Meghalaya is an adventure junkie’s paradise. There is so
much to explore, so much to treat your eyes to. From the quaint little places
that give you serenity to exploring places that give you an adrenaline rush –
Meghalaya has something to offer to everyone. Needless to say, I enjoyed the
tranquility as well as the rush!
First stop – Shillong
We chose a homestay 5-6 kms outside the main city. And thank
goodness we did! That feeling of waking upto beautiful scenery, while you are
still lying in your bamboo bed is something that can only be experienced and
can’t be put into words. Our home stay was called Sha-Ri-Lohm and was beautifully managed by its owner Fareeda who
didn’t live there but made her presence felt by being a most hospitable host.
If you are a person who enjoys peace and tranquility more than
the hustle and bustle of the city, then this place is for you.
When you get up in the morning, the boys who manage the
place serve you an awesome cup of tea which you can enjoy by taking a seat
outside the homestay; relax and watch the sun go higher and higher.
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| Ditch the road and hit the hills |
Once you finish your cup of tea, enjoy the trek that the beautiful surroundings offer. Ditch
the road and trek among the hills, find your own route, explore the village
nearby. Be careful to not get lost though! The end of our trek landed us right
behind our homestay which was amazing since we didn’t know our way.
We wanted to trek in the night as well but, as it turned out,
that is strictly not advisable. Shillong gets pretty dark at the snap of your
fingers. We were scared a lot since we had ventured quite afar from our
homestay and there were no street lights. Just tall trees to cover the sky and
even filter out whatever little light the moon could pass.
During the day we explored the city. We went to Police Bazar which didn’t attract us
much. It is a great place for locals since it offers everything from A to Z.
But there was nothing for us to explore as tourists. Shillong is located in the
Khasi hills and we did manage to find a restaurant called Red Hat that offered local Khasi food. If you are a vegetarian,
your options to try the local Khasi food would be limited. We did try a couple
of dishes at the restaurant but that didn’t impress us much. Don’t get me wrong
– the food was nice but was a bit too simple for our taste.
However, I specifically enjoyed the Khasi Pulao that was
prepared by the boys at the homestay. (I keep referring to them as boys as they
are all young chaps and all too eager to serve the guests).
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| Shillong View Point |
After that we visited the
Shillong Point which was remarkably beautiful. I mean, when you can
see the entire city of Shillong nestled among the hills- how that could not be
beautiful! Do try the tea that they make here! It is out of this world and
unlike any that I have tried at any other place. I still remember the taste and
don’t think I am going to forget it for quite some time to come.
1 Km from this place is ‘Lum Shyllong’. It is an open area from where you can see far and
wide. The city’s name is derived from this place and it is believed to be the
place where their deity resides.
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| The final step of the falls |
Next stop was The
Elephant
Falls. The Khasi people called it ‘The
Three
step falls’ because, as the name suggests, the fall breaks down in 3 steps
- the first being the highest and the last being the one where you can actually
enjoy the water running down the falls. It’s a short walk down the steps to
reach the final fall. It was, however, renamed the Elephant falls by the
British because of a rock that looked like an elephant. That rock, no longer
exists as it was destroyed in an earthquake.
As like most tourist places, there is a small market outside the falls that
sell local souvenir kind of items. I bought a bell for my home and it currently
hangs at the entrance of my kitchen. J
Second stop – the
Umiam Lake
Oh, what a beauty you are Umiam! As far as the eyes can see
there is just sparkling water in sight and there is no telling how far and wide
it runs. Umiam is a Khasi word which when
translated to Hindi means ‘Bada Pani’.
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| View from the island at Umiam |
There is a small island in the middle that also has a boat house! Do spend a night here if you get a chance – we couldn’t as it was already
booked for the next few days. Can you imagine waking up to serene water with
the boat rocking gently back and forth? Imagine what a feeling that would be!
For the adventure enthusiasts, there is Jet Skiing
available. We tried that and what an amazing rush that was! You would not be
able to help yourself from screaming “Woooohooooo!!!”
as the jet goes full speed. There are other boating options available as
well. These boats also drop you to the
island mentioned above and you can take a tour and explore the island in as low
as ten rupees per person. At the front, the island seems small, but the moment
you take a turn you realize how enormous it is! You can sit by the lake, relax
and the boat will come and pick you up when you’re ready to leave. All you have
to do is give them a call. The jet charges you 400 rupees for this and every
penny is worth it.
Third stop – Double
Decker
This is my favorite stop so far! Double Decker gets its name
from a bridge that is formed by a tree’s roots entwining with each other to
form a bridge. And this bridge is in 2 levels, one on top of another. Ofcourse
the bridge didn’t get created on its own, the roots entwined but the locals
tied it together with bamboo sticks.
And don’t bother taking your cell phone here, you won’t get
any network. Why, you ask? You’ll come to know in a bit.
Double decker is situated at the bottom of a hill. You start
your trek from the top of the hill and walk down 3500 steps to reach the bottom
– yes 3500 steps! Along the way you will find the plants of many spices such as
– bay leaf, black peppercorn etc
growing freely. There is one plant that we found which really excited me. I
never knew that such a thing even exists and was fascinated when I saw it. The
plant was that of – hold your breath- broom! It was so funny to see it growing
so freely and I couldn’t imagine that our household broom grows like that in
the wilderness!
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| The Double Decker Roots Bridge |
Along the way you will also find a river at two places,
maneuvering her way among the huge rocks, running freely with water so blue that
would make you think you were looking at the sky. To cross that river, there is
a thin bridge made of thick iron wires and held together in places with bamboo sticks
which I think only one person can cross at once – it atleast felt like that! As
you walk across looking down at the pristine river, you feel a rush and you
wouldn’t want to move ahead for a few minutes. Once you do cross the two
rivers, the descend ends and now the effort of climbing up starts, albeit on
stairs. A short walk after the climb, you will start to see settlements. Once
you cross the settlement, you will see the roots bridge.
J
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| The pond at the end of the trek |
But the real prize is not this. There is a small entry gate
to this place where they collect the entry fees (a mere ten rupees). Soon as
you cross the gate, what do you see? Not just the bridge but also a beautiful
little pond with water falling on 2 levels. And I cannot explain what a feeling
that is! Just when you think you are so tired that you just want to fall asleep
(just to remind we had walked 3500 steps), you see the water which is so
inviting that you want to jump in it straight away. And jump we did! The water
is so cold that it takes all of your tiredness away. You could stand in it for
hours with little fishes that try to nibble at your feet. It was like you are
dead and have landed in heaven.
We stayed here for about an hour and then started our way
back. Coming down was comparatively easier but going back up was a real task.
And what a task it was! At every step it felt that my legs will give away. But
it is in these moments of weakness that you find your real strength. I still
don’t know how I managed it but I did it!
You would walk and walk and walk and there will come a time
when you would feel that you can’t make it any more. And as soon as you think
you are giving up, you will see the start of the hill and trust me nothing will
make your day like it! J
Double decker, for me, was as much about finding my inner
strength as it was about enjoying the trek and the prize of that little pond
that comes with it.
Fourth stop -
Cherapunjee
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| Nokalikai Falls |
If there is beauty,
it is in Cherapunjee! Such beautiful visuals along the way that you don’t even
need to make a stop anywhere. You can just keep on admiring the beauty along
the way. But there a few wonders that I have to mention –
Mowsmai caves that will make you feel like Indiana Jones once you
go in, the beautiful
seven sisters fall
that has a total of 7 falls aligned next to each other, the
Nohkalikai falls that is a single fall
but stands tall on its own! The story goes that it is on the name of a woman
named
Likai who committed suicide because
her second husband murdered her daughter and fed it to her. She is said to have
committed suicide by jumping to her death from this fall – hence the name ‘
The fall of Likai’. It is sad but seems
to be a big part of the legend here. The fall is visible from the top of a hill
and you could trek down the hill to go near the water where it falls. We didn’t
since we didn’t have a lot of time on our hands.
We also did Zip Lining
at Cherapunjee – a first for me. The
thrill you get as you go whizzing on that wire looking down at the deep valley
and a small waterfall by the side is something out of this world! It’s like
you’re hanging on nothingness. It goes so fast that you won’t even notice that
you have reached the end and may forget to pull the breaks (which happened with
me by the way and I ended up kicking the trainer and my husband really hard. I
still remember their faces “OMG she is coming at us! OMG she is not pulling
the breaks! OMG she is going to hit ussssss”. And Bang!).
I wish we could stay for long in Cherapunjee but we had to
reach our next stop – the Bangladesh Border J
Fifth stop- Dawkee
and the Bangladesh Border
Hoard of trucks lined our way which had stones full to the
brim. Our cabbie told us that these are going to Bangladesh (our cabbie was
half a guide for us).
Once we reached the border, what a thrill it was. You could
see our BSF people and theirs too. Never have I been this close to another
country. It was as if you only need to take one leap and you will land in
Bangladesh. Their people took photos of our side, our people took theirs. I
wonder whether borders with Pakistan would ever be like that – so open. There
was a huge board that said ‘Welcome to
India’ on our side. Theirs read ‘Welcome
to Bangladesh’. Nothing really was different at all – people looked the
same, the land looked the same, the excitement at both sides looked the same.
Our cabbie told us that till a few days back you could even go to the other
side and shake hands with the Bangladeshi police. But people were now being
restricted since a few were caught throwing bags of fake currency to this side
at night. It didn’t matter really. Visiting the border was really about
experiencing the same level of excitement that the other side had. How does it
feel to look at another country standing on your own land, knowing they are so
different but not so different at all, knowing that even though you could just
walk to other side but you can’t? Well, now I know.
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| Dawkee |
Next we visited the
Dawkee
Lake. It is a lake with water so clear that you could see the bottom of it
- huge and small rocks, fish swimming freely. Take a boat ride here to
experience the calm. As you go towards the inner part of lake, it gets so quiet
that you could hear your heart and soul humming. No need for anyone to say
anything. Just sit and experience the quiet environment with huge rocks lining
the sides. When you look up at these rocks from your tiny little boats you feel
like a dwarf. It’s like looking up at a giant. I somewhat felt like I am a
hobbit who is looking at the
Ents from
The Lord of the rings and these rocks will pick me up and give me a ride on
their shoulders.
Back from the fantasy land! Time for our next and final
stop- Mawlynnong!
Final stop-
Mawlynnong
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| Mawlynnong |
Ah what do I say about this place. Yes it is Asia’s cleanest
village but that is not its only highlight. We spent 3 nights here and we still
couldn’t get enough of this place.
First up, there is no dearth of a place if you need to stay
here. Almost every home offers a homestay and so the options are plenty. Though
please be careful and keep in mind that these are locals who are opening up
their homes to you. So take every effort to keep the room tidy and leave the
house as you received it. Though these are not professional hotels but the
hospitality can beat even the 5 stars. I guess the locals realise the
importance of good hospitality since it is such a big part of their business.
You may want to try the Bamboo house. This is the only
homestay in Mawlynnong listed on AirBnb and is advertised by a gentleman named
Sachin. (For people who know me, he is not my husband).
Once you arrive in this village you will not feel that you
are in a village at all. I felt like I was in a well maintained park in Delhi.
Heck, even the well maintained parks can’t compete with this village. Well
cemented and well lit roads (IDFC bank runs a CSR project of solar street
lighting here and they have done a commendable job).
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| Way to the Bangladesh view point |
The first day was spent exploring the village. There is a
parking area where the cabs drop you and it has 2-3 different restaurant run in
homes that offer you good quality food. Once you think you have had a good
breakfast of Maggi, you can walk upto the Bangladesh view point. The view point
is atop a really tall bamboo platform which you have to climb without the help
of stairs. The way up is made of bamboo sticks attached together and in a
slanting position, just like you would have your stairs. The climb upstairs was
fun but once you were up there all that you could experience was calm and
quiet. You could see far and wide with thick trees lining each other.
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| Stalls selling souvenirs in Mawlynnong |
In the parking area, there are various stalls owned by the
locals that sell souvenirs- things like a replica of the Khasi musical
instruments (which hangs in my hallway), endless kinds of bamboo products
(think of a product and the locals would have made it with bamboo and all
colourful too!)
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| Plant of the broom drying in the sun |
If you are the adventurous sorts, you may want to trek a bit
and explore the village beyond Mawlynnong. We walked and landed in Nongetniang.
This village is not yet open to tourists but will be in 2018 and so different
kinds of construction was going on- like a bench on view points. We walked a
bit here and met a beautiful girl who ran a tea shop. Her tea shop is the most
beautiful that I have seen- small hut with wooden benches. Cafes and
restaurants in Delhi make structures like that to make it fancy. And the tea
here cost only five rupees. Outside the tea shop were several homes that had
the plant of the broom drying in the sun. And that my friend is how the broom gets
its brown colour. The plant is green to start with but is dried extensively to
give it the colour that you see.
Day 2 was reserved for trekking for about 3 kms to The Living Roots Bridge in the village
Rewari. It is the same kind of bridge we saw in Double Decker only that it was
single story. The best part about it was the river that ran beneath it. Since there
wasn’t much water in it, we walked towards the inner side of the river, jumping
from one rock to another. We stopped only when we felt the water was now
getting deeper and one slip would be fatal. Nobody would have been able to save
us since nobody could hear us scream (we had ventured so far off). And so we
turned back.
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| View from the Nohwet view point |
A few kms ahead of it was the
Nohwet view point and it is the most beautiful view point of all
those that we had seen in Meghalaya. There is a bamboo balcony on the edge of a
mountain with deep valley under it. Infront is a series of mountains with a
river running beneath it. Do you remember the sketches we made as kids when
asked to draw a scenery? Almost all of us drew a set of 3 mountains with the
sun peeking out from behind them. The river ran below and there was grass and
trees and ‘V’ shaped birds flying in the sky. The scene infront of me looked
exactly like that. It was a scene so magnificent that everything looked so tiny
infront of it. There was even an echo point. But you had to scream
strategically at one position from the balcony for the voice to echo back.
Once we were done, we started our trek back to Mawlynnong.
And so our trip ended and early next morning we left for the
Guwahati airport which is the nearest available airport in case you want to
catch a flight.
I know this has been really long but trust me no amount of
words can do justice to Meghalaya. It has to be in your list of must visit
places. And this post would be incomplete if I did not give credit to my
wonderful husband for planning this trip single handedly. Each second spent
here has been worth it.
So till we meet next- keep traveling!
