Musings of Meghalaya
PRELUDE
It was a wintry night in the month of December 2018. I and my best friend were sitting on our hostel beds at around 1 am on a Saturday night, slurping on piping hot cheese Maggi from the hostel canteen, discussing life. Amidst all that discussion, suddenly an idea was born. The idea immediately struck a chord with both of us, and a decision was made on the spot. The year we get a job is the year we will start our birthday trip to someplace in the world, and it will be an annual affair.
So, 2020 rolled along and I could not wait to start our annual affair. Vietnam was selected as the inaugural venue for the same. We had selected the hotels to stay in, and had even selected a Cathay Pacific flight from Hyderabad (where we live) to Hanoi via Kolkata, but, as fate would have it, the world was engulfed by the pandemic and nothing could materialize.
Then, 2021 rolled along, and our planned August sojourn was indefinitely delayed because of the raging second wave of the pandemic. However, we got together and decided that we would go someplace in the month of November or December, come what may. So, Meghalaya it was!
THE ACTUAL TRAVEL ITERINARY
So, a date was decided, the 27th of November 2021. I left my home at around 3:20 am in morning to catch the 6:40 am flight to Guwahati. With just 2.5 hours of sleep, I arrived at Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport, Guwahati at around 9:50 am. Once I reached Guwahati, I had to wait an hour or so for my friend’s flight to land from Kolkata so we could flag off the much-awaited sojourn. And once we met up at the airport, it was all about having fun for the next 8 days.
Day 1 — Guwahati (27th November 2021)
After we checked into our hotel in Guwahati, and ordered some local biryani, it was around 1 pm already. Since we both were massively sleep-deprived, we decided to take a 2-hour nap before we started exploring the city of Guwahati in all its glory. We were living downtown, and arguably the most happening place of Guwahati, called Paltan Bazaar. After our 2-hour power nap, we embarked to visit the Devi Kamakhya Temple, which is one of the most sacred temples in Hinduism. The deity of the temple, Devi Kamakhya, is the symbol of feminine fertility and purity, and the menstruating Goddess is worshipped in the temple. We booked a Rapido bike taxi from our hotel to the temple, which was around 20 km away. We embarked from our hotel at around 3:30 pm. To our pleasant surprise, the sun started setting at around 3:50 pm, and by 4:30 pm, it was almost dark, owing to the Eastern nature of the state of Assam and other northeastern states of India. We reached the temple at around 4:15 pm and joined the queue which was formed to ensure that everyone was allowed into the main housing of the deity in a staggered and socially distanced manner. The temple allowed only fully vaccinated people to further prevent an infection from spreading within the temple. After praying to the Goddess, getting a Vibhuti of the Goddess applied on our heads, we were finally out of the temple by 6:45 pm after some sightseeing of the main temple campus. After we got completely out of the temple premises, we took a bike taxi back to Paltan Bazaar for some local sightseeing and window shopping. By 8:30 pm, we sat down to have dinner in a local restaurant. After having some authentic Assamese cuisine, we embarked on one important bit of business, which was renting a car for our trip across Meghalaya. Guided by our natural bargaining instincts, we managed to get hold of a fine gentleman named Sukamal Das, who agreed to chauffeur his Swift Dzire for the upcoming days for INR 2,500 per day. After all the business and planned tasks for the day were done, we decided to call it a day at around 10:15 pm as we had to start early the next day for Shillong. (Whenever in Eastern India, always follow an “early to bed, early to rise” policy)
Day 2 — Shillong (28th November 2021)
We started the day at around 7 am for Shillong, which was around 85 km from Guwahati and took around 3 hours to reach owing to stoppages in between and the narrow roads of Meghalaya. En route Shillong, after we crossed the Assam-Meghalaya border post and furnished proof that we were fully vaccinated, we stopped at a small hamlet named Nongpoh in Meghalaya for some breakfast. This was around 8:45 am. After a quick break, we continued our journey until we reached Umiam Lake, 30 km away from Shillong, and effectively wasted an hour or so admiring the lake and taking some pictures for the gram.
We entered Shillong at around 10:30 am. After some local sightseeing of Shillong, viz-a-viz Shillong Viewpoint, Air Force Museum, and some more, we checked into our hotel at around 1 pm. By the time we had our lunch, it was almost 3 pm, after which we explored the surroundings of our hotel on foot till 5 pm. At around 6 pm, our driver took us to downtown Shillong named Police Bazaar for local sightseeing and window shopping.
I had to buy some gloves and socks since the 8 degrees Celsius of the city was a bit too cold for me. By 8 pm, we had sat down for dinner at a posh restaurant in Shillong and ordered some authentic Khasi Hills cuisine to finish off the night on a high. By 10:30 pm, we had drifted away to sleep.
Day 3 — Cherrapunji (29th November 2021)
The next day, we checked out of our hotel in Shillong to embark for the city of Cherrapunji, also called Sohra in the local tongue. By 8 am, we started for Cherrapunji, which was around 30 km away. On the way, we stopped at the Dympop Nympep Valley for the first of many tiresome but enjoyable treks throughout our stay. After climbing down and climbing up around 800 steps, completely out of breath, we had some piping hot breakfast there along with some black coffee to recharge our batteries since it was only the first stop of the day, and we were still around 15 km away from entering Cherrapunji. By the time we reached Cherrapunji, it was around 11:30 am. After checking into our hotel, and finishing our lunch by 1 pm, we embarked on an exploration of Cherrapunji, the wettest place on Earth. We visited the Nohlkhalai Falls, the Seven Sisters Falls and explored the natural rock formations all along.
After completing the 2 falls, we visited the Mawsmai Caves, which was amazing, to say the least. Mawsmai Caves is a naturally formed network of 3 long caves which was open to tourists who were willing to twist and turn their bodies through the challenging terrain of the caves to take a glimpse of the beautiful caves. We promptly did the same, and by the time we had explored all the 3 caves in the area, it was around 4:45 pm, and we were drenched in sweat, despite the cold. After taking a breather, we visited the Eco Park and by 6 pm had completed our itinerary for the day. After some dinner, we drifted off by 10:30 pm and prepared ourselves for perhaps the greatest trek we will ever undertake in our lifetime.
Day 4 — Cherrapunji — Nongriat (30th November 2021)
The next day, we started the best part of the trip yet. The plan was to travel to the village of Tyrna and start a mammoth trek of 3500 stairs to the forest village of Nongriat to see the double-decker bridge, perhaps the most famous spot in the entire Northeast. We started the trek at around 11 am. We took a guide and a stout bamboo stick with us to start the magnanimous trek. By an average estimate, it takes around 4.5 to 5 hours to complete the entire round trip. So, we started the trek. The first 40% of the trek towards Nongriat involves climbing down a flight of around 1700 stairs, which, although a lot less tough than climbing up, was in no way an easy feat. All along the trek, there were many stone seats and shops selling water and juices to hydrate the tiring trekkers. After the first 40% of the trek was done, then the trek just became a lot tougher as it now involved climbing up a flight of about 2000 mountainous stairs, and some extremely crude and steep stairs at some places. Along the way, we crossed over a mountain stream on an iron suspension bridge and some extremely adventure-friendly rocks to finally reach the wonderful double-decker living root bridge in the forest village of Nongriat, around 2 hours after we had started from Tyrna. The beauty, the charm, and the charisma of the location just blew away all the tiredness that had overcome us after the 3500 stairs that we had traversed.
The beauty of the double-decker bridge is something that cannot be expressed in mere words, it was beyond human speech. It was made by the dwellers of Nongriat by intertwining the roots of 2 very strong trees and making it a double-decker affair. All naturally made, with natural materials, by the people who can perhaps connect the most with nature in India. The double-decker bridge overlooked a mountain stream, which had plenty of playful and joyous fishes in them. After some splendid photographs for the gram, and a hot plate of vegetable maggi, we started our way back to Tyrna. Another 3500 stairs awaited us, involving 60% of climbing down and 40% of climbing up. The return trek was more taxing for us as our legs were already tired because of the trek we had undertaken to reach Nongriat. After a grueling 2.5-hour trekking session, we finally came back to Tyrna, where we had started our trek in the morning. We had traversed over 7000 stairs. By this time, my thighs were hurting, and the next day, my right calf was swollen because of the trek. But that in no way could hamper my spirits. Not in the slightest.
Day 5 — Dawki — Mawlynnong (1st December 2021)
The next day, we checked out of our hotel in Cherrapunji, and started for Mawlynnong, the cleanest village in Asia. En route Mawlynnong, we were to take a detour and visit the India-Bangladesh border town of Dawki to take a boat ride on the iconic Umngot River. The Umngot River is perhaps the most promoted and famous spot of Meghalaya, owing to the crystal-clear waters which make boats sailing on the river seem like boats floating in the air. Before reaching Dawki, we toured an unexplored and relatively undiscovered gem of Meghalaya named Garden of Caves. It was a naturally formed garden of 15–20 caves, which harbored natural mountainous waterfalls within itself, and was used by the Khasi tribe in the days gone by to take a natural refreshing bath.
The unadulterated beauty of this place was something I earlier thought was possible only in movies. Just like the double-decker bridge in Nongriat, the beauty of this place cannot be represented by human speech. Any adjective would be an understatement. So, finally, we reached Dawki and headed for the boating spot on the Umngot River. We promptly hired an hour-long boat ride and went sailing on the crystal-clear waters of the Umngot. At the point in time, our smartphones had detected and sensed that we were already inside Bangladesh and had thus unregistered our cellular networks and had added 30 minutes to the clock to match Bangladesh Standard Time.
We stopped on a spread-out isle on the river which happened to be one of the many entry points along the India-Bangladesh border, patrolled by India’s BSF and Bangladesh’s BGB (Border Guards Bangladesh). People from Bangladesh are allowed to roam freely on the isle but are not allowed to get onto any boat on the Umngot River as India maintains official territorial rights over the river. The isle, however, was a controlled no-man’s land between the 2 countries as a mark of friendship and to promote tourism of both the countries. After getting DSLR photographs clicked by a Bangladeshi photographer and admiring the crystal-clear waters of the Umngot a bit more, we got back onshore and embarked towards Mawlynnong to check into our hotels. Umngot River, its water, the friendliness of the Bangladeshis, and the overall beauty had left us in absolute awe, and by the time we checked into our hotel, it was around 5:30 pm, with our phones still believing that we were in Bangladesh, and hence, provided neither an accurate time nor a proper registered cellular network. After sitting around a bonfire, we decided to call it a day at around 10:30 pm, with a sinking feeling of the trip entering its last leg.
Day 6 — Mawlynnong — East Jaintia Hills (2nd December 2021)
We started this day by touring the village of Mawlynnong, and admiring the immense beauty associated with the place, along with the standard of cleanliness maintained by the villagers which made it the cleanest village in Asia. All the hotels were around 10–15 km away from the actual village of Mawlynnong to keep the village away from the unnecessary hustle-bustle of tourist accommodation and potentially disturbing the lives of the villagers.
So, we reached the village of Mawlynnong at around 10:30 am and headed for the longest living root bridge, a naturally formed bridge in the heart of the entire forest that the villagers of Mawlynnong call their own. After that, we trekked for an hour or so around the village of Mawlynnong, clicked some pictures with 2 absolute munchkins i.e., children of the village who were extremely happy to see us for some reason and wanted to play with us. They could not have been more than 4 or 5 years old and were extremely adorable, to say the least. After exchanging pleasantries with some more villagers of Mawlynnong, we headed back to our car to head towards Phe Phe Falls in East Jaintia Hills. It was around 12:30 pm when we started for East Jaintia Hills, which was around 50 km away from Mawlynnong. En route, we stopped at the India-Bangladesh Friendship Gate in Dawki purely for curiosity purposes (and Instagram purposes of course. We had 982 photographs at the end of the trip). We reached the embarkation point of the trek towards Phe Phe Falls at around 2:30 pm in East Jaintia Hills. The trek towards Phe Phe Falls made us feel like a boy scout group. The trek involved the crossing of a small mountainous river by boat, a 3 km long walk on a plateau made up of igneous rocks, and then a 200-stair trek to finally reach Phe Phe Falls.
The entire path was marked by flags planted on the plateau to guide trekkers towards the falls without requiring a guide, we could only imagine the number of people who might have lost their way. Once we reached Phe Phe Falls, it was almost 4 pm and the sun was setting quickly. The bone-chilling waters of Phe Phe Falls and the natural beauty of the area made sure that it was around 5:15 pm before we could head back towards the embarkation point, with the sun all but set. By the time we reached the embarkation point, it was 6:30 pm and the sun had already set, and the world was pitch dark. Our expert driver who was with us from Guwahati took us back to our hotel, navigating through the dark mountain roads by 8 pm. At around 12 am, we called it a day and were sad that the sojourn was all but over.
Day 7 — Mawphlong — Guwahati (3rd December 2021)
The next day, we embarked towards Guwahati, which was around 100 km from Mawlynnong. We checked out of our hotel at around 9 am and took a small detour towards the sacred tribal forest of Mawphlong. It is said that, if anything is taken out of this forest, bad fate befalls the perpetrator, and even if someone did not want to believe in this, it was best to respect the way of life of the tribals and obey whatever they demanded of the tourists while visiting Mawphlong. To maintain the decorum of the forest, it was mandatory to take a guide with us to the forest for a 30-min walk.
The guide, a local villager of Mawphlong, explained the spiritual importance the forest had for the villagers and after imbibing a huge amount of respect for the tribals, we headed back to Guwahati. Along the way, we stopped at the Shillong Tea Garden, took some Instagram content, and continued our journey back to Guwahati. By the time we reached Guwahati, it was around 6 pm. We called it a day at around 11 pm after some local window shopping in and around Paltan Bazaar and a nice filling dinner
Day 8 — Guwahati (4th December 2021)
The next day, we decided to tour the entire city of Guwahati on a rented bike. We had relieved our driver of his duties, paid him his dues, and rented a bike from a local bike rental agency. We first dashed towards the Guwahati Ropeway, which was built over the enormous Brahmaputra River to connect North and South Guwahati. After enjoying some time on the banks of the Brahmaputra, riding the ropeway, and loafing around a bit more across Guwahati, we came back to our hotel at around 9 pm and prepared to head back home the next day
Day 9 — Home Sweet Home (5th December 2021)
The next day, we had our flights at around 4 pm to our respective hometowns. I reached home at around 9 pm, with 982 photos, a swollen calf, tears running down my eyes, and a mind with a memory that would stay with me to the end of my life. I and my best friend had finally flagged off our annual sojourn and here’s to another trip with him in 2022, and another travel blog like this. Till then, stay awesome, and thank you for your time.
FIN
Follow https://www.instagram.com/thegoofynomad/ for more travel photographs!
