Don't be a chicken (Meghalaya, Manipur)

Hello friends, this summer vacation we have explored two states of north-east #Meghalaya & Manipur. you can find more pictures on this link (https://loveuzindagi.org/2018/05/13/dont-be-a-chicken-meghalaya-manipur/ )

Meghalaya is really a gem of India. Our first destination was Shilong. Amazing view of laitlum canyon

In this region, kings celebrate their victory by raising heavy rocks. There are several areas in this region, we have explored one of it... Nartiang monolith

Kang suri water falls is really spectacular water fall. U can go behind the water fall, swim in the bluish green crystal clear lake formed by water fall, can do camping.....in short, this single water fall gives u lot of things...but u have to trek 20 minutes to reach their...

Shnongpdeng, one of less known paradise of Meghalaya. Many tourist go to Dawki, but never visit Shnongpdeng. We were lucky, we came to know about this place from local. Transparent water of umngot river, surrounding mountains reminds me zanskar river of Leh-Ladakh. This place has many things to offer, kayaking, cliff jumping, boat ride with local songs....list is on!

We did cliff jumping. What a thrilling experience it was!

Dawki & Bangladesh border....

Nowhet living root bridge.....local khasi people's tradition is to create bridge on river from living roots of the tree. In our journey we came across 5 living root bridge. One can access it through treking. This bridge has minimal walk (15 minutes).

After this we did trek of double decker living root bridge & rainbow water fall in Cherapunji. For root bridge trek, one way steps are 3700. I suggest to stay over night in the village to enjoy to the fullest. For rainbow water fall , one has to trek beyond double decker living root bridge....many times it's exhausting to do in rainy season.

After double decker root bridge, we had treked 2 hours more to reach rainbow falls.

Mawsmai caves - Many caves in Meghalaya. Rather longest sand caves on earth 23 km long discovered in Meghalaya. Caves exploration activity can be done here.

dense fog & local umbrela

Maggie-staple food for vegeterians in this mountains

Spotless & superb road of Meghalaya

flowers & jackfruit

We have seen wide vareity of butter flies in Meghalaya. Butterflies here are huge and could capture one which was 1 feet in width. It was magnificent!

Manipur has unique lake in the world--LOKTAK LAKE. Loktak lake has floating island. Only lake in the world with this speciality.

Manipuri thali & black rice kheer

Meghalaya is beautiful and contemporary . Many butterflies, water falls, living root bridge, dense forest,clean river & lovely people make Meghalaya unique place. But all these places can be explored only by foot & with little bit of hardship. That's why tourist flow is restricted & still natural beauty is preserved. Many tourist point are there in Meghalaya, if anyone wants to cover it than it requires minimum 15 days. But we have skipped lots of routine view point & selected special one. One common say " Don't be chicken, be a hawk" . Chickens will eat anything you put in front of them. They will eat insects, bugs, meat, fruit, vegetables, fish, and yes even chicken. They have no self-control and will even eat their own eggs and feces. A hawk can see up to 8x more clearly than the sharpest human eye. To put in comparison, if you had a hawk's vision you could see an ant on the ground from on top a ten story building. A hawk's eye is so large that it occupies a big portion of its skull. The hawk knows what it's looking for. The visual capabilities let the hawk distinguish the size, shape, and speed of the potential prey so it can recognize, target, and capture it quickly.

Don't be a chicken, be a hawk. Be picky. Like a chicken,Don't rush to cover all listed place in itenary. Be a hawk,Try to find out what you & your family likes & choose place accordingly, spend more time where you enjoy more. Know what you are looking for so you can develop the vision to recognize an opportunity quicker.

(disclaimer: many people wish me for some good write up or idea, let me confess that many ideas i come across during my reading habit, our coffee club meetings at my clinic . "don't be a chicken"....this idea i have read in Ian Cassle book. thanks to him)

This blog onwards I willpublish my itenary, important number & travel routes.....

Important numbers

Mr Pradip: 9863087418 , He is a car owner, but he can guide you unexplored Meghalaya.

Serene homestay : 8787570552, very good home stay at double decker living root bridge village.

Imphal walk: 9774386858 Mr Yai for Manipur.