Mawlynnong

This is Asia’s cleanest village. Mawlynnong. About 100 km from Shillong and enroute Cherrapunjee.

You will immediately notice why. The village believes and incorporates the tenets of eco tourism. Houses, pathways, schools and churches are sparkling clean and dust free. Their waste is collected in bamboo dustbins and directed to a pit to be used as manure. There are plenty of massive brooms and sweepers sporting those brooms to display their intention for cleanliness.

Out damn spot, out.

The village also offers a glimpse Bangladesh from its tree houses.

Discover India magazine declared the village as the cleanest in Asia in 2003 and 2005. Thus the sobriquet.

Living Root Bridges of Meghalaya

The root bridges of Meghalaya are a sight unto themselves and a test of forbearance when you try to balance yourself on the tangled roots that make the precarious base, hold on to the shaky sides and try not to notice the beautiful emerald waters down which in turn will cause you more nausea and lose balance.

These bridges are made from the roots of the Ficus elastica tree which produces a series of secondary roots that can be twisted to build these gorgeous bridges. So, in Meghalaya, the Khasis practically grow their bridges. These are living bridges and grow stronger over time. Several of these root bridges are several hundred years old

The best is of course the Nongriat Double-Decker Root Bridge that takes an arduous 6-8 hours of steep downhill and uphill climb to reach.

And there are some others as shaky and frightening...

Caving. Krem Mawmluh

Caving. Krem Mawmluh. One of the most exciting things ever.

With a total length of over 7 kms of cave passages, Krem Mawmluh is situated half a kilometer west of Cherrapunjee adjacent to the small hamlet of Mawmluh from which the cave takes its name. The cave’s 7 kms consists of fine river passages, calcite formations, waist deep pools, few meters of belly crawl and several arduous climbs.

We loved it.

Through dark, winding passages, roofs which threaten to fall on you, rocks that jut out of both corners stinging your body, swamps which suck in the foot, eerie, inky, black darkness all around. At one time, when our guides asked us to shut our eyes and be quiet and imagine we were lost in the cave, I realized this is what hell must be like. So dark! With water gurgling at a far corner, unidentifiable animal sounds, and a foggy chill in the air. And not one light, not one, visible. Just the conjoined breathing of tired and awed souls.

Before we went in, we had to change into caving gear - suit, helmet and headlamp. We were glad we had them on because the head hits the roof at so many places, without a helmet there would definitely be a lot of blood splatter. And there’s so much of wading through waist deep, cold water at so many dark corners that boots and overalls are mandatory. It is preferable to go in big groups else the experience may be extremely claustrophobic and fearful, since it is a reassuring feeling to see at least one pin prick of light in the resounding darkness. And a guide is essential if you are an amateur.

But, But. But. It is a must do. So cool.

And don't forget the stalactites and stalagmites

Shillong

If you are remember Shillong as a pristine, picturesque little town you obviously visited a long time back. Today it is a cluttered, noisy and polluted city with plentiful traffic jams and clumsily growing habitats. Still parts of it offers good photo opportunities, especially in the narrow, crowded streets of Bara Bazar, locally know as Lew Duh, served mostly by women sporting bloody, kwai stained lips.

At Bara Bazar I had my first taste of the jadhou, which is like a buttery, sort of sticky yellow rice. The eateries are super busy with a buffet style feeding system.

And we stayed in some really nice places. 

But what was really interesting is the sport of Teer or lottery by archery that we watched. 

In many parts of Shillong, you will see boards with numbers. Like this. 

This is what it means.


The system of legalized lottery hinges on a game that involves a row of archers shooting at a circular target made of bamboo. The archers shoot a barrage of arrows into the target. After each round, the arrows are plucked out and counted. The last two digits of the total number of arrows on the target is the winning number. Bets are placed not only in Shillong but towns as far as Agartala and Darjeeling. More information here.

Watching this was definitely fun.

And lace seems to be a favorite of North East...it adorns every door and window. From the poor to the rich.

As are the beautiful button roses and tiny tomatoes. Pretty.