Discovering Northwest Myanmar 6: Falam to Rih Lake

On the road in Chin State

After showing me the facilities, such as they were at the rather spartan Holy Guesthouse in Falam, the hotelier lady, who was hilarious even though she had not a word of English, gave me a second key. This one was just for me. Other guests didn’t get this key. Why not? What’s behind the locked door? You’ll see in the video. 

On my trip from Falam to Rih Lake, I was going through the heart of Chin state, so I was expecting yet more spectacular mountain vistas and lots of interesting stuff along the way. One thing I didn’t know was exactly the route I’d be taking. Zach at mandalaymotorbike.com had told me that there was a road connecting Falam and Rih. He’d had previous clients who’d traveled on it and had said it was pretty good. But it’s not on any map, neither printed or online. I knew it was there. The day before, I’d seen where it split off from the Falam-Hakha road. 

Which way do I go?

Consequently, at several points along the way, I came to forks in the road and I couldn’t rely on my trusty friend Google Maps to help me. There were signs, but entirely in the Myanmar alphabet. Even though I’ve been here 4 years now, I still only have a limited ability to read the local language. It proved to be enough. I knew the letter “R”. One road went to a place beginning with “R” and the other did not. “Rih Lake” begins with “R”… Must be that way. 

The famous heart-shaped lake. Looked more like a lima bean.
Or a big swimming pool.

When I finally got to Rih Lake, it was kinda anti-climactic. Sure, it was pretty to look at, but the only vantage point was packed full of people. It was a holiday, and there were lots of local tourists there playing music very loudly. It wasn’t as peaceful as has been promoted. Oh well. 

 

Interesting thing about Chin houses: they've got open fire pits inside the home. It's
how they keep warm. There's a chimney in the ceiling.

Bridges? Border crossings? Bah! We need them not.

Actually, I was more excited about visiting the border town of Rihkawthar, and I was fortunate to find lodgings there. The most exciting part of the day was trying to walk over the bridge into India. 

As I mentioned, it was the second day of the Thingyan Water Festival, and whereas most of the town is Christian (Thingyan is a Buddhist holiday), there was one area, set up right next to the bridge to India, where the furious water throwing was going on. Pretty much everybody who was crossing the bridge one way or the other got doused.  Welcome to Myanmar! SPLASH! 

No one is safe. Not even old men on motorbikes. 

 Enjoy the video.