Northeastern States, India

There are seven states in what is called the northeast of India and I only went to two because of the expenses of going to other, the required permits and group sizes, and time, but I am glad I did as Assam and Meghalaya were amazing.

My first stop in the NE was Guwahati, the capital of Assam. In short, the town sucks and is used for getting to another place. I arrived and looked for a place to sleep for a couple hours (yes, it took that long). Once I found a place, I went off to figure out how to get out of there and onto my next destination. I found some bus information and with that information in mind I started walking around. I got a much needed haircut. There is northing worthwhile seeing so I went back to my room only to be visited by some of the most intense physical pain I have ever been in and to become clearly the sickest I have been so far during my travels. I have no idea what brought this on. It could have anything, including the air and water, which is part of the fun of travelling in India. I was laying on my be, in the fetal position, hoping to die. I managed to get up, go to reception (I think I forgot to lock my door behind me but am unsure), ask if somebody could help me communicate to the medicine-provider guy at the shop nearby what was wrong. They told me he would speak English. I stumbled down the stairs, turned the corner, and saw a shop for of pills that might make be better. Pharacies in India are not like those in the States. For most things you go to one, tell the guy what is wrong, and he gives you the appropriate medicine. For really serious things you see a real doctor, but for 99% of cases, you are just "diagnosed" by this guy. I am unsure how much medical training they has, but I do know they have some. I also know that within hour of taking the medicines he gave me I felt 95% better. So much so that I was able to move. I did think it would be wise, though, to not leave the following day just in case so I spent another day reading and doing little in the less than appealing Guwahati.

From there I took a bus to Tezpur, which is a pleasent little town and often regarded at Assam's most attractive. It has well maintain parks and a nice lake with good views. There is little to do than walk around for a day, which is all the time I spent here, but it was a good place to stop at to break up the journey. I found an amazing little bakery where I ate almost every, nutriant-free meal.

hen it was off to Jorhat, where I had to spend a night before catching a boat to the biggest river-island in the world of Majjuli. Jorhat is not much but not bad either and it was easily worth spending a night because I found the best thali I have ever had. Thali ("th" is pronouced as a softer "t") is dish served on sectioned metal metal tray. You get rice and/or chapati (flat, round bread), and an assortment of veggies, often a spicy sauce, and some yougut-like product. I never like the yougurt thing, but everything else is usually good and this thali in particular was spectacular. It came with 10 items instead of the usual 2-5 and a couple were terrible but the others were good to great and two were fantastic.

Still full in the morning from the previous night's thali, I took the early morning boat ride to Majuli. Gender means a lot in India and, at this point, this had not been clearer than on this boat. There were maybe 150 people on it. I was the only foreigner, plus about 145 men, and 1 woman with her 3 kids. Women do not venture on or off the island.

There is nothing in Majuli except the landscapes, satras ("a monestry of neo-Vaishnavism, Assam's distinctive form of everyman-Hinduism"), and local tribes (17 unique ones, if memory serves, on a tiny island). All you can do is hang out in "town," which is nice but would get old quickly, or rent a bicycle and explore, which is exactly what I did. I have no idea how many or which of the tribes I encountered or interacted with because I do not know enough about them to distinguish between them but, no matter what, it was amazing. I got off my bike at one point to take some photos of the landscape and was invited to play chess with some locals. I started to play the winnder of the previous match while answering the typical questions (the answers: "America," "26," and "no, not married") among others while the only guy that spoke even a little English translated my answers to the ever-growing auidence. (The auidence was for me, not the chess game.) About 500 feet away a boy was hit by a motorbike and only two rushed to his assistance because their attention was fixed on me. ("Is he OK?" I asked. The guy yelled down the road and got a response, which he translate for me: "No.") Other things he said: "I pray that when I die and are reborn, I am reborn American," "America is the best country," "America is rich," you get the idea. Some Indians hate Americans, but the majority love them and have similar sentiments.

I beat the guy in chess pretty easily and was ready to continue biking but was pleaded with to play another game. I agreed and they summond some other guy. He was better than the first but I won again. He demanded another game. Sensing there was some shame that he had lost I agreed and subtely lost our second match intentionally. He, and all the Indians were happy that they had beaten an American in chess, and I went on my way.

The following morning I woke up early and biked around more. I returned to town for an early lunch and looked at the map I had. I had covered all the indicated roads and went over my itinerary again and I decided to check out of the hotel and leave. I was sad to only spend a couple days on Majuli but I was pressed for time and felt I had gotten enough of what I wanted out of it so it was time. I took another boat, with about the same ratios of people, back to Jorhat. On the boat this time two teenagers spoke with me. They were going to the "mainland" to compete in a trvia competition about Assam. Maybe it was their limited English but I do not have high hopes for their chance of winning as they knew only slightly more about Assam than I. Regardless, it was nice talking with them and made the boat trip all that much more pleasant. In Jorhat I got a nightbus to Guwahati so that I could move on to my second NE state, Meghalaya.

The nightbus was OK, except for the cockaroach that walked across my left hand shortly after the bus started moving. Surprisingly I slept OK and arrived in in time to catch a bus to Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya. During the bus ride I was talking to a Indian that bought me lunch and helped me find a hotel room once we arrived in Shillong (which would have been near impossible otherwise). Shillong is not such a highly regarded town but I liked it OK and a good deal more than Assam's capital. Mysteriously a Subway (restuarant) had recently opened in this town and for some reason the selected location was in the middle of a covered parking lot. I saw the sign and investigated thinking for sure it was some mistake or joke. Lo and behold, a true-to-form Subway, with an Indian touch that included subs that would bomb in the States (potato masala) an extensive vegetarian selection. Ready for a break from Indian food and OK with the "expensive" but still cheap food, I ate nearly all of my meals here trying as many of the non-US subs as possible. Some were really good and others were more forgetable.

The real reason I came to Shillong was not Subway but rather Cherrapunjee, which gets more rain than any other place in the world. It is also home to Nohkalikai Falls, the world's 4th largest waterfall, and a handful of other nice sights. I organized to go on a day trip from Shillong in order to save about 5000INR (about US$110), though it did mean missing out on a couple of the activities I would have liked to have done. Still it was a gerat day trip and worked out perfectly. I saw highly-obscurred views of the waterfall, some other fantastic views of the surrounding cliffs and monutains, the Ramakrishna Mission (OK, but would have been happier if that time was spent elsewhere), Mawasmai Cave, and some monoliths. I missed out on the "root-bridges" and some hiking that would have added a lot more than the US$110 I saved to the cost to hike. The day trip returned me to Shillong, where I spent one more night (and four 6-inch Subway subs), before going to Guwahati a day earlier than planned to make sure I would get to Kolkata in time.

I arrived in Guwahati determined to find a better hostel. I asked a dozen places and nothing. I gave up and returned to where I stayed before to find out the only room they had left would set me back 1200INR (about US$26.75). No, thank you. I walked around more asking another 20 places. Nothing. A note: these places were not full they just refuse to rent rooms to foreigners. For some it is "illegal" for them to do so but most of the time they just do not want to do the paperwork that the Indian government requires them to do if they rent a room to a non-Indian. There are tons of things like this in India and I hate all of them but there is no room for that here. Anyway, I decided to find a place to sleep on the disgusting ground outside and while looking for a semi-decent spot I continued asking hostels. I found one that said they would put me up for 200INR. I agreed. The room was run down but was indoors. I noticed a bottom corner of the bathroom door was missing and the "drain" for shower water was a hole in the tile. It did not take me long to realize that room, much like Guwahati, was a major transportation hub, except for rats. Above the head of the bed was a barred window that lead into the hallway. The room door matched the bathroom door. I saw a rat jump from the barred window, onto the head of the bed, on to the floor, through the bathroom door, and then, presumably, down the drain. I swtiched the head and foot of the bed. Upset but realizeing there was nothing I could do, I lied down on the bed and read. Out of the corner of my eye I saw my shoes, laying on the floor in the middle of the room, move. "Man, that is a powerful ceiling fan," I thought. Then I realized the stupidty of the idea. I springed off the bed, put my head near the floor and did a quick scan. There were no fewer than four rats scattered/scattering about. I think they saw my brown shoes, thought they were a fallen commrade, and went in for further inspection. At this point I decided to inform reception as to the rat problem. I tried doing so but nobody spoke any English. I made rat/mouse noises and mimcked they running with my hand on desk. They laughed and continued talking among themselves seemingly unaware that I was displased with this and wanted something done. They eventually got the idea and two of them came up to my room with newspaper and a stick in hand. I pointed to the holes and did my best to illustrate the rat's transportation system using my hands and noises. They Indian guy in the room acrosss the hall confirmed what I was saying (I think). They put newspaper in drain and put a brick on it and indicated for me to put another brick in front of the hole of the room door. This was about as much as I could ask for so I obliged.

During the night I was awaked to a rat landing on my feet. In the morning the brick by the door was ajay, the one in the bathroom was out of place, and the newspaper was gone. I checked out and spent the next seven hours in an Internet cafe with my bags waiting for my 22-hour-long train to Kolkata.