Slippery roads

Whenever I think back on the first day on my trip to the project area this May, I am struck with fear of the experience, but praising God for His protection. We were to take the bus from Hakha, the capital of the Chin state to Thantlang, a small town. The monsoon rain had filled the road with mud and it was very slippery. In many places, our bus had do manoeuvre around chunks of mud sliding down from the upper bank of the road.

Big rocks blocking the road

After about an hour drive from Hakha, the road was blocked by two big rocks falling down from the upper bank. It was fortunate for us that the rocks did not hit us, and that they were not too hard to break with hammers, iron rods, etc. Finally, after about two hours, the bus could move through the spot. But very soon after, we almost encountered the doom of death again.

Going off the road

After about 35 minutes drive from the first spot, our bus slid on the muddy road for a long time before it finally stopped. It was good I didn’t even realize what had happened. Only when our bus conductor shouted, “quickly get out, quickly get out”, I realized that our bus was almost 45 degree inclined downhill. It was only because the axle underneath the bus was stuck on the hard soil at the edge of the road snapchat online login that the bus didn’t roll downhill to the deep hill.

God’s miracle

The right wheels, both the front and the back, were already off the road. I saw some young men who sat on the top of the bus jump down and then run away from the bus. It was really a miracle done by God to save us. We reached Thantlang two hours later. We took about 8 hours for just 23 miles (37 kilometres). Under good conditions it can be done in 2 hours! (That’s an average of 12 mile/h or 19 km/h!) Imagine the road condition in the rainy season!