It was during my semester exams which stretched almost a month but preparations started much earlier that i got frustated and wanted some calm and peace but obviously life isn't a movie , cannot ditch an exam and go anywhere so decided i will go on a trip just after the exams get over which was on 14th feb.
I thought this will be a breakdown decision and it will go away but no as arnab said the suddenness of this idea ....xDD etc etc,this unplanned trip was not going away from my head.
Inorder to go on a trip you know what's most important? A destination! HahaahxD
Yeah, so i remember a post i saw on Facebook about most unexplored places in North east and one of them was meghalaya.
Yup this was my destination,
Did some ground work about the place hotels etc. In the following days but didn't book any as i was still not sure that this trip can happen as i had shortage of leaves. With all the optimism i picked the date 14th feb for my trip.
Yeah and a major plot twist :- i decided for a SOLO trip and the itinerary unplanned just tickets to reach Guwahati and come back to my college and booked a rental bike from Guwahati.
And just waited for 14th feb, valentine's day for the world and a solo trip for me.
It was all introductory till now but now its time for the details.
My college is in Dharan,Nepal (another beautiful place) and near to west bengal- nepal border siliguri.
To go to Shillong( meghalaya) you have to reach Guwahati first.
Its an overnight journey by train from siliguri to Guwahati.
So on 14th i reached siliguri and had my dinner in the city center.
And then went to New jalpaigudi railway station (its 10 km from siliguri) since all major train route is from NJP .
My train was at 9.30 pm and i would reach Guwahati in the morning 5.30
Well my train arrived and me and my backpack went to the seat and soon fell asleep with multiple alarms :p
I reached Guwahati railway station on time.
Now i had to wait till 8 am for the agency to open from where i had booked my bullet.
(Yup a solo bullet trip in north east)
Till then i used a nearby restaurant to freshen up,they were kind enough to allow me .
I had breakfast and still had 1 hr to kill.
I took this 1 hour to digest that yeah this is happening ,it was not just a vague decision.
I took an auto and reached the agency. ( Regarding the agency (ahija) its in my opinion the best in their service and they were really helpful as i did not like the condition of the bike i booked so they let me choose another one without any problem or hesitation. They have an app which makes it easier to access and use the service)
I chose RE classic 350 ,the one in my DP.
It was all hassle free.
Around 9 i was with my bike, my backpack tied on the back seat.
I was all ready for my trip.
After getting a full tank refueling i was on my highway.
It's an easy to go comfortable ride highway ,so easy that i missed the left turn which i had to take towards Meghalaya and i went on straight after around 20 km i realized why the destination of shillong is increasing inspite of me traveling towards xD then i realized oh i am travelling towards aruanchal pradesh xDD. Then i enquired about the correct route from a local and went back on the correct highway.
For one moment i thought lets go to aruanchal xD but i left it for some other day.
I was not using GPS since the battery was low as i forgot to charge my phone.
Guwahati to Shillong Highway is one of the most beautiful highway i have travelled.
It has all the convenience at regular distance. Even CCD
I stopped at a dhaba for lunch around 11pm and then continued my journey .
Shillong is around 80 km from Guwahati.
I reached shillong around 12 , traffic was heavy that day and there were drizzles too.
The weather was just awesome to ride a bike and enjoy the scenic aesthetics.
I thought to stay in shillong but i have read and saw some videos there was not much things to do in Shillong for me and i am not a shopping freak so decided to skip Shillong and headed towards cherrapunji.
It was all unplanned so all the decisions were made according to my mood. And i wanted to ride more in that weather.
Then i Googled the direction to cherrapunji and saw all the tourist location on the way.
I visited :-
1 Umiam lake ( it comes before entering Shillong)
2- 5 mile cafe
3 Elephant falls
4 some beautiful cafe( i have a terrible memory in terms of remembering name)
5 khasi and garo hills ( exhibiting real meaning of Meghalaya) it was all so cloudy and it was another thrill riding a bullet in that weather
6 into the caves ( naam bhul gye xD)
7 various other waterfalls in the way
8 seven sisters waterfall in cherrapunji ( none of them visible since this is not the month and its all cloudy)
Actually the entire route from Shillong to cherrapunji is scenic and there are various tourist spots.
Meghalaya is called the East Scotland of India
After 7 sisters i decided to look for a hotel or a homestay as it was getting dark and i was tired
Around 6 pm i booked a guest house it was beyond my budget but off season really helped me in many ways ,i got the room in a decent price.
And booked it for 2 days.
Went to room threw my backpack and lied on the bed .
It was little cold out there.
Various lessons learned on the first day i decided to plan my day 2 .
After planing my day 2 i updated my friends and family about the day & i went to have dinner in the guest house restaurant.
Had a good decent meal and was so tired that i dozed off early around 10 pm.
The next morning i woke up around 7 am took warm water bath (thankfully they had geyser), it was cold in the early morning and nights.
And all dressed up with knee gaurd and comfortable shoes toward my today's spots.
Had a good breakfast because i knew today will be a tiring & took no luggage.
1) living root bridge
2) double decker bridge
3) rainbow waterfall
Thankfully all of them are in tyrna village and you have to trek down to these places.
This time i took no risk and asked for directions from the local ( many of them understand hindi and english both).
I was on my bullet with a leather jacket, goggles and half gloves and was riding in the most perfect weather in a most scenic location.
I reached tyrna and parked my bike.
Took a bottle of water & a cane :p (as its a trek down in a jungle)
I did nor hire any guide since i had seen may videos before and they were charging too much and also the way is not that difficult its all steps around 1000 to living root bridge 3500 to double decker bridge and extra 1500 towards rainbow falls.
First i reached the living root bridge.
It's a wonder to look at how humans can coexist with nature so peacefully.
Then went towards double decker bridge, i was the only solo traveller but trust me it was not boring at all, i met so many interesting folks. I am a selectively introvert, but with no one around me that day i left all my hindrances inside and interacted with lot of people,they were all kind.
The descent was good and it did not take much time to reach double decker since maximum of 3500 steps were downstairs.
The double decker bridge - a living wonder.
You have to be there to experience what it is ,such a beautiful example of man and nature co- existence.
After taking a halt i went ahead towards rainbow waterfall.
Okay xD its one of the most difficult trek towards rainbow waterfall and will take some strong will but trust me it's all worth it.
After 1 hour of breathtaking trek i reached some waterfall which was very pretty and people were there so i went there clicked some photograph went in the water then i overheard someone that rainbow waterfall is still 30 min to 1 hour trek form here. I almost cried and laughed at the same time.
But then with all the motivation and will i did my trek to the rainbow waterfall.
I could not feel my legs but when i saw the place,i just sat there in its admiration.
It was 3 pm.
I had to reach back to the guesthouse on the same day ( though you can also stay in homestays near double decker bridge)
I had to trek down around 5000-6000 steps and maximum of the which were upstairs, already tired . Whoa i can still feel the pain in my ankles xD
It took 3.5 hours to reach back to starting place. What a journey it was! Many fellow travellers like me all tired it was almost like ' jor se bolo jai mata dee 'types .
I drove back to my guesthouse . It was around 7.30 pm
What a tiring day but all worth it
I had my dinner and some warm water massage of my feet .
I made my plans for the next day.
Thankfully the next day i was in good health to continue my trip.
Woke up early and had my breakfast.
I had to do some local site seeing including revisiting 7 sisters waterfall,all of them were in a 2 km radius of my guest house ,had to cover them quick as i had go to dawki then head back towards Guwahati as my return Guwahati to NJP train reservation was scheduled at 10.30pm
I know it's hectic right?
You wanna travel with leaves problem,you have to adjust.
I did local site seeing of
7 sister waterfall
Ecopark
And famous mawsmai caves.
Then around 10 am ,headed towards dawki.
The road and way towards dawki is more thriling and had to ride at a higher altitude.
It did not take long to reach dawki and the roads were good, directions were easy.
Upon reaching i could see a river completely green water not so massive and with many boats from above with people both side of the river.
I parked my bike & saw around 200 steps down to reach at the beach.
Almost heartbroken :p but went down and was kinda disappointed that in pictures i have seen much clearer water.
I was thinking all this and a boy came to me and said if i were interested in boating,i was like it will be all same and what's the use and they were charging 1200 per boat be it single person or max 4 person.
But then he told me the real dawki is upstream form here and you have go via boat to experience that. I asked few people and was convinced but then the price was heavy so i asked for some negotiation.
The boat owner agreed upon 500 for a single person. Lucky day it was because i am a very bad negotiator.
Then man who was rowing the boat knew good hindi so we had a chat about the place how strange dawki is ( it is one of the funniest borders one can imagine between india and Bangladesh) the other side of the river was Bangladesh and there were Bangladeshi that side. You need to be present their to understand what i am saying xD.
Indians were waving at them ,they were waving at us.
But the real charm was when we went little upstream and what i saw was the real dawki river which i have seen in the photos .Such clear water that boats appeared to be floating in air.
Situated in Between jaintia and khasi hills ,its one of the tourist gem present in india.
Recently i saw one video song of Jubin Nautiyal 'meri aashiqui' which is shot in the same place,i felt so good that i have visited this place.
We came back from where we started the boating after a full round, the boat entered bangladesh for few minutes in order to make a turn,i travelled a different country without passport xD
This was the end of my trip.
It was 2pm and i had to ride almost 200 km back to Guwahati.
Since the roads were good i had no doubt about covering it.
Reached Shillong at 4.
Went to a restaurant at a view point for lunch,took rest for half an hour and headed towards Guwahati.
I reached at 7 in the city ,but got lost due to some road diversion due to construction .
Though reached ahija on time to return the bike as it had to be done before 8 pm.
They checked the bike and it was all fine.
I had my dinner in KFC which was just nearby.
I was tired no doubt, but it was worth it.
I came to the railway station.
My train was on time.
Lying down on my seat just awestruck by all the natures beauty,my trip had come to an end.
I reached my hostel safely the next day.
It was a semiplanned trip with some quick and moody decisions, some good some not so good but none regretted.
I have done solo trips earlier,but this one was special to me also its my first trip in North east, that's why i chose it to write for the FIRST time about any trip.
Hope you all enjoyed reading it.
Pardon for language or errors.
Have not included much details about the money,hotels etc just shared my experience.
I know this pandemic is tough on everyone, but tourism sector is the worst hit.
Hope soon things get normal ,and we can be travellers again.
Do visit northeast,its such a beautiful and unexplored tourism sector that you will actually fall in love with the atmosphere there. Amidst hush and no rush.
PS- Sorry for the photos if not so good , i am not a good photographer :p
