Meghalaya/Arunachal — Mar 2021

Another long post, looks like a never ending one … has to be with 14 days of travel to an exotic part of Incredible India.. I am reasonably sure most of you will stop reading midway through the post. (TL/DR — A great 2 week trip to part of North East India — 11 of us — a must visit part of the country)

The whole thing started sometime in January when I was discussing with a couple of friends about going to Meghalaya. With some basic level of interest, I spoke with Mohit (Trekmunk) and asked him to make an itinerary for Meghalaya for some time in the month of March/April. Once I got the basic info, I floated a message about the proposed trip to a couple of groups (we wanted a group of 6 for the trip to make economic sense), and the initial response was a bit lukewarm! But then the idea started getting momentum and we were 9 of us ready to go for the trip. Girish then floated the idea of combining Kaziranga and/or Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh) to the itinerary and after working on various permutations, he was able to fit one day at Kazirange to our Meghalaya itinerary (making it an 8 day program, after incorporating suggestions from friends) and Tawang was 6 days more. There were 4 of us who were able to spare time for Tawang. There was also a bit of to and fro on the travel dates and eventually we froze on 24 February as the start date, and return of 3 March for the Meghalaya/Kaziranga leg and 9 March for those doing the Tawang leg. And about a week prior to the travel, there were 2 more additions to the group. So we became the “Eleven Expendables” (drawing inspiration from Sly Stallone’s The Expendables).

Bhavin Patel — a dentist who runs a business of supplying items high quality dental materials & equipment (a 120 years old firm!)

Dinesh Tiwari — a veteran private equity investor and currently advises funds as well as companies

Ganapati Rathinam (GR) — another veteran private equity investor and a sharp legal mind

Kumar GV (GV) — yet another PE veteran

Girish Mehta — an expert in the diagnostic space, has helmed companies, currently mentoring a few start ups as well as a senior management coach

Hemant Ayyappan — and one more PE guy

Narayan Poojari — a restauranteur, owns the Shiv Sagar chain as well as Butterfly High lounges

Nitin Jain — a veteran Investment Banker

Parvesh Gupta — a veteran investment banker, investor, expertise on real estate

Rakesh Nanda — third generation CA, runs his own firm

Snehal Shah — yayavar in making

24 February, Wednesday

Girish took the responsibility of packing some dry fruits and snacks in individual packs for all of us. GV was flying into Guwahati from Bangalore and the rest of us were on the same flight from Mumbai. GR and I were on the second row and we saw Ayushman Khurana occupying a seat in the first row. Both of us (we idiots told our family that AK was on the same flight!) were ordered to take a photo of AK, or else… Luckily for us, AK agreed to take a selfie just when we boarded the bus after deplaning and we were saved from getting ripped apart at home.

Bishar (our guide for Meghalaya) was waiting for us at the airport and we took off for Shillong in a Tempo Traveller and an Innova. We had lunch along the way and then had a break at Umiam Lake (also known as Bada Pani) to enjoy the sunset — on the outskirts of Shillong. We checked into our homestay and went out for dinner courtesy two friends of Girish’s from IIM-C who he was meeting after 30 years!

25 February, Thursday

The next day, our start was delayed as our vehicle was stuck in traffic and then we headed to Dawki (https://nomadicweekends.com/blog/dawki/), which has crystal clear waters, and abuts Bangladesh border. We did boating on the river, enjoying the clear waters, our reflections and the nature around us. It was interesting to see the border (demarcated by a large stone) and both Bangladeshis and Indians intermingling.

From Dawki, we went to see the Krang Shuri Falls (https://www.gosahin.com/places-to.../krang-shuri-waterfalls/). A very beautiful location with enticing waters. Most of us desisted from getting into the cold water, but I could not — and got into the pool with a life jacket. Girish made a nice video of my adventure with a running commentary!

We then left for Mawlynnong (https://www.livemint.com/.../A-trip-to-Asias-cleanest...), which was rated as the cleanest village in Asia a few years back. We were staying just outside the village and decided to visit the same next day.

26 February, Friday

We visited the Single Living Root Bridge near the village in the morning in different batches (a function of the waking time for the group!). It was a beautiful piece of creation by nature and man, and a very nice landscape. The challenge in Meghalaya is that to enjoy all the beautiful sites, you have to toil — pasina bahana padta hai. Most of the places warrant climbing down for between 15 minutes to 2 hours, and you also have to climb back up!!! After enjoying the Root Bridge, we went for a short tour of the village — a nice place to park yourself for a few weeks doing nothing!

We then left for Cherrapunjie late morning, going via Wei Sawdong Falls (https://curlytales.com/the-wei-sawdong-waterfalls-in.../). Again, a breath taking location — you simply cant get enough of this place. A three level cascading waterfall with absolutely blue waters.

We then went to see the Nohkalikai Falls (https://www.world-of-waterfalls.com/.../asia-nohkalikai.../) — a big one. However, it was a bit distant view and would have needed a full day to trek to the base of the falls. But we still had a good view of the sunset at the Falls, and then headed to our guest house.

27 February, Saturday

This was to be an exciting day because we were going to Nongriat (https://www.outlookindia.com/.../take-a-post-lockdown...) to see the Double Decker Living Root Bridge, coupled with Rainbow Falls. The Root Bridge is some 3000 steps downhill from where we start (which was not so bad, but then if the thought of going back struck the mind, it gave shudders!). Again, a great place. We had nimbu pani at the village and then started our trek towards Rainbow Falls — almost similar distance that we covered to come down, but now uphill. It was a bit of struggle for us, but all of us reached the Falls by encouraging each other. All the fatigue vanishes once you see the grand waterfall with magical blue pool at the base. We saw some people enjoying the cold clean waters, but we were to go to a much easier accessible pool — aptly named Blue Lagoon (no Brooke Shields!). This was someway between the Rainbow Falls and the Root Bridge. The water was very enticing and some of us immediately plunged into the cold blue waters and our batteries were recharged. Bhavin and I were in the waters for close to an hour, wanting very much to swim to the falls but advised not to as it was an activity which was not allowed. Post the dip in the pool, we started our trek back to the parking lot from where we had started in the morning, going via the Root Bridge. It was one hell of a climb up and all of us very semi dead by the time we reached the top. However, there was some solace as our guide said that compared to us being back up in about 9 hours, there was a group with much younger guys, who struggled to finish this day in over 10–11 hours just a couple of weeks back. A moral booster for whatever it is worth!!!

28 February, Sunday

This was THE DAY which was to be the most exciting/scary/… (varied range of adjectives apply). We were to go for cave exploration (Mawmluh Caves, https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g668046...). I think none of us had tried to research what it would be like, but we know that we would have to go into a cave, spend 3 to 4 hours in the same, wading through waters some times and also do a bit of crawling in the cave as the gap between the ceiling and floor could be as low as 2 feet! We were initially told that there would be 2 routes — one which involves crawling and one which would not. Most people had said that they would not like to crawl. But once we reached the place, our local guide said that there was only one route — we were to traverse some 4 km into a cave, and it would take anywhere between 2 to 4 hours depending on how we fare! All of us had to don a boiler suit equivalent and gum boots and a helmet with a head torch before we got into the cave. One of us backed out as he started feeling claustrophobic within 5 minutes of entering the cave. The rest 10 of us ventured on. I don’t have words to describe the experience, but can just say that it was one of the most unique exotic adventures of my life, and I think that would hold true for all of us. We would have exercised each and every muscle of our body, climbing 10 feet up, getting down in a pool of waist deep water, crawling under a low ceiling for about 20 minutes, trying to ensure we don’t fall into one of the holes we were walking on …. We reached a place called the Hanging Garden, which has many stalactites and had a photo session there. Over there, our guide asked all of us to switch off our head lamps and just enjoy the darkness. Depending on how you feel, it was blissful or scary. I loved the silence and the darkness (it made no difference if your eyes were open or shut — it was so pitch dark, obviously so as we were 2 km inside the cave with no source of light). We took about 3.5 hours to get through the cave and about 30 more minutes of trekking got us back to the village where we had started from.

In the evening, we decided to go for a “gala dinner” at Jiva Resorts — great food and excellent service — to reward ourselves for the day’s adventure.

1 March, Monday

We were to go from Cherrapunjie to Shillong via a beautiful place called Mawphlang Sacred forest (https://theculturetrip.com/.../this-sacred-forest-in.../). Apparently, each Khasi tribe in the region has a sacred forest where rituals and sacrifices used to happen in the old days whenever a calamity used to hit the village. You are not supposed to take anything out of the forest, otherwise misfortune would strike you — that is the belief. Rationally thinking, maybe this is how one prevents deforestation. We walked through the forest for about an hour and then headed to Shillong. We needed to have an early start the next day for Kaziranga.

2 March, Tuesday

The drive to Kaziranga was about 5 hours. We reached out Nature Resort by about 1 pm, had our lunch and then went for the jeep safari to the sanctuary — about 2 hours of safari. We saw a bunch of rhinos, deer, elephants along the drive. We were excited for the elephant safari the next day morning.

3 March, Wednesday

We had our safari at 6.30 am and then had to split ways for Guwahati or Arunachal depending on who were leaving for home and who were continuing their vacation. The elephant safari was an exciting one. We saw many rhinos at close quarters — looked like a perfect harmony between the elephants and the rhinos. Post the safari, we went back to our base, had breakfast and split ways. 7 of us were heading back home, and Girish, Nitin, Rakesh and I were heading toward Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh.

We had a great driver for our Arunachal leg — a pretty experience, jovial and knowledgeable guy called Santu Lama. I would recommend him in case you need a vehicle and driver for Meghalaya/Assam/Arunachal Pradesh. We were to head to Bomdila which was a 5–6 hour drive. We spent some time at Tippi to see some orchids (http://sfri.nic.in/tipi.htm). We reached Bomdila in the evening, and went out for a walk in the small town. The homestay where we stayed was functional, but the hosts were outstanding.

4 March, Thursday

We left Bomdila to head to Tawang (https://www.india.com/travel/tawang/). The route for this part of the trip was amazing thoughout the 4–5 days we were in the hills — going uphill or downhill. We had to cross Sela Pass (which was covered with snow) and then had a pitstop at Jaswant Garh Memorial (http://www.arunachaltourism.com/jaswantgarh-war-memorial.php). A great story of valour. We paid our respects to Baba (as people refer to Jaswant Singh), and had fresh hot dosa and cakes at the army canteen there. We then spend some time at the Nuaranang Falls — where a song from the film Koyla was shot. The weather was starting to get a bit bad and we reached Tawang in the evening. We had met 2 boys from Banglaore (21–22 years old) who were doing a bike trip of Meghalaya and Arunachal, at the Rainbow Falls, and they were in Tawang the same time as us. We were to go for Bumla Pass on 5 March and they had asked if they could join us as only local vehicles are allowed. We coordinated our next days schedule with them.

5 March, Friday

We were to go for the Bumla Pass — at about 15000 ft height, which is also the Indo China border. There is also a PT Tso Lake along the way and Madhuri Lake (actual name Sungester Lake, again at 15000 ft height). However, owing to the bad weather, poor visibility and an issue with our vehicle (a local vehicle, whose chain used to slip off the rear wheels regularly), we aborted the plan midway and returned to our base. In the afternoon, we visited the birth place of the 6th Dalai Lama and then visited the Tawang Monastery (second oldest monastery in the world). From there, we headed to visit the Ani Gompa (a nunnery, established in the 4th century, not a very well know destination in the tourist circuit). We were lucky to reach there when it was time for their prayers. We spent some time listening to their chanting and then left. We then visited the Buddha Statue and headed back to base. With the weather acting dicey, and the chance of visibility improving minimal for Bumla Pass, we decided that we will cut short our stay at Tawang by a night and leave a day early for Dirang.

6 March, Saturday

When we woke up in the morning, the whole place was covered with 6 to 12 inches of snow. Our driver said that it would be unsafe for us to travel as the roads would become very treacherous. We somehow coaxed him to start and we headed towards Dirang. The roads were much better than expected (in terms of they becoming slippery due to snow), and we were happy that we took the right call. We had to put chains on the rear wheels of our vehicle sometime before Sela Pass as the vehicle was not getting any traction on the snow laden road. We finally managed to reach Dirang late afternoon.

7 March, Sunday

As per our original plan, we were to reach Dirang today and leave for Guwahati the next day — which would be a 9–10 hour drive. Having reached Dirang a day earlier, we decided to go some place midway to Guwahati so that the journey becomes less tiresome. We decided to take a break at Shergaon — some 3 hours from Dirang. Dirang is a very beautiful town — one would fall in love with this place. We visited an orange orchard, Sangti Valley, the Dirang Monastery (http://www.arunachaltourism.com/jaswantgarh-war-memorial.php) — a very serene beautiful place, and then drove to Mandala Top (https://thirdeyetraveller.com/mandala-top-arunachal.../). From here, we took a route to Shergaon which was new for our driver. We reached Shergaon by about 3.30 pm and found that the homestay we had booked was not upto our expectations. There were no other alternatives in the village, so we decided to head to Bhairabkunda — in Assam. It was shown as a 3 hour drive by Google Maps, but Santu took us to the place in a bit over just 2 hours! We had found a place called Gethsemane Man-Made Forest and had asked them to reserve two rooms for us. However, when we reached there, again it did not look like a comfortable place, The big boss there put us in touch with another hotel nearby and we were able to get 2 rooms there (a 10-room property with zero occupancy).

8 March, Monday

We were at the Bhutan/Arunachal/Assam border, and went for a walk in the Gethsemane Man Made Forest. We then went to the Bhutan border — we were able to cross the India side gate (the border official was kind enough to let us through when we told him that we had travelled a long way). There is no crossover movement because of Covid. We then left for Guwahati. We took a small break at a tea estate to click some photographs and then visited Madan Kamdev temple (https://www.livehistoryindia.com/.../madan-kamdev...), also known as second Khajuraho, on the way. We reached out guest house in late afternoon and decided to do the Brahmaputra Cruise. A nice peaceful evening.

9 March, Tuesday

This was the last day of our trip. We planned to go to Kamakhya Temple and Umananda Temple (it is on an island in the Brahmaputra) in the morning. The Kamakhya darshan took us almost 1h45m and then there was not enough time to go to Umanananda temple as the boat frequency was very low. We then headed to the airport and reached Mumbai in the evening, saying adieu to the 2-week tour.

Overall, an excellent experience. There was great bonding between the group (6 of the guys were my friends made during my professional career, and 4 friends were from MCA. They did not know each other but seemed like age-old friends by the time the trip ended). We had a great time chatting in the evenings over a few drinks (not all of us drink), listening to stories, discussing random topics. The food was good — we used to get puri bhaji and omelets generally at all places, and of course, Maggi on the way. The temperatures were cool in Meghalaya, cold in Arunachal, and warm in Assam. Availability of power was a bit of an issue in Arunachal, but there were inverters (which means no geysers if no power). Fortunately, for me, I was adventurous and had cold water showers throughout the trip so hot water was not a botheration for me.

I would strongly recommend a trip to Meghalaya — and it would be much more fun if you are physically fit.

India can beat any other country hands down if one is willing to explore the yet not so popular destinations in the country, INCREDIBLE INDIA!!!

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