It’s Christmas day 2014, but we were 8 days late.
The Nubo footbridge was slowly being dismantled. It will be replaced by a steel bridge.
Bad news for us the tourist, but a long overdue infrastructure for the local community.
To our delight, there is another footbridge we need to cross along our route on the next day.
One of the hurdles that connect or disconnect, depending on your perception, the region with the rest of mainland India.
The day after Christmas. In order to reach the town of Ying Kiong, we will need to take a short cut by crossing another footbridge (which I later learned was named ‘Gandhi Footbridge). Our support vehicle will need to take a 3 hours u-turn up the stream of Siang River, which gives us plenty of time to muster our courage to dance across this dangler…
The Gandhi footbridge, just one of the many bridges the community need to cross the valleys sliced by the Siang River (in the lower stream it will be known as Brahmaputra River)
Crossing this bridge on our Royal Enfield will earn us a bragging rights to our fellow riders back home. However, It is a daily affair for the local to cross this seemingly unstable and swaying bridge either by foot or motorcycle.
Much to the curiosity, and annoyance to some. We just have to wait patiently for our turn to cross the bridge one bike at a time. The local will have their right of way, by foot or motorcycle alike, we are just a guest here.
And here is the 160m+ of the wooden bridge. The longest I ever crossed not just on motorcycle, but on foot.
So how do I describe my experience into words ?
Not just crossing the footbridge but the rest of the this and other journey.
Maybe the following videos will be as close as it gets to share my thought, if there is any at all other than balancing my life praying to make it across.
The best is still to… ride your own.
First..Gaurav Jani leading the courage across…
It’s my turn! First person view..
Acknowledgement : An excellent tour arranged by Ride of My Life
