Shillong - October Vacation. Phase III

October 21 – 28, 2017

In this, the third and final leg of our vacation, we planned to visit some places in the NE of India, namely, Shillong (Meghalaya) & Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh), but this was one of those times when life doesn’t go as planned.

Day 1. October 21. Off to Shillong

To begin with, our flight from Kolkata to Shillong was cancelled on account of poor visibility and heavy rain in Shillong. Five hours later, Air India transferred us on to a flight to Guwahati (Assam) from where we were driven to Shillong by road (all expenses paid by the airline). The airline did handle the matter in the best way they could, and, even though they have a lot to work on, the Air India flights have comfortable seats with ample leg room. And I’ve always found their interiors very warm and inviting with the saffron and red upholstery.

By the time, we did get to Shillong, it was time for dinner. Apparently, as I learnt in the next few days, days in the NE begin very early. The sun comes out to play a little before 5am (life in Shillong begins four hours later) and goes to bed around half past four in the evening. Once here, you’d better plan for dinner out really early or make dinner arrangements with the place you’re staying in. Everything in Shillong shuts by 9pm. All sound ceases and you’ll find yourself surrounded by darkness and silence. 
Shillong also has a major traffic problem and you might just find yourself stuck behind a long line of vehicles for quite some time. Roads are in goood condition, but very narrow. Traffic personell are alert and do their job as well as they can, but beware of corrupt officials. Not knowing our way around, we happened to enter into a lane not meant for tourist vehicles. For this we were asked to pay a fine of Rs.500 and the traffic constable blatantly refused to provide us with a reciept for the same.

We checked in at a pretty little B&B called ‘Sunrise Guesthouse’. The place looks like one of those  log-cabins we used to see in magazines. Rooms are fairly clean and come equipped with the usual television and electric kettle.

There is, however, no Wi-Fi and bathroom fittings are rather basic. The manager and the cook are quite gracious and helpful. No sooner had we checked-in, than we were served a simple, yet delicious dinner that consisted of steamed rice, fish curry and vegetable.

The guesthouse is right in the middle of a small cluster of very pretty cottages, each of which has a lot of the following two things – lace curtained windows and flowering plants. The sight is really beautiful, especially early in the morning.

The complementary breakfast at Sunrise Guesthouse includes eggs, toast with butter/jam, parathas and pulses, and coffee/tea. Having had our fill, we first spent some time working on our plan for the next few days. We had already lost a day in Shillong on account of the flight being cancelled and, if we stuck to our original plan, we had just one day in Shillong before driving out to Tawang, a good 2-day journey by road. After much deliberation, we dropped Tawang off our itinerary and decided to spend the next few days exploring Shillong.

Day 2. October 22. Ward’s Lake.

Today we explored Shillong on foot. Our hotel manager found that quite unbelievable because, in Shillong, everything is either uphill or downhill and most city-dwellers aren’t up for the long and tiring walk, but we enjoyed our selves. With the help of Google Maps we made our way to a popular shopping area of town, Police Bazaar, commonly known as simply ‘PB’.

As it was a Sunday, almost all shops were shut and there wasn’t much for us to explore. But PB was still crowded with locals going about their daily business of life. Women here wear something that I found quite interesting. It’s called a ‘jainsem’. I did want to buy one, but never got around to doing it.

Soon, it was time for lunch and for that we went to a gem of a restaurant called Café Shillong (Don Bosco, Laitumkhrah). The meals we had here are by far the best we’ve had in Shillong. It’s cozy, the service is good and the food is yummy!

If you want to enjoy some live music, head to Café Shillong on Sunday evenings. We had such a good experience here that we dined often at this really great restaurant.

Post lunch, we walked towards Ward’s Lake, a very picturesque and beautiful park. The entry fee for adults is Rs.20 and there’s an additional charge of Rs.20 for a camera pass. Once in, I was quite amazed by the maintenance of the park. Everything was clean and well organized. We went off towards the boathouse and proceeded to enjoy the next half hour paddling around on the lake (Rs.100).

A few minutes into our relaxing boat ride it began to rain lightly and as we hurriedly paddled to back to the boathouse we saw a rainbow. I was thrilled as it’s been ages since I’d seen one.

Day 3. October 23. We go to the Sacred Forest.

Deciding to hire a self-driven car for the duration of our stay in Shillong, we were happy with the vehicle we got. Most cab services here do not provide self-driven cars, so we considered ourselves quite lucky to have found one (Mr.Kishan #9856214242). We had absolutely no problem with the vehicle at all and it also gave us the freedom to stop/go wherever we wanted. But, before we went out for the day, we had to shift to Kaizun Bed & Breakfast (Lower Lachaumiere, near Passport office. http://www.kaizun.co/ ) our accommodation for the next four days.

Apart from the tricky parking situation, Kaizun B&B is excellent in every respect. The rooms are named for various flowers (ours was Azalea) and they are spacious, comfortable and just, well, the best. Breakfast is complimentary and the breakfast buffet is laid out in the dining area on the ground floor. The hotel staff is very friendly, helpful and polite. We’d say the Kaizun B&B is the best place to stay when in Shillong.

 For our first expedition on four wheels we drove to Mawphlang (2hrs from Shillong) to trek through the Sacred Forest (also known as Law Lyngdoh). Strangely, there’s not much mentioned about these groves in the guide books, but once you get here you get to understand why Shillong is called the ‘Scotland of the East’.

All rolling hills, fluffy white clouds, cool breeze….Wow! Now, there are some rules to follow here. These Sacred Groves have been used for various tribal/religious ceremonies and must be treated with utmost respect. One cannot litter or pluck leaves/flowers etc in the Sacred Grove.

The flat stone represents the matriarch of the family while the three vertical stones represent the oldest uncle and nephews

It is mandatory to have a guide along with you when you visit the grove. Our guide was a young man named Ban (pronounced ‘bun’), a member of the Lyngdoh tribe. He was able to tell us much of the tribal rituals and beliefs, various trees, flowers and fruits as well as the significance of Sacred Groves. 

Ban was polite, spoke English quite well and, we’d say, he did his job really well. (Ban #9615884289) We had an enjoyable two hours exploring the wooded wonderland before driving back towards Shillong for a very late lunch at Bamboo Hut. The beverages are good and the meal portions are also good, but beware of too many peas in what’s meant to be fried rice.

Day 4. October 24. Cherapunjee.

After a restful night at Kaizun, we set out on a long drive for Cherapunjee. Once said to be the wettest place on earth, today Cherapunjee is known for its natural caves and beautiful waterfalls. We wanted to see the Nohsngithiang Falls, commonly known as the Seven Sister Falls (315 mtrs). Located near the Mawsmai village in the East Khasi hills, this is one of the tallest waterfalls in India. Now, this is what the waterfalls normally look like…

image sourced from the internet

and this is what we saw.

Meghalaya is not the ‘Abode of the Clouds’ for nothing. We were walking and driving through the clouds and it was nothing less than a heavenly experience.

Lunch was about 30kms away at Café Cherapunjee, a restaurant that looks like a stone cabin straight out of somewhere in Europe.

From there it was straight to Elephant Falls, a popular tourist spot of Meghalaya. There is a walkway for tourists that lead you from the top of the falls right down to the base. 

En route to Shillong, hidden behind a grove of pine trees, there’s the ML05 Café. It’s a good place to stop a while and relax. They have a varied menu, lots of options in beverages and good music. When packed, service can be a bit slow, but it’s a nice place to take a break after all that driving. 

This had been a long and eventful day and although we were tired we did want to try out a restaurant rated quite well online. This was when we learnt something important about driving around in Shillong. A 5 minute drive and turn to a 15 minute drive in no time at all. The streets are all winding around everywhere and there are almost no streetlights or street markers anywhere in Shillong. So, both literally and figuratively, you’re driving blind. And that’s even scarier because there are so many sharp turns and the streets are too narrow to be used as two-way streets. Even with Google Maps to assist us we kept going around in circles. Needless to say, we didn’t get to where we were going and had to hop into the one restaurant that just happened to be open. (Did I mention earlier that life ends by 9pm here in Shillong?)

Day 5. October 25. Dawki and Mawylnnong.

Once again we set out to explore another of the gems that Meghalaya has to offer. Two hours away, winding around the mountain, right at the border of the Indian sub-continent, is the river Dawki. It separates India from Bangladesh and although we’re not allowed to cross over into ‘foreign territory’, we on the Indian side can enjoy a spot of boating on the emerald waters. What draws visitors to Dawki are the near crystal clear waters.

It almost seems like the boats are floating above the sparkling waters. Do remember, stepping out on Bangladeshi shores is not permitted, but you can see their tourists standing on the shore or clicking pictures atop the ‘zero-point rock’ that marks the boundary between Indian and Bangladeshi waters.

Our next stop was about an hour away at the village of Mawylnnong, said to be the cleanest village in Asia. Yes, it is a very well-organized village wherein each house has a little garden and clean courtyard and although I did think it was clean, I’m not sure I’d call it the cleanest.

The village square is where we stopped to enjoy a simple, home-cooked meal before browsing through the many stalls selling local goods.

A few minutes away from the village is something you really must see, the Living Bridge, a bridge of roots and earth. Very fascinating!

This trip was interesting and later, for dinner, we did manage to find our way to City Hut Dhaba, a restaurant rated quite high on travel forums. It was quite crowded and we had to wait a while before we could be seated and place our order.

Sadly, in spite of all the hype about this place, the fare is just average (Café Shillong is so much better) and there are almost no beverages on the menu. Not a place I would visit again.

Day 6. October 26. Don Bosco Heritage Museum.

This morning we drove over to the Don Bosco Center for Indigenous Cultures (entry charge Rs.100 for adults and an additional 100 for a camera pass). The entire exhibit is spread across seven stories that speak of the various cultures that make up the beauty of NE India.

There is also a short AV presentation that showcases the cultural diversity of our North Eastern states. What’s commendable is how the Salesians have paid attention to detail and use of technology. Even the lights work on sensors, so any room with no one inside, is absolutely dark. No sooner does someone enter the room than everything lights up until you’re ready to exit the room. What I liked best was the ‘skywalk’ created on the rooftop. It actually allows you to walk all around the roof and admire the view of Shillong spread out all around, far below. 

 Back on the ground, we stopped for coffee at a really cutesy looking restaurant called ‘Three Little Birds’. What’s quaint about this is that the entire place just oozes of Bob Marley….and it serves great coffee in colorful paper cups. 

Lunch was at Qzine, another of the restaurants that have great ratings online. Located right in the middle of the busy Police Bazaar, this restaurant has a lot to offer but we found the food to be super oily. For desert I chose ‘toffee walnut with vanilla’ and what I got was a bowl full of huge walnuts, a scoop of vanilla ice-cream and lots of chocolate sauce.  Again, Café Shillong is better.

We spent the rest of the evening walking around Police Bazaar, looking for anything we could buy to take back home. Sadly, the markets are full of vendors selling everything but local goods. I was looking forward to buying some tribal jewelry or garments, but I was sorely disappointed. There is another market the locals call Bara Bazaar. It’s always very crowded and more like a wholesale market where locals might go to stock up on vegetables, meat, electrical goods etc. It’s a complete madhouse in Bara Bazaar. 

Day 7. October 27. Mawsynram 
65 kilometers away from Shillong is the village of Mawsynram, reportedly the wettest place on Earth (this title, until most recently, was held by Cherapunjee) The drive to Mawsynram takes around 2 hours and the road takes you past many little villages with little toy-town dwellings. They’re small, but as pretty as a picture. 

Mawsynram itself is situated right atop the hill and although fairly large, there’s nothing to do here but look at the many houses, watch school kids go by and drive back to Shillong. At the foothills, we stepped into a solitary restaurant standing by the side of the road.

The boy at the counter presented us with a heavy menu, but all it contained was a single sheet with a few items on it, most of which were unavailable. We settled for a bowl of noodles and some coffee (total cost, Rs.130) before moving on, stopping next only at Café Shillong for a late lunch.

Today, we moved into another B&B, just for one night (Tomorrow we leave for Mumbai). For our last night in Shillong, we chose the Highwinds Hotel, situated beside Lady Hydari Park. Although it has been given fairly good ratings on some travel forums, we were very disappointed with the place for many reasons.

·        The place had not been swept at all. The cupboard door had fallen off as had the window curtain. The bathroom tiles were cracked and loose at many places, and the electric kettle was grimy looking.

·      Room service, when called for, just turns the doorknob and walks right into the middle of the room. This is terrible! Why, the chap once even walked into the room, stood by the bed and asked whether we had called him for anything! We hadn't. 

The food, however, is quite good and tasty, and the bed is comfortable enough to give you a good night's sleep. 

We spent the evening packing for our return to Mumbai the next day, October 28. As stated earlier, there wasn’t anything different to buy from Shillong, but I did pick up a few woven bags and a knitted skirt. That’s it! All packed now and ready to head back home.

Pics by Misha