Adventures in The Lost World 11 - The Longest Day

Aizawl to Dharmanagar - a bridge too far?

Today all depended on the bridge between Mizoram and Tripura being open.

Paul and I had a brew going before the 5 am alarm went off.

So we had our packed breakfast that we picked up after dinner last night. For me that was three boiled eggs (one of Michael's), four bits of toast, with butter and jam, plus a small box that said it was fruit juice, which tasted more chemical than fruity.
I ate as I tried more internet stuff, which still didn't work very well. But we were ready and assembled before kickoff time at 6 am.

Alex was under pressure to ensure we took the right road out of town and asked passers by and taxis several times, so we only had to turn back once, and that was very early in the proceedings. Aizawl had relatively little traffic at that hour and we were in the countryside quite quickly.
Back over the Bailey bridges  and into the jungly countryside  

Vidhya asked several more people about the right road and by 8 am we were at a breakfast chai stop in a small settlement.

Here in the south we are far more of an attraction and groups of people would come to stand and stare if ever we stopped.

Lots of people seemed to emerge from the surrounding jungle as we got chai and simple stuff to eat. It took a while and we all wandered around a bit. I went for a pee and had a look at a steamroller abandoned on the edge of the settlement. Plants had grown and died around the wheels, but that can happen fast in the jungle.
Paul told me it was a diesel roller not a steamroller and identified why it was abandoned. It had a broken front bit, so had probably run away on a slope at some stage. Hard to start and really hard to stop these things.
He was into the cabin and checking out the makers specifications and technical stuff. Comparing against the one he has at home (really!).

The van caught up and off we set into roads that seemed to get difficult quite quickly. Down to a single track with regular broken patches of sand and rough ground, tight hairpins and little chance to open up the throttle. I followed Lewis, Will and Michael who kept a good pace. A bit too fast for me. After another hour or so I was tiring again, but trying to keep up. As always the group was going to stop a few minutes beyond my comfort zone. We passed through a village and I was annoyed for not insisting we stop for a chai.

On a tight left hand steep uphill bend a jeep came round the corner avoiding a big pothole. There was no road left and I tried to cut the corner over the pothole and up a steep bank. My clutch control was not good enough and the bike stalled. I was not strong enough to hold it up and had to let it down, gently, but with some choice Anglo-Saxon.

Abhi helped me get it on the road, with lots of revs and punishing the clutch. We lit up, it was break time. He said I should use the horn more on the corners,which I think meant I should go faster. 

So I either go too fast or too slow. One day I'll get it right!

I said to Abhi I was having problems with the clutch. He checked it and said it was loose, we should wait a few minutes for the bike to cool down (presumably the bike included me!). We would ask Ashraf to tighten it later.

Then the voices from up the hill started. Lewis, Will and Michael had stopped one bend further up.

Typical.

Abhi and I pottered up, still smoking. We had a pause with the guys and a chat. 

A few minutes later we set off again. It was similar for a lot of the day. Me at the back, with Abhi patiently acting as nursemaid.

We crossed one mountain range, winding up and over and down, a little Tarmac, sand, rocks, bends, sand and rocks on the bends, and stretches of rough ground.

We stopped at a sizeable village that had a football pitch and a tennis court and

waited a while for the van, so half the region seemed to converge on us for photos. 

The chai was good and there were freshly fried fritters, that seemed like rice pancakes and sweet fried bread.

There was a little time pressure and Vidhya was gong to be in the van for the rest of the day.

There seemed to be two choices, a longer but safer route or the shorter one that was harder riding. We ended up on the harder riding one.

Off we set on the usual mix of terrain, winding up and over and round and down. There were more tight bends with broken ground in the apex of each curve, or potholes to make sure the hardest part of the curve was the most difficult patch of ground. So I bashed away and Michael stayed at the back as well.

Michael had watched Abhi a few days before and noted that he always took the rough ground slowly, did not bump through the potholes but wove between them and accelerated afterwards. I was missing the accelerating afterwards, weaving and keeping the slower speed.

Then came the mud, open stretches of packed moist stuff. Followed by rough ground, with sometimes bits of tarmac and sand on the road.

Then came the rain.

The group gathered as we put on rain gear. I was quite quick changing and set off after Alex, Paul and Lewis. They were way ahead in the rough and wet stuff. I wanted to cover as much ground as possible before the rain got really bad and made it all worse.

The road was flat or downhill, which makes muddy stretches treacherous. I stayed upright and straight and although there was the occasional slide.

Michael and Will had taken a few minutes longer to get the gear on. The rain had turned the route from difficult to really difficult.

About ten minutes later when Michael and Will had not overtaken, I guessed something was wrong, but had to potter on, as I would only hold everything up. Some twenty minutes after that I came across Paul at a fork in the road. He was Alex's second helper and marking the route. A minute or so further on Lewis was waiting beside the road at another fork. The was no marker. I stopped for a couple of minutes and bought some water, then decided to investigate what seemed the logical road. Lewis waited. A kilometre further on there was difficult mud in the middle of the village then a sign for a diversion. 

I asked a guy there to check I was on the road for Dharamanagar, of course my pronunciation was bad, but after a couple of attempts he told me the diversion would take us back to Aizawl. So I turned back and met the rest of the group coming down the road.

Paul asked if I'd seen which way Alex's tyre tracks went, which I had never thought of and I'd never trust myself to get the right tyre tracks anyway.

They set off while I turned round and I didn't see them again for a long time.

I nearly came off going back through the village mud for the third time, but kept straight and upright as the bike slid all over the place.

The diversion road would add time to the journey, putting us under more pressure.

So on we slogged. Very aware of the mud.

It was all getting quite repetitive. I was always concentrating on the road. As usual. That meant I didn't get to see the scenery, or the funny sights. My whole vision was the road and being aware of potential danger.

Being aware of the country you're going through makes it far more interesting. Just small glimpses of life beyond the verge gives a hugely different perspective.

I caught up with the boys as they stopped for a regroup.

watched as usual...

We had a chai and handed out biscuits to small kids, who refused until their mothers took some, then the kids pounced like piranhas.
This was the first chance I had to check what had happened with Michael and Will, since they were both obviously OK when we met back in the village with the diversion. Michael had come off the bike twice in the treacherous mud.
And it was time to push on, hoping the bridge would be open.

Within ten minutes we found Alex at a junction. They would open the bridge for us. There was a dispute between the two states and they liked to close the bridge at any excuse.

The challenge would be getting the van over. Remarkably soon afterwards the van arrived and Alex, Vidhya and Lovely disappeared for consultations with different people to get permission for the van.

They got it and we moved on. Alex and Paul ahead, then the van and us following. On the Tripura side the road was blocked by a market. Alex (just visible in the picture) led off.

The first market pitch was an old lady selling chicken bones and skin from a stained cloth. Her casual waving kept some of the flies away. It did not look appetising.

The van made its way steadily through the stalls. Lovely used a pole to lift individual ropes holding up awnings to let the van go under them.
It was slow progress. If I didn't keep tight to the van the space filled with people. The road was uphill so there was a lot of stop start.

We got through the market. Wonderful news.

The road turned into a stunning well paved wide road with lots of undulating curves.

I loved it. Angle into a bend and accelerate through and out. It was fun gunning the engine as soon as the route out of a curve opened up and I went for it.

Alex and Paul had disappeared into the distance but I was not so far behind, pretending to lead our small sub-group and really enjoying the swooping sensation. Finally some fun!

There was a long straight stretch which I took at full tilt, slowing for what seemed like a small bridge, but I still took some air. Which meant I left the ground, just a little. But we were straight and upright so on we rushed.

Dharamanagar was another crowded town, but not as outright chaotic as Silchar and not as manic as Aizawl. It seemed slightly more organised as we weaved between motorised transport of all shapes and sizes, plus cycles and pedestrians, all living their own lives.

In among the bustle was the hotel and celebrations all round. We had made it in daylight. It had been a hard riding day. Time for a beer, even a warm beer, or two, while Vidhya checked us all in.

We had our own rooms. Mine was very basic, cold water and a squat loo.

I was knackered and after a cold shower got on the Internet to find some work, a short translation required for Nuova Simonelli, a company I translate for. They make excellent coffee machines and it has been fun learning about the coffee business. Maybe that's a subject for another blog one day.

I started the translation and dozed off half way through. A few minutes later I started on it again and was soon interrupted by a knock on the door. Michael saying they had started on the beers in the restaurant.

I finished the translation, failed to send it as my email seems to be on receive but not send while using hotel wifi. Maybe I'll sort that out when I have spare time.

The party was going swimmingly. Michael offered me a tube with a Romeo and Juliet No.5. A gorgeous smoke but I was tired and would rather wait till after supper. Alex gave me stick as Michael had waited for me before lighting his. Alex offered to share, so he obviously wanted a smoke!

I took one, Michael had the other, but his was an empty tube! So I gave him the other one and went upstairs to get a couple for Alex and I.

It was a good smoke, Alex played a variety of 70's and 80's music and Will got very into the bands and the tracks.

Dinner was delicious as usual. There were few other diners as we were making enough noise to scare people away. But it was not a long evening. Most of us were tired and we left the seasoned riders to it.

I failed to take a bottle of water to bed, which was a mistake as the water in the room was in an unsealed bottle. Only drink from bottles with sealed caps.

In the middle of the night I went to try to find some water. Judging but the number of plates left outside the rooms, many people had profited from room service last night, rather than suffer the rowdy ramblings of a bunch of foreigners.

Downstairs there were people sleeping on the floor in reception and in the dining room. So I left them sleeping and tried some of my emergency water purifying tablets on the bottle in the room. They did not dissolve, so I read a bit and netted a bit and went back to sleep.

Ready for a short ride tomorrow.... Huh,short ride, as if.