the map of NE India, including Sikkim, surrounding Bangladesh
The visas are ready within a week. We can pick up our passports from VFS Global, no need for an appointment. This time we are outside again after ten minutes. That’s one, the Indian visa. We drive on to the Bangladeshi embassy, also in The Hague. Although technically we can only collect visa between 3 and 4 in the afternoon, we are let in, by the same friendly guy from earlier, and another five minutes later the visas have been pasted in our passports. That’s two. Within half an hour. Piece of cake.
the Bangladeshi program, criss-crossing this country in two weeks
In the meantime we have been making plans, of course. The Bangladeshi program is very much fixed by the people that organise the trip, but once we are done there, it is up to us. Without going in too much detail, we plan to cross the border into India near Agartala, capital of Tripuri state, where we are going to see some palaces and temples, and even some ancient rock carvings. This, together with the larger Assam state, is going to be the most ‘Indian’ part of the journey in the Northeast, never mind that we will also try to find our first tribal villages here.
We have been advised that Manipur is off-limits for foreigners, and even for Indians, because of political trouble – that hasn’t gone away in those 20 years we haven’t been to India. Digging a little deeper, it turns out that Kuki people, those I was earlier referring to, have actually formed armed guerilla groups that are taking on the local police and parts of the Indian defence structure, in an attempt to establish control over the border area – and thus the lucrative smuggling of drugs, arms, people, the usual business of the World’s rebel forces.
through five of the Seven Sisters, in a not so straight line
Which means that we also skip Mizoram, the southernmost state here; going here, and back, would really take too much time, also because of limited infrastructure. No trains in this part of the country, and no airports either. So, instead, we head north, into Assam state and its capital Guwahati, where we may need to spend some time in support of our permits. From here we make a brief excursion into Meghalaya, bordering Bangladesh, to connect to nature, as in jungle-like conditions, before we head into Arunachal Pradesh, the state bordering China. Here we climb to over 3000 m to explore a Buddhist monastery, after which we divert into various valleys to find further tribal villages, before getting down to the Brahmaputra river, which prominently cuts through the Northeast. Here we explore Majuli Island, the largest river island in the world, and the Kaziranga National Park, famous for its one-horned rhinoceroses.
I am trying to engage a travel agency to organise the Assam and Arunachal Pradesh part for us, but it is difficult to get them to deviate from their usual pattern. We don’t need to go wild-water rafting, and neither do we need extensive relax time, we are more from the fully packed itineraries – relaxing I can do when I am back home again!
After this part of the journey it is time for Nagaland, a state with one of the densest tribal populations in India. Which, for the time being, we are going to identify by ourselves, culminating in a tribal festival in the area of Mon and Longwa, against the Myanmar border. Well, if we are allowed in, if we indeed get our special permits, we will see. Flexibility is the key here, obviously. After this presumed spectacle, we head back to the Brahmaputra, once more, to Dibrugarh, from where we take a train to Guwahati, and on to Darjeeling. End of our exploration of five of the Seven Sisters, as these Indian states are collectively called.
and to the eight’s Sister, Sikkim, and then down to Kolkata
Only to head for the Eight’s Sister – a stepsister, if you like -, which is the old kingdom of Sikkim, sandwiched in between Nepal and Bhutan, high in the Himalayas. To admire the scenery, and more Buddhist monasteries, no doubt. And the tea plantations of Darjeeling, which is just below Sikkim. From where we take a train to Kolkata, better known by its old name Calcutta, for the last few days of our trip. We haven’t been to a real big city, yet, after all.
By then we are some nine weeks further. Exciting idea! Exciting program, too, with lots of variation.
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