Day 140. Imphal - Kalay

We set off at 6 this morning. The hotel kindly allowed us to breakfast early. So off we went in misty conditions. 

It was busier than I thought it would be but in no time we were on our way out of town on a beautiful road. 

We wound up into a mountain range but the road continued to be good. 

I wondered if we were on the right road and what all the fuss was about. We soon found out. 

Towards the summit there was a huge road reconstruction going on and with all the recent rain it was a muddy slippery mess. This time there was no base course down so we slipped and slid and paddled out way forward. 

At one stage we climbed a little ramp and landed on a hard packed section of clay with just enough water on it to make a perfect skating rink. We decided to enter the freestyle dance section and performed a perfect pirouette, unfortunately we botched the landing and down we went in a heap. No damage to us but the gear lever now shaped like a U. 

Some guys following helped us up and we inched forward again. This bit of clay was only about 50 metres long and thankfully was the the only section of it. 40 km to the border and I could only change down not up. So we would start off in 2nd and change down if needed. 

With about 15km to go the road improved and we limped across the border. We stopped at a couple of military checkpoints to fill in books and they kept asking me how old I was, I told them I was 63 but they should just write “young man”. They thought that was a huge joke. 

The other amusing thing was they kept writing down my details and those of the bike, when it came to Robyn they just wrote +1F. 

Haha I think that nickname  might just stick. 

Our guide Min Min was waiting for us with water and bananas and helped us negotiate the paperwork. 

The bridge in behind us leads back to India. 

Our driver then led us to bike repair shop and with big adjustable spanner and a pinch bar straightened out the lever. 

It is hot here 38 today, it’s  humid but not oppressively so. 

The road was excellent, not wide but there are very few cars here. All scooters and little motorbikes.

So we made excellent progress, the only thing slowing us down was every few hundred metres there was a bailey bridge crossing a little stream or a small river. There are two types, one has steel for a deck which makes a hell of a racket when you cross, the other has wooden planks running lengthways with gaps of varying size between then, also with big chunks missing. These are not the easiest to negotiate but no mishaps so far (touch wood). 😝

We stopped for lunch and immediately knew we were in Asia, with my noodles and Robyn’s fried rice. Delicious. 

The countryside we are travelling through is very flat and very fertile with many crops and banana plantations. Beautiful to travel through. We passed through many little villages, the houses are are all built on stilts, I guess to protect them from the monsoon rains but also to house livestock. 

The town of Kalay is where we have stopped for the night.

So goodbye India, you have challenged us at every turn, physically, emotionally, spiritually. It has been an amazing team building exercise. Has it been worth it? Absolutely.