Moreh – Imphal - by Taxi
It’s hard to describe India. The country is vast and varied and the state of Manipur is
uniquely different. In addition, the area is tribal and villagers looked distinctly
Mongolian.
Nothing in India happens instantly. Even though my host at the Sangai Lodge
arranged a “taxi” to take me to Imphal, where busses ran to Guwahati, nothing
happened until midday. No sooner were we underway than I regretted not cycling.
The state of Manipur is fascinating, but I had to choose between biking and the Camel
Fair.
It’s no secret I love India. Countries, to me, are like people. They’ve personalities of
their own, and (for no rhyme or reason) one gets along with some and not others. Of
course, there’s no perfect country, but I feel more at home in certain ones than
others. India is chaotic, dirty, dusty and busy. Still, it has a huge personality and I felt
a veil of spirituality cloaked the entire country. However, the driving was nothing short
of madness. Still, we, against all odds, arrived in Imphal unscathed.
Imphal – Guwahati - by bus
Leg two consisted of a bus ride to Guwahati. The Guwahati bus was rumoured to
depart at 10h30, but the time was 11h30 when we finally got going. The road over
the mountains was in such a poor condition I believed it was quite possible to pick up
an injury. Thank goodness for winter, as the bus was ancient and had no aircon. As
predicted, the ride was dusty as the way was only partially paved. The driver drove
non-stop, stopping simply when one of the passengers wanted to pee and twice to
replace a punctured tire. Signboards indicated the speed limit at 20 km/h and the
going was dreadfully slow.