Somehow I think I was lucky that someone told me (or was it written in the local newspaper Nagaland Post – not sure) that a road blockade was pending… I can’t exactly remember, but it was reason enough to reconsider my travel plans; I switched on to the Air India website to get a flight back to Kolkata from Imphal (Manipur). But first I acually had to get to Imphal…

Kohima (Nagaland) is laid out on a few hills and public transport departs from various corners of the city (depending on the direction), so it was quite an uphill walk to check out my options on how to get to Imphal. It was a real huzzle-buzzle around the taxi stand. English is not really spoken, and I had enough of hassle so I decided to check out the big market nearby. It honestly rained cats and dogs and after a while a guy took pity on me and asked where I wanted to go. I then found out that there was no direct bus or Taxi to Imphal. I would have to change cars at the regional border, but it still seemed doable in a day, if I’d start early enough (as you already know from my previous posts, they love to check foreigners … this takes time).

The view of Kohima in Nagaland, India.

So next day I was at the station at 6am. Definitely too early … I was the only one and the shops and market around the station were also just opening. The first taxi was already pre-booked (bad luck for me). The second Taxi in line was still waiting for travellers to the border but was more than pleased to my offer that I’d take the whole middle row (so that I can take pictures on the left and right side).

A local bus driver in Kohima, India.

It took about one hour to fill up the car with passengers intending to go my direction. And of course everybody stared at me. Anyway, we finally started. After leaving Kohima the driver stopped at a road block to get the travel permit and to pay the road tax. The area is heavily controlled by the Indian Army (called the Assam Rifles). They protect the roads because there is a lot of tension in the area and sometimes home-made bombs are set off or important local individuals are kidnapped for money. I don’t know exactly though but it didn’t seem like that they were going to kidnap foreigners. I still heard a few times (from the few people who speak English) that the area was not safe. What can I say? For me the trip was very safe; the driver didn’t think he was a Formula 1 racer, so I enjoyed the ride which took me along a winding tarmac road. Now or then the trip was interrupted by earlier landslides. At these places many people walked along the road with goods in their baskets.

Women carrying home their goods.

We stopped a few times to let people in and out, always with a few military guards in sight. These guys were all very very good looking in their combat uniforms. They’re all pretty tall with beautiful faces haha.

The military is present everywhere in Nagaland.

Faster than expected the border to Manipur came in sight. The road was bad the last kilometres with some barriers along the road. At one we stopped and I had my passport ready; of course it was me they were looking for. The officer spoke English, said sorry for the delay but it was procedure that he had to copy my passport. After another 3 km was the taxi station and I had to get out to look for another transport to continue.

But first I needed a rest; a quick scanning of the area showed me a big restaurant sign, and I tought that I’d check it out. The food was an excellent vegetarian variety and the owner even had rooms to rent. Since I already heard about the road blockade I wanted to continue. I walked along the main road until the border post of Manipur. Everyone seemed to be on their lunch break, because nobody opened an eye when I went in and said “hello, is anybody here?” One guy looked at me and waved me out as if he was saying “just go ahead.” So I did and stepped on Manipurs soil.

Here’s part 2 of my trip from Kohima to Imphal.