14th - 16th April 2013 Kazaringa to Guwahati to Kolkata to Chiang Mai

No I don't want to go with you

After the elephant ride, we breakfasted at our hotel before embarking on the road to Assam's capital city, Guwahati, which we reached on a relatively good road by early afternoon.  Today was the Cow Washing day for the start of the Bihu Celebrations and all cows were to be washed today with special care and perfumed waters in the ponds and rivers.  There were no cows roaming free as they were either being bathed or tied up so they would get dry and remain clean. Cows are scared animals in Assam as in the rest of India.


We settled into our proper 3-star Landmark Hotel, which had AC, hot water in sink and shower, television, and most important, WiFi internet.  We were able to use the internet to contact relatives and let them know we were OK and near the end of our NE India excursion. Around 4pm we went down to the Fabindia shop which Leslie's quilting friend had told her about. From there we went to the Fancy Bazaar where Leslie enjoyed looking at all the textiles and buying 1/4 meters of various printed cottons.  Explanations always had to been given as to why someone would only be buying such small pieces of fabric, since they were too small for even a scarf.

Muga silk sarees on the women and Muga silk shirts on men

Today was the Assamese Bihu celebration, equivalent to our New Year although it is timed for the beginning of rain and consequent planting season for rice, so traffic was light as many of the city's inhabitants had gone back to their villages to be with parents. We found a men's association that was holding a Bihu dance performance and contest that evening just a few blocks from our hotel, and when we went in to buy tickets, they took us to the front where the organizers welcomed us and insisted that we sit in the padded couches in the front row reserved for VIPs. They served us tea, snacks, and each dignitary came over and asked who we were and what we were doing in their town, and seemed to be very pleased to be able to host foreigners. This is because we were ourselves the center of attention in the Northeast, with many locals photographing us with their cell phones, just as we liked to take pictures of the more picturesque among them. There were no other Western tourists to be seen in the city, even during their most important annual celebration.

David had the hard part of pronouncing the Association's name!

The master of ceremonies asked if we would say a few words for the audience after he introduced us on stage, and we agreed.  They gave us honorary plaques and traditional gamosa's (scarves - rectangular white woven cotton with red borders of which the two ends have a thick border in red with different patterns woven in, such as the special rice hats etc.), with camera and TV footage. We also were photographed with the male and female dancers, who were very good, exuding energy and good will, in several dances unlike anything we had seen elsewhere, whether in India or Southeast Asia. Their dancing is unique in our opinion. The dances were sensuous and gave the sense of encouraging  fertility. After our speeches praising their performance, we left during an intermission, as it was late and we had not had dinner, making our excuses to our very hospitable hosts.

Wearing our Gamosa scarves that were presented to us

Next day the museum was closed, but Leslie was highly successful in finding unique bits soft cotton and special silk cloth, first from a fabric shop, and next, at our guide's suggestion, from the remnants that different tailor shops kept in large bags.  Can't believe she was routing through the scrap bags of the tailors thoroughly enjoying herself. The silk that the Assamese prize for their traditional wear and also for the clothing for the festival is called Muga silk. Assam has received the geographical indication tag for being the sole producer of that silk,which is famous for its natural golden color and can not be bleached or dyed because it is not porous enough to absorb the die. There are two other silks that come from Assam, and sericulture (the raising of silk worms for the production of silk) is popular. While we did not see the process in Assam, in speaking with our driver and the young woman at the weaving center yesterday, it is very similar to the process we saw in Luang Namtha, Laos.

Hens? Roosters?

Returning to our hotel, we packed our stuff away for air travel, went to the airport at Guwahati for our one-hour Jet Airways flight to Kolkata (old Calcutta), then our 5-hour wait in the international departure area, then a 2-hour flight to Bangkok.  Guwahati airport security gave Leslie a hard time for all the electronics she was carrying in her backpack, and put everything through individually (chargers, car charging device for any sort of electronics, wireless router, computer, three cell phones etc.) David also had his own issues as security would not believe he had metal hips and demanded to see the scars! That was a first for him, but we had always joked that somewhere in our travels that was going to happen.

We managed to get a bit of sleep before our hour flight back to Chiang Mai, which seemed so welcoming with a quiet airport, polite air-conditioned taxi driver, regular electricity and internet. We were happy to be home in our little apartment after two months on the road.