Tour of Nagaland 2022 | Day 21 | Mon – Simaluguri | 156 kms

The morning was as beautiful as it got. I was presented with the most beautiful sunrise of the tour as I opened my dorm door. The sun was just above the horizon and the sky was changing the colors. The valley’s floating clouds complemented this view with a golden-red hue. It was my kind of morning, just the way I would have wished.

I quickly freshened up myself and had a good cold shower bath. I felt very refreshed and charged after yesterday’s horrible ride through dusty roads. My condition was just horrible as there was dust everywhere. My entire luggage had been soiled due to that, the bike was a complete mess and lastly, my riding gear had taken a different shade of brown.

After the bath, I made a quick cup of coffee using my gas stove as I still had some provisions left with me. I was to enter Assam this evening and was supposed to reach Guwahati tomorrow evening as per the original plan. The coffee tasted better in the cold morning weather. The time was close to 7 am.

Following the coffee, I prepared the breakfast which involved the smashing of yesterday’s boiled eggs into the pan. I added olive oil and some salt and chili powder to it and made something unique out of it. I must have smashed some 4-5 eggs for breakfast and still, I was left with more. Against throwing of food, I kindly gave it to the caretaker lady before leaving. She gladly allowed me to wash the utensils in her kitchen sink.

I started to pack up right after the breakfast. There was nothing much to pack as I hadn’t taken out much stuff the previous night. I loaded all the luggage onto the bike and by the time I was all set to leave, I met the caretaker of the guest house and paid the bill of 500rs to him. I also narrated yesterday’s incident to him. I left the place around 8:30 am.

I had planned to go to Longwa village which was situated right at the border between India and Myanmar. This area belonged to the Konyak tribe of Nagaland. Sadly, they did not participate in the Hornbill Festival this year. Their unique characteristics are that their body is all covered with tattoos! Of all this, there was one particular reason why I wanted to go there. There was located a house which was half in Myanmar territory and half in India! The house belongs to the chief of Longwa, also called Angh in the local language.

It was a 40 km ride to Longwa and after the initial broken roads of Mon village, I was greeted with some smooth tarmac with lush green trees on either side of the road. I was penetrating deeper into the landscape with dense forests everywhere. I could see very few settlements along the way.

The roads were scenic and I was enjoying every bit of the moment, soaking into the atmosphere and capturing all the subtle changes in the landscape through my eyes. There was hardly any traffic. Only the private taxis ferrying passengers and some earth-moving trucks zipped by. I had to be careful as there were lots of blind corners and the oncoming vehicles didn’t toot their horns while taking sharp turns.

The last 10 km of the stretch was bad and filled with loose gravel and fine dust. I could see the cloud of dust getting formed in my rearview mirror as I cruised ahead. Around 10 am, I came to a billboard indicating that I had arrived in Longwa. I stopped there to take a photo before moving on.

As I entered the town, I was stopped by 2 people from the Indian Army near the checkpost. I was told that I had to register my details before proceeding ahead. As this was an international border, I was expecting such checks. To my surprise, one of the Indian Army guys happened to be from my state of Maharashtra and I felt quite relieved having met people from my state. We exchanged numbers and even took a selfie. He said he was of all help to me if ever I faced any situation here. I was left speechless. Indian Army is always there for you, no matter where you are in India.

Thango had sent me one photo where he had taken a picture next to a billboard saying ” Indo Myanmar Border “. I liked the view in the picture and wanted to take a similar photo with my bike. I took the help of my Army friend to tell me the directions to it. He said it was further 3-4 km from the checkpoint giving me directions in left and right. I grasped the information and hoped that I would end up at the very same place.

I very well knew that I had crossed the 4 km mark but still, the billboard was out of my sight. The roads branched out at one point and that had made me confused. I’d picked up one out of them and as I continued further, I noticed that I was moving and descending into Myanmar country. Since the road was slowly going down, I had doubts which made me double-think. I stopped and analyzed the situation. The billboard must be located at a vantage point, like the highest point of a hill and here I was going down the hill. I took a U-turn and went back in the same direction. Again, analyzing which road would lead me to a higher point, I then took the right one which eventually led me to the billboard.

Nearing it, it seemed like it was freshly painted and the wording on it read ” INDO MYANMAR BORDER “. I parked my bike on one side and went towards it to be greeted with the most beautiful view of the valley down in Myanmar. I was looking in the direction of Myanmar. It gave me a sense of achievement having ridden my bike up here to the border from my hometown. It was a kind of mission accomplished for me. I removed my tripod and set up my phone on it so that I could also get captured in the frame. The output was just mindblowing. The cloudy sky just added icing to the cake. I spent quite some time relaxing and taking in the views. I could see the mountainous roads of Myanmar. I had the sudden urge to ride into Myanmar and start exploring.

After the border billboard photoshoot, I came back via the same road and located the iconic Angh’s house which was half in Myanmar and half in India. Here, I could see some tourists around the house. Some were foreign people handled by Indian guides. Some local ladies were selling souvenirs and handicraft products outside the house. From the front, the house looked circular with a conical top but as I entered inside, it was some kind of elongated oval shaped.

The chief was not there as he had gone outside for some meeting. I could spot the Queen with her son. She was the center point of attraction. At the entrance gate, both national flags were painted. To my left was the Myanmar flag while towards my right-hand side was India’s. The entrance was very small, about 5 feet, and was without a gate. The gate opened to an open courtyard enveloped under a conical roof. This section had some large wooden blanks on which beautiful tribal carvings were done. Some miniature models of tribal people were also kept which were made out of wood. A large creature which somewhat resembled like a dinasour was also seen.

I entered inside through 2 foldable wooden doors into the main hall room. The main hall looked almost empty. On one wall, portrait frames were hung while on the wall opposite that, many skulls of animals were hung. The most striking of them was the skull of the animal ‘Mithun’. Along with that, there were circular beating drums of varying diameters. Skulls of monkeys and other animals were also hung. It represented an eerie scene. From this hall, a narrow passage led to the kitchen area and this was where the Queen was there and interacted with the tourists by posing with them for a photo. I also grabbed the opportunity and clicked one for myself.

The kitchen section was massive and about the same size as the hall. I got to know that the Queen lady controls over 36 villages nearby, including some of them in Myanmar, and that her growing son would be the next King of this village. The Queen was dressed up in a simple dress, the headgear and the necklace part shining out. There was only this one group of tourists which was led by an Indian guide and as I went talking with him, I decided to tag the group along and they were going to see some of the things in nearby houses.

I went walking with the other people to a Gunsmith’s house. The house was all filled up with handmade guns and I came to know that they were up for sale too! Some of them ranged in the band of 20-25K Indian rupees. The guns were of various shapes and sizes, ranging from small pistols to large double-barrel guns. It was the first time I saw guns this close as I took over a double-barrel gun and posed for a photo. It was quite heavy. After seeing my photo, I was looking like a mafia character from a movie.

I was also made to look at a handbag in which the warriors used to keep the heads of the enemies which they would take back as a prize. The bag was decorated bizarrely. It was adorned with skulls of monkey and goat horns!

After taking the tour of the Gunsmmith’s house we then went to see the Brassmith’s house which was a little far and I had to use my bike. His house was right beside the road. The other foreign tourists had already reached by the time I arrived on my motorcycle. We then all went in simultaneously.

The rooms inside the house were dark. The Brassmith was working on some clay models as we entered. Half section of the hall was his workplace where a small fire burnt and all of his work-related items were present. The other section of the hall was filled with all the items that he had made ranging from small size to life-size models. A variety of items were on display and in particular, I liked the neckpiece which had a combination of beads, boar tooth, and the konyak naga face done in brass. Another item that I particularly liked was the Thermask holder which was made out of carved wood and fitted with brass linings. There were other small items also which piqued my interest.

We spent a considerable amount of time inside the house looking at almost all the items that were up for sale. I had already purchased some of the similar-looking items from the ladies outside the Angh’s house so had to contain my excitement about buying things that seemed tempting. We all decided to break for lunch but somehow I got left behind and was not able to find where they had stopped for lunch. I stopped again at the check to purchase something from the grocery shop which was made in Myanmar. I had to excitement to take it back to my hometown and show it to my family. I bought some sweet rice cakes which looked yellow. The packet was in the red on which something was written in the Myanmar language. I could also spot a Myanmar-registered bike that looked like a Chinese copy of a Honda Cub. I took a photo of that too before proceeding ahead.

In the hope of locating my friends, I left Longwa and took the road towards Mon. I thought I might spot them at some local restaurant since they were traveling by car and I knew which make it was. I rode for some km but was unable to spot them and so instead decided to skip going back to Longwa again and instead, I headed towards Mon. Their plan after lunch was to visit the house of the Konyak Naga and see them in person. I had already seen them sitting outside their home when I had entered the Longwa village. The only thing was that I had just managed to take a look at them and did not stop and view them up close.

I managed to reach Mon around 2:45 pm and from there I updated my Google Maps direction towards the border town of Sonari in the state of Assam. The other day my friend Deep from Sivasagar messaged me inviting me to stay in his town. Sivasagar to Sonari distance was hardly 40 km. I was aiming for Sivasagar today. On the way, I stopped to purchase the famous Naga chili which I planned to take back to my hometown. It seemed fresh and I knew that after entering Assam I would find it difficult to get my hands on it. I also purchased some oranges as they looked fresh and juicy. I had almost entirely skipped my lunch today.

From Mon, the distance to Sivasagar was just 100 km, a 3-hour ride as per Google Maps. The roads as I left Mon village deteriorated to a much larger extent and the speed was reduced to 20-30 km per hour with frequent roadbreakers and big deep ditches. It was again the testing time of mental as well as physical strength. There was heavy traffic on this road from the Assam side and the road contained loose dust which would turn into clouds when some big trucks used to pass by at great speeds. It was suffocating. The shiny weather too turned gloomy with large clouds gathering and blocking the sun. The sky took up a grey shade and everything got shadowed feeling as though dusk was approaching.

I was crawling at a snail’s pace. There was so much dirt flying around that I could not even stop at the roadside to eat the oranges that I’d bought. It was after a long time, that I got a sufficient clean environment to breathe as well as eat my oranges. The roads were utterly neglected by the Nagaland State and I didn’t stop to swear them continuously from the inside of my helmet.

Dusk had fallen by the time I had hit the border between Assam and Nagaland. Deep, my friend was tracking my progress and he invited me to the town of Simaluguri where he planned to meet me. He lives in Siavasagar but he told me over the phone that he was out of the city and would catch up with me in Simaluguri, which is just 15 km from Sivasagar.

Riding up to the Sonari border had shaken up my bones as every part of my body was vibrating due to the pathetic road conditions. The moment I started to ride on Assam roads, everything felt normal. I felt like I was floating in the air. The aux lights were working satisfactorily now and I could see the clear black smooth asphalt ahead. The road was without any undulations or bumps of any sort and I said to myself that even if I would ride with my eyes closed, I would still not go over a pothole or bump. Naturally, the speed increased as I inched closer to Simaluguri.

Deep greeted me at Simaluguri. I had reached first and had to wait for him to catch up with me. Deep then made me taste the authentic Assam tea which I liked very much. I had to taste the tea from where the entire world gets their tea! He then guided me to book a hotel in the town and after I got freshened up, Deep along with his club members, all went to have a great dinner at a nearby hotel.

We had a gala time during dinner and when the dinner got finished, Deep told me some history about the Sivasagar town and the AXOM kingdom stories. We even went to a nearby Axom dynasty building which was a famous cultural tourist site. We could barely see in whatever light was near the monument as it was late in the night. Finally, we said goodbye to each other where I got dropped off at the hotel by his friend and he made his way to Sivasagar.

Again, I fell asleep in no time as the body was tired beyond limit and needed rest. I was happy and nervous at the same time as tomorrow as going to be the last day of the Tour after which I was going to fly back home.