The Great fall and Border-crossing!

As a part of 8 states and 4 countries record plan, Suhas and I wanted to visit Myanmar anyhow. We didn’t have visas with us though. But that had never stopped us from crossing borders (Bangladesh story got insights!) However, our friend Khongjam was there with us. So, hopefully, we thought we would make it into Myanmar hassle-free. 

Imphal

All I wanted was to do a touchdown and visit a village or two inside Myanmar.

Lunch at Myanmar was the plan. Khongjam had traversed through the path once long back. From Imphal to Moreh was a tricky ride. GR Infraprojects, damn you!

 Rain spells had already added more difficulty to the ride. Khongjam was leading. He suddenly stopped and showed the road ahead. It was brown. He said “Look, Bad roads”. I agreed but in my mind, I thought to myself, “I have seen worst roads; what threat do you pose”. I thought wrong. I rode in first not realizing that the road was slippery. 2 seconds. That’s how long I lasted on that road without falling.  Tamed in an instant..

Slippery Roads

I fell and started laughing, realizing what a lesson that was. But behind me, I heard a scratching sound. What the hell is that?! Apparently, after seeing my fall, Suhas left the bike to its will and stood aside and watched. His bike slid next to me. Now two bikes, one on me, one next to me; and here I am lying flat in the middle of the road, laughing! Passersby were wondering what got into me.

After the fall

Getting the bike to stand still on that slippery road was a tougher task! We had to taint our boots during the entire ride just to maintain balance in those slippery roads. This was the case from Thoubal to Kakching via Khongjam village (Earlier Khongjam was a person, my friend). Intensity of the rain increased. And we somehow made it to Moreh, the last village on the Indo-Myanmar Border.

The border check-post guys in India said that Myanmar is observing a strike and that we can’t visit. Lolz. Please dude. I will worry about it.

We stopped at the border bridge and walked into Myanmar. There it was; Myanmar Border control that checks visas. We went straight in and told them that we wanted to visit Tamu. We got one day permit within seconds, at a minimum fee. Whooiee!

Permit done

We rode inside Myanmar in full grandeur. Right side riding was fun man! By the way, Boiled Chicken in Myanmar and Myanmar Beer, best combination ever!

On our way back to Imphal via the Loktak Lake area and Keibul Lamjao, we were stopped thrice by Manipuri Police and Indian Army and were strip searched for weapons.

And for your information, Manipur is a dry state but you can easily buy alcohol there. Yes, you read that right!

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