North East - The Unexplored : Delhi-Guwahati-Bomdila-Tawang-Tezpur-Shillong-Guwahati- Delhi (Part 2)

The journey was cakewalk as compared to the one we did for Tawang and we didn't have to lower the speed except while crossing some villages on the way. The roads were perfect for most of the part with very few stretches undergoing construction work especially on NH27. The trip from Jorabat to Shillong on NH6 highway was a great driving experience with no hiccups. While entering Shillong, we got to see the view of splendid Umiam lake, where one has to stop to appreciate the beauty of it.

After crossing a traffic jam and with the help of Google maps (4G/LTE is available at all the points in Shillong) and having some delicious momos at an eating joint, we reached our destination for the next 4 nights- Midpine Homestay (priced at INR 3200 per night) at around 5 pm.

We planned to stay in Shillong for 4 days and cover the nearby places from Shillong itself as it was accessible from Cherrapunji, Dawki and Mawlynnong and we didn't have to move our luggage from one place to another.

The homestay was at a walking distance from Laitumkhrah market which was an amazing market to stroll during any time of the day (we generally visited there during evening time). My wife found an excellent place to hangout called 'Cafe Shillong' (thanks to Tripadvisor for suggesting us) which cheered us up after a day long not-so-tiring trip. It was a bit expensive but totally worth the price.

After having our dinner, we walked around a bit and realized that it gets cold at night so you should keep some warm clothes with you while travelling to Shillong. We returned to our hotel, already tired, and dozed off at around 10 pm as tomorrow was going to be a big day.

We had our breakfast in a canteen around the waterfall and then moved ahead for our next destination. We didn't have a dive in the waterfall due to lack of time but people started doing it around 9.30 am onwards (when the sun came up and it started becoming hotter). It will surely be a different experience so I would suggest you guys to spend half a day in Krang suri waterfall area.

We left Krang suri at around 10.30 am and headed towards Dawki which is an hour away with pretty good roads and a landscape which was a feast to the eyes. However, we were slowed down by a line of trucks extending to almost 5-10 kms before Dawki blocking almost half the highway followed by a traffic jam while entering Dawki which delayed our trip by another hour so we kind of reached Dawki around 12.30 pm.

It was very hot at 1.00 pm making it a tad difficult to finish the boat ride so it is advisable to carry an umbrella which will save you from the direct sunlight. Unfortunately due to rain the water was not as blue as seen in the pictures on internet.

We finished our boat riding experience which was of 45 minutes and dashed towards our car as we still had one more place to cover. To our dismay, there was another traffic jam waiting ahead of us due to a narrow bridge on the Dawki river. We got to know that traffic jam on the bridge is a daily affair. Frustrated and helpless, we were able to come out of the jam at around 2.30 pm and drove towards our last destination of the day - Mawlynnong.

Overall, visit to Dawki was a good experience considering the mightiness of the Dawki river, the boating, getting a glimpse of Bangladesh.

We roamed around in the cleanest village which was indeed one of the finest villages we've ever been in. However, the disappointing part was the commercialization and exploitation of the place. Right from the entry where you have a parking lot of size bigger than the entire village accommodating more than 500 cars/taxis, restaurants, food courts, street vendors, local stuff vendors etc., the place looks more like a normal/hyped one than actually a special one.

Moreover, the locales have also started providing their homes as homestays for tourists which in turn has indeed boosted the economy of the residents but we kind of felt that this is not the rustic environment we came looking for.

Since, it was raining every now and then, and we didn't expect to get a clear view for another 3-4 hours we left from Seven Sister Falls at 11.30 am towards our next destination - Nohkalikai Falls.

After getting stuffed, we started the return journey towards our hotel, and reached there around 6.30 pm. We were in no mood to go out, so we had our dinner in the homestay only, relaxing, watching T.V. and calling it a day.

A lot of black and yellow taxis are plying in the entire city of Shillong. We took a shared taxi costing us INR 20 per head from Laitumkhrah to Police Bazar.

There are a lot of hotels and restaurants too in Police Bazar area and you'll find a place where you can sit and have a meal of your choice.

For people planning to taste Khasi food, you can have the taste of authentic Khasi food in Trattoria (it's ratings are good on Trip advisor too).

If you're planning to buy souvenirs for your family and friends, you'll find a lot of emporiums to get good local stuff and in decent prices in Police Bazar market. The market opens around 11.30 am. I've heard that the police bazar is closed on Sunday, so confirm before you leave for the market on sunday.

We spent rest of the day strolling around the markets, tasting various cuisines, buying stuff, and then getting back to the hotel, packing our stuff, having a Domino's pizza in our beds and dozing off to sleep.