Buses leave Kalay to Hakha everyday from Tarhan Bus Terminal. There are two bus lines, Chin Taung Tan and Shwe Chindit. One bus each leaves from each line everyday except Sunday. The buses leave the terminal at 5.00 AM in the morning.
I took Chin Taung Tan bus on early morning. The bus left the station at 5.15 AM but because it picked up passengers from the town, it was already 6:00 when the bus left Kalay. As soon as the bus left Kalay, the road suddenly went up and started to climb up the mountain. About 15 minutes after leaving Kalay, we stopped at on place on the road on the slope of a mountain, and prayed Lord for protection of the passengers. They prayed in Chin Language. It is customary, whenever somebody leaves for a trip, those left at home pray for the safety of the one. This is a very beautiful custom of Chin people.
The road is quite wide and good, with good hard ground. At 8:00 AM we reached Thai Ngin village, 32 miles away from Kalay, where the road to Tiddim started. At 8:40 we reached Var Lone village, 42 miles away from Kalay. We had our lunch at Cherry Restaurant. It was still too early for me to have lunch so I didn’t have anything there.
50 miles away from Kalay is where road to Reed Village started. Reed is a village on the Indian border, where the famous heart shaped lake was.
At Lone Taw village, 53 miles away from Kalay, I saw many stair case firms, alot of them and very beautiful. Economy here seemed to be good for a mountainous village.
At Lone Ban village, about 59 miles from Kalay, I saw many more beautiful and fertile firms. There is also a station hospital and a high school. Lone Ban is quite a large village.
After Lone Ban, the road started to went down again, and at 70 miles, we reached Bar Bridge, which crossed Manipur River.
After crossing Manipur River, the road winded up again at reached Falam at 12:15 PM. Falam is about 80 miles from Kalay.
Falam is quite a large town built on the slope of a mountain. Being the former capital of Chin State, it still maintain its past glory, with many two and three storied brick buildings, and a large Baptist church. Girls in Falam are famous for their beauty, claimed to be the most beautiful in all Chin State.
Road near Falam was quite worn out. From Falam to Hakha, about half of the road on the side of Falam was quite good, but the other half on Hakha side was severely damaged.
We reached Hakha at 4:30 PM.
This article was originally posted at Kalay – Falam – Hakha Road | Bamarlay’s Diary.
Reading the article brings me close with the chin/falam/mizo people living in the neighbouring country of myanmar.