Assam and Meghalaya Trip
Summer was around and time to plan for another trip with family. As it was summer, the options were less and mostly in North or Northeast India. Finalized Assam and Meghalaya Trip(Two more states added to my list of Indian states visited) and started looking for the places and options to go there. Covered one UNESCO World Heritage site, one of the 18 Shakti peetas and 2 additional states in India(that I have not been to before). We were planning to go to Odisha and our friends were planning Kashmir. So both decided to go to Northeast and all the planning was done in 2-3 weeks. Booked the flight tickets first To and From Guwahati. Then started looking for a vehicle to roam around during the trip. Booked a 12 seater, as one more family(younger son’s friend and his mother) also joined(total 10 of us) for the 8 day travel. Our friend’s friend helped with the booking of vehicle, accommodation, etc. So it was a bit easy. Also, blocked hotel rooms in the different places as per our planned itinerary which is as below:
8 day Itinerary for Guwahati, Kaziranga and Meghalaya:
Day 1. Hyderabad to Guwahati
Day 2. Guwahati to Kaziranga
Day 3. Kaziranga safaris and local site seeing
Day 4: Kaziranga to Shillong
Day 5. Shillong to Cherrapunjee and back
Day 6. Shillong to Dawki/Mawlynnong and back
Day 7. Shillong local site seeing and back to Guwahati
Day 8. Guwahati local site seeing and back to Hyderabad
Day 1(Mar 30th): The long awaited day had come and we booked a cab to the airport to start around 6 am and the cab was on time. As we started early, had reached the airport comfortably and dropped our baggage at the airline counter. Proceeded to security check and saw a Telugu movie “Court” heroine and some of the members took a photo with her. Then waited for the flight which was on time(9 am). The flight was early and reached 40 mins ahead of the scheduled arrival. Reached Guwahati around 11.20 am and the vehicle driver came to the airport to pick us up. Went to the hotel room, checked in, had lunch and started to Kamakhya temple which is one of the 18 Shakthi peethas. As there was a person waiting there, to help with the Darshan, did not have to stand in queue for the darshan(which would have been a long wait otherwise). Still took around 1.30 hrs for taking the letter and wait in the compartment. Had darshan and came back to the hotel room, had dinner and slept for the night.
Day 2(Mar 31st): Asked the cab driver to come early in the morning so that we can start early to Kaziranga which was around 5 hour drive from Guwahati. Had breakfast and started around 8.45 am. The route was similar to Kerala or Konaseema in AP with canals and coconut trees on one side. Reached Kaziranga around 1.45 pm, had lunch in a local restaurant(tried traditional Assamee Thali) and reached Borgos resort by 3pm. Checked in to the room, got fresh and went to the National Orchid and Biodiversity park around 4pm. It was quite big with Orchid garden, Cactus park, Bamboo park, a museum, kids’ park, cultural program with local Assamese dances, etc. The Orchid enclosure was beautiful with lots of colourful flowers with different shapes. From there, went to Bamboo park and then to the cultural programs from 6.30 pm to 8 pm. Came back to the resort around 8.30 pm, had dinner and slept for the night. Had to start early in the morning for the Elephant safari and hence asked the driver to come by 5.30 pm.
Day 3(Apr 1st): Woke up early in the morning and went for the Elephant safari by 5.45 am. It was just a 5 min ride from the resort. We got distributed to 4 elephants, as one elephant could carry a mximum of 2-3 members only. It was around an hour safari into the grasslands closer to the animals. Spotted a few Rhinos, wild boar, different types of deers during the safari. My younger son was very happy as he sat in the elephant that Mr.Modi used during his visit to Kaziranga. Then came back to the resort, got fresh and had breakfast, spent time leisure time as the Jeep safari was at 2.30 pm.
The two jeep drivers came to the resort to pick us up and we started around 2.15 pm. At the entrance, picked up binoculars for a closer view. We divided in 5 each in the two jeeps. The driver informed that it would be around 2 hrs trip. Were hoping to spot quite a few animals and were not that disappointed as we were able to see quite a few Rhinos, wild elephants, deers, wild buffaloes, variety of birds, turtles, etc. We were hoping to see a tiger also but could not and the kids were a bit disappointed for that. Returned to the resort around 5 pm and spent rest of the evening at leisure. There was a Bihu dance program at the resort also but most were no interested as they saw the previous night only. So me and my wife only went to see the dance. Had dinner and slept for the night.
Day 4(Apr 2nd): The hotel room had a balcony and beautiful view of the woods. Woke up in the morning around 6.30 and spent some time in the balcony. Started off to Meghalaya around 9.15 am from Kaziranga after breakfast. It was going to be the longest journey of our trip around 6 hrs. On the way, halted for lunch at a restaurant near to Guwahati. While we were waiting for the food to be served, the traffic was being stopped, we went out to check out of curiosity and saw the Rajasthan Royals team(their second home) buses going to the airport. Reached Umiam lake around 4 pm and tried to get the boating tickets but the counter was closed earlier. Took some photos as the scenery was beautiful and headed to Shillong. Reached the State convention center where we had accommodation booked by 6pm. Had dinner in the restaurant there itself.
Day 5(Apr 3rd): Started off to Cherrapunjee area around 9 am. First halt was at Elephant falls where we reached around 10 am. This was 3 level falls and water was less in the first 2 levels but there was some water at the last level. On the way back took some photos in the local(Khasi tribe) costumes and headed to the next destinations. On the way, halted at Dympep valley view point, took some photos and started again. Went to Wah Kabah waterfalls view point and then to Arwah caves. There was a walk of around 500 m to reach the entrance of the caves. The caves were pretty straight and few off track routes. The time got changed in few of our mobiles to Bangladesh timezone as it was at the border. From there, went for lunch at Orange Roots restaurant maintained by the local Khasi ladies with local Meghalaya food Thali options. After that, went to Seven sisters water falls which had seven separate streams and from there to our last and best stop Mawsmai caves which had narrow passage. Few liked it and few felt it was tough. Came back to Shillong around 9 pm, had dinner at City Hut Dhaba and went to the room.
Day 6(Apr 4th): Started to Dawki and Mawlynnong around 8.30 am in the morning. The road was mostly under renovation and very and took longer than expected. On the way, there was a landslide and a traffic jam for around 15 mins. Luckily not longer. Reached Dawki around 1 pm and went down for the boating in the Umngot river which we had seen in the photos to be very clean. But since there were rains few days back the water was of green shade. Nonetheless, the boating was enjoyable with good scenic views. The boatman had a speaker and played some good music. We divided into 3 different boats. We went a bit faster as my elder son also helped in the rowing. This river is right on the Bangladesh border and there was a lot of crowd on the Bangladesh side who came for picnic. Took some photos and had maggi for lunch. From there headed to Mawlynnong, the cleanest village in Asia and Living Root bridge. On the way, drove along the Bangladesh border and took some photos there. Reached the Living Root bridge around 4 pm. It is a bridge made by locals with the roots of huge trees. From there, went to the cleanest village in Asia, Mawlynnong where the kids were looking for litter and counting the same. From there started back to Shillong but there was a huge traffic jam where we got stuck for around 1.5 hrs. Luckily found a restaurant for dinner at around 10 pm and came back to the hotel room after that. Overall a tiring day but good places visited.
Day 7(Apr 5th): Last day in Meghalaya before heading to Guwahati and we had only half day to visit places in Shillong. All had their own preferences and we split into 3 groups. The ladies decided to go to shopping at the famous Police bazaar, me and 3 kids decided to go to Don Bosco museum and Ward’s lake and the other 3 decided to take some rest in the room. The kids liked Don Bosco museum which was mainly about the culture of Northeast and very good view of Shillong from the skywalk on the terrace. Then went to Ward’s lake which was constructed in 1892 and came back to the room. Had lunch at Vivanta and headed to Guwahati. There was a huge traffic jam for the 2nd consecutive day and reached Guwahati around 9 pm. This would be the last night of our trip.
Day 8(Apr 6th): Finally, last day of the trip. Went to Umananda temple, which is on a small island in the Brahmaputra river. So had to go by boat in the river to reach there. The Siva linga was quite old and the temple was also an old one. From there went to Sukreshwar temple which was just next to the boating point. It had a big Siva linga and one could do Abhishekam to the linga. From there, went to Janardhan temple. Went to a silk saree shop to buy Assam silk sarees and came back to the hotel. Got fresh, had lunch and went to the airport around 2.30 pm and thanked our driver Mr. Gauri Shanker Singh who was with us throughout the trip. Flight was on time and reached Hyderabad at around 7.30 pm. Reached home around 9 pm in 3 different cabs. All of us enjoyed the trip thoroughly and memories made for the life time. Please check out my other road trips here.
