Oct, 2019
A trip to Meghalaya had always been right there at the top of our wish/bucket-list. But unfortunately, that wish never got ticked off until October'19.
Meghalaya is so different and yet so beautiful from the rest of India. For the most part, Meghalaya is relatively un-explored, so you will have places to visit that are still virgin and not that commercialised.
Through our experience and some of the pictures that we could capture, we would like to take you on probably your most beautiful and scenic blogging tour till date!
Day 1:
We took an early morning flight from Delhi to Guwahati, as the direct flights to Shillong cost a penny! Shillong is just 2.5 hours away from Guwahati by road and so we took a take a cab to Shillong. It was by far the best car drive we've had so far with picturesque and breath-taking views of the hills, crystal clear (blue water) lakes and amazing water-falls.
We reached Shillong by afternoon and checked-in to our beautiful hotel - The Centre Point, which is the Police Bazar's main attraction. As per our plan, we had to visit Sohra (Cherrapunjee), Dawki and Mawlynnong for day-long trips, so keeping Shillong as our base location for the next 3 days made complete sense at that moment. But little did we know what the beautiful and heavenly town of Cherrapunjee, also known as Sohra, had to offer. The lush green surroundings and amazing (breezy) weather of Sohra, is the prime reason behind Meghalaya being known as "Scotland of the East". When you are in the middle of Shillong, close to the police bazar, the last thing to be bothered about it is to hire / rent a cab. So we hired a cab for the entire 4 days.
In the afternoon, we headed over to “The Heritage Club, Tripura Palace” for lunch. The fresh ingredients, distinctively appetising aroma of the food and the entire setting amidst lush green surroundings, literally gave us a high :)
We also did some local sightseeing, paying a visit to the famous Shillong Church and the Mall road.
Day 2:
We had the entire second day reserved for a day-trip to Sorah (Cherrapunjee).
On our list of famous and must-visit tourist attractions of Cherrapunjee, were the Wakaba Falls, Ecopark, Seven Sisters Waterfalls and the Mawsmai Cave. Therefore, we had to cover these during our journey and we are glad we did. :)
If there is any place which is worthy of being called - "Heaven on Earth", it is Cherrapunjee. You gotta be there in that moment and feel it, to believe it.
In the evening, on our way back to the hotel, we decided to stop by the renowned ML05 Café for some freshly brewed coffee and snacks.
Day 3:
Just a mile close to the India-Bangladesh border is the town of Dawki, famous for its river, which is also one of the cleanest rivers in India. You can literally see a clear reflection of yourself in the river. It is like seeing yourself in the mirror.
So our day 3 began with the visit to the Dawki river, where we enjoyed a peaceful boat ride and almost had one foot of ours inside Bangladesh.
Not only the cleanest river of India, Meghalaya also houses Asia’s cleanest village, Mawlynnong Village. And the best way to corroborate that fact, was to go there and see it from our naked eyes. And that indeed turned out to be true!
Each and every house of this village has functional toilets and there are bamboo dustbins at every nook and corner of the locality. Every waste product and garbage item (even dry leaves), find their way into the dustbin.
The village also provides homestay options for visitors and has small restaurants serving the most succulent homemade food (fish thali / veg thali /chicken thali).
Meghalaya is not only famous for it's beautiful lakes, hills, rivers and water-falls but also because of it's living root bridges, which are natural and sturdy bridge-like structures that have been formed by the roots of the trees and have been around for more than a hundred years now.
So after the short pitstop at the village, we went ahead with a visit to the first and the easiest one in the list - The Mawlynnong Living Root Bridge. You have to walk some distance on an uneven and descending path (stairs) to reach to the bridge but this one was like a cake walk for us in comparison to what was to follow on the next day - The Nongriat Double Decker Living Root Bridge, Cherrapunjee.
Day 4:
The last day of the trip was reserved to address the elephant in the room and the most difficult leg of the trip - The Nongriat Double Decker Living Root Bridge, Cherrapunjee. We had scheduled it for the last day because we were well aware of the hardships and the pain one will have to endure to complete this task and we didn’t want to spoil the fun and our moods for the rest of the days in Meghalaya.
So, the next day, we got up early at 6 in the morning and headed over to Cherrapunjee once again to live the most difficult and dangerous day of our lives. After much persuasion, our driver, a teenage boy called "Kitbot" :P, also agreed to join us for the trek.
Having done the medium to difficult Triund trek in Dharamshala, we thought we might be able to do this with only slight - medium difficulty, but we have to admit that this way like carving your way through difficult amazon rain forests, going down nearly two miles (2,400 feet) through difficult and steep stairs, crossing dangerous / wobbly bridges amidst some daunting figures that we had only heard of in the tales of the visitors.
After labouring for almost 2.5-3 hours, the end result, however, was nothing short of "Magnificent or Spectacular".
There we were, alongside a picturesque, sturdy, double-decker roots bridge, surrounded by chirpiness of the forest birds, a beautiful waterfall, and a calm, peace-loving river. The dip in the water near the double decker bridge was thoroughly refreshing and an absolute delight.
The most difficult part was the upwards journey back to where our car was parked. But phew! - we survived somehow.
And sadly with that, our trip ended. Why is the return journey always the most painful?
The memories of this amazing trip will surely stay with us forever and they definitely won't fade away with time anytime soon.
The Benjabi recommendation:
1. Homestay in Cherrapunji is something that you should go for.
2. Some people might scare you, but double decker root bridge is a must.
3. Mid November - December might be an appropriate time to see the Dawki river in it's cleanest and purest form.
That's it from us!
Youtube Channel - The Benjabi Affair
Instagram - The Benjabi Affair
Do Like, Share and Subscribe
- By The Benjabi Affair
' fill='%23359391'%3e %3cpath d='M46.1538462%2c43.5714286 L41.5%2c50 L36.8461538%2c43.5714286 L36.8670256%2c43.5714286 C36.3173077%2c42.7142857 36%2c41.6851429 36%2c40.5714286 C36%2c37.4854286 38.4535641%2c35 41.5%2c35 C44.5464359%2c35 47%2c37.4854286 47%2c40.5714286 C47%2c41.6851429 46.6826923%2c42.7142857 46.1329744%2c43.5714286 L46.1538462%2c43.5714286 Z M41.4294872%2c39 C40.6150641%2c39 39.9487179%2c39.675 39.9487179%2c40.5 C39.9487179%2c41.325 40.6150641%2c42 41.4294872%2c42 C42.2439103%2c42 42.9102564%2c41.325 42.9102564%2c40.5 C42.9102564%2c39.675 42.2439103%2c39 41.4294872%2c39 L41.4294872%2c39 Z' id='Location-white'%3e%3c/path%3e %3c/g%3e %3c/svg%3e)
