A short trip to Meghalaya (May'18)

Path leading to Nongriat Village

A short trip to Meghalaya (May'18)

North East has not been explored much, at least not by any chance by the Gujju community, who are avid travelers. And it thus is a mystery in some way, since even though one knows how scenic it is, the tourism hasn't been that much as compared to other mountain states of India.And from my experience here, the states I visited are totally safe, as opposed to the doubt of terrorist, people had about this part of India. Mountains, unexplored, less tourist flow, and plethora of opportunities to new things, brought me to the north eastern part of India. Meghalaya accommodated the 2nd part of trip in NE. I had just finished my Basic Mountaineering Course from Arunachal Pradesh, and needed to relax for few days. The hard days were behind me and it was time to sit back and enjoy. 

Meghalaya, one of the seven sister states, is the most visited tourist destination among them. Know for the amount of rain it receives, particularly places like Cherrapunji (now known as Sohra) and Mawsynram. It is actually Mawsynram which is the wettest place on Earth, not Sohra. It rains throughout the year over here, thus you would find the place lush green year round. 

Day 1

I started from Guwahati, and took a shared cab (200 Rs) from Paltan Bazaar, Guwahati and headed off for Shillong. We were in a group of four. The plan was to not stay back in the capital and head straight towards Cherrapunji, which is now called as Sohra. From the capital, we hired a private taxi till Sohra (1200 Rs, while shared cab charges 70-100 Rs). On our way we stopped nearby the Sohra Valley View Point and had a delicious lunch (130 Rs) at a local joint by the name Bahrit Cafe.

Lunch at Bahrit Cafe

We reached Sohra by 4pm, went downhill from the town centre to find a homestay. On the way we met one more of our BMC batch mate, who joined along with us. After some searching, we finalized on, a homestay called Embrace Homestay, which had double beds and charged us total 1500 Rs.

Sohra is located on the hills of East Khasi range. The tree cover is minimal, it rains plenty and remains cloudy most of the time. The visibility in the morning some days is so less due to the clouds  that once can hardly see more than a few meters. But the driving by the locals is good even in these conditions. 

Day 2
The plan for the day was to move to Nongriat Village, which has the Double Root Bridge and visit the Rainbow Falls which is nearby to it.

A taxi had been booked for the morning ride to Nongriat drop off point. After an early breakfast, we took off for the village. The cab charged 400 Rs. The walk from the drop of point to the village is a good 1-2 hour downhill (3000 steps so they say). The steps are small, thus one has to be careful.

The first village you come across when you reach at the bottom, has the longest living root bridge. It is on the right way to the path leading to Nongriat village. This bridge from all, I found to be in the most original state, since it is all natural and there hasn’t been any extra rods use to support it. Also the rush over here is almost nil. Do not forget to go here. Crossing the bridge you come across a cave. Since we had rucksacks, we dropped them on the side. The cave entrance is a thin crack, in which one needs to squeeze himself in. We went in a few meters, found a block path and plenty of bats. Not wanting to take any chances, we came out. 

Longest Living Root Bridge

In the cave with the bats

After that, we were on our way back to Nongriat village, which takes another 15mins from that bridge. Nongriat village has few options for accommodation, when you enter the village you come across few homestays, which I’d recommend one to go, since we chose a guest house across the double root bridge, and wasn’t a great experience there. I recommend to avoid it. The reviews of the Serene homestay on the right, when you enter the village, and has a café as well, are very positive

When you come across the double root bridge, there is a small waterfall over there and a pool nearby the bridge. Before going to our stay, we chilled around there and had a dip in the pond below it. We headed off to Rainbow Falls from there The initial place was to go to Nokhalikhai Falls, at its bottom where the pond forms, but lack of time, unable to find a route and tiredness let us to skip that one. Perhaps for next time. It is also the highest falls of India. On the way we crossed few more root bridge as well as some scary steel bridge. It takes an hour from the village to reach the falls. On the way, just after crossing a steel bridge, you’ll come across a root bridge. On the left you’ll see a small path leading all the way to the top of aboulder. The view from up there is worth it. Good post to take some nice photos. It's slippery though, so be careful there. When we reached at Rainbow Falls it was only us. To come across such a beautiful water fall and have it all for yourself, how lucky can one be. The water falls over a boulder, and one can climb on that with the help of stair kept over there. It's quite risky though . There is a small hut near the falls which serves snacks including Eggs and Maggi. I decided to head back to the village, while some of us decided to stay back to take the chance to go down and take a dip, which one of us actually did. And he also climbed the huge boulder in the pond as well. Bravo.

I went back to the village in order to find something proper to eat, but unfortunately couldn’t find anyone serving meat, when was actually surprising since in Meghalaya, meat is a part of daily diet. So for dinner all we could muster was Dal, Rice and Aloo. Since it was pre-monsoon, the mosquitoes  were in huge number, and they made the sleep that night miserable for us. So do carry Odomos with you. 

Double Root Bridge

Pineapple Plant at Nongriat Guest House

On our way to Rainbow Falls

Rainbow Falls

Day 3

The climb back up was tiring, since we had the rucksack and had to climb all those 3000 stairs. Everyone was up there in two hours. We decided not to stay back and head back to Shillong. We did not visit the caves and the Nokhalikhai View Point, leaving it for the next time.

We were just about to depart for Dawki, when we came to know that one guy had forgotten his camera back Sohra. So we had to stay back in Shillong for the day, at a place called Isabella Hostel. I had a freak injury on the way, which took up the rest of my day nursing it. While two of the guys hired a bike, and went to Sohra to try and find the camera, which fortunately they were able to get back.

Day 4

2 of us left back for Gauhati, and the rest 3 of us departed for Dawki (150 Rs each). Since it was pre-monsoon, there wasn’t much to see at Dawki. It is located at the border of India and Bangladesh. It is known for its crystal clear water body. But not during monsoon months. Also there was some work going on from the Bangladesh side, and the river had become quite narrow and was dried up at a lot of places. Disappointing I must say. People who visited here before monsoon had given a positive review about this place, but I found it disappointing. We decided to leave the place, and hired a private taxi (400 Rs total) which took us for a visit to the Indo-Bangla border and then to Shnongpdeng. Shnongpdeng is located 10km from Dawki, and is a river side camping village. It is a very beautiful place, and one would wonder how serene it would look during the winter months, when the river is in full flow, cool climate and no harassment of the mosquito, which were plenty over here as well.

We stayed at a camp site nearby, which charged us 1000 Rs total. Took a dip into the river and chilled nearby the campsite drinking beer and rum till everyone got sleepy.

Since someone had died in the village, the water sports activity were shut down for the day. Also one can enjoy fishing over there. Recommended to stay for at least 2 days.

Shnongpdeng River Side

Day 5

Due to lack of time and budget, we had to return back to Shillong that day.

This was my fairly short stay in Meghalaya, which was sweet and nice, but the mosquitos got the better of me, and it made it quite irritating. Recommended to visit during winters. There are plenty of waterfalls in the state and places like Mawlynnong and Mawsynram, yet to visit.

Over to next time in some winter, with more places to discover and visit in Meghalaya.