Cherapunjee/Sohra - Travelling through Meghalaya

Day 8

I had a restless night. There was a family next door with a baby and while the baby was calm and sweet, the grandma was a nightmare. I had to yell from my room and ask them to shut up. I packed really peacefully and sat waiting for my car to arrive. Meanwhile Rachel, Ashley’s sister and I struck a conversation and talked about all that most mothers of our age do. Talk about our kids, schools, motherhood, expenses etc. She realised that I had turned 40 recently and gifted me a cup.

My car finally arrived with Ba Lung, the owner and his brother in law Harley. Balung was busy for the next two days and so Harley was going to drive me around till then. I dried some of my still damp clothes on the back seat (what luxury!) and off we went to Cherapunjee or as it’s locally known as - Sohra! I came to know about the local anger on their city being named differently, and called that way by the rest of the world.

First stop was the Elephant falls. As soon as we take a step in, we have the option to dress up as the local Khasis and I obviously took it. There was a senior citizens group travelling and they were very sweet to help me take my pictures. But as soon as we were done, the manager of the place took over, clearly unhappy with the photos and decided to direct me onto it. Result – loads and loads of my pictures as a Khasi woman!

Harley took my phone and decided to become my photographer. He was more excited than I was for it all! He had never gone around as a tourist, which is understandable as most of us barely see the city we live in. Elephant falls was ok, nothing great and definitely miss-able. Especially when Meghalaya is full of so many stunning places.

Next we stopped at Mawkdok which was mentioned in couple of blogs. There was a little park and a bridge and I was wondering why I was wasting my time over there. But, I still went ahead and wasted some time and money. As we were leaving, I noticed there was a walk up to a view point and that was the main attraction of that area. This didn’t change much either. There were scores of viewpoints all around.

This trip was mainly to figure out the right locations and partnerships for me to plan my retreat soon. Ashley had given me some luxury home stays in Cherapunjee/Sohra that I could explore. First stop was the Wakaba waterfall were there were some tented accommodations. Nobody was on site and no one answered the phone. But, I got to go down and see the waterfall!

While driving Harley was telling me stories of their people, the traditions, the arrival of Christianity and the dispute they have within and with the rest of the country. 

Next stop, Arwah caves. The caves were nothing special but the walk was very pretty. I saw some people doing monkey business and climbing places they shouldn’t climb. I hate when they do that! Respect what’s been told!

On our way to the next stop, we saw one of the oldest churches in the region.

Out of here and off to NohKaLikai waterfalls. Beautiful waterfall viewed from a faraway view point. You can hike up to the mouth of the falls too, but the day was close to ending and I wanted to see Mawsmai caves before sundown. The story of NohKaLikai waterfalls is very weird. Trigger alert: Disturbing content. So the story goes that, NohKaLikai was a single mother with a young daughter. She marries another man who seems to be a good man. One day when she returns from work, she can’t find anyone at home. She sees that her husband had cooked some food for her, rice and meat. She eats it and gets on with her work. While doing some chores, she comes across a box and finds her daughter’s fingers! She realises that her husband had killed her daughter and cooked her! She is distraught, and starts crying and running around, eventually falling off a cliff where till date her tears fall as a waterfall.

Last stop of the day to Mawsmai caves. The popular tourist spot, and I understood why. The cave was super fun! Lots of very unique formations and tight spots to get through. Harley was very excited and took up the job of explaining everyone present there, everything about the caves.

It was almost evening and I hadn’t eaten lunch yet. Right outside Mawsmai, there was a small place and I grabbed a plate of rice and sides.

I was staying at a home stay I had found on Goibibo. Sunrise guest house, was really hard to find as they didn’t have a board outside, but was a very clean and comfortable place. I was feeling sick so took a D-cold for my itchy throat. I met another family staying, Gayathri from Pune and we chit chatted for a bit. Harley had asked me how come I wasn’t doing the sacred grove visit. I had wanted to, but my research showed me it was hard to add that in with my current itinerary. It needed a whole day for itself, and Risa confirmed the same. She also told me that the next day was the annual Khasi festival and I could go to see the Nongrem dance. But, this location was far away and again, I had to let go of the root bridge hike. That was a deal breaker, so I decided to stick to my current itinerary.

At dinner time I offered to help Risa, as I had nothing to do. She obviously politely asked me to rest.  There was some connectivity here so I downloaded some shows on Netflix and spent time sorting my emails and reading. Spent some time reflecting on my life and relationships. I was 40! What had I achieved in my life? I felt like I have wasted away all the time and opportunities I had been given. It was only 6, and 8:30 for dinner seemed too far away. Fortunately, the weather here was very pleasant and not as cold as Shillong.

Risa was also talking to me about her guests and just like almost every other place, she found South Indians easier and friendlier than North Indians. And on cue, I heard some Punjabi music blaring outside. The stay next door had some North Indian guests who were blasting music from their car stereo. Risa was a good cook and served a delicious and wholesome dinner, even made rotis for me when she realised I preferred that over rice. The portions were big and I couldn’t finish it all. This food was best after Kaziranga. I also thought that maybe I don’t need solo trips anymore (which by now I have discarded) and have made enough friends new and old that make great travel companions (this is still true), of course apart from my family.

Day 9

After an early breakfast of sandwich and egg, I said goodbye to Risa and went on my way to the highlight of this trip! The living root bridge trek!

By now I was getting tired of Harley going on about the community’s struggles. I completely understand that I don’t understand everything, and I am pretty much unaware of the real issues on the ground. But, his conversations were just complaints and constant whining and dissing rest of the country. He kept complaining how we didn’t know much about the 7 sisters, the states and even their capitals and specially the history. I agreed, it wasn’t something that was covered extensively. At the same time, he didn’t know how many states there were in South India, I caught him at that  and told him to stop complaining so much when he was being exactly like the people he had a problem with!

The drive was lovely and lush green and as soon as we reached the parking, a few kids swarmed me trying to sell sticks. I have never enjoyed carrying or using trekking poles and sticks but to humour them, I picked up one. I also had to hire a guide. It always is better to do so, as they can help you out if you go through any difficulty.

 I started walking down or rather running down the steps! People were staring at me and asking me how I was doing that. There are 3500 steps to begin with and I wanted to run through them and finish as soon as I can. Go through the hardest part when I have the energy. I was by myself except for the guide and Harley, so I didn’t have to slow down to keep up with anyone. Of course Harley was slow, but I wasn’t going to wait for him.  

We passed through some man made bridges, some shaky bridges which were quite freaky the first time, clear blue water and a small single decker root bridge.

There are lots of steep steps and it took a lot of will power to power through it! I met a lot of fun people, a couple from Gujarat and one from Delhi and one from Canada. A lot of girls that were travelling by themselves. A lot of them had noticed my flying through the route and were asking how did I do that. I realised that me being a fitness trainer wasn’t as exciting than me being a 40-year-old! That was a big hit! People were now interested in me, the fitness programs and my retreats. I guess that is my marketing strategy now. :P

I was at the Root bridge now! It was impossible to take a picture of only myself on it. It was crowded with people and after a lot of wait, I gave up and just made do with some random strangers in my picture.  I took my shoes off and dipped my feet in the water, where tiny fish came and gave me a free fish pedicure!

After resting for 10 minutes, we were off to the Rainbow falls. The break was what I needed and I was running through again. My guide and Harley kept saying that I was incredibly strong, and repeated it atleast 10 times!! The trail to rainbow falls was even more steeper, lots of close spaced steps and places where people slipped and almost fell down the slope! I kept overtaking all groups and going forward. The advantages of being all by myself! Had to leave Harley behind as he couldn’t keep up. We passed by the blue lagoon. Beautiful blue water! You can swim in it, but I had no change of clothes and didn’t want to get into ice cold water. I had some pineapples and took some pictures. I am happy with that!

My Garmin was going crazy with the number of stairs I was climbing today! The route was quite fun. I walked through a small flat ground, walked through a waterfall, where I refilled my bottle and almost fell!

I climbed up random nooks and acted like the kid I never was! Yeah, I never climbed around and acted like most kids did. Was mostly busy policing everyone around me.

Finally, could see and hear Rainbow falls in the distance. Closer, could see the Rainbow too! There was a barricade that didn’t let us go near the falls. Apparently someone had died in the falls, especially in this season when the water is so full after the monsoons. One of the groups that I had overtaken, caught up and we started chatting. They were from Bangalore and were also discussing my power speed. Told them again, advantages of travelling alone!

Time to walk back out. I took another round of break at the root bridges and then struggled through the 3500 steps to back up.

It was so hard! Had to take breaks every 2 minutes. Every muscle was burnt out in the body. But this was such a satisfying feeling! I did the whole trek in 4 hours and 45 minutes. I would have been faster if I didn’t wait for Harley on our way out. My competitive side wanted to leave him behind to see what time I could actually clock in, but I had to remind myself to have some empathy.

When we came out to the parking Balung, the original driver was waiting. He was going to be driving me around from here on. I was staying at Ibankordor jungle resort today. Recommended and booked by Ashley. There was a small stretch of road which was uneven and Balung started cribbing about it. I knew immediately that he is going to be a pain about money for the rest of the trip.

Ibankordor was beautiful and comfortable. The only downside is that there was no continuous electricity. In the rooms we got electricity for couple of hours in evening. It didn’t really matter because, I was ready to sleep as soon as I could. I had a thali with lots of vegetables. Harley was really annoying me now and all his prejudices were coming out. He wanted to be an IAS and asking me for details to prepare for it in Hyderabad. I told him clearly that it wasn’t an easy task and that he clearly didn’t have a lot of knowledge of most of the country. Was I mean? I sure was. My patience had run thin now.

My legs were obviously killing me, but thankfully my bad knee was still behaving good. I was ready to go to bed.