Kaladan

October 23th, Tuesday

A short walk in the early morning brought us to Zorba´s ancestral house where his great-grandfather lived as much as 110 years ago and where our boats, trucked in from Jaunpur a few days earlier together with all our other expedition equipment last used on the Gomati River last year, were stored. Andy immediately discovered that one boat had sustained damage during transport and that repair work was needed.

After the boat was readied for Andy to go to work, the rest of the crew went about readying all other equipment that needed to be cleaned, checked and, when necessary, repaired: tents, portable generator, gas cookers, fuel bags, kitchen ware, etc. More than one crew member fondly remembered an earlier expedition upon handling familiar equipment not seen for many months. Zorba´s family served a well deserved lunch after which Andy also repaired a leak on the second boat. Later in the afternoon it was time to go to the market to buy foodstuff and other bits and pieces required to complete our equipment.

We finished a busy day with yet another delicious meal in the company of Zorba´s big and overwhelmingly hospitable family before we retired early to prepare our baggage for the next morning.
We are going to leave items non-essential to the river expedition behind in Lunglei as the river starts to loom before us.