A journey to the Abode of clouds : Shillong to Cherrapunjee 

I could hear the mountains calling and clouds rolling, wasn't that enough to realize that it was time for me to pack my bag and run to these clouds. A plan which was made just a week before: a plan !

Yes , but only the tickets were done that to for the 2 of us me and my niece. In a week we were 5 to leave from Ranchi.

Day 1: GUWAHATI to SHILLONG

We preferred to take the train from Ranchi to Howrah, an overnight train(Kriya Yoga Express) which is convenient and we would reach by 6:30 -7:00 to Howrah station and next morning we had our flight from Kolkata to Guwahati at 10:25 am. Unfortunately our train was late so we got down at Santragachi and took the cab to Dum Dum Airport.

Rushed for check-in and security had a quick breakfast and off to Guwahati. Well we had separate tickets 3 of us reached by 12:25 and the other 2 reached 2 hours later.

So we decided to go to Shillong and not stay in Guwahati, booked a cab from the airport. If you go in sharing they'll charge Rs 500 per person and as we were 5 so we booked a car (Dezire) and it came to be the same, total charge Rs 2500. The benefits of booking the cab was you can stop by as per owns convenience. We were hungry so our next stop had to be a restaurant and we wanted to have authentic Khasi food and for that we totally relied on out driver.

The route runs on the border of two states Assam and Meghalaya and our first stop over was this small restaurant named Sunrise Restaurant away from the city along the highway amid the green hills and cool weather.

This restaurant was small and had nicely done wall painting which we fun around clicking and above all the Chicken thali was the best part, made in traditional style.

Shillong:

After lunch we started for Shillong, on way we could feel the change in weather and also crossed the Umaim lake, a man made reservoir . Soon we reached Shillong and got down at the main market area called the Police Bazaar.

We decided to go around the market and also have dinner before we go to the home stay which we had booked while traveling.

The home stay we had booked was around 5 kms from the main market area for which we took a cab from the market area. It was in a residential area and as it was dark we couldn't see the setting but could hear a stream flowing by.

We sat that night and planned for the next few days as we had no itenary prepared before hand.

Day 2: SHILLONG to CHERRAPUNJEE

We stayed at Troya home stay for the night and they served us really nice breakfast after which we left for Cherrapunjee.

We had booked a cab for Shillong to Cherrapunji and also to go around to various places for the day. He charged us total of Rs 2500 which was good enough.

As we started moving out of the main city of Shillong we saw few places which one can visit in Shillong, we crossed the Air Force museum which talks about the defense history of the country, its campus is beautiful. We moved ahead and stopped at a Tea Garden which is just outside the main city.

Tea Garden, Shillong:

Driving away from the city the weather is more pleasant and the greenery is more soothing.A tea garden which is just outside the city, not a very huge area but very pretty place to be here for some time.

Further moving on the road to Cherrapunji we crossed Duwan Sing Syiem Bridge which marks the beginning of the Sohra. crossing the bridge we get the first view of the Mawkdok Valley. There's the Duwan Sing Syiem View Point for which one has to take the steps down the valley.

Mawkdok Dympep Valley:

We stopped at the Mawkdok Dympep Valley View point just after the bridge which lies at beginning of the Sohra tourism circuit. It's a vast and long stretch of valley with a zip lining across the valley for the adventurers where one can have the best experience of the valley and feel the depth of this green valley. 2 of us did the zip lining and we could not skip the tastiest pineapple of Meghalaya.

Even though it takes only 2 hrs to reach Cherrapunjee from Shillong but as we had booked the cab for the whole day we decided to go around visiting places first. As we moved on that road that valley looked magnificent and unending.

Wah Kaba falls:

So next we stopped by at Wah Kaba falls, it was all covered in clouds yet we wanted to stop by that place and weren't able to see a thing.

All we did there was have ice-cream on that cloudy weather and on the other side of the road is a stream flowing where we just went around and walked on the cold water.

Nohkalikai falls:

We reached the Sohra market and moved ahead to Nohkalikai falls that has an approximate height of 335 meters, it's the tallest plunge falls in India. This magnificent falls is amid the hills covered in green envelope which so looks like a painting. This was my second visit and yet was as fresh and mesmerizing like the first time. The water plunges into this magical blue lagoon which has a fairy tale color.

We walked ahead into the green fields beyond the view point and took the stairs which goes down to a different vantage point.

The stairs are destroyed after a little distance, yet we went till the last accessible point and stood there watching this magical waterfalls being covered with clouds and hear the musical chirping of birds.

Don't miss to have a peaceful walk in this huge green field. We had some maggi and pineapple before leaving.

The vast fields covered in those grasses:

Mawsmai Cave:

Our next spot was Mawsmai Cave one of the caves which is easily accessible out of those 750 caves in Meghalaya. It's an age old lime and sandstone cave, it was a weird experience for me as it was crowded and also the smell of the water and stone really is not pleasant.

Nohsngithiang Falls/ Seven Sisters falls:

We now wanted to be in much more open place and our next and last stop of the day was Seven Sisters falls. As we reached there the place was all covered with clouds all over and all tired we sat on the benches and waited for the clouds to clear. We were sure and we'll definitely get the clear view of this falls.

It's a cluster of seven water falls and is the forth highest plunge waterfalls in India also known as Nohsngithiang Falls. This picturesque water falls is in the East Khasi Hills of Meghalaya.

After spending a sufficiently good time there it was almost dark and we returned to the home stay at the market area in Sohra, Latara Pumpkin Home stay. All of us were tired after going all around in Cherrapunji and we had long way to go and we needed good sleep and good food.

Next few days were to be more exciting and the story continues: