Meghalaya - truly in the abode of clouds & lap of nature :)

Day 1

• Evening flight from Delhi to Guwahati (as there are no direct flights to Shillong, they are via Calcutta and costs around 15k to 20k per person).
• Delhi to Guwahati flight costs around 5k per person.
• Night stay@Guwahati.Thanks to Oyo rooms and Ola cabs for making the stay & travel really reasonable in Guwahati.

Day 2

• Early head start to Shillong, took a cab from Guwahati costs around Rs.1500 for dropping to Shillong.
• Stopover @ Umiam or Barapani lake (Airtel 4G lake with the highest network!),mesmerizing views, boating , jetski & fun!
• Lunch @ Lamee restaurant in Police bazaar - good food, service & ambiance.
• Boating @ Ward's lake, Shillong
• Enjoy local fruits & jute,cane & bamboo shopping in Police Bazaar
• Stay@ Best Holiday Inn, Upper Lauchumiere - really new & reasonable hotel, 2kms from police bazaar, good location & view, food - limited options for vegetarians.

Day 3

• Hired a taxi - Innova for the entire trip from Shillong @ Rs.4000 per day.
• Travel to Nartiang Monoliths - 40kms from Shillong city - many people might skip this but because of my varied interests I found them interesting, these are MONOLITHS ( large pieces of stones) which were erected approximately during 1500 AD to commemorate the glorious events of the Jaintia Kingdom.
• Visit to nearby Nartiang Durga Temple
• And the best part of the day was the near by Tyrshi waterfalls - a must go!
• Back to Shillong city - visited the church - really beautiful
• Evening snack @ Shillong cafe - good and really famous
• Dinner @ Lamee restaurant becoz vegetarians are choosy and have less options!

Day 4

• After spending an amazing time at Shillong we started for Mawlynnong village, which is awarded as the cleanest village in Asia and is about 60 km from Shillong.
• On our way we spent some time at Elephanta Waterfalls which is quite a touristy spot.
• The route to Mawlynnong is quite incredible as you pass through high grass fields.
• Just 2km before Mawlynnong, we stopped over to see the stunning Living Root Bridge at Riwai village. The trek down to the living root bridge is quite delicious as you get to eat really fresh fruits pineapple, jackfruit & other local fruits.
• The living root bridges are tangles of massive thick roots, which have been intermingled to form a bridge that can hold several people at a time. Khasi people have been trained to grow these bridges across the raised banks of streams to form a solid bridge, made from roots. The living bridges are made from the roots of the Ficus elastica tree, which produces a series of secondary roots that are perched atop huge boulders along the streams or the riverbanks to form bridges. Check out more about them on : http://www.livingrootbridge.com/About-Living-Root-Bridge.php
• After a great trek and fun, we reached our HA -LA -TYNGKONG guest house at Mawlynnong village. There are very few places to live in the village and generally people just visit the village and return, but we had decided to stay and experience and it was worth it. It was very difficult to find the guesthouses in the village while we were planning the trip, so I have posted the photographs of various advertised boards.
• We had a really homely stay, the village is quite wonderful like a landscaped garden with few houses powered by solar lights and proper garbage disposal.
• Our host was also quite friendly and provided us with basic homely food. Charges for one room were Rs 1500 per night.
• We explored the village to the fullest and made a lot of little friends.

Day 5

• The next day we en routed our trip to Dawki river, which is near Bangladesh border again about 60 kms, two hours journey with enticing views and clouds all over you. :)
• It was the most beautiful experience I had. The other side of the border you see lot of people enjoying, seems like a really popular place (Tamabil) for Bangladeshis and on the Indian side you are boating in the calm and serene water.
• The boatmen claims that the water is as clear a mirror after the rains. But we went before rains, so it was quite muddy, still fun!
• After Dawki we travelled to Cherrapunji/Sohra and reached there around evening.
• Went to see Dianthlen Falls, which were quite deadly! Its a view point, where you have to cross varied rock formations to get a view of the waterfall.
• Our homestay called Sohra Plaza was nearby the falls. Again, there are very few places to stay in Cherrapunji, this is one of the recently built ones with amazing location around. Cost was around Rs 2000 per night for one room.

Day 6

• Well the last day of our exciting excursion was Nongriat double decker living root bridge. It was 6 hours steep trek to get a view of those double decker beauties!
• You find lot of local boys at the starting point who want to be your leading guides to the bridge, but we didn't hire any of those over charging boys....we trekked down a bit and found a local village boy who trekked with us down the bridge in Rs 150.
• Its a whole some trek with scenic views of numerous waterfalls, walking through the jungle between the clouds and changing seasons.
• During the trek we had to cross two man made steel bridges crossing the high flowing river which were quite dangerous and adventurous.
• It took us 3 hours to reach the marvelous double decker bridge, spent some time in the chilled waterfall clicking photos and having fun.
• 3 hours return was quite tiring, slowly slowly we finally made it to our car and headed towards Seven sisters fall and Mawsmai caves which seemed to be less enterprising after the whole adventure, but Mawsmai caves is also an adventure of its kind.
• What we missed was the Nohkalikai falls, because of our really tiring schedule. But one must really visit them. But, there is always a second chance ;)

Day 7

• Headed for Guwahati airport from Cherrapunji. Took us around 4 hours.
• The overall budget for the trip came for us about Rs 25000 -30000 per person, which is quite decent.

Hope my itinerary will help the adventurous travelers out there to explore Meghalaya (The Scotland of India as they say) to the fullest! Check out the photographs and plan your trip soon. Cya!