Thursday, 5 October 2023

 

Thursday morning yet again saw most of us getting up to an alarm set at 6:00 AM. It was time to bid adieu to Cherrapunjee & return to Shillong. That meant a long drive and that too with a couple of sight-seeing scheduled enroute.

Mac had indicated a tentative time of 8:30 AM to board the bus and start our drive back to Shillong. After a comfortable bath & sumptuous breakfast the voyagers assembled for a group foto with the home stay in the background.

The drivers of the 2 vehicles promptly requested for a group foto of the voyagers along with the home stay staff - with the home stay resort & the 2 buses in the background.

 

 

We boarded the buses and managed to start our drive by 8:45 AM. The climate was pleasant. It started drizzling making the climate slightly colder. 

Our first halt was the Elephant waterfalls. This was situated at a distance of around 55 kms from the cherrapunjee resort where we stayed for the past 2 nights & it took us around two and half hours to reach this place. By now it had started raining moderately & the voyagers had to pull out their umbrellas and/or rain jackets. This seemed to be a popular water fall. It consisted of 3 layers of water falls and was accessible from different viewpoints. The first fall is wide and is hidden behind trees. The second one seemed to have some turbulence & the third one is very wide and clearly visible, flows like a milky sheet. However, to reach the third stage one had to climb down around a hundred stairs, which was worth it. Probably because it was raining when we visited, the falls looked filled with water unlike the seven sister’s waterfall. Also, the stairs were uneven & in some places slippery.

 

 

 

At this point, one of the voyagers, Beena, had to curtail her trip & had to return to Mumbai due to an emergency in her immediate family. Luckily, her travel agent could arrange the tickets immediately.

 

Our next halt was at the Don Bosco Museum. This was not just a museum but was a place where I could see and experience the lifestyle, occupation, attire and a whole lot of other aspects about the local tribal society. The museum itself was an imposing 7 storey structure which has a must-see sky walk which gives one a 360-degree view of the Shillong city.

 

The museum had several galleries in the 7 storeys such as musical instrument gallery, culture gallery, language museum, ornaments gallery, art gallery, culture gallery, costume gallery, weapons gallery, fishing / hunting gallery & several other galleries which I could not remember now. 

 

  

 

Most galleries have a touch screen facility where the visitors can get to know more about these aspects.

One gallery which I found very interesting was the “Our neighbour’s gallery” which showcases the neighboring countries surrounding the North East of India – namely Nepal, Bhutan, China, Tibet, Myanmar & Bangladesh. 

The museum had a small theater where visitors could view an 8-minute video. A few members from our group missed the video. Seeing the video before starting the tour of the museum made sense to me, as we were getting a fair idea of what was in store.

Mac had planned for the voyagers to cover the museum in a systematic manner. Take a lift, go to the top, experience the 360-degree sky walk, see the video & start seeing the galleries one by one as you start descending the stairs. 

The museum had a small shop at which one could buy souvenirs and other local items such shawl/ tea/ turmeric powder, etc
Rutuja had “sanctioned” one hour for the museum visit, but for a person who is genuinely interested in such matters atleast 3 to 4 hours would be required.

After a satisfying hour at the museum, (which ended with many voyagers buying something from the shop) we had lunch at a local hotel & checked into Hotel Centre Point. Geetha & me, and I believe, some of the other voyagers got the same room which was allotted to us earlier when we first checked in to this hotel.

It was time to say good bye to Mac, our friend & local guide of the past 5 days. The voyagers had collected (and handed over) a purse, for Mac & the drivers.

After a relaxed evening, we had our dinner & retired to bed with the sound of a live band coming from the street across the hotel.

Having completed the Black Shrike, I started “Time of the Assassins” a novel by Alastair McNeill based on the outline of a story by Alistair MacLean.

 

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Monday, 2 October 2023

 

 

The organizers of the Meghalaya tour had packed the first day of sightseeing with lot of activity.

The day begun with breakfast at 7:30 AM in the restaurant. Personally, my preference is (what is popularly referred to as) “Swaminarayan food”. But I had my doubts whether I would be getting this cuisine in this tour. Through out the tour I was on the look out for food items that would suit my requirement, and on several segments of the tour I was glad that I was able to get this.

At 8:00 AM the voyagers boarded the 2 vans to proceed towards the Nohwet Living Root bridge in Riwai river. A local guide Mac joined us. He was to be with us for a major part of our travel in Meghalaya. Mac had immense knowledge about the local customs, traditions, practices which proved invaluable to us to make the most of our trip.

The drive to Riwai village was through bumpy roads. But the scenic beauty that we got to see on the way made us temporarily forget the bad roads. When we reached a particularly beautiful location, the group took a small break for capturing the beauty in mobile cameras! 

 

On reaching our destination we had to climb down around 300 steps to reach the root bridge. A few members had brought trekking poles to navigate through the steps to reach the root bridge.

The Living Root Bridge is a type of simple suspension bridge formed by the method of tree shaping to form living plant roots across a stream or river. The roots are then allowed to grow and strengthen over time. These have been built over centuries by the locals of the land (khasis and jaintias) Meghalaya is said to have several such bridges, one of which we visited today. 

 

 

After viewing this marvel, we boarded the vans to travel to our next destination – Mawlynnong. Mawlynnong is a village in the East Khasi Hills district of the Meghalaya state in North East India. It is notable for its cleanliness and was chosen by Discover India magazine as Asia's cleanest village. This village is called God’s own Garden.

The community in Mawlynnong has been instrumental in maintaining the ambience of this litter-free village.The dwellers of the village take the onus of keeping the place clean, and activities like picking up leaves and throwing garbage in the bin is a very common sight. Bamboo garbage bins adorn every nook and corner of the village, highlighting the consciousness of cleanliness among the villagers. 

We had a leisurely stroll across the village admiring the cleanliness and the benefits that come with it. Beautiful colourful plants adorned the gardens in each of the house. Needless to say, this place too provided ample scope for selfies and photographs. Most group members made the most of this.

 

50plus organisers had arranged for lunch in one of the home stay restaurants. It was simple but nourishing food. Voyagers had option of vegetarian or non-vegetarian cuisine.

Rutuja introduced us to the owner of the place, a young lady who was the youngest daughter of the family & who had inherited the place from her mother. Mac explained that khasis are an ancient tribe & are considered the largest surviving matrilineal culture in the world. The youngest daughter inherits the ancestral property, and the husbands live with their mother-in-law after marriage! Most small businesses are managed by women.

After a simple lunch we boarded the bus for our next destination – Dawki. However, the bus ride was a long one. The distance as per google maps was around 31 kilometres. Enroute, we saw a wire fence which seemed to stretch almost as far as the eye could see. Rutuja mentioned it was the Bangladesh border. Here something weird happened to my mobile. The time in the mobile suddenly surged 30 minutes ahead & I got a message welcoming me to Bangladesh! My mobile service provider was offering international roaming connectivity & offered multiple plans! Our smart watch was showing the time 30 minutes behind what the mobile was showing.

 

 

Before reaching Dawki we managed to visit a waterfall on the way.

By the time we reached Dawki it was 4:45 PM. The plan was to have a boating session of around 45 minutes. Each boat to have 3 passengers. Geetha & myself teamed up with Sitaram and got into a boat. 

 

The Dawki River flows through Dawki, a little town located at the bottom of the Jaintia Hills. It is an unofficial boundary between India & Bangladesh. If one googles Dawki, one gets image & tons of write up about the crystal-clear water. Most images would show boats floating on the surface and the bottom of the water body visible very clearly. But this was not the case when we visited. Apparently, the rains had disturbed the waters & the transparency / translucency was not visible. But the boat ride by itself was immensely enjoyable. By the time our ride got over, the sky had darkened. The voyagers boarded the bus for a long ride back to Centre Point Hotel at Shillong. We reached the hotel by 10:00 PM and had a late dinner.

Next day morning we had to check out of Centre Point at Shillong and drive for Cherrapunji, the wettest place on earth.

Post dinner, I continued with The Black Shrike, but could not do much justice to the gripping story line due to the long day already spent traveling & the early getting up scheduled for the next day.

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