After 3 hours of travel by taxi, we arrive in Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya and the self-proclaimed rock capital of India. Bara Bazaar welcomes in the entanglement of its steep streets Iewduh, the oldest market of Meghalaya. The Police Bazaar, right in the center, is also a huge open-air market. The entire space is occupied by sellers, buyers and onlookers.
The smells of freshly slaughtered chickens mingle with those of the fruits that have been damaged, along with paranthas and omelettes. As soon as we set foot in Shillong, it was impossible to ignore that we are in Khasi land as most restaurant signs indicate the presence of Khasi dishes on the menu. I do not promise to taste all the local specialties, like the Jadoh, rice cooked in pig blood!
All this rubs with the sellers of baubles and the Siat Khnam betting shops, a popular and very lucrative local sport in which men shoot at a target and spectators must bet on last two digits of the total who fiercely defend their pre-square. It is already dark and we quickly choose a hotel.
The arrival at Shillong was a shock. I imagined a nice little village and found myself in a real city teeming with activity, traffic, noise and life. The saris are also rarer, often replaced by dresses, skirts or a checkered fabric shorter than a sari, knotted differently. Shillong is a wonderful city, but is very, very cold here! This is a kind of mantra that feels a bit everywhere here in the North East, but the city is actually much less beautiful than what is described.
Day 2Are we in Scotland? On this morning of Sunday, Easter bells ring throughout the city. The city where we were on Easter day is none other than Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya. From the balcony, we can see many steeples among the roofs of houses and buildings. In the streets, families walk out of the churches.
After a good breakfast in a downtown restaurant, we take a taxi to tour the city and visit interesting sites. I head to the Shillong Cathedral and could see that the mass was held both in English and Khasi. I especially liked the young and carefree atmosphere, very different from the typical Indian cities.
There is still a museum to visit, the Don Bosco museum. It highlights the tribes of the northeast and is the largest museum of this type in this part of Asia. We visit the extraordinary bara bazaar market interlacing with lanes which each has its specialty like fruits, vegetables, tobacco, iron, fish, meat, textile, bamboo and sugar.
We spend a few hours at the Lady Hydari Park Zoo and the Wards Lake. At the artificial Ward Lake and its park tourists spend crazy afternoons on pedal boats. We then go to the botanical garden. We visit the Shillong Peak that offers a panoramic view of the city followed by the Elephant Falls, which was unfortunately partly closed to the public. So we could see only one waterfall.
We also attend the Nongkrem Dance festival, the annual big festival where the Khasis thank nature for the harvest, with many songs and dances, as well as sacrifices of roosters and goats. The unmarried girls wear magnificent silk garments for these dances. As the driver offered us a competitive rate and he was friendly, we leave with him immediately to Cherrapunjee.
We get on the car and cross many villages with small houses, and everywhere there are churches, cemeteries. The landscape is grandiose. We get out of the car once arrived on a kind of high plateau. This plateau which rises around 1300 m above sea level is crisscrossed with huge canyons and superb views on the road. I stopped to have a tea in his dhaba, rereading for the twelfth time the 15 lines of my guide devoted to this part of Meghalaya.
Tall yellow and green grass beaten by the winds extend to get lost in the mist. A tall menhir stands up to the sky, surrounded by what looks like dolmens. It is rather cool and we dress more warmly before entering the sacred forest. Between the trees, the carpet of orange and red brown leaves is dotted with megalithic alignments.
A few hours later, we walk in the middle of a pine forest. It's hot, as the sun is shining, and we hear the locusts. The smell of pine is intoxicating! Our beautiful trail narrows and descends abruptly into a gorge where a river flows whose blue water is almost turquoise. Arriving in Sohra, we are greeted by several signs whose message is almost always the same: Welcome to Cherrapunjee, the rainiest place on earth followed by a list of figures that are in fact the recorded rainfall levels these last years.
The Lodge is located in Lower Cherra back from what looks like a small suburb and not far from the first Church in the State. Our cottage in Cherrapunji is watered by torrential water located. At night, a storm breaks out. It rains heavily, as thunder roars and lightning lights illuminate the sky almost without respite.
Cherrapunji is the best known tourist spot of Meghalaya, and not only because of its record as the most rainy area of the world, but because it is a true natural wonder, set among deep canyons from which gush out high and raging waterfalls. Scattered everywhere, almost unsettling, towering Khasi monoliths, I really feel like I am at the end of the world. The local population designates it under the much less musical name of Sohra.
I meet the members of the Royal Enfield Riders Association of Meghalaya called RERAM. This association, strong of a few dozen members, brings together motorcycle lovers and not just any. It is the Bullet, a must in India. During my stay at the lodge, I had several opportunities to verify that these enthusiasts deserved their great reputation. Friendly and always ready to help, they helped make my stay in Cherrapunjee a real success.
Meghalaya is famous for its waterfalls and caves, but one of the main attractions that is really specific to this region of India is the Living Bridges Bridges. Designed several hundred years ago (nearly 500 years for the oldest), they consist of intertwined roots and rubber lianas. They can be simple or more complex like double decker in Umshiang, the best known to cope with river floods.
Cherrapunjee offers sumptuous landscapes with countless waterfalls, green hills and tumultuous streams. At least, when all this is not buried under the clouds and everything is gray. The Cherrapunjee region is formed by a vast green plateau surrounded by bottomless canyons, hidden in an opaque mist and breathtaking waterfalls. Most of the rainfall occurs between June and September.
The hotel where we stay is lost in the mountainous jungle, a few kilometers from Bangladesh. We access by an old half-fenced road between cliffs. It is surprising to find on arrival that the hotel is well kept, quite luxurious considering the Indian criteria. There is even Internet access!
Day 3
I went to the Tyrna village with a friend. After a great trip in a rented 350 cc Royal Enfield motorbike through the East Khasi Hills through the waltz of fog, the clear views of Bangladesh, forests streaked with waterfalls, we arrived at the village. We leave for a short hike, in search of the living roots bridges and the pool fed by the torrents. From there, a very long descent through the jungle and some villages leads to several bridges alive.
It is possible to see other similar bridges without getting tired, but this ride is really beautiful and worth it. We walk to the Nongriat village, yes walk because the only way is this. The most challenging part of this hike consists of a very long staircase, on a vertical drop of 500-600 m, half made of concrete steps and the other half of stone steps. The funny thing is the bamboo pipes that carry water from the top of the mountain. We wonder what miracle it can hold.
We finally arrive at the village, where the people welcomes us with a smile. An old lady proposes us to also make the dinner, and we accept with joy! Next morning it is time to go and admire the famous root bridges. There is even a quite spectacular double root bridge. They would take between 15 and 20 years to weave the roots to the other end of the river, but as the tree is still alive the bridge would have an existence of 3 to 500 years!
We go over the cable bridges, to see other root bridges. Here they grow and harvest the bay leaves, which they put in the tea, that is super good!
We leave Nongriat, and now it is the climb that awaits us. But for us it was our lucky day as it was a beautiful blue sky that greeted us, which allowed us to view unrestrained beautiful landscapes and endless views of the neighboring Bangladesh. The dark hills on the Indian side and the plains with streams of water on the Bangladesh side form a harmonious contrast.
As these hills are inhabited by Khasis, legends of this ethnicity are associated with many of their natural sites. Our small procession then stopped at the Nohsngithiang (Maswsmai), Kynrem, Thangkharang and Khoh Ramhoh waterfalls, a limestone formation resembling an inverted Khasi basket. According to legend, it has been turned into a stone, after been dropped by an evil ogre who was defeated by Khasi villagers. Another such precipice is named for a woman who was discarded after discovering that her husband had killed and cooked the daughter, she had of a first marriage.
We head on the winding roads leading to the village of Mawlynnong. Between Shillong and Cherrapunjee, the scenery was breathtaking, with its deep precipices and wooded hills as far as the eye can see. Along the way we crossed many villagers carrying large bamboo baskets with a strap around their foreheads and others carrying cloth bags in the same way.
We arrived at the glow of the full moon in the village of Mawlynnong, at the end of a narrow road zigzagging between high plantations. I had known since the previous day that this village had been elected the cleanest village in Asia but I did not expect to find a large parking lot in its center, full asphalt streets and many signs saying lunch and tea available here.
Mawlynnong is a small village of Meghalaya's East Khasi Hills, located about two hours from Shillong in the north-eastern part of India, home to only 95 families. Here all actively work together to keep the village always clean and tidy and every tourist is welcomed with a nice sign of bamboo. Its inhabitants live mostly by farming honey, fruits and nuts. Everything here becomes a source of income and livelihood.
The bamboo houses are decorated with pots of flowers on the outside, that adorn her long dense vegetation avenues. In turn, all are engaged in the maintenance of roads, streams and plants. It is not a duty but a real right that everyone accepts with full awareness. The inhabitants, however, devote to other activities, such as football and fishing. They organize real tournaments involving the entire community with passion and dedication.
The roads that pass through the houses, mostly wooden and on stilts, are lined with bushes offering a profusion of large yellow, white and pink flowers. A multitude of butterflies, sometimes as big as the hand, comes to gather there. Bamboo baskets are placed at regular intervals to receive the waste. Hymns resonate throughout the village. Tree-lined huts, accessed through an ingenious array of walkways, offer panoramic views of Bangladesh, just one hour's walk from the village.
Despite its remoteness from everything, every day it attracts tens of curious tourists who come here to photograph. Another curiosity of this little village is that the society is matriarchal. After marriage, it is the husband who moves and goes to live in the home of his wife. This tradition is for a very specific reason as a woman is the weakest part of the couple, she should be supported and protected by guaranteeing the inheritance of her father's house.
As I roamed through the village, I observed villagers preparing betel leaves, as well as an amazing system to dry the fish in a basket attached to the top of a bamboo pole. The cultivation of betel nut represents, along with fruit plantations like pineapples, jackfruit trees and orange trees and a plant from which are made the brooms, the main source of income.
I was able to accompany on the plantations women who were going to collect wood there and to clear plots. They formed a joyful group that hummed and joked while moving with their sickle on very sloping grounds. At breakfast, I was entitled to a steaming plate of extremely spicy instant noodles! The other meals are like most ordinary like the rice, dal, eggs cooked with potatoes and a chicken curry as a bonus, as well as excellent fruit.
Thanks to this strong love of nature, Mawlynnong is really an example of civilization for those visiting India for the first time.
Day 4
In the early morning it rains, and is cold and wet. The pre-monsoon fog was particularly dense on the morning, giving Sohra a ghost-town feel. We light a fire in the fireplace of our house made of stone and wood. In the fields that emerge from the mist we can see sheep and cows grazing. The rain and the fog do not stop almost from the day. Are we back in Scotland?
Yet, at about twenty kilometers, where the altitude is lower, we are immersed in the rainforest. The ambient smell evokes good memories. The path made of cement steps descends into the depths of the forest winding in the middle of huge trees. The trunks are twisted with lianas.
Among the wide variety of flowers, there are hibiscus and orchids. Butterflies of all colors are flying around us. They are the size of small birds! The concert of insects is such that it is not surprising to find specimens of size or unusual color in our eyes. We hear a lot of birds too, and parakeets fly away as we pass.
We finally arrive in the small village of Riwai, astonishingly clean for India. It's amazing, as nothing hangs, and everything is clean! After a few minutes and a few rupees spent we arrive at our goal, the living root bridge, explanation. This extremely rainy region has a tree species that we know well, the ficus elastica, or as it is called rather, rubber.
It produces aerial roots, and the inhabitants of the region have the habit of directing these roots and making them cross the rivers to replant them on the other side. By repeating the operation I do not know how many times and thanks to the rapid growth of these roots, the inhabitants braided real bridges alive over the rivers, some even two floors!
The bridges are super strong. We unfortunately had the time to see one. The others are relatively difficult to access, but this one was already very impressive. In the same village the inhabitants have created a system of bamboo bridges that climb to the top of the trees, on the canopy to see the plains of Bangladesh that extend a few kilometers further.
We then head to the Maswmai caves. After entering through a first room high enough and wide, the passage quickly becomes more difficult and sometimes almost perilous. After several passages in very narrow casings, we find ourselves drenched and we start thinking that there may be no way out. Finally, with its 250 meters long and sometimes up to 15 meters high, crossing the cave is really impressive!
On the return we stop at the cleanest village in India in Mawlynnong, which is indeed dazzlingly clean after what we were able to see! We also see the stone in balance! It's time for us to go to the hotel.
