Pristine Meghalaya
Meghalaya is a state in north-east India, which is also known as “Scotland of the East” for its highlands, fog and breath-taking landscapes. The name (Meghalaya) means "the abode of clouds" in Sanskrit. With its thick green primary forests, beautiful waterfalls and lakes, numerous caves, varied wildlife and some of the most notable places in the World, Meghalaya is the ideal place for the nature lovers to escape away from the urban madness.
Shillong, the capital and hill station of Meghalaya, is a popular tourist destination that draws thousands of tourists from around the world. The city is well connected by the National Highway 40 with the rest of the country through Assam. The nearest airport and railway station are at Guwahati that serves as a port of entry for many tourists who visit Meghalaya. Several buses, private and shared cabs run from Guwahati to Shillong. The journey itself is amazing that takes around 3 hours to reach Shillong, India through one of the most scenic highway.
Meghalaya tourism is considered as one of the most important ecotourism circuits in India. The state also offers many adventure tourism opportunities for the adventure enthusiasts, in the form of mountaineering, rock climbing, trekking and hiking, caving and various water sports. The principal languages in Meghalaya are Khasi, Pnar and Garo with English as the official language of the State. Even a huge number of locals understand and speak Hindi due to huge rush of tourists from around different parts of India and rest of the World. There are several travel agencies, who organize customized Meghalaya Tour Packages and conducted Meghalaya Holiday Packages for tourists from different geographies.
Apart from beautiful Shillong, the various famous places of interest in Meghalaya includes some of the longest caves in the Indian Subcontinent, the stunning Living Root Bridges in and around the West Jaintia Hills district and East Khasi Hills district, Cherrapunji, Mawsynram - the wettest place on Earth, Mawlynnong - Asia's cleanest village, International trade route border town of Dawki, some of the tallest waterfalls in India and many more. Meghalaya can be visited any time during the year but, it is suggested to visit the place during tribal festivals in order to experience how myths and legends interplay with history and religion and see the simple folks revel in colourful dance & festivities. One can plan for holidays in Meghalaya for as less as three days to as long as one wishes to stay there.
My visit to Meghalaya was planned along with some of my friends, in the month of December, 2015. We all travelled from different places and met at Guwahati, from where our trip to Meghalaya actually started. Since we were a six member team this time, so, instead of travelling on sharing basis, we hired a SUV in order to reach Shillong from Guwahati. We boarded the cab at around 7 in the morning and reached Shillong at around noon while taking breaks for having some breakfast and viewing the Umiam Lake (Barapani Lake).
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| The journey begins! |
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| Umiam Lake (Barapani Lake) |
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| Water Sport at Umiam Lake |
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| Shillong - "The Scotland of East" |
Our hotel was already booked at Lake View Inn, which is situated just beside the Taxi Stand on MG Road. We got freshened up at our hotel and had a nice lunch at Police Bazar. Then we hired 2 cabs for doing a half day sightseeing of Shillong and saw Shillong View Point and Elephant Falls. The day ended with a nice Khasi dinner! Before hitting the bed, we checked at the reception and the guy helped us in arranging a cab for the next day that would take us to Mawlynnong and Dawki.
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| Police Bazar, Shillong |
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| The crew this time! From Left - Sangeeta, Rika, Kaustav, Prosenjit and Ganesh. |
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| Shillong View Point |
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| Bird eye view of Shillong |
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| Elephant Falls (First Stage |
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| Elephant Falls (Final Stage) |
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| And the whole gang! |
Next day morning, after having a lovely breakfast, we hit the road at around 8:30 in the morning. The journey to Mawlynnong is very pleasant that make you experience the beauty of the Khasi Hills at its best. Mawlynnong/Mawlynnong Village, located in the East Khasi Hills of Meghalaya is also known as “God’s own garden”. The village won the acclaim of being the cleanest village in Asia in 2003 that offers immense picturesque natural beauty and also a nice trek to the famous living root bridge at a neighbouring village, Riwai. The village also offers wonderful view of Bangladesh plains as it is located on the Indo-Bangladesh border.
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| Early morning Snowfall! |
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| After effects of Landsldes |
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| Beauty of the Khasi Hills |
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| Taking picture of taking picture! |
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| Khasi Hills |
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| The mountain with Faces! (Zoom In) - at Laitlyngkot. |
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| On the way to Mawlynnong |
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| Laitlyngkot - A small Khasi village on the way |
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| The dense primary subtropical forest of Khasi Hills! |
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| The Bamboo Bridge! — at Mawlynnong, Meghalaya. |
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| Trekking towards the Living Root Bridge |
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| "Living Root Bridge" |
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| Locals busy with their regular activities |
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| The trekking trail further continues to the eco-friendly sky walk further ahead |
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| The trek continues! |
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| Break mid way |
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| Beautiful house of the Khasi people |
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| Simplicity at it's best! |
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| This kid blew our mind with his dancing skills! |
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| Sky Walk - at Mawlynnong, Meghalaya. |
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| Not exactly sure but it seems that the other hill is in Bangladesh |
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| Khasi Kids |
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| Nature always wears the colors of the spirit. |
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| Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light - Theodore Roethke |
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| The tired Travelers |
After a great trek, we had lunch at a shop in the village and headed for Dawki, a town on the border of Indian and Bangladesh. The journey to Dawki is an idyllic hill drive takes you to the suspension bridge over the Umngot River, which is the most notable place of interest there. The pristine water of the Umngot River simply adds a unique charm to the surrounding’s beauty. A long boat ride in the Umngot River is something that no one should miss at any cost. After a nice day trip to Mawlynnong and Dawki, we returned back to Shillong and called the day off after dinner.
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| India-Bangladesh Border. View of the town of Tamabil in Bangladesh - at Dawki, India. |
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| Serenity! - Umngot River, Dawki. |
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| Dawki Bridge |
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| Boating in Umngot River |
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| Fishing in Umngot River |
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| After a mesmerizing boat ride |
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| During sunset |
Among the six of us, two left the next day morning as they had to catch their return train from Guwahati. The rest of us four, arranged for a cab and left for Cherrapunji (Sohra) after breakfast. For me, this time visit to Cherrapunji was not that worthy. The place was all dried and rough! It didn’t rained there for days, probably months and all the famous waterfalls were dried up with no or negligible water streams. Within 6-7 hours we covered almost all the places of interest and returned back to Shillong. On reaching Shillong, our cab driver arranged for a different cab that dropped us back to Guwahati by evening.
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| On our way to Cherrapunji (Sohra) |
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| The dried out Wah Kaba waterfalls! - at Cherrapunjee (Sohra). |
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| Ramakrishna Mission, Cherrapunjee |
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| Picturesque landscape of the Scotland of East! |
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| No matter how old you grow, the child inside always stays young! |
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| Dry Cherrapunji! |
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| Colorful Lake |
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| Can't believe this is the Seven Sister Water Falls! - at Cherrapunjee (Sohra). |
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| Towards the entry of the Mawsmai Cave, Cherrapunji. |
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| Mawsmai Cave entrance |
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| Algae formation inside the cave |
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| Amazing rock formations inside cave! |
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| Caving! |
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| Natural architecture! - at Mawsmai Cave, Cherrapunji. |
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| End to a wonderful journey! |
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| There's never one sunrise the same or one sunset the same - Carlos Santana |
Though, people say that you can visit Meghalaya during any time of the year, but I personally felt that, if you want to see the real beauty of this place, then you should pay a visit here during the monsoon!
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