I was up at 5, before sunrise, on the morning of the 14th in Champhai, with a rosy sky above the four hills to the east. About 5:30 I was picked up by a sumo driven by the driver who would take me to Lunglei. He was accompanied by his sister, who worked in the sumo office, and they drove me up to their office in town. I had a breakfast of parathas and tea with the sister before the sumo left at 6, with me the only passenger and the sun now up. But not five minutes later we stopped at a house in town and waited for an hour for one other passenger to show up.
The sumo finally left town, taking the road I had arrived on from Aizawl for about an hour and a quarter until, just three miles before Khawzawl, it turned southwest and then south, traveling along the top of a long ridge. We saw some more blackened fields, burned in preparation for cultivation. One area was quite extensive, and I wondered if the fire had gotten out of control. Later, we passed some tea estates and the hilltop towns of Khawhai, Lungdar, and at least one other, all at about 3000 to 4000 feet elevation on the ridge. About 1:30 we stopped for a lunch of beef, rice, and pork fat. The road was paved, with some bad patches and little traffic. The driver played chorale music, including Handel's Messiah, which he sang along with . He also played some Mizo pop music and some American country and western music, and later some Mizo hip hop. The trip was very pleasant.
After several hours the sumo turned to the west and headed downhill to a river at 1600 feet elevation, where the air was much warmer. We soon reached the north-south highway from Aizawl to Lunglei (Mizoram's second city) marked on my map, but turned north instead of south. Soon, though, just south of the town of Serchip, we turned west on a poor but very scenic road, with red and white flowering trees, to Thenzawl, where we met the well-paved new road, maybe five years old, I was told, that runs from Aizawl to Lunglei. Thenzawl has the distinction of being the one town in Mizoram not on a hilltop. The sumo headed south, eventually crossing a river and then climbing to Lunglei, where we arrived between 5 and 5:30. In the hazy dusk, as the sun was setting, I had a good view just before we arrived of Lunglei spread over a hillside. I found a hotel, had dinner, and went to bed before 9, but sleeping was impossible. Just outside my window a truck arrived to unload bricks next door, on a Saturday night. The unloading was very noisy and didn't finish until almost midnight.
The next morning the hotel manager encouraged me to go to church, but knowing that in Chin state in Burma the Sunday morning church services go on for two hours or so, I declined. Instead, I took a walk around town from about 9:30 until 1. I did walk first to a nearby church to watch people heading to the service. They were all dressed up, the women in high heels, some in long skirts of traditional style and others in western dress. Men wore ties. Music was playing inside, but stopped when the service began at 10.
I wandered through the almost empty streets of the city. Almost all shops were closed. Lunglei is considerably less modern than Aizawl. I saw public health signs about AIDS and TB, and the use of condoms. The churches were out about noon, and I sat and watched people leaving the big Baptist church and heading home. Kids were quite shy. I saw Salvation Army folks in white uniforms with an "S."
I spent a couple of hours in my hotel room and the took another walk. The town was still very quiet. Some people were out and about in their Sunday clothes. I came back to the hotel and then went out again at dusk, as the sun set into haze. The town was still very quiet.
I took another walk the next morning. Shops were open but there wasn't much traffic on the streets. I did come across some pigpens in town. I had thought about heading further south, to the town of Saiha, but decided to head back to Aizawl. I left at 9 on the 100 mile trip north. A 70 year old pastor sat next to me and led the prayer at the edge of town. The location, I thought, was not the best for a prayer stop, because of flies attracted to a nearby toilet. After he finished the prayer, the pastor turned to me and asked, "Do you want to pee?"
We drove north to Thenzawl, where we had lunch. At lunch I talked with a woman who works for Doordarshan, the Indian national television station. For decades it was the only Indian television station. Now there are hundreds, maybe thousands. After lunch we continued north on the new road on a ridge with beautiful views off to each side. The sumo climbed to over 5000 feet on the rocky ridge at Hmuifang, where there is a government tourist lodge where perhaps I should have stayed. From the ridge there are great views of the river far below and to the west.
We reached the outskirts of Aizawl about 3 and I was dropped off in the city center about 3:30. I checked into the hotel where I had stayed before and walked to the sunset side of town. I talked with some friendly kids, who spoke pretty good English. Two little boys had a couple of almost dead chicks in plastic cups. I don't know what kind of birds they were. They didn't look like chicken chicks. I think they were wild.
After a morning walk, I left Aizawl the next morning at 10:30 on a sumo heading north, back to Silchar. It took us only about a half hour to reach the city outskirts. Among the passengers were two Mizo and Vinod, a friendly Bengali from Silchar who is a pharmaceutical salesman. He was an interesting guy to talk to. A Brahmin, he is very pro-Modi and has a brother who works in New York.
I enjoyed the scenic ridge top drive back to the lowlands of Assam. We made a lunch stop about 1 and passed a guerrilla warfare training center just before the border. In Silchar the first three hotels I tried were full, but with Vinod's help I found a fourth which had a room. Later we met for dinner at a small bar owned by a friend of his. I ate chicken tikka and nan while he drank a beer. Afterwards he took me around town a bit, though there was nothing much to see, and helped me buy a sumo ticket for the next day to Shillong.
The sumo finally left town, taking the road I had arrived on from Aizawl for about an hour and a quarter until, just three miles before Khawzawl, it turned southwest and then south, traveling along the top of a long ridge. We saw some more blackened fields, burned in preparation for cultivation. One area was quite extensive, and I wondered if the fire had gotten out of control. Later, we passed some tea estates and the hilltop towns of Khawhai, Lungdar, and at least one other, all at about 3000 to 4000 feet elevation on the ridge. About 1:30 we stopped for a lunch of beef, rice, and pork fat. The road was paved, with some bad patches and little traffic. The driver played chorale music, including Handel's Messiah, which he sang along with . He also played some Mizo pop music and some American country and western music, and later some Mizo hip hop. The trip was very pleasant.
After several hours the sumo turned to the west and headed downhill to a river at 1600 feet elevation, where the air was much warmer. We soon reached the north-south highway from Aizawl to Lunglei (Mizoram's second city) marked on my map, but turned north instead of south. Soon, though, just south of the town of Serchip, we turned west on a poor but very scenic road, with red and white flowering trees, to Thenzawl, where we met the well-paved new road, maybe five years old, I was told, that runs from Aizawl to Lunglei. Thenzawl has the distinction of being the one town in Mizoram not on a hilltop. The sumo headed south, eventually crossing a river and then climbing to Lunglei, where we arrived between 5 and 5:30. In the hazy dusk, as the sun was setting, I had a good view just before we arrived of Lunglei spread over a hillside. I found a hotel, had dinner, and went to bed before 9, but sleeping was impossible. Just outside my window a truck arrived to unload bricks next door, on a Saturday night. The unloading was very noisy and didn't finish until almost midnight.
The next morning the hotel manager encouraged me to go to church, but knowing that in Chin state in Burma the Sunday morning church services go on for two hours or so, I declined. Instead, I took a walk around town from about 9:30 until 1. I did walk first to a nearby church to watch people heading to the service. They were all dressed up, the women in high heels, some in long skirts of traditional style and others in western dress. Men wore ties. Music was playing inside, but stopped when the service began at 10.
I wandered through the almost empty streets of the city. Almost all shops were closed. Lunglei is considerably less modern than Aizawl. I saw public health signs about AIDS and TB, and the use of condoms. The churches were out about noon, and I sat and watched people leaving the big Baptist church and heading home. Kids were quite shy. I saw Salvation Army folks in white uniforms with an "S."
I spent a couple of hours in my hotel room and the took another walk. The town was still very quiet. Some people were out and about in their Sunday clothes. I came back to the hotel and then went out again at dusk, as the sun set into haze. The town was still very quiet.
I took another walk the next morning. Shops were open but there wasn't much traffic on the streets. I did come across some pigpens in town. I had thought about heading further south, to the town of Saiha, but decided to head back to Aizawl. I left at 9 on the 100 mile trip north. A 70 year old pastor sat next to me and led the prayer at the edge of town. The location, I thought, was not the best for a prayer stop, because of flies attracted to a nearby toilet. After he finished the prayer, the pastor turned to me and asked, "Do you want to pee?"
We drove north to Thenzawl, where we had lunch. At lunch I talked with a woman who works for Doordarshan, the Indian national television station. For decades it was the only Indian television station. Now there are hundreds, maybe thousands. After lunch we continued north on the new road on a ridge with beautiful views off to each side. The sumo climbed to over 5000 feet on the rocky ridge at Hmuifang, where there is a government tourist lodge where perhaps I should have stayed. From the ridge there are great views of the river far below and to the west.
We reached the outskirts of Aizawl about 3 and I was dropped off in the city center about 3:30. I checked into the hotel where I had stayed before and walked to the sunset side of town. I talked with some friendly kids, who spoke pretty good English. Two little boys had a couple of almost dead chicks in plastic cups. I don't know what kind of birds they were. They didn't look like chicken chicks. I think they were wild.
After a morning walk, I left Aizawl the next morning at 10:30 on a sumo heading north, back to Silchar. It took us only about a half hour to reach the city outskirts. Among the passengers were two Mizo and Vinod, a friendly Bengali from Silchar who is a pharmaceutical salesman. He was an interesting guy to talk to. A Brahmin, he is very pro-Modi and has a brother who works in New York.
I enjoyed the scenic ridge top drive back to the lowlands of Assam. We made a lunch stop about 1 and passed a guerrilla warfare training center just before the border. In Silchar the first three hotels I tried were full, but with Vinod's help I found a fourth which had a room. Later we met for dinner at a small bar owned by a friend of his. I ate chicken tikka and nan while he drank a beer. Afterwards he took me around town a bit, though there was nothing much to see, and helped me buy a sumo ticket for the next day to Shillong.
No comments:
Post a Comment