Another Village, a bad meal and "Where or where can my little dao be"

Oct 31 2016

Today we drove back to Kohima and dropped our bags back at Morung Lodge before heading to Khonoma, population 3,000, an Angami village perched high on a mountain top. It was absolutely breath taking. Along the way there are highway road signs reminiscent of Burma Shave for those of you who remember that piece of history. Today we saw one that read “All those who wish to save fuel, raise your right feet” and another one read “Drive slow and enjoy the scenery. Drive fast and join the scenery.”  

We had a local guide from the village which is required with this village so Nino was not with us. This is a historic village because it was the site of two major British – Angami battles in 1847 and 1879.

On each side of this village are terraced paddies that flow down to the valley floor between towering mountain ridges. Here they grow rice as well as veggies that they sell in the markets of Kohima and Dimapur. If they go to Dimapur it is a long ride and requires leaving at 4:00 a.m.  Selling the veggies gives them income. Otherwise they grow rice for their consumption.

First our guide took us up a long climbing staircase to see one of the original seven gates used in the village. One had to enter and leave by the same gate. Guards were posted at each gate to ensure a safe community. The pathway is on the edge of the mountain and the incline is STRAIGHT down! The village is quite pretty and appears to be very prosperous with three large churches. Our guide said the churches in the US help to pay the cost of building the churches.

Because this village in on a very steep incline the homes are on terraces and again we walked down and up narrow footpaths that were paved with flat stones. Some homes were newly built of concrete and were three stories high. Other homes were typical village homes made from a variety of materials including the oft seen corrugated metal sheets. As steep as the terrain is, there did not appear to be any problems with landslides which cannot be said for this area’s roads. It will be much worse with the road widening construction project on the main road from Dimapur to Kohima.

This village has built roads all the way down the steep incline to their fields. When you look at the photos of this village and where the paddies are you will see why this is significant. It is amazing how much land is under cultivation. There are paddies on both sides of the village and beyond. We didn’t see any children today because it is Monday and they are in school. This village has three government primary schools and two private high schools. Before we left we visited their new hotel which was impressive. Neither of the other villages had a property is passed down to the son. If there is more than one son then it is divided between them but supports the whole family. However no one really owns the land. It is to be continually passed on to the next generation.

When we got back to Kohima and we went shopping. Our goal in visiting Nagaland was to purchase a dao, the head hunter’s knife. We had told Nino and her staff before coming that was one thing we wished to accomplish. I also wanted to try and find a Naga shawl worn by the men. I discovered that one staff member’s mother had woven a shawl and that it was for sale. We looked at it and liked it but it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for so decided to say ‘maybe’ and see what else was available. We visited a couple of shops quite close to our hotel with a staff member. The first shop had a shawl we liked better but the two women who were staffing the store didn’t know the price. It was not marked. We said we would come back later and see if they could find out what the cost was. Weird. So we visited a couple more shops in the same complex. One store said they had daos. Well yes they did, tourist souvenir daos, with plastic parts. We are so disappointed. We could have asked a villager to sell us one had we known that this was all that was available in town. We returned to the first store and discovered that the owner wouldn’t be in today and they couldn’t tell us the price. This is an example of how cultures differ. Yet another disappointing episode.

The staff member asked if we would like to try a Naga restaurant and we said ‘sure’. BIG mistake. The menu was extensive but they only offer two choices at lunch. So our choices were dried pork and fish. I have eaten fish n Asia a lot and usually find it is cooked on a high temperature which makes fish stink like…fish. So I opted for pork. It was not edible. The owner tried so hard to find something we liked so he kept bringing out different dishes: fish, soup, tea, and finally momos which are dumplings. It was tasty but we had lost our appetite after the first try of dried pork with overcooked veg.

When we came out of the restaurant our taxi was parked across the street. However someone had double parked and our guy was trapped. It was 45 minutes of a parking attendant and two different police officers reaching inside the car and beeping the horn trying to get the driver to return. It was just stupid and horrible.  In final desperation several people pushed it out of the way.

We then visited the Naga Museum. It was a small museum but had good exhibits of the various tribes. There were textiles, shawls and vignettes of family scenes. There were displays of weapons, small brass statues and jewelry. We left to return to our hotel and hit a horrific traffic jam. It took probably 40 minutes to get back. There are no traffic control devices here other than traffic circles. However people drive according to the laws here unlike Ahmedabad.