My experience in Meghalaya

This not exactly a travelogue with lots of information but more of my experience in and around Cherrapunjee that I want to share with Indiamike

We just came back after a mesmerizing trip to Cherrapunjee and the immediate feeling was that we have just gone through the introductory chapter of an entire book!

We landed in Guwahati around 8.30 in a sunny morning and took a prepaid taxi to Shillong. The prepaid taxi counter is inside the Airport itself and opposite to where you collect your luggage from. The prepaid taxi cost us 2000rs till Shillong which is at a distance of around 100km. Nowdays the condition of the road connecting Guwahati and Shillong is really bad due to some construction work that has been going on. The road has become full of dust and the road sides are occupied by trucks, cranes and construction workers. Due to this the traffic jam on the road has also been increased. This goes on until the Umiam lake right at the junction of two roads one of which goes to the Shillong airport and the other to the Shillong city. From this point onward the road towards Shillong becomes nice and scenic and you feel relieved .

The site of the Umiam lake is breathtaking. One can stay near the lake at the Orchid Lake Resort run by the MTDC. It took us all total 3.5hourse to reach Shillong and we checked into the Broadway Hotel on the busy G.S road at around 1pm. There are two lovely restaurants just opposite of the Broadway hotel - the Lammy restaurant and Chinease Barbeque restaurant. We really enjoyed our lunch and dinner there.

We only had half a day in hand so we hired a local taxi cab and did an intra city siteseeing. During the colonial period Shillong was the capital of the erstwhile British provincial state of Assam and also a summer capital for the British people. As you roam inside the city you can immediately feel it's colonial past from the look and feel of the city, the cottage type houses, the narrow but clean roads, and picturesque backdrop of the hills. We visited Donbosco Museum, Shillong cathedral, Wards lake and Golf link. We were told that the golf course was established by a group of British Civil Service officers. It is set in an undulating valley covered with pine and rhododendron trees. Due to lack of time we didn't manage to visit the very interesting butterfly museum and the house of Rabindranath Tagore where he wrote his famous classic novel 'Shesher Kabita'.

The next day we checked out from our hotel early in the morning and started our journey towards Sohra (Cherrapunjee). We booked a cab from the Meghalaya Tourist Department office at Police Bazar. On our way we covered the some of the places near Shillong like Shillong-peak and Elephanta falls and covered all the regular places which are included in the Cherrapunjee siteseeing itenerary. We visited Nohkalikai falls, Seven sister falls, Eco park, Mawsmai cave and falls, Wahkaba falls, Ramkrishna mission, Mawkdok view point, Noshithiang falls, Thangkharang park.

As soon as we proceeded towards Sohra the surrounding became greener and luscious. In Sohra we stayed at the Cherra holiday resort which is situated at a remote location and 18km from the Sohra market. Sohra is very less populated and as we moved closer to our resort the number of houses started become even less. The ones we saw beside the road are all colonial houses with big chimneys and as our driver Sordong informed us that these houses were once used by British personals. On our way we saw a very old church of colonial style which was the very first built church of Meghalaya. It was built by Thomas Jones, the first missionary to the Khasi hills in the year 1846. Sordong told us that when the British came in Meghalaya they tried to rule the Khasi hills by power. But the Khasis were strong brave men equipped skill of combat and the British soldiers were unable to defeat them. During this time many missionaries came here and Christianity was spread widely. In recent times 60 percent of the population is Christians whereas the rest are Khasis. The people of Sohra have a tough life. The hills here are mostly rocky and very little agriculture is done in this area. The day to day necessary food grains like rice and beans are mostly imported from Assam region. One commendable thing about Cherrapunjee is that electricity has reached to every home no matter how remote they are.

Finally when we reach Cherra Holiday Resort it was almost 5 in the evening. We stayed there for 3nights. The resort is situated in one of the best location of Cherra, facing the Khasi hills at the front side and looking over the Bangladesh plains at the left side. All evening long we sat on the bamboo bench at the grassy front yard of the resort and couldn't stop looking at the changing colors of the sky, floating clouds and the slowly darkening greens of the Khasi hills as the sun was going down. In the late evening we were entertained by a group of local village boys who sang popular numbers starting from Hindi, Bengali and local Khasi songs.

Well, I shall tell an interesting story here. Once there was a young man from Tamilnadu who came to Cherrapunjee due to some official work. He came and fell in love with a lovely Khasi lady who was sitting in the front row of the church podium during a regular Sunday prayer . The rest is a 30 year long lovestory which has bond them as husband and wife and also the owner of this resort. Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Rayen for their warm hospitality and for running this beautiful resort which is a place of interest of all the nature lovers, trekkers, cavers and adventure enthusiasts. Mr. Rayen told us that not only they are promoting tourism in and around Cherrapunjee but are also engaged in various development works for this area through tourism for benefit of the people of this area.

The next day we started for the Double Decker Living Root Bridge trek. We were guided by a local village boy named Wesley. Wesley is an ambitious young man who told us that he wants to go to Bhubaneswar and study computers. My heartily wishes are with him . The highlight of Cherrapunjee is possibly its best kept secret - the amazing root bridges. These natural bridges are scattered all over this area and are made from training the strong roots of a special kind of Indian rubber tree into river crossings that are used daily by the locals. This one is an incredible double-decker structure.
The walk to the double decker bridge was quite strenuous but fascinating due to its amazing flora and fauna. For us it was a complete 7hourse trek from start to end. We started early morning at around 8o’clock. The total distance from the resort to the root bridge is approximately 10 km and you have to go down 1916feet at the foot of the hill. 5km of which can be covered by car which was arranged by us by Mr. Rayen. The next 5km is the actual trek where and you have go down 1916ft till the root bridge. It includes a very strenuous 2844 cement steps till the Nongriat village. The steep steps were covered with moss and were very slippery. The rest is through an uneven and natural jungle path. On our way we crossed two more villages which I don’t remember the names of but surely remember the welcoming smiles on faces of the village people. We crossed two steel rope bridges on the way. The river was flowing in full force below our feet due to the rain last night. The natural beauty of the untouched rain forest around the entire trail was incomparable to anything we seen earlier. We saw many fruit trees like lychee, jackfruit and pine appeal.
At the end we were reached the beautiful waterfall and natural swimming pool. It's not only the bridge or the waterfalls but the entire trail that was rewarding and we felt like we never want to go back. After a bath in the waterfalls, having lunch and taking innumerous shots of the bridge and the surrounding jungle now it was time to return. We reached our resort finally at around 3pm.

The next morning we visited Mawlynnong, Asia’s cleanest villege. Mawlynnong is at a distance of 90 km from Cherrapunjee. The road condition is bad so it takes long than usual. We started at 7.30 in the morning and returned at 7pm in the evening! However the greenery and scenic beauty around you doesn’t let you get tired. Our driver Sordong was patience enough to agree to our frequent requests to stop the car midway for us to take pictures. First we reached the Riwai village and took a walk to the very beautiful Riwai Village root bridge and on the way stopped to see the natural balancing rock. After reaching Mawlynnong we roamed around the village. Mawlynnong is all about flowery gardens, clean footpaths and beautiful huts. We also visited the Sky View Point which is a 3 storied high bamboo structure. We could see a clear view of the Bangladesh plains from the top. We had lunch in one of the village homes. The food was excellent and served with great hospitality.

Good start...hope to read more and see more pictures.

It was the end of our trip. The next day it was raining heavily in the morning. The hills were covered with layers of cloud and we could hardly see anything beyond where we were standing but after sometime it started becoming clear and the sun shone bright over Cherrapunjee. It was time to say good bye to the Khasi hills. We conveyed our best wishes to Mr. And Mrs. Rayen and boarded our cab. Meghalya is blessed with its abundant treasure of natural beauty. We left Sohra behind but brought with us a little piece of Meghalaya inside our hearts that will compel us to go back to the nature again and again.

Will post some more pictures very soon...

Looking forward to more pictures. By the way the best time to visit Mawlynnong is in Spring. The whole place resembles the garden of Eden. Thousands of varieties of flowers blooming everywhere.

Lovely pictures. Waiting for more.

Ronak.

Nice pictures. Do post more

nice pice
post more

Have you taken pic of natural swimming pool near Double decker bridge?