Trip report of Guhati/Shillong

prayaan

Had been to Shillong last July. The trip covered Guhati, Shillong and Cherapunjee.

The details of this trip are available at

http://prayaan.blogspot.com/

One suggestion is to go by the MTDC conducted tours of Cherapunjee and Shillong to avoid bargaining with the travel agents.
The people here are very good and honest and Meghalaya is a must for all travelers.

blwetorch

Beautiful photos!
I have lived there for abt 3 years, back in the nineties.....have some wonderful memories there.

prayaan

A small type from my side, its Gauhati or Guwahati.

People would recommend Oct-Nov time frame to visit Meghalaya. This is fine if you want to see the beautiful falls, but if you want to see the rain like I did,
http://prayaan.blogspot.com/2009/02/cherrapunjee.html,
then please visit in Meghalaya in the monsoon. You will know why it is called Megh-alaya.

Travelling the hills

hi prayan,
nice posts you have there.
my friends and me are planning a trip to assam and shillong in november hope we catch nice views like you did.

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littleant52

Hi blwtorch;667083
I read that you lived in shillong for three years?How did you find things there?. I am married to a lady from shillong. dec 2008, and reside in uk. She is due to come to uk in july, live here for a couple of years, and we hope to return to settle. My question is this. AS a uk citizen, white male, would i be accepted in the community, will it take time, and could being married to a local girl cause problems. I have been to shillong, we did marry there, and i found it to be very friendly, thats why i wish to live there, but this feeling of(not fitting in )bothers me as i know that lots of places in india dont allow foreigners, or don't like foreigners in their community. Am i barking up the wrong tree?

NEVSAY_D

i dun think dat wud be a problem at all....cool people cool place...

shahronakm

Thanks Prayaan for the trip report. Meghalaya indeed looks to be the place to visit during monsoons.

Ronak.

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blwetorch

Congratulations on being married to a khasi lady from the beautiful Shillong!
The people there are peace loving. It is like a piece of heaven on earth. In fact the Britishers had stationed themselves there during the colonial days, because the life there and the weather was similar to England.
Even now, you can find architecture similar to the Welsh country-side..
There is a nice article by Chris Cork in a Pakistani daily.....
http://www.thenews.com.pk/editorial_....asp?id=164113

It is about his life in an adopted country, after his marriage.

Don't bother about getting totally accepted by the local culture. That is too much to expect. But you will jolly well, have a great life there! Play the role of a benevolent outsider and a foreign son-in law to the hilt.
By the way, in Shillong the family properties are inherited by the youngest daughter and not the eldest son. It has an unique matri-lineal law and culture.
All the best!

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The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost

littleant52

Thanks for that information, it was very helpful. Yes when i went to shillong in dec last year, the people were great, and not once did i find a miserable face, among those friendly khasi people. My wife is due to join me soon ( july ), and we do intend to return there, buy a property, and rent it out,that will ensure us a good living. That is why i asked the question in the first place, to find out if there would be any animosity, simply because we would be more well off than many, and if it would be resented. Tell me, what were your circumstances, that enabled you to live in india for so long, and would you concider living there again, and where?

palerider

I was there during monsoon last year. We tried three times to go to Cherapungee to see the falls etc, ummm lots of fog really. But it is an amazing place. A bit christian for my taste, but incredible culture. One of the very few places where women will talk to you as an equal.
I befriended a couple of women who had a tea and Betel stall. They took me home, and we travelled a lot to local places. They were christian, but their families were Hindu and muslim.
They were Khmer people, so a completely different culture to other Indians.
And they name their children after what they see when giving birth.
One woman, Beautiful, had a daughter called latrine, because she gave birth outside a public toilet.
I was never hassled by touts, which is a big thing, and people genuinely engaged me in conversation.
I would love to move there.
The weird thing is that you just don't see a lot of foreigners there.
I'm amazed they haven't found it, it's just so peaceful.

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sympara

when i feel hot in assam i love to go to shillong.
it is a nice place and i like to write in cold places..
also another place is majuli
340 km from guwahati...

sympara

some times i also visit arunachal pradesh for my write up...

now i m planning to go to sikkim... for 16 days..
can any one advise me about sikkim.. hotels

theyyamdancer

Hello Sympara, welcome to IndiaMike!

You might try looking in the Sikkim forum for information about travelling there. Happy reading.

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blwetorch

My circumstances were different. I am an Indian who was posted there, on my departmental duties. Although, North-east by nature is a peaceful place, there have been some problems of militancy in these areas, over the years. Amongst the various states, within the North-East, Meghalaya ( whose capital is Shillong) is a rather peaceful place.
It does have its share of minor militant groups, who want an 'independent' khasi land, etc. But in my 3 and half years tenure, I and my family never faced any problem from them.
There is a dormant 'hill people - plains people' tension in these hilly areas. Some people, who are posted there on some duties or living there for some business do complain of stray harassment by street-urchins or sundry addicts. But those are very, very rare and stray issues.
I was always a bit careful while walking the streets, generally avoided empty streets, and so , never had any problem. The place itself is so beautiful, after all.
You being part of a local family will never have any such problems anyway. Moreover, I have noticed that the local khasis identify fondly with the Britishers, and some of them share their ancestral background due to some marital linkages. Thanks to the unique matri-lineal society, you shall notice that the local girls handle most of the business there. The other businesses are handled by plains-people ( outsiders - not sons of the soil). These 'outsiders' ( plains-people) have over time married into khasi family, and are almost like locals, more or less.

Shillong is a beautiful place. It is rather unfortunate, that it is not coming up as a tourist destination, thanks to some unwholesome reputation( none of its fault) of north-east as a militant prone area. This is the cultural capital of the North-east. You will love this place.