The bus breaks down over Ponnya [Pic: Wai Yan Hpone] My muscles ached in protest as I squeezed-in between luggage and other passengers during my bus ride from Mandalay to Hakha, capital of Chin State. We were only a few hours into the drive and it already felt like an ordeal. The bus was driving along the road to Monywa, a town on the east bank of Chindwin River and I tried to keep myself alert by looking through the window at the desert-like scenes on either side of the road. And all of us were unimpressed by the tortoise-like pace of our bus. The driver seemed like he knew the road well but the speed at which he was driving was embarrassing; everybody guessed they would miss the scheduled arrival in Hakha the next day. After a long, boring day’s driving, the bus turned into Chaung Oo-Pakokku, a small road that runs leads off from the main highway. Soon we crossed over the Hsinbyushin Bridge that spans the Chindwin River and entered Magwe division. As darknes