Meghalaya - Halfway to Heaven

Tripoto

Not for nothing do they call it the Scotland of the East, ‪Meghalaya‬, the abode of clouds. Meghalaya is full of lush green mountains and thick tropical forests that receive copious amounts of rainfall every year.

Meghalaya has so much to offer to an avid traveler - undulating mountains, spectacular crystal-clear lakes, meandering rivers, dense verdant forests, gorgeous waterfalls, quaint caves, exotic flora and fauna - all of these makes Meghalaya look like straight out of a fairy tale. The state has an abundance of natural attractions, virtually untouched by regular tourists.

I reached GUWAHATI after a 50 hour train journey and headed to SHILLONG without wasting any time. Shillong to me looked chaotic and filthy as any other Indian city. I decided to move ahead and reached CHERRAPUNJEE locally known as Sohra by afternoon.

Th first stop was at MAWSMAI CAVES, an impressive limestone cave, well-lit but spine tingling in some stretches. It was time to trek to NONGRIAT, a village about which I heard so much from my traveling friends. As a novice with no trekking experience, I was skeptical at first but wanted to give it a try.

The trek starts from Tyrna where the roads end. It was not easy reaching Nongriat as there are over 3500 steps to climb down - a 3 km trek, descend of about 2500 feet into the valley. I was not in a rush as I had planned to stay put in the village for a couple of days. More than the tough descend, crossing of the two wired suspension bridges was challenging.

I reached the village after about 3 hours of relaxed trekking. This tiny village has about 31 households with a population of about 150 members and is the proud owner of the Bio-engineering beauty - Umshiang Double Decker Living Root Bridge.

A sight to behold, the Living Root Bridges are tangles of the roots of the Ficus Elastica tree which are knit to form a bridge between the streams / rivers. In the earlier days, when the rivers / streams were flooded during monsoon, the tribal's of Meghalaya created this bio-engineering marvel to commute between the villages. It takes about 15-20 years for the living root bridge to get thick and can support even 50 people at a time. It keeps gaining strength as it keeps growing thicker and thicker.

The next day I trekked to Mawsaw Living Root Bridge and Rainbow Falls which takes another 1 hour of trek, one-way. The days I spent in the village of Nongriat is still afresh in my mind.

On the way back, at an intersection in Nongthymmai village, a pathway leads to the Ri-Tymmen Living Root Bridge (Single Decker), supposedly the longest living root bridge which is not to be missed either. The living bridge is about 10 mns trek from this intersection.

It took about 4 hrs of relaxed trek to ascend to the top but in the end what mattered most was I made it!

Meghalaya is full of waterfalls but if you are fond of them you should visit right after the monsoon time. Only Rainbow falls near Nongriat and Nohkalikai falls were alive and all others were completely dry.

A visit to Mawlynnong & Riwai are not to be skipped.

MAWLYNNONG is a tiny village on the edge of India, bordering Bangladesh in the East Khasi Hills District of the Meghalaya, India. Home to the Khasi tribal people, this hamlet with about 95 households was given the status of being the cleanest village in Asia in 2003 by a Travel magazine.

This spotlessly clean village has banned use of plastics and bamboo dustbins are placed at every corner of the cemented pathways, lined up with flowers. The locals including the kids ensure that the village is not littered - they go around the village with their bamboo basket, picking thrash & dry leaves.

Almost every house has a big rock in front which had pit holes. It looked to me like a bird-feeder. Later, I was told by a local that these are natural pits and the village derived its name from it - "Maw" means a huge rock & "Lynnong" means a pit.

A short walk of about 3-4 mns leads to the sky view point which is about 80 feet high, constructed completely using bamboos from atop of which we can see the plains of Bangladesh. A 15 mns walk from the village leads to the Balancing Rock, an ancient Khasi worship place of importance.

I see Mawlynnong as an ideal model village more than “the cleanest village” and every Indian village should follow what this little village is practicing.

RIWAI, another little village near Mawlynnong looked equally pretty with clean pathways which attracts many travelers. The village has an impressive root bridge which is about 300 meters from the road.

My next stop was the last Indian village of DAWKI located about 96 km from Shillong bordering India and Bangladesh. As we enter the village, the crystal clear river of Umngot welcomes us. Due to the transparency of the river, one can see the pebbles which are about 15 feet below the river from a distance. The shadows of the boats fall on the bottom of the river which makes the viewer feel that boats are floating in the air.

This trip to Meghalaya will definitely remain close to my heart. A destination which has something for every nature lover.

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Photo of Meghalaya - Halfway to Heaven 1/22 by Trippin'with Sarathy
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