couple of inches from each other. The heat was tolerable once the ferry got moving.

After making two stops to let off passengers & bicycles on Majuli Island, the largest river island in the world, we carried on to the main landing site on the north side where a soon to be very overcrowded bus waited for the ferry. The car disembarked without incident and we drove to our accommodation for lunch, which was served in a house across the street. Bamboo slats in the floor had openings between so anything dropped fell through the the chickens, cows and goats that could be seen (and heard) below.

One sightseeing stop was at the Shri Shri Uttar Kamalala Sutra Monastery, founded in 1673. There are a number of Hindu monks, plus a lot of young boys, living in the complex. It is a tradition on the island that if you feel your prayers for something are answered, in gratitude you give a male child to the monastery, who then raise him. The boys seemed healthy and happy enough.

Another stop was at a local village, where the dirt under the houses is swept daily - all buildings are on stilts due to annual flooding. There are a number of hand made shuttle looms, made of bamboo, bits of wood, and seeming held together by thread, on which local women produce beautiful fabrics. At a stop in a small monastery masks were being created unlike any I've seen, with animal heads, demons and so on. The mouth opens and closes with the movement of the wearer's jaw. There were black & white portraits painted by the abbot that were so lifeline I thought they were photos.

Throughout the island people take pride in their property, keeping it neatly fenced and maintained. There are a lot of resident brown monkeys along the road that roam freely.

On return to our cabin on stilts we sat on the porch and shared a bottle of very warm white wine. There were two cabins to choose from, we chose the one with running water and a toilet. The other had a tall hand pump in the bathroom for water. Dinner was in a cooking area next to the cabin – the best I could do was pick at it. I'd bought some insect repellent, which the hundreds of mosquito seemed to really like, a bit of a concern as this is malaria country. There was no electricity, so candles were lighted in our stifling hot room, and a mosquito was net set up. Marilynn thrashed around so much trying to get comfortable on the hard bed that she collapsed the mosquito net on her side. During the night the power came on for awhile, turning on a fan, but it did little to reduce the heat. It was no doubt a memorable birthday for her!

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

After a bit of dried toast and omelet we drove about half an hour to the ferry on the south side of the island. The layout was similar, but with two hulls the car area was wider. They got a lot of motorcycles, about 7 cars and 250 passengers crammed on board for the two hour trip. It was so packed with people that once you stood somewhere you could not move in any direction. We sat in the car. If someone wanted to get something to another passenger, including money and umbrellas, it was passed hand to hand among passengers or to people in cars, then from car to car until reaching standing passengers. Car windows were down due to the extreme heat, but the ferry movement created a bit of breeze.

Samir showed us the ferry charges sign, which in addition to cars has fees for elephant and rider, tigers and other wild animals, buffalo and pretty much anything else imaginable. Once on mainland Assam again the roads were quite good pavement. At the Nagaland border it was necessary to present documents and passports, then shortly after the same again at a military checkpoint. One of the army guys had such an amazing moustache, well curled into a loop at the ends, that I went to him and commented on it. That led to photos, meeting the rest of the border station people, and an invitation to the nearby mess hall for lunch or a least tea. We declined on the grounds of time, but it made a great welcome.

The road continued good, but we are in tropical, densely forested mountains and the road twisted and turned along the hillsides. We passed a road to the Myanmar (Burma) border, and Samir was saying that at the border is a kingdom of 32 villages which straddles the border – 8 villages on the Burma side. The king is absolute ruler from the Village of Longwa. There is no police or government administration on either side of the frontier - country formalities are conducted on each side after crossing the kingdom. There are actually few police or officials in much of Nagaland – most of the area is ruled by 17 hereditary tribal chiefs. The tattooed Konyak tribe only recently gave up being headhunters. Most people are Baptist Christians, and there are large churches everywhere, however most people hold on to their animist beliefs as well. The literacy rate is over 80%.

Although the bathroom left something to be desired, the Hotel Metsuben in Mokokchung was a decided step up, with a bright airy dining room and a large bedroom. The staff were very anxious to please, and the food was good. They even put a bottle of wine in the cooler for us and served it at dinner time.