Greetings from Manipur

Wednesday, 2 January 2013

All is going well! We just reached Imphal today. We've found a working cyber cafe for the first time since we left Dhaka. We have many good stories in stock already and several posts ready to publish on my iPad but I need some wifi to push it on the blog and that's not an easy task. So to all of you who have been sending us mails in the last days for Christmas, new year of other topics, don't blame us for remaining silent, but getting logged on (not to mention responding to mails) is pretty cumbersome.

Hopefully we'll hit some more "touristy" spot within a week. So we've already cycled around 800km. We were allowed to enter Manipur, which is not straightforward considering it was a restricted area since 2011 and minorities are still pursuing underground actions here and there, which means that the Indian army is very visible.

We've had some very challenging days crossing the mountains into Imphal. Imagine 200km of mountain roads with very little asphalt (or "black top" as local say here) and uphill climbs that last for 20 to 30 km without interruption. Often there is nothing remotely looking like a guest house and we just rely on villagers for lodging.

By the way, we haven't seen any westerner since we have left Dhaka 12 days ago. Despite the harsh conditions we are having a great time with loads of interesting encounters! The big issue now is whether we'll be allowed to enter Burma as planned. We are hoping to hit the border after tomorrow (Friday). Finger crossed!