I am not afraid of the challenges that life will bring but I am afraid of having to face them alone.

Trip to Shillong- Meghalaya

So it all started towards the end of 2018, the 26th day of December. There had been not a single outing in the entire year and I did not definitely want to end the year the same way so had to plan out for something fruitful and glad that Shillong happened because I had never seen such a beautiful place before and what could be more blissful than to visit this place during the Christmas week when the entire city is decked up with Christmas lights.

Day 1 -We had afternoon flight from Delhi to Guhawti . We landed at 6.00 pm and had stayed back in Guhawti over the night since travelling to Shillong by road in night is not recommended.

Day 2- The real fun started in the afternoon en-route to Shillong and the beautiful scenery, landscape , sweet chill in the air made the 3 hrs drive worthy. The moment you enter Meghalaya, you would be surprised by the sudden transition of the plain land to mountainous terrain which are a treat to the eyes because of the thick vegetation, variety of flora and fauna. The air so pure, the environment so clean, as if an untouched beauty awaits to welcome you with open arms. We reached the the central market place of Shillong , also known as the Police bazaar at around 5 pm. It had started to get dark by now since the sun sets at 4.45 pm during the winters. The darkness of the night was illuminated by the Christmas lights and hustling streets. We checked into the hotel, freshened up and came out to explore the streets of Shillong.

Day 3-  The day started early at 8.30 am as we planned to cover Dawki river. What awaited us was a long drive for 98 km with a scenic view of beautiful green hills , grasslands, fresh air. I was awestruck by the beauty of the mainlands. I could just go on and on watching the picturesque scenery. We had heard that the river at Dawki is famous for its clear water that you can see the surface of the river bed. When we actually reach there, we were filled with awe, what was heard was actually true. It looked like a dream that a place like this could really exist.
                                           

Bangladesh border

next on the list was the living root bridge made up of the live roots of the trees followed by mawlinkong , the cleanest village in Asia. The path leads to a mysterious getaway (check the video) with the sounds of wild birds, insects. If it did not get dark so soon , I would have walked even deeper into the woods.

Pictures cannot do even half the justice to the beauty of this place. At one point you will find green mountains with betelnut ,pine, banana ,pineapple trees all on the same mountain and then suddenly the mountains transform to plain grasslands glistening with bright yellow light in the sun. Meghalaya is full of surprizes. The houses are like toy houses with home grown kitchen gardern. The vegetables are fresh from the natural farm. The local food is very plain and easy to tastebuds and stomach which displays the simplicity of the locales. This is one unexplored part of India and I feel it should remain this way ,far from the human intervention and commercial mindset.