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Dáithí got a follow-up ultrasound three weeks post-surgery here in Mandalay, Myanmar, and while the liver abscess was still present, doctors were happy for us to continue our journey with another two-week course of antibiotics and a follow-up scan in four weeks time.
By the time we reached the border at Tamu, we had overstayed our visas by one day. This is unofficial, but if you pay US$3 per day you overstay, you are good to go. After a bit of paperwork explaining why we had overstayed, we paid the fee and officially left Myanmar.
At the entry point to India, we had our temperatures checked and screened for COVID-19 (this was a number of weeks ago, when the outbreak was not as widespread). Once clear, we entered into Moreh, India. Nearly 18% of the world’s population live in India – 450 people per sq km. To put it another way, if Ireland had the equivalent, our population would be 38m.
The first thing we noticed was how many people spoke fluent English. The first day, while cycling up a mountain where a group of children were helping to construct a building, they ran out to the road shouting, “Hello, how are you?” I replied to one of the kids, asking: “Are you helping to build a house?” When the young man replied, “No, it’s a market” we both nearly fell off the bikes.
We have many stories that are difficult to put into words about the hospitality shown to us. A couple in Imphal paid for our accommodation, showed us around the city and had us to their house for dinner.
We had long conversations about their struggles for independence, families raising Yaks to be able to get their kids an education and the practices of the Naga people that are still done today
A secondary school teacher in the mountains of the Nagaland State, where 13 students boarded, allowed us stay and eat with them, and talked to us about their culture. Almost 100% of people in the Nagaland state identify as Christian, with nearly all subjects in schools taught through English. We had long conversations about their struggles for independence, families raising Yaks to be able to get their kids an education and the practices of the Naga people that are still done today.
We arrived late one evening in a small village called Langhin in the state of Assam. We went to a small restaurant for some food.
We had nowhere to stay and had hoped maybe someone could point us in the direction of a place we could set up our tents. We asked the man in the restaurant who had very limited English by giving the universal sleep signal. He insisted we stay with him.
We ate together and he showed us a week-long Hare Krishna festival that was taking place in the village
His house was a small room with a double bed, the ceiling made of cardboard and bamboo, shared with his wife and two sons, a communal toilet and room where you wash with a bucket of cold water. One son was nine years old and the other aged 19. He asked if the floor was OK and it was more than enough for us.
We ate together and he showed us a week-long Hare Krishna festival that was taking place in the village. He then told us that the floor was not good enough, that they would sleep in his brother-in-law’s room across the way and we could take his house for the night.
India is a country that is so diverse, each state is similar to arriving in a new country
His sons put clean sheets on the bed for us and as hard as we tried, they would not take no for an answer. This is just one of many, many stories like this – what I wrote doesn’t even do it justice. The man gave us everything he had to give, including his house.
This has been the story of the people in northeast India. They have a saying that “the guest is God” and we have really felt that here. India is a country that is so diverse, each state is similar to arriving in a new country.
Once again, thank you for taking the time to read our column. Our ambitious aim is to raise €100,000 for Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin and Sydney’s Children’s Hospital Foundation. Our trip is self-funded, with all money raised split 50/50 between both foundations. Every little helps.
If you would like to donate, log onto 2cycle28.com and click donate, which will bring you to the secure idonate website. Thank you.
Since writing this piece, in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, Dáithí and Paddy have made the decision to postpone the rest of their trip. For the moment they will be in Ireland and are planning to return to complete their fundraising cycle when possible.
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