On Sunday at 4pm, I left Dimapur with Ab. and a whole busload of farmers heading back to Zunheboto after the Agri Expo. Given that sumo tickets are sold out till after Christmas, this was the best option for the return trip to Zunheboto for Christmas. The trip was meant to take 12-14 hours, though it only took 10 hours in the end.
Now, 10 hours on a bus doesn't usually sound like a long time to be since I've been on much longer bus rides and I usually end up sleeping most of the time. This time however, I was aware that we were travelling at night on some very winding and badly maintained roads. I was also aware that there was no heating on the bus and that we was going to get very cold at night, especially as the bus approached Zunheboto.
Ab. rugging up for the cold night.
The seat would've been more comfortable if I could've stopped it from reclining all the way back every time I leaned back.
The worst thing about the trip was that just as we were leaving Dimapur - and in a scene reminiscent of the last time I was leaving Nagaland via Dimapur - I realised I was down with a case of food poisoning. I'm not sure what it was, though I'm happy to blame the pork chow mein I ate at the Agri Expo just before leaving (I really don't do well with chow mein in this country). So basically, I spent most of the trip trying to fight off the accompanying nausea from the food poisoning, while trying to field questions from farmers who had no idea who I was or that I didn't understand most of what they were saying. I did manage to will myself to sleep at times, but the bumpiness of the road and the cold later kept waking me up.
As usual my survival instincts kicked in and somehow I made it to Zunheboto 10 hours later. At 2am. We were told that the reason for leaving Dimapur at 4pm (and not a reasonable like say, 11am) was so that we would arrive bright and early in Zunheboto between 4am - 6am when transport would be available. Of course, arriving at 2am meant that the town looked like this:
Ab.'s father came to pick us up shortly after. We made it back to Nito Mount where they broke the lock to the room in the guest house and I collapsed in bed, weak from the journey and the food poisoning. Thankfully, the diarrhoea only kicked in after I got back.
Feeling too weak to stand up for long stretches, I spent most of yesterday in bed, eating mostly bananas and a rice porridge mixed with the some leafy greens (which the Angamis call galho). But given the iron gut I've cultivated, I'm pretty much back to normal today.
So I survived my first night bus ride in Nagaland. And while having food poisoning to boot!
Now, 10 hours on a bus doesn't usually sound like a long time to be since I've been on much longer bus rides and I usually end up sleeping most of the time. This time however, I was aware that we were travelling at night on some very winding and badly maintained roads. I was also aware that there was no heating on the bus and that we was going to get very cold at night, especially as the bus approached Zunheboto.
Ab. rugging up for the cold night.
The seat would've been more comfortable if I could've stopped it from reclining all the way back every time I leaned back.
The worst thing about the trip was that just as we were leaving Dimapur - and in a scene reminiscent of the last time I was leaving Nagaland via Dimapur - I realised I was down with a case of food poisoning. I'm not sure what it was, though I'm happy to blame the pork chow mein I ate at the Agri Expo just before leaving (I really don't do well with chow mein in this country). So basically, I spent most of the trip trying to fight off the accompanying nausea from the food poisoning, while trying to field questions from farmers who had no idea who I was or that I didn't understand most of what they were saying. I did manage to will myself to sleep at times, but the bumpiness of the road and the cold later kept waking me up.
As usual my survival instincts kicked in and somehow I made it to Zunheboto 10 hours later. At 2am. We were told that the reason for leaving Dimapur at 4pm (and not a reasonable like say, 11am) was so that we would arrive bright and early in Zunheboto between 4am - 6am when transport would be available. Of course, arriving at 2am meant that the town looked like this:
Ab.'s father came to pick us up shortly after. We made it back to Nito Mount where they broke the lock to the room in the guest house and I collapsed in bed, weak from the journey and the food poisoning. Thankfully, the diarrhoea only kicked in after I got back.
Feeling too weak to stand up for long stretches, I spent most of yesterday in bed, eating mostly bananas and a rice porridge mixed with the some leafy greens (which the Angamis call galho). But given the iron gut I've cultivated, I'm pretty much back to normal today.
So I survived my first night bus ride in Nagaland. And while having food poisoning to boot!
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