Travel blog on Shillong !

Hii ! 

A couple of months ago, I went to Shillong on a solo trip,  to give myself a break from general life! Just felt like sharing some of my experiences and thoughts, so decided to write a semi -  travel blog on it :) My notes about the trip - I recorded them during the trip on my phone - are not continuous, in the sense, they start with Day 3, then jump to Day 5 ! Cause I didn't really do much on the days in between, say Day 1 or Day 4..just wanted to give myself a real vacation and relax, rather than tire myself out and come back home and rest again :)

So I always wanted to visit the North East and felt like going to Shillong even more after watching a couple of episodes of a web series called 'Soulmates' last year 

-  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GG1FsvKdQ4

( I dont remember if I liked the series, but the Shillong I visited has a very different ( better, simpler ) vibe from what we see here )

Travelling in and around Shillong was a beautiful , calming experience..the air is so clean, the place so pure, the people so simple. It's a different world. When I was there I wanted to stay there, but now that I am back home, I realise I belong here, and was just a visitor there. 

Shillong Day 3 : Laitlum and Elephant Falls 

( Laitlum - or Grand Canyon - is the hill where the music festival in Rock On 2 was shot, it looks very different in the movie btw. Now that I think about it, everything looks different when seen from other people's perspective. What we experience is only ours, what they experience only theirs. )

Today i went to Laitlum. Its a beautiful place in the outskirts of Shillong, next to smit village. On the way there are lush green wide unending meadows , surrounded by hills that look blue from a distance. Once i reached there the weather turned cold and foggy. A total difference from the weather in the city - which was still pleasant but monsoon pleasant. Going to laitlum was like visiting ooty - the ooty which we see in movies. Full of fog. Cudnt even see 5 steps ahead. I spent some time on the hills, placing each step carefully, careful not to fall off the cliff. I spent a lot of time sitting there, thinking, observing. At one point i cudnt even hear the voices of other tourists - ofcourse i cudnt see them anyway - as i had come further ahead. There i was, standing on a green hill, surrounded by fog on all 4 sides. Not able to see or hear anyone else. It was surreal..magical..unbelievable. i cudnt believe such an effect was possible in real life , just like that, in the course of everyday life. I loved that moment very much , at the same time wanted to come back to the voices, come back to safety. It's funny how we want to stay alone, far from the noise but when we are left all by ourselves we look for company, or just some familiar people or places. We look for a re assurance. Human beings are so paradoxical.

On a cliff, cudnt see even a few feet ahead !  

The clouds come down to meet you in Meghalaya

The weather clears out on our way back to Shillong

After Laitlum I visited the elephant falls. Actually they were called 3 step falls originally as the water falls in 3 stages - on 3 steps ! The water falls - then reach a plateau - then falls again, - again reach a plateau - and then falls again :D Its very pretty and i havent gotten a chance to see something like this before. Overall a nice day, at the end of which i was soo tired that i came home and slept immediately !

Some of the unique things abt shillong i have observed so far :

1. Shillong public buses have a speaker, and they usually play english music.
2. Many people smoke here. Yesterday my bus driver was smoking while driving the bus ! He stopped when i asked him abt it.
3. Today i saw a bull fight - bull vs bull !
4. Its like a village with people wearing modern clothes. But the older generation wears the traditional khasi clothes.
5. Women carry their babies on their back , tied with a cloth, like a sack. The babies observe the world around . Its very cute. I guess its also safe as everyone does it.

Shillong Day 5 : Double Decker Bridge, and general happinness.


I went to the double decker bridge today. It was beyond everything I expected. In a way its good that i did not have much idea about it cause i was caught by surprise :)

The way from Shillong to Sohra (local name of cherappunji ) is very beautiful. We stopped at a bridge as my driver was hungry (!!) So i decided to go ahead to the view point..i was pleasantly surprised to.discover that there were steps down to the stream ! Imagine -, they had built steps from the mountain top all the way down to the stream ! It was amazing to go down those stairs and sit by the waterfall..we went a little ahead and stopped again..this time the locals had built steps up a mountain ! So i went up there and sat there and meditated..all by myself ..i was so high up that the clouds were all around me..i now realised that the fog in laitlyum was actually clouds ! There was no need of an artificial white background for a pic taken here haha..

Atop a hill

On the road

Down in the valley

Then we reached the double decker bridge..i was lucky to get a very good guide - Febar - who was young and enthusiastic and even helped me with my bag and took pictures for me and of me :D it was a magical experience to go down those 3000 steps..

Local lime juice - served inside the forest

We 1st went to the longest single root bridge..the tree which had formed the root bridge was 100 years old !! Root bridges are formed naturally , the roots / branches of the banyan tree grown horizontally, intertwining with the roots / branches of another banyan tree opposite this one - in such a way that they form a bridge. Last year the locals decided to place wooden planks over the bridges to make it more convenient for the tourists. It was marvellous to stand on the bridge. And to look around..I was so high above the waterfall / stream..then my guide showed me a path through the roots to go down to the stream..so we went there and were just sitting by the water for a really long time..i felt so happy there..

Single Root Bridge inside the forest

Then we went to the double decker root bridge..on the way we crossed 2 rope bridges ! It was my 1st time on a rope bridge as well ..its amazing to stand on a bridge , through which u can see the stream below..

 The Rope Bridge reminded me of Roja !

I dont have words to describe the double decker root bridge..1 bridge on top of the other and we can use both..its a marvel of nature..the tree is 220 years old..in this case there was no tree in front of this one, and its roots had grown long enough to be buried in the soil on the ground opposite the bridge..febar told me that after 20 years or.so  this will turn into a triple deckar root bridge as the branches above were growing and were already half way there...To my great surprise there was a water fall at the double deckar bridge too..febar encouraged me to go into the water, so i did ! At that moment i felt so free ..i dint care about other people staring at me, about my clothes getting wet, about how will i go back in wet clothes and what if i fall sick :D i was just completely in the moment, enjoying myself.

If you feel like dancing..dance !

     

Double decker root bridge !! What a unique wonder of the world !!

Coming back is tough as we have to climb 3000 steps ! It was tougher than i thought and i took 3 or 4 stops on the way back..but i loved every moment of it. I will surely visit it again and this time maybe i will stay in the forest for a couple of days ! They have homestay arrangements inside the forest and they have electricity too ! I would love to visit again..

Shillong Day 6 : Sacred Forest

Last day in shillong..i woke up really late as i initially i had planned to just take rest today..but after waking up at 10 i thought ..sacred forest jaake aate hai ! So i went to the Mawphlang sacred forest..its like visiting a temple. Not a single tree has been cut in the forest as the land is considered to be a private property owned by the Mawphlang village and ruled by the king of the village ! The khasi tribe considers this forest to be sacred, they believe a deity overlooks the forest and nothing can be taken out of the forest ! U can drink the water, eat the fruits , touch the trees but are not allowed to take a single leaf out of the forest or else u will face the consequences from the deity . Its a fascinating tale. Took me about 2 hours to cover a 1 hour trek through the forest as i had so many questions for my guide !

 

My guide also happened to be an excellent photographer ! :)

About 2 months after my trip : An afterthought, today.

While in Shillong, I realised that the only way to not yearn for these kind of getaways - where you are literally running away from the whole world, atleast the world as you know it, and are living in a new one for that brief time - the only way to not yearn for such moments, is to actually enjoy your daily life. your daily routine. So I thought to myself i should go back home and try to focus on making a daily routine, a life, that I actually enjoy rather than just keep running through it. 

And now, for the past few days , I have had this feeling ki who wants to go to Shillong ? Not me ! I am very happy to be where I am and do what I do.

It's a nice feeling. Hope to maintain it, by not getting stuck in the monotonous, by always surprising myself, by challenging myself & by doing things that make me happy. I think its important to add things in our daily routine that help us be calm, joyous, creative and positive - so that we don't feel the need to get away from our daily life in order to feel all these things. Small, ordinary things like talking to a friend, drawing / colouring / doodling, taking a walk, going to the balcony and getting some fresh air - small things which seem insignificant and ignorable - are in fact an important tool that help us stay mentally healthy & fresh. For me, one such thing is writing. So I took some time out to write about my beautiful trip and conclusions today. :)