Tezpur to Shillong is around 250kms. We took the route via Naogaon. At some stretches, the road was horrible, while it was like a glide in some other stretches. It's around 160km from Tezpur to Jorabat where from the road takes the diversion towards Shillong. It takes 3 hours to reach Jorabat - there we took the Shillong road. Till quite a distance, the left side of the road belonged to Assam while the right side belonged to Meghalaya! People cross state whenever they cross the road!
It started getting interesting right after Jorabat as we started moving up the Shillong hills. It was a bright sunny day - Suparna was a little sad as Meghalaya without Megh (cloud) doesn't sound good!
While on the go, what mesmerized me most was the
variety of greenery around. It's spring time here. The famous fall colors of distant USA looked a little dull compared to these pines, ferns and not-so-famous greens, reds, yellows and browns. People generally take a little break near Nongpu. There is a bus depot there and snacks etc are available. However we thought of continuing at a stretch to reach early.
But we
had to stop at Badapani - the clouds and their shadows over the huge lake pulled me (& my camera) out of the car. The local name is Umiam Lake. We are just 12 kms away from Shillong and it is drizzling.
Suparna's aunt stays at Shillong - near Rhino point. That helped us a lot. Bijan (her cousin) had already arranged for our stay at Stay Inn Guest House near Police Bajar. It's a cozy little hotel with wooden floor and roofs (well, that was a criteria for me). It is raining a little harder now and we are worried if we have to be in the hotel itself for the rest of the day. However Bijan assured us that it will clear up soon - just like any other day in Shillong.
Since its already 4, and it gets dark early in the hills, we thought of wrapping things up quickly. Ward's lake is near the Police Bajar only - its just 10 minutes away from the hotel we are in. Once the cloud started getting cleared up, we decided to move - along with the umbrellas.
Please bring your set of umbrellas to Shillong whenever you are travelling - irrespective of the season, you are going to get a splash of rain at any time of the year.
Ward's lake is one of the most well maintained hillside lake - one of the reasons being there is low footfall compared to Nainital or Kodaikanal. Also the authorities are very particular about the cleanliness here. The picturesque lake would surely have featured in many hollywood blockbusters had it not been in NorthEast India. The tiny microphones hidden in the shrubs were delivering an unknown song to the ether. The sound waves were dancing with the droplets of rains which were still there on the air and the petals and they touched the clouds roaming around - along with us. If you have time to spare from the I-bank blues and net worth losses, you might like to take along a gulp of freshness from the wet greeneries. Take a few moments from your busy life - and get drenched with the calmness here. Don't blame me if you suddenly start questioning the very purpose of life.
Shillong is a small little town - if you take a walk around Police Bajar and Ward's lake, you would bump against almost all the important landmarks within half an hour itself - Rajbhaban, Secretariat, Assembly, BSNL house, Chief Minister's bungalow etc. But we were not interested in any of them ;-)
It's getting dark - lets call it a day. We are now heading towards Aunt's place. 90% of the cabs here are Maruti800 cars or Maruti Alto cars. Earlier it used to be good-old-Amby. However times are a changing.
Funny part is we returned from Aunt's place at 830 PM and thought lets take an early dinner at 9 itself. However when we ventured out, we found that its
too late for Shillong. We had a tough time in finding out a food joint at 9!
BTW we have already booked our tickets for Cherrapunjee via MTDC agents. They have a office near Police Bajar 7 point crossing and they charge Rs. 200 per head for the Cherrapunjee package in a 34 seater bus. We thought of going for the bus instead of cars because of language barrier. However hold on for the Cherrapunjee details - it would come in the next post. For the sake of continuity lets skip a day and roam around the rest of the Shillong in this post itself.
So we are on 4th April now. 3rd April needs to wait a little longer.
Initially we had thought of making it to Shillong peak and Elephant falls only and then start for Guwahati by 12. But our tour actually continued much longer.
We started off with Shillong peak. The area is under Indian Air force amidst huge security. All cars getting into the area needs to take the permission and keep it visible. Trespassers are not guaranteed of their life (and that is actually
written in the main gate!). It was a little early at 8 - the shops were yet to open. The view was good - but not great actually.
Our next stop is Elephant Falls. The road heading to the falls might remind you many a shots of your favorite Bollywood hero's flirting with the heroine. A park has come up next to the falls - but we were too early at 9. The park was not open yet.
Elephant Falls
Elephant Falls
Elephant Falls
There was a shop put up the local Khasi girls renting the tribal cloths. Pay Rs 50, try the cloths and take a few snaps. You will have fun when you are back home.
This is the house near Rilbong where Rabindranath Tagore used to stay and had penned Raktakarabi. Presently it is not with the Tagore family though.
The golf ground of Shillong is also a must see. Its the second largest one in Asia - dont ask me which one is the biggest. But the beauty is breathtaking. The undulating grounds, the pines, the greens, and the clouds touching your face - I wish I could stay there for the entire day.
Some info here: http://www.holidayiq.com/destinations/Shillong-Know.html
Monoliths at the Golf Ground. You will find these monoliths everywhere in Meghalaya - they are sacred to the localites.
The road in between the ground
The Golfer
If you are in Shillong, Cathedral of Mary Help of Christians must be there in your places-to-visit. The arches, glassworks and the ambience is surely going to mesmerize you.
I liked one more Cathedral near the Police Bajar - the All Saints Cathedral. While strolling in the evening, peep into it. You would be surprised to see that 80% of the audience is in teens and are strumming guitars while praying to the almighty.
In between we had also gone for Biddon & Bishop falls. The area is less travelled by tourists these days - however our cabbie was confident enough to show us that one also. The last on the list was Sweet falls. Its a little out of Shillong town - its in the Happy Valley. Shillong being a base of Army and Airforce in the north east, you would frequently come across the men in uniform - the road to Sweet falls goes through the Army area also.
The best part of sweet falls was - there was no one around. It was only 4 of us. You can get a view of the entire fall of 97m.
We have roamed around Shillong for 6 hours by now - and we are a little tired. Its 230 now. Lets have our lunch in a local dhaba and start for Guwahati. We found a WagonR in the Police Bajar Taxi stand - it takes Rs 750 to get you to Guwahati from Shillong irrespective of the type of the cab.
But wait - I am yet to tell you the story of Cherrapunjee.
