Getting lost in Meghalaya- Solo Weekend trip to Shillong

Monsoon 2018

Another day, where I escaped to Meghalaya- Abode of clouds.

Reached Guwahati, on way visited the Kamakhya temple and then started for Shillong.

Guwahati to Shillong is 3-4 hrs journey. there are countless shared vehicles available from Guwahati station. ( details in end)

since it was monsoon, I got to spot rainbows along the way

Here comes the capital of " abode of clouds"

Somewhere in upper Shillong. I wanted to take a spoon and scoop off some of the clouds to have as ice cream. 😎 I know! my imagination 😂

As I walked along these scheduled paths,

I was in awe with such stunning beauty and

It was crazyy 😍

View from my room in whispering pines

"Hey bro! STOP pacing and take a break"

and who am I to disobey the lords. Took a break

Simple but scrumptious. this was one of the few times when I was surprised with the quality of 'room service' food. I always prefer lunch/ dinner outside but this was worth it

randomly walking along paths in central Shillong, I reached Trattoria to have Jadoh ( traditional khichdi type Khasi food) and jhur kleh. the favour was smoky and delicious. I had it 4 years ago and still remember it being unique and tasty.

Guys, go traditional instead playing safe with north Indian or Bengali food which you can eat at and around home. Trust me, Shillong has wide variety of food ( non veg), from traditional khasi to American inspired cafe, humble steaming momos with piping hot putharo (steamed rice and jaggery, must have) and delectable bakeries

I don't have pics of most of them, because the idea to document these experience came recently

Dinner at Munchies. The best thing about having too much food in any hill station is that you can burn it off by walking home and that's what I did. It was already 9pm, I had packed few stuff and started towards my hotel.

One thing that I loved roaming in Shillong was seeing the freedom and confidence of girls out there. Its a treat to see them on streets walking at 10pm casually which is not so in other parts of our country. girls from other part, do visit here only to feel the aura or empowerment. Its beautiful.

I fell in love with the spot below on my way to hotel and I didn't do justice with my phone camera. its some army camp overviewing the hills on other side, where houses are in sync and glittering like stars.

having only another day to explore Shillong (weekend trip), I booked a taxi for one day to visit Cherrapunji.

we started off at 7am

Our taxi drove through clouds like Ron and harry did in chambers of secret

Had visited Ramkrishna mission, a sweet building cuddled on top of a hill.( pic not posted)

Seven sisters fall ( above pic). There was also a spot from where you can see vast plains of Bangladesh in distance.

It started raining heavily and

Noh-Kalikai, Dain-Thlen and Kynrem waterfalls looked like

this!! I was not sorely disappointed, I'm not a big fan of watching waterfalls from far; but my driver dada was heartbroken for me

Left, right, center everywhere there was heavy fog. leaving the falls, we started for caves.

My friend, Saket and his team had visited the same spot two weeks later. this is what it looks like.

our first stop was Mawsmai Cave

foggy path to ticket counter

with drizzling around us, we entered the cave

Took wrong path ( above pic) and reached dead end

Due to consistent rain, cave was filled with water. we had to pull our jeans above our calves to wade through the water.

This cave is overhyped. you start from one end and you reach the other end within 5 mins, that's all. it might be nice for kids or people visiting with family; I didn't enjoy it. Me and driver dada had some thali and started off for next cave- The Arwah Cave

Then came a point, where I had to choose which way I want to take to cave- Adventurous or Easy one; and I, as usual, went with adventurous (below video at 2.15 min)

and I won't recommend it if you are going solo.

I think from 6.15 in above video, I was getting concerned. nobody was in this route and there was no proper demarcation (in 2017) and maybe due to landslides, the route was blocked with few fallen trees and boulders and in few places there were no visible routes. towards the end, the voices down below me, was like voice of angels. I was so into this that I didn't see that my phone camera has turned upside down.

Assuming this similar to Mawsmai cave, I didn't take any guide and barreled through. MISTAKE. this cave might look unassuming but it was the terrifying one. you have to take a metal stair ( cage ladder) down to reach the landing. the initial portion of cave was well lit,

but after that there was no light. Please excuse the quality of video, it was pitch dark except for few spots with overhead lights. I dived further with my mobile torch and suddenly I found myself alone (again) with no overhead lights and maze.

After seeing and hearing almost nothing around me, I took a selfie 🤷‍♂️😁 to commemorate the moment and was about to turn back when I heard few flapping.

I ventured ahead to see what's happening with my mobile torch. I know its dumb and I don't know what I was thinking. what can I say, I belong to Gryffindor

After 3-4 mins, as I flashed my torch ahead, I almost toppled . in front of me was colony of bats and due to this flash light cauldron of bats flew over me. I was so scared that I didn't know where to run. I stumbled and ran somewhere but found that this route is not which I had passed earlier. I was starting to get in panic mode. there was no light around, can hear no one, had encountered bats a min earlier and god knows what else is there further. I was frantically trying to find the route but met only with impasse of darkness. After 5-6 mins of anxious wandering, I found thick cable line below, in side wall and started following that. taking that as my lifeline, I kept on walking and saw those overhead lamps in distance. then and there I swore that I won't venture anywhere without guide in this trip.

it was already 1pm. I reached the stand where our taxi was waiting and started for living root bridge. after 15 mins I saw that the the posters are showing double decker bridge in opposite direction, on asking the driver, he told that its too late to go now and I won't make it. The only thing I wanted to visit was double decker and am I going to return without that! nope. I asked him to turn around and move toward double decker.

I reached there around 1.45pm and the first thing which I did was- TAKE A GUIDE. though I could see that many of them were going without any but I was yet to recover from Arwah caves. After Hiring 'Fever'-name of guide, I started for living routes.

First we saw single decker living root bridge, then we started for double decker ( the only one in the world)

The above click is of saket

After spending half an hour enjoying the crusading water, I got up to leave for Shillong. Fever told me that there's rainbow fall bit further which would take 40 mins. It was already 3.30pm and it would take 50-60mins to reach stand. since it was late we decided to return.

If you are visiting double decker, try to stay there in homestay for one day. That's the best way to experience the area.

TEAM

can you spot the butterfly??

you will find such spot in few intervals. there are stalls with lemonades and water bottle. please note that as you go down toward living root bridges, the price of everything increases. If you are taking any plastic below, please carry it with you while you leave, don't throw it on way.

parade ground

Reached parking stand at around 5pm

on way to shillong

Back to hotel

What a day it was! though I enjoyed it but I won't want to repeat these again in such short time span. you need min 4-5 days to relish the nature and its wonder.

Ps: I had taken random pics and video in this trip ( in 2017) and had no conscious plan to put this in blog. I have started writing blogs since last month, so please excuse the quality of pics and video. I wanted to share the experience with you guys and hope you enjoyed it.

Notes:

• Book flight to Guwahati. price is comparatively cheaper during August/ monsoon

• You will get AC volvo from airport to guwahati city

• Take shared taxis near Guwahati station, board the ones which are almost full; those will leave earlier. Rs 300- Rs400

• In middle of journey to Shillong, shared taxi will park for 30 mins for food and refreshments. bathroom facilities are doable

• Book hotels/ hostels as per your budget online. try to stay near police bazaar

• There are no public transport other than the black yellow taxi. conversing in their language is pretty challenging. booking a taxi every time you want to travel is expensive affair, will take Rs200 for min distance. so if you're travelling solo rent a scooter/ bicycle (only if you are fit because its hill not flat land).

• You will get shared taxi to upper Shillong. for other areas love your feet

• Avoid getting in taxi s alone after 9pm or 10pm, most of the drivers there are drunk or drugged after 9pm

• Carry your own eco friendly water bottle, its NOT COOL to showoff by buying tons of plastic water bottle and throwing them on way

• Negotiate with any driver for one or two day travel to Cherrapunji. its best if you can rent car or bike. the roads are in superb conditions, easy to navigate unlike that of gangtok or Leh. in 2017, he charged me Rs2000 for whole day (trip to Cherrapunji)

• Though they say that its 3hrs journey to Shillong, consider it as 5-6hrs, due to terrible traffic in few parts of Shillong and esp in Guwahati

• It costed me Rs10,000 for this trip ( including flights)

• Reach Guwahati one day earlier ( late evening will do), try some authentic thalis in Khorika or others. next day visit Umanada temple ( middle of river), Kamakhya and then proceed for flight in evening

• Be a responsible traveler. Be different

Feel free to contact for details or to give suggestion.

Edit courtesy- Saket

Pic courtesy- Driver dada (I cannot recall his name), Fever and Saket

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