At 9am we meet up with Christian and Francessca and we immediately depart towards Moreh, the border town with Myanmar.

Ready to Leave for Moreh

It’s a nice route and we get on well, also a bit because Christian doesn’t need a break as often as we do... At the end of the day we have to drive over rocky mountain roads, and the Africa Twin gets a puncture in the rear tyre. Christian prefers to inflate the tyre every 10 km or so over repairing the tyre at the side of the road. Around sunset we arrive at Kohima, our target destination for that day. It’s a strange city, it’s only 6pm and almost everything is already closed. We hadn’t eaten all day so we really want to find a restaurant that isn’t closed yet. Christian and Francessca give up quickly, but eventually we find a restaurant that is still open.
In the morning we decide to leave already while Christian repairs his tyre, they are faster on the mountain roads and need fewer breaks so they will catch up anyway. Unfortunately, we find ourselves the same fate as the Africa Twin: a flat rear tyre. We go to the mechanic and 45min later our tyre is replaced. We still can’t leave because it appears there’s a problem with the brake pads now. In total we lose about two hours and when we finally leave, we don’t make any progress because of the winding mountain roads. We really enjoy the scenery though.

Nice Views over the Mountains

In the late afternoon we can pick up some speed in the valleys, but at the end of the day we drive again through the mountains. It really is our day of bad luck because a little later we run out of fuel, due to the many petrol stations that are closed along the way. We are fed up with this day and when we see the military checkpoints, as we get closer to the border, we’re not happy with the loss of time this will mean. Luckily, Kevin can avoid our entire luggage to get examined. At dawn we arrive in Moreh and see the other overlanders have set up camp at the petrol station. Then we start looking for Christian and Francessca in the village.
The locals tell us that the border has been closed for a couple of days now and that it’s not sure yet if tomorrow it would be open again. Two Indians went missing in Myanmar and by way of protest, there’s a strike on Indian side. Before we go to sleep, the owner of the hotel tells us about the border town; about the black market and the government that seems to have forgotten about the north-eastern states of India.

Dried Cow Shit is Used for Cooking all over India

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