Thursday, September 1, 2011

Meghalaya - Abode of Clouds

If you love rain and want to see its magnificence, you must visit Meghalaya and that too in the rainy season. The state has some amazing and wonderful places which are really worth seeing. As name suggests, it is really the home of clouds.

Meghalaya - Abode of Clouds

We visited Shillong, Cherrapunji, Mawsynram, Nartiang village and Mawlynnong village in Meghalaya. We took a flight to Guwahati from Kolkata and from there took a cab to Shillong. Journey between Guwahati and Shillong takes three hours . Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya is one of the largest hills station in India. It is also referred to as ‘Scotland of the East’ due to its similarity with the Scottish highlands. Our first day went in exploring the main market of Shillong which is known as Police Bazaar. I was really surprised to see the crowd as I didn’t expect the city to be so populated. The traffic is also too much.
 
Shillong - Police Bazaar

We booked a cab for next few days, for sightseeing. Second day, we explored Cherrapunji. It is second wettest place on the Earth, first being Mawsynram. Our driver told us that the climate of Cherrapunji is unpredictable and changes frequently with rainfall starting abruptly anytime. Local people call Cherrapunji as ‘Sohra’. Cherrapunji was named by Britishers who mispronounced Sohra as Churra. On our way to Cherrapunji, we stopped at a bridge which connects Shillong with Cherrapunji. There  lies a view point called Mawkdok valley or Duwan Sing Syiem view point. The view from there is really awesome.

Mawkdok Valley

Our next stop was Ramkrishna Mission. There is a museum, a temple and a school inside the mission. The surrounding areas are lush green and worth noticeable.

Ramkrishna Mission
Surrounding areas of Ramkrishna Mission

It was a sunny day, until we reached the Nohkalikai falls. The whole area was covered with fog and we could hear the roaring sound of the falls. Nohkalikai falls is said to be one of the tallest waterfalls in India with a height of 1100 metres but we could see nothing. It was cloudy and started raining as soon as we left the place. Our next stop was Eco park.

Waterfalls at Eco Park


Eco Park is really a beautiful place. The Eco Park has paved pathways leading to edge of the canyon. The view from the edge of the canyon is one of the most scenic made up by the waterfalls. There is also small closed fall called Missing waterfalls. On the other side of the Eco park, is a view point from where the plains of Bangladesh are visible. To reach there, we had to cross a bridge but as soon as we reached the bridge, wind started blowing with heavy rain. We weren’t able to control our umbrella. As we got drenched, we went back to our cab. I enjoyed getting wet and thought it is good to get wet at a place which holds the record of second wettest place on Earth.

Eco Park
View from the bridge
View from the Eco Park
Missing Waterfalls

Our next stop was the Nohsngithiang falls, also called Seven Sister waterfalls. The rain had stopped but clouds were all over the sky making the view picturesque.

Nohsngithiang Falls 

Near to the falls is Motrop, also known as ‘Khoh Ramhah’ or ‘Giant’s Basket’. It is an impressive structure in shape of a giant cone.

Motrop

From Motrop, we went to Thangkharang Park. The park houses a bird sanctuary and proffers a fabulous view of the plains of Bangladesh and Kynrem falls.

Thangkharang Park
View of the plains of Bangladesh from Thangkharang Park
Kynrem Falls 

Last destination in Cherrapunji was the Mawsmai cave. It is a limestone cave and well lit.  It was fun to walk inside the cave. Half of the time we had to bend and walk. Some other tourists were also there. As we were walking, suddenly lights went off. All of us were scared. After a minute or so, lights came and we rushed to find our way out. It was total fun.

Mawsmai Cave

I will talk about other beautiful places of Meghalaya in my next post. But this trip to Cherrapunji was definitely one of the most memorable trips I ever had.

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