Chittkul, a small village in Kinnaur, where time stands still and nature gazes from every nook and corner!

Chittkul.. The Last village of Indo Tibet Border!

When I went to Kinnaur I was in dual mind, whether to visit Chitkul or not, as I was running short of time. But skipping a chance to visit remote village seemed a very difficult option, so I went ahead with reduced time.

We planned to start early (5.30 AM) in the morning and did I tell you, that here the sun is in full glaze by 6.00AM. A very lean (just manageable for four wheelers) road connects Chitkul with rest of the world. It offers some breathtaking views of lush green Sangla Valley, some landscapes starring melting glaciers, sharp blue sky with beautiful formations of white clouds. I was lost in the scenery all-around, little did I know, destination ahead, will make me forget every other landscape I have witnessed!!

Chitkul @ a minutes drive from here.

On the way to Chitkul

The moment we crossed that last bend of road, we stepped into a dream world leaving our chaotic lives far behind.  The snow covered speechless white mountains on one side creating an effect as if you have reached end of the world, green mountains one the other side signifying the life in this serene place, river Baspa flowing nearby, the green farming fields at the center of those huge mountain and a small village amidst of this heavenly beauty is Chitkul.

One of the regular houses at Chitkul

First look at Chitkul

There is a Buddhist temple at village has beautiful and intricate exteriors (couldn’t go inside as it was closed). It is the last point of Kinner Kailash Parikrama as you can hike from here-on.

The Buddist Temple

Temple Corridor

It’s a small village with total population of 860, having steep & narrow paths leading inside the village. As we went inside, we got a chance to witness the lifestyle of the villagers. They had a water mill to grind the grains which the operated by the fast current of the small tributary of river. Wooden houses having lot of storage space for winters when village gets disconnected from Sangla.

The Arch

The actual border is 90 kms from here, but civilians can’t go there without special permissions. One of the villager told us that there is a route through the hills which leads to Rishikesh. If he was to be believed, he can reach their earlier on foot than we can by car.

View toward Tibet Border, India last check pot lies somewhere near that huge white mountain

I spent time by the river side just looking at the huge snow covered mountain in front of me, thinking particularly nothing and imagining that Sun-rise would have been a real experience here. Suddenly, Rahul called me from behind, informing that we have to go.

I made a promise to myself to return soon as we left for Rakcham again through those picturesque roads!!

Route to and fro chitkul

Tips: Very few homestays/ basic rooms are available here for stay. Stay here is recommended only if you just wanna relax and admire the beauty and vastness of nature. You won’t find any viewpoints/ things to do, unlike regular hill stations, though village in-itself (with its surroundings) is a treat to eyes.

Chand Baori, the Step Well

Chand Baori & Sariska

While browsing internet I came across a blog which showcased the photographs of Chand Baori, the photograph was so gripping I immediately knew where I am going next. But my wanderlust wasn’t going to satisfy with only Chand Baori, so I kept on googling.

The Chand Baori

Now it seemed a pretty interesting trip (with Sariska and Bhangargh) with jam packed schedule to follow.   Although I had to drop Bhangarh on the last day due to my laziness of waking up early!

After a lazy morning we started towards our first destination Sariska. Soon after we took a left from NH8 somewhere near Bhiwadi, we entered into the Aravali regions. We were accompanied by some awesome views of rustic brown hillocks shining under the gazing Sun. After a comfortable drive of 3.5 hrs, we reached Sariska at around 12 PM.

Very First Sight of Sariska Palace

Sariska Palace was our bet for getting some royal treatment at the Royals of Rajasthan, though it didn’t live up to the expectations. The first Look of the Room was pretty impressive but at a closer look, it needed big time maintenance!

Sariska National Park has a similar topography as Ranthambore, though it’s bigger in area. While visiting Ranthambore I got to know that 3 tigers were relocated from Ranthambore to Sariska last year itself!! I was not very keen on spending 3000 Rs for the Safari as the probability of spotting the Big Cats was pretty less. So we took our own car into the national park till the Hanuman temple (21km) with an entry fees of Rs. 250. The peacocks and monkey can be located in abundance in the park. It’s worth paying a visit to the temple.

Next day we started late for Abhaneri, verified the route with one of the hotel staff, it took us around 1.5 -2 hours.

Baori and Harshatmata Temple were built in the 8th century by the King Chand, the ruler of Abha Nagri. The village was named after the glow (abha in Hindi) which is reflected through the well (Baori) water during full moon nights. It is known pronounced as Abhaneri.

Mere one look at the Boari is enough to boast about the rich heritage & culture Rajasthan has! As soon as we reached near the Baori, a flock of hundreds of pigeon flew (twice) just over our head to change their resting area, probably due to change in the wind or sun.

The Chand boari is a square shaped well, having a total of 3000 stairs symmetrically carved on its 3 sides, contributing to the beautiful Top view of the Boari. Earlier the 4^th side was a ramp, and later the King of Jaipur converted that side into his Summer Palace to get relief from the scorching heat.

The baori is fenced from the other 3 sides, it’s not allowed to enter the well. Three years back only, it was fenced for safety purposes when an Italian women slipped over the inside stairs of the well. Though I was disappointed with that restriction as I couldn’t have a closer look at it, but it didn’t lessen the sheer pleasure of sighting that beautiful piece of architecture.

Our guide told that earlier it used to be a source of ground water but now it was filled with green rain water at the bottom. We strolled around the baori, heard the significance of various statues placed at the nearby corridors and admired its beauty as well as magnificence.

Closer Look at the depth of Chand Baori

Suddenly, I saw a college going girl who seemed modern and (at least) graduate, ignoring all the notice and crossed the fence entered the boari. Despite of the security guard’s and her very own friend’s shouting, she didn’t move out an inch until her “SO CALLED PHOTOGRAPH” was clicked. After this she had a proud smile on her face as if she had won some righteous war. I mean SERIOUSLY!!

Harshatmata Temple against the blueish-grey cloudy background

Harshatmata Temple is dedicated to the goddess Harshat. The temple was destroyed during the Mughal and Turkish invasion in north India. After destruction locals tried to rebuild the temple, but it was never the same. Few pieces and statues are also lying in the forbidden corridors of Chand Baori!!

While returning we were accompanied by some awesome weather with rain, cool breeze, good road, awesome views and soulful music, all the ingredients of peaceful and refreshing drive back to HOME SWEET HOME!! 

Matheran & Alibaug

Matheran & Alibaug

Although it’s little late to tell about these small tales from yesteryear's, but I believe in better late then never! So here is one of them.. 

These travel stories are from the time I just passed college with zero level of maturity & stability in my thoughts. I was staying alone in Hyderabad with no friends in the city, may be that was the trigger for my never satisfying desire of travel. To fulfil those I did two things: One made lot of friends in Hyderabad to have some travel companions for nearby places, Two I used to pay monthly visit to Mumbai where I had quite a few friends and a lot of options for weekend excursions.

Unlike current me, back then I had no idea where I am going, whats the itinerary, what should be the must dos, how are we travelling and where are we staying, where ever it is, I am ready to go!! 

This was in 2008 and still the memory is fresh like a lemon juice.  Matheran and Alibag was the destinations, (I didn’t even know that what are these) where I travelled by my 6 colleagues, except two, I hardly knew anybody, and we two were the last minute inclusion in the plan, arranging bus tickets from Hyderabad to Pune was a little difficult but not impossible. Friday night we boarded the sleeper bus and left for Pune from there 4 more were about to join.

At Pune we got in to a Tempo-traveller and started-off towards Matheran accompanied by some of the nicest weather at the Western Ghats. We halted at some unknown hillocks near Lonavla. This was my first trip to Western Ghats, lush green mountains (not having even a single patch of brown soil) with misty weather and cool breeze had every element to turn your mood on and I immediately fell in love with it!! With many more such trips to follow!!

The road as seen through the Wind Shield of Tempo Traveller

With lots of stopover for clicking pics, for bathing under a small water fall, for enjoying the weather and of course filling to stomach we reached Matheran around 6.30 in the evening. 

We tried to get the toy train (the only means of transport to reach Matheran) but the entire track was submerged in water due to rains so it wasn’t operating. So we had to rely on the pair of own individual feet. The walk through the red soil path with drizzling was memorable. Finally at around 8 PM we reached the hill station with no electricity and no room and no network in our mobiles. So all got divided in group of 2-3 people each and started looking for hotels.. After an hours hunt we finally got a hotel with basic facilities.. The first thing was to change and relax as we all were damp and tired. Then after dinner enjoyed the night roaming around the streets.

Plan for morning was to walk inside the jungle, walk by the lake side and getting drench under the water fall again near Charlotte Lake, while doing all this visit few touristy points such as King Gorge point, Echo Point & Suicide point.. 

Morning Views inside the jungle

Somewhere in Matheran

I have this inclination towards these suicide points as most of them offer spectacular views of the valley while clouds play hide and seek (especially in monsoon). And the thrill which you feel when you are standing on the most external edge of the cliff where one small push and you are gone forever.

Dangerously fascinating Suicide Point

The drive to Alibaug was through the lean beautiful roads, having greenery both sides. And suddenly out of nowhere you reach the Alibaug beach. It has small hillock at one side and beach on the other side (though you can find quite a few such sights while driving through the Konkarn region.

The Greenery that can blind you

Again the fight was to find a hotel with atleast 5 vacant rooms at 11 PM.. We could find one though very bad one, but that was the only option we had, with dipping celling, damp beds smelly pillows, and small fungus spots on the bed sheet, I was definitely in for a sleep. 

After checking in, me, yogita and abhishek went for a walk towards the Alibaug beach.. The high tide was predicted that night.. I sat on the stairs, watching the very high tides breaking at the shores, giving an occasional gaze to the full moon peeing out of the clouds at times, lost in my own world!! Suddenly I heard somebody shouting for help, I looked at that side and then realised that it was Abhishek, who slipped through the ramp right at the edge of shore, and he can easily we taken away by the shoring high waves any time. I couldn’t imagine how the hell he managed to slip down!!

Our mobile phone weren’t working so we couldn’t call our other friends so now Yogita and I had to pull him out. Somehow we managed to find a thick stem of tree, one of us stood right above the ramp another went a little down with holding others hand, Abhishek managed to climb and that slippery and damp ramp, and somehow we all three held each other’s hand in a chain and managed to pull rescue Abhishek.. Then again we sat at the edge this time much carefully then before and laughed our heart, spoke only about that incident/accident.

Entire night we spent chit chatting anyways I wasn’t looking forward to sleep. Early morning (4.30 AM) we went to beach to watch the Sunrise, but due to clouds there was no such sight. The water was atleast a km back from yesterday night and kind of still and very low. We took a “Tanga ride” towards the Undheri Fort (AKA Sea Fort) on an island inside the sea. It offered spectacular views of the sea. The water rapidly running towards the shore with the Rising Sun, we hurried towards the shore while playing with the rising water level.

Tarun posing at the beach

We went to another beach spent some time there while playing with water, before we headed back to Hyderabad. But that wasn’t end of our adventure, due to traffic jam we barely managed to reach the railway station for our journey back to Hyderabad. As Tarun read the wrong departure time, we were relaxing at the station and Abhishek went to pick up some burgers for us. Suddenly, the announcement was that the train has already started, we ran ferociously towards the train, while calling Abhishek. Finally he also managed to jump inside the running train!!

That’s how the fun filled trip was concluded with lots of stories to remember.

PS: Photographs are mostly clicked by my friends.

Munsiyari.. with an icing of Binsar!!

Generally managers (especially in India) believe that one should not get any holidays apart from Saturday/Sunday/Statutory Holidays (those too, only when you don’t have work)! In such circumstances asking a leave without some medical/legal emergency, without some relatives wedding is like a Non-Bailable Crime and I have been guilty of it not only once but many a times!  And yes, I shall continue to do the same in future also, as I can’t live without travelling to unknown routes, meeting people from different culture, breathing the clean and fresh air of some distant mountains, dipping feet in the cold stream of water.. and the list continues..

As I had recently switched job and took quite a few leaves when I got married (one year back) I started to think about the options I had for taking the leave.  After much of brainstorming I decided to try to convince my boss for the actual reason i.e. travelling. Believe me it was much easier, as I didn’t have to think of a lie for every counter question he asked. That was an unexpectedly pleasant start to my trip planning activities..

Early Morning View at Munsiyari

This time it was Munsiyari, the trekkers paradise and we were not going there for trekking! After the June Floods in UttaraKhand, I had to alter my plan a little, had to drop Dharchula from my itinerary as the road was completely washed-off especially near Jauljibi, so I included Binsar in our trip and struck Dharchula off with a heavy heart, not that I regret it now, as Binsar offered some equally awesome memoirs to remember.

We started from Delhi on Friday night, took a train to Kathgodam, from there on we had pre-booked a taxi. Morning 5.30 AM when the Sun was still asleep under the blanket of dark clouds, we started our road travel.

Total 12 hrs road journey through the broken roads, water crossings, few distant recent landslide areas, unmatched mountain views and awesome monsoon weather of hills, a normal drive through the clouds. We reached Munsiyari at evening 5 PM. If I have to describe the village in one line than: A small and pretty tribal village with a daunting view of Snow covered Pachachuli Peak from almost every nook and corner of the village. You are likely to find a lot of trekking groups as lot of small & long, easy & difficult treks start from here.

The distant landslide enroute munsiyari

Road through clouds

Next day morning I woke up early in the morning, to my luck it was a clear morning with awesome view of the Snow Cladded Mountains. As the day progressed the clouds come up and cover the higher peak. The only things to do in munsiyari either go for a trek or just laze around and embrace the stillness, calmness, and listen our own heart beating against the cool breeze. For a change I did the later..

View from our room

Nandadevi temple is located right in the middle of lush green high mountain peaks and offers some awesomeeeeeee paranomic views of snow covered peaks, The small walk till the temple is through the tall green pine trees. I thought of spending some time at one of the benches but the house flies were guarding the place like anything!

View from Nandadevi Temple.. though covered under clouds but thats a small price you have to pay enjoy weather that awesome

Rainbow on some unknown road @ Munsiyari 

Spent the evening walking around the village, sitting on the edge of some unknown road, watching the sun-set behind those huge Blue Mountains having small patches amber-pink clouds. That pristine sight was captured in my heart for ever and ever!!  To have an un-interrupted encounter with nature, I didn’t carry my camera that evening, to avoid any urge to click the photograph.

Next day we started early morning for Binsar accompanied by some heavenly view and landscapes. We halted at Kali mandir which is supposed to offer some awesome views but by the time we reached there, the entire atmosphere was full of clouds, though there is no comparison of such hilly monsoon weather but we were devoid of some spectacular views. We were walked amidst of clouds, removed our slippers and entered into the old open corridor of temple of Goddess Kali..

Suddenly, our driver stopped the car and pointed towards a distant falls and told that is Birthi Falls, from road it seemed a little far, so we decided that we will walk to have a somewhat closer look and come back.. As I started walking, my feet started itching to reach the falls.

There was not a single soul near the falls or enroute to falls. As we reached near the magnificent and loud falls. The Cool breeze of air, the water mist, the grey cloudy sky gave a feeling of rain though it wasn’t. It was totally worth to climb through that steep and very slippery route, just to experience that surreal environment. 

First Sight of Birthi Falls; I couldn't do any justice while capturing the magnificence but still.. 

It’s not that I haven’t seen huge and magnificent water falls, but there was something different about this one. Maybe it was the (rainy) weather, serenity, calmness & stillness, solitude or it was my state of mind, but it looked Divine!!

The broken road to Heaven

While driving to Binsar, we were accompanied by the Ganges for a long time, also the ‘Sangam’ (confluence) at Bhageshwar can be easily seen while crossing the city. By the time we reached Binsar the Wildlife Sanctuary was closed so we headed straight to our resort. The huge glass window in our room gave an un-interrupted view of the sun-set behind the snow-cladded white peak..

Sunset at Binsar

Early morning we went to the Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary, while tracking we saw few distant peaks. But could have the paranomic view of the Nanda Devi, Nanda Kot, Panchachuli, Chaukhamba and Kedarnath because of clouds, but the track itself was worth an early morning walk.

After a filling breakfast we headed to Rahul’s favorite hill station i.e. Nainital, and did some touristy activities such as boating in Naini Lake, visiting the artificial Caves, roaming on the mall road, taking a cycle rikshaw ride on mall road (must do in Nainital) etc..

The everrefreshing beauty: Naini Lake @ Nainital

With this pleasant evening our trip was summed up and we were refreshed to go back to our hectic corporate lives with fixed schedules, until the next holiday!!

Shillong

Our Itinerary:
Day1: Delhi-Guwahati-Cherrapunjee
Day2: Cherrapunjee & Cherrapunjee - Mawlynnong

Day3: Mawlynnong & Mawlynnong - Shillong

Day4- Shillong + Day 5: Shillong-Guwahati-Delhi

We reached Shillong again at around 6.30 PM, by now it has become our official checking-in time for any city. As it was 26^th January (Republic Day) the entire market was closed, my first task at hand was took look for some open bakery to purchase a cake for 12’o Clock Birthday celebrations. The each and every shop in the market was closed, all the passages were empty as if, there is some curfew, but we kept on driving here and there. Finally out of nowhere I found one very nice looking bakery, while walking my eyes got glued on bakery only and I fell into a Deep (around 2 feet) drain kind of thing. Never the less I immediately got up and completed the task to purchase an awesome and expensive cake!!

Mawphlong Dam @ Shillong

**Interesting Fact # 7: Awesome Non-Veg Food

Shillong is a hub for Non-Veg food, and some really awesome non-veg food is prepared and served here, we had to rely on other tourist feedback for that. While deciding for dinner options our driver told that around 300 Pigs are consumed every-day in Shillong itself!!

Shop Selling Raw Meat

Our booking was with Aerodene Cottage, a homestay run by two ladies with a purpose to serve this heritage cottage. As soon as we looked at our room, we simply fell in love with it. The entire room decorated with whites and all items placed in a tasteful manner. Icing on the cake was a private sit-out to spend the evening having beautiful plants all around.

A cup of tea, some cookies and endless calmness, what else one need to complete your evening!! The dinner was being served at common dining area at 8.30 PM. At the dinner table we met a girl who had quit her job and was on indefinite vacation spend some time with herself. I envy such people so much, who have a courage to quit everything to follow their heart!!By the time we were finishing dinner met we met Amit he was there for work. He does exactly the same job (to earn bread and butter) as I do. So we got a common topic to discuss and got some tips for Shillong as he knew that region pretty-well.

For morning we had plans to go to the Scared Forest in Mawphlong. We took a guide named Bond and he told us some stories associated with the forest and while doing so he was also collecting each and every food/beverages wrappers littered in the jungle. An idea just floated through my mind, instead of cribbing about the litter, if we also do the way Bond did, who knows Delhi also might become cleanest capital city!!

Bond was kind enough to invite to his home for some refreshment, we had a good discussion with his father who seemed to be a respected man in their village. After that Nanu parked the car in an open complex kind of thing and took us to climb few stairs by the side of a huge wall. Suddenly out of nowhere we reached a beautiful Mawphlong Dam, and there was nobody not a single living soul to admire the deep blue river surrounded by the mountains and imprisoned by the Dam.

Mawphlong Dam

**Interesting Fact # 8: Land of Waterfalls

Meghalaya has several waterfalls in each and every corner of the state. There are numerous waterfalls in and around Shillong, the famous ones are:  Bishop Falls, Elephant Falls, Spread Eagle Falls, Sweet Falls, Crinoline Falls and Beadon Falls. In Cherrapunjee (Sohra) also, the heavy rainfall has sculpted beautiful rock formations and waterfalls namely: Nohkalikai falls, Dainthlen falls, Khoh Ramhah, Kynrem Falls, Nohsngithiang Falls.

Sweet Falls @ Shillong

We skipped to go to the most famous tourist destinations as we just has half a day remaining with us, we shortlisted few of then began with our little touristy stuff like visiting Shillong View Point (entire city can be seen from here), Sweet falls (Distant View of Falls with no-one around, Some locals say that these are haunted falls) & Cultural museum (Museum showcasing the culture and tribes of Seven Sisters, very informative), roam around in the market (nice small market with quite a few good cafes) to do some souvenir shopping and finally headed towards the Dinner at Tripura Castle.

Next day morning we got up early, had our morning tea at the sit-out, got ready and headed for dinner. At breakfast again I met one of my old colleague, we did some general catch-up as again Rahul got bored listening to our office talks. While chit-chatting we also got delayed by 30-45 mins so we had to skip Watch Lake and directly head towards Guwahati to catch our Flight back to Delhi.

We bade our final good-bye to this Fairy Land with heavy-heart and the feeling that, we could have spent some more time here.. 

Mawlynnong

Our Itineray:
Day1: Delhi-Guwahati-Cherrapunjee
Day2: Cherrapunjee & Cherrapunjee - Mawlynnong

Day3: Mawlynnong & Mawlynnong - Shillong

Day4- Shillong
Day5: Shillong-Guwahati-Delhi

We reached Mawlynnong at around 7.00PM. Nanu had arranged for a beautiful homestay at . They just have one bamboo cottage, to accommodate at maximum 4 pax. Henry’s mother served some delicious home-made food which was at very reasonable rates as well.

River @ Indo-Bangla Border

**Interesting Fact # 5: Asia’s Cleanest Village

Mawlynnong is also referred as God’s own Garden and was identified as Asia’s Cleanest Village in year 2003. As soon as we entered the village we could easily comprehend the basis behind it. One can spend good lone time here, the village is very calm and quite. Ultra clean, small passages having beautiful trees on both side of the passages.

The local residents are very conscious about the cleanliness. The villagers picking up the dried leaves and disposing them to the Bamboo Dustin, which are installed at every 10 feet of the village. The visitors are not allowed to dispose of plastic waste even in bamboo dustbins. They have to carry it back to find a proper disposing place.

Passage inside the Village

Brooms drying under Sun

There are Bamboo tree houses across the village, which offers breathtaking view of Bangladesh plains as it is located on the Indo-Bangla border. Though ascending & descending through those bamboo slopes can we little slippery and shaky at times.

Steep & Shaky Bamboo Tree House to get a top view of Bangladesh !

We started our morning with walking around the village soaking the calmness and simplicity of the village. After lunch we drove through the road surrounded by fields where boom sticks were being grown (Many villagers are into the business of making and selling brooms). The village offers picturesque natural beauty, a small 15 min trek to the living Root Bridge at a neighbouring village Riwai. The Living Root Bridge looked much older, taller, stronger, quieter (with no human soul around) and much accessible than the other bridges in Cherrapunjee.

Living Root Bridge @ Mawlynnong

**Interesting Fact # 6: Indo-Bangla Border

Unlike India-Pakistan (or India-China) Border, India-Bangladesh Border is quite clam and peaceful. These is not LOC defined with no “No-man’s land”. It feels good with neighbouring country share ecological resources with friendliness towards each other. The road for good 25-30 kms towards dawki, is so close to Bangladesh that if you take leap (and mind it, it’s not Spider man leap!!) you can easily enter it.

Kids Playing in Bangladesh

Near Dawki Dam

So we drove next to open fields of the Bangladesh for good 30-45 mins and ventured into Bangladesh at two places. The drive to Dawki is very picturesque, especially while driving by the side of Umngot River you enter into the fairy land, with turquoise Blue River being surrounded by the huge mountains on the either side, which are connected through a concrete bridge (Dawki Bridge) over the river. We visited the checkpost at the border didn’t get down.  It is an official border crossing area which allows vehicles and people to pass through (With valid papers off course).

For here we took a “U” turn and headed towards Shillong our last destination for the Tour. 

Cherrapunjee

Day1: Delhi-Guwahati-Cherrapunjee

Day2: Cherrapunjee & Cherrapunjee - Mawlynnong

Day3: Mawlynnong & Mawlynnong - Shillong

Day4- Shillong

Day5: Shillong-Guwahati-Delhi

The hotel we were staying, was an ECO RESORT Sai-Mika, off course arranged by Nanu and verified by me. Huge open property, with spacious cottages build in old style. The place is very quiet and beautiful. The restaurant is a stand-out, decorated with portraits of Rock Stars, dim lighting, rock music (of 70s-80s) at backdrop and small sit-out with bonfire arrangement. Good Chinese food was served in a huge tiffin style box. I spent some alone time in the balcony just to soak the quite surroundings and appreciate the sight of diamond studded sky and then retired to sleep after finishing of some office work, which I forgot to do on Friday!!  

Morning 6.30, the sun was up with full swing, gazing right into your eyes. Our geyser wasn’t working, so we had to call Antanu to correct it. Due to this we were delayed by an hour. We wanted to start-off early as today was going to be the most tiring and adventurous day.

**Interesting Fact # 3: Living Route Bridges

The living root bridges, are the tree roots grown to the other end of the river to form a bridge. The Rubber fig tree routes are trained to grow through the hollow betel tree trunks (which are placed across the gap) until they root on the other side of the river/gap. The thin long and tender roots of trees are passed through the hollow halves of betel nut tree trunks and as the root grows the bridge takes it shape and strength. It generally takes 10- 15 years to grow a functional living root bridge. Stones and mud is put on the bridge to make the surface smoother and walkable.

As the bridge grows older it also grows stronger, they are naturally self-renewing and self-strengthening as the component roots grow thicker. These bridges in are approx. 150-200 years old.

 There are several living root bridges in this area. The most famous ones are Double Decker and Long Root Bridge. As the name suggests, the double decker bridge is grown in at two levels for crossing the same river. The Long root bridge is thinner and leaner in structure and around 100 feet long.

Front View of Dobule Decker; Living Root Bridge

The route to reach the double decker is not that easy. One has to climb down around 4000 stairs to reach the bridge and also climb those back to reach the car parking area.we started at around 9.15 AM. On the way we encountered beautiful sceneries of the lush green forest on both side of the stairs. At midway there is a villages, the route for Long Root Bridge and Double Decker Bridge diverts here. As suggested by Nanu we first went to Double Decker as it was quite far. Enroute Double Decker we found two rope bridges. The first one was small bridge build on the shallow flowing river. These had lean structure with just enough space for one person to cross at a time. At first those rope bridges look little too lean to cross but once we got on it, it felt perfectly safe and serene.

The unending Stairs

The second bridge was a two stage bride having a pillar in the middle to support the structure. This one had cleaner and bluer water flowing beneath it. The landscape was giving a feeling as if you have entered some live (water) painting having vibrant such blues, greens & browns, with colorful butterflies flying on the beautiful flowers blossomed here & there.

The Rope Bridge

Capturing that image in our mind we moved forward and after some time there we encountered our first living root bridge. It was a small one, giving a far view of the double decker towards its right. Now we climbed up a little to cross the Nongriat village and Reach Double Decker.

Side view of the Bridge

While returning we took the diversion towards the Long Root Bridge it was a 15 mins climb up to the bridge. And after that the mammoth stair-climb was staring at us. Somehow we managed to reach the parking at around 1.30 – 1.45 Pm, with no energy for doing even nothing.

**Interesting Fact # 4: Caves

Meghalaya is home for number of Caves especially in Khasi hills near Cherrapunjee. Just to name a few, Krem Liat Prah (Janita Hills) the longest caves in India, Siju Cave (Garo Hills) is famous for bas and offers some of the finest river passages. 

Then we went to visit Mawsmai Caves, small and fully commercialized caves just to get the feeling of the cave one can visit here. We couldn’t do full-fledged caving in Mawmluh Cave because of shortage of time, as that would have required minimum 6 hrs and full energy.

@Mawsmai Cave

Now we were heading to Mawlynnong, enroute we visited two water falls Nohkalikai and Dainthlen falls.

Sunset Near the Dainthlen Falls

Meghalaya

Our Itineray:

Day1: Delhi-Guwahati-Cherrapunjee

Day2: Cherrapunjee & Cherrapunjee - Mawlynnong
Day3: Mawlynnong & Mawlynnong - Shillong
Day4- Shillong
Day5: Shillong-Guwahati-Delhi

The year 2014 was dedicated to sky high Himalayas. It started from the trip to heaven on earth Kashmir in January, progressed with the adventurous tour to Kalpa-Sangla Valley and Lahaul-Spiti in June, Chandrataal in August and ended with the eventful tour to Mcleodganj and Dalhousie.

We planned to start this year with some awesome beach destination, and when it comes to white sand beaches with crystal clear waters, what better location can there be than Lakshadweep Islands. Somehow we started off little late for planning, and it couldn’t materialise, but cancelling the trip is never an option in my world that too when it was planned to celebrate Rahul’s Birthday!!

We shifted our destination from the untouched islands of south east India to the wettest place on earth towards the North east India, Meghalaya. The entire planning for the trip was done in a jiffy, Rahul called up his friend who recently visited there, took the cab driver’s (Nanu) number and the other arrangements were based on Nanu’s recommendation. The suggestion we got from our friend was just to follow Nanu’s advice and everything will be sorted. I tried to do that but the travel freak inside me didn’t let me do that. So just to satisfy my hunger, I had to do basic secondary research to design the itinerary and at least verify our stay option suggested by our driver.

**Interesting Fact # 1: Tribes of Meghalaya

There are primarily 3 tribes in Meghalaya: Khasi, Garos & Janitas. Garos are settled in the Garo hills of Meghalaya, while the Khasis are scattered all across the state and are known by different names. Mainly the pure Khasis can be sited at the Khasi hills where as the Pnars or Jaintias can be located on Jaintia hills. Garos are known as the descendants of Bodo family of the Tibeto-Burmar race who came down to the north eastern states, all the way from Tibet. The Khasis and Pnars or Jaintias are the believed to be descendants of Proto Austroloid Monkhmer race.

Shillong, Cherrapunjee and Mawlynnong are all part of East Khasi Hills.

Waking up early on a Saturday Winter morning is a task in itself but somehow we managed. We could barely manage to board the connecting at 7.50AM for 7.45AM flight, as Delhi was on highest security alert as US President Obama was coming for 26^th January.

Just 15-20mins after the take-off, all I could see was snow covered Himalayan Peaks making their way out of the greyish-white cloud blanket. Though I couldn’t recognize the exact name of the peaks but most likely we would have seen Dhaulagiri (8,167m), Annapurna (8,091m), Everest (8,848 m). Not every day you get such spectacular views through the window!! The sight mere sight of it was enough to re-kindle my love for sky high Himalaya and I suggested Rahul to divert our journey towards Tawang. Little did he agree with me!!

We started our trip by paying a visit to Kamakya Devi Temple. There was huge queue of Worshippers to get inside the temple. There were two shorter queues one with 100 Rs payment (which closed by the time we reached) and another with a payment of 500 Rs to get an express entry into the temple. The temple door closes at 1.00PM and opens at around 2.30 PM.

The temple is one of the 51 Shakti peeths of Goddess Durga and has special importance for ‘Tantrik Kriya’. Legend has it that following the destruction of Daksha's sacrifice and the Rudra Tandava of Shiva parts of Sati's body fell at several places throughout India, and these places are revered as Shakti peethas. The reproductive organ of Sati, (the Yoni) is said to have fallen here.

At the outer area of temple there is an idol of goddess Durga. There were 5 goat heads (separated from their bodies) lying in-front of the Goddess Idol (Goat sacrifice is a common ritual followed here to worship the Goddess). It also took us 1½ hrs. to enter (after paying 500 Rs each) and offer our prayers at main sanctum which is in in the form of a cave, which consists of no image, but a natural underground spring that flows through a yoni-shaped cleft in the bedrock.

We headed towards our destination, Cherapunjee via Shillong. On the way to Shillong we halted a Umiam Lake, which offered an spectacular view of the Sunset. While talking to Nanu we came to know about many traditions/facts/culture of the Meghalaya and its people.

Sunset @ Umiam Lake

**Interesting Fact # 2: Matricidal Society

The tribes at Meghalaya follow matrilineal lineage whereby a property's inheritance is traced through the women. Children keep the surname of their mother in few cases. Unlike other part of country girl child is considered a boon here, as by having a girl there blood line keeps on growing.

Though the women section of the tribes at Meghalaya take the responsibility of the household work, men are responsible for the mental and material life of his family.

After marriage if a man has married the youngest or only daughter of the family, then man moves into the woman’s house and they reside with girl’s family. And if man has married other than the youngest daughter then the couple has to move out and build their own home separately. Neither can they stay at guy’s house nor at girl’s house. The property also gets transferred to the women in the house. There is only one restriction i.e., one cannot marry in the same clan and the marriage should get the approval of the family members. 

Khasi Women in Meghalaya

Dalhousie..!!

Dalhousie

We reached Dalhousie at 8.00PM with our heads falling below our knees due to the tiredness. There were 200 stairs to reach our room at birds and chirps, immediately I thought of an elevator, and how helpful invention it would have been!!

Anyways I didn’t have that option so had to climb through those stairs. After reaching our room, I took bath and then with immediate effect, fell sick. Still I managed to go to the dinning area, where Mrs. Bhalla gave me medicine and after having dinner I was off to bed.

Starting of stairs towards Birds n Chirps

Early morning I woke up with the chirping of birds and when I opened the door I could see number of small birds of various colors and sizes, hopping from one tree to another and the only audible sound was theirs. At around 6.30AM the bed tea was sent to our room what else one can ask, spent our morning appreciating the serenity of the place and left room around at 10AM.

We headed towards Khajjiar if you are lucky with a clear sky you might get a glimpse of snow covered peaks of Dhauladhar ranges which I witnessed last time, but this time we weren't so lucky. We reached khajjiar in less than an hour time. It is a flat plateau surrounded by tall and thick deodar trees. At the day time it is very commercialized with lot of vendors roaming around for food item, photos, horse riding and other kids games. It is like a crowded picnic spot, but in off season it is worth to pay a visit here.

Khajjiar

Baby Rabbit @ Khajjiar.. Lots of Rabbit were available there, for holding and clicking photos with 10 Rs/person

Two government cottages are also available with night stay facility. Staying here at night it is quite an experience. While staying, if you happen to go towards the forest at night you might listen one or two animal sounds as happened in our case(last year), so it is advised not to venture into the forest at night time. One can spend some time at the flat grassland and enjoy the night full of stars.

Anyways back to our current visit, as me and my husband was spending time looking at the people around suddenly from nowhere a sound came “Oye kya haal chal?” I turned back and realised it is our ex-colleague and friend Gaurav, we don’t get time to see each other in Delhi (in spite of living in the same city), that busy our lives have become!!

But finding him and his family here was a pleasant surprise. We spent some time together exchanged our travel notes, made plans to meet next weekend (which obviously didn’t materialise) and headed to our next destinations. My initial plan was to go towards Chamba and Sach Pass but we dropped it one the sach pass was closed and two Rahul didn’t support the idea of going and coming back from Chamba as we had limited time. So, we took a 'U turn' and went to Kalatop Sanctuary.

Khalatop Wildlife Sanctuary is on the midway while going to Khajjiar from Dalhousie. You can walk through the Sacntuary or can take your car inside by paying a minimal amount of Rs. 200. In cloudy weather walking is a very good option as you will be walking through the mist. 

Not much of wildlife to spot. Few adventure sports (Rappelling & Zipping) are available inside and at the top there is a beautiful forest guest house along with few eating options. Few Bollywood movies has also been shot here.

We opted for the going via car, as we were taking the car ticket for Kala-top Wildlife sanctuary, again Gaurav bumped into us. So we decided to explore it together. We spent some time remembering Old time made fun of each other. Then Gaurav and his family left as they had to go to the Panchpula waterfalls. Myself and Rahul stayed there, walked through the wildlife sanctuary and visited the forest guest house where Bollywood movie “Lootera” was shot.  

@Kalatop Wildlife Sanctuary... Forest Guest house where final scenes of Lootera was shot !!

Then we were done sightseeing for the day and headed towards the market to stuff our stomach with Mc-cains & Other junk food selling by the market area of Dalhousie. Next we went to Tibet market, immediately realised that we shouldn’t have come here. The path between the shops is so narrow that even one person cannot pass easily, and you will find only cheap stuff (few items looked second hand to me) being sold out here. We went back to the main market area, sipped coffee in a beautiful small coffee shop, strolled through the market for 3-4 times and called it day, At the homestay we had some awesome homemade food and after spending an hour in our balcony, retired to sleep.


On the way back to Dalhousie

Again the morning was a repeat telecast of previous morning. After breakfast we checked out and got a shock due to the partial and immature rules of  Birds n Chrips when Mrs. Bhalla charged us extra (for breakfast and dinner) despite of it being mentioned otherwise in the confirmation e-mail and when we sought for an explanation she told, that this disparity is because we booked it online and others didn’t. So we paid 800 Rs extra for booking online (Hostel Booker Charges) + Very Expensive Dinner & Breakfast, which inflated our total cost of stay by 50% compared to others. This left us with a feeling of being cheated. Every time I visit a popular and common tourist destination in North India, my belief about the rude, un-courteous and unjust behaviour of people (of such areas) gets reconfirmed with some or the other incident!!

Anyways we went ahead to Pachpula Waterfalls, it was a small 10-15 mins climb towards the waterfalls. A beautiful falls but similar to other sights it was also crowded. After having next round of tea here we headed towards Dainkund Peak and our mood spoiler driver was again in action he stopped the car in the midway, with a phone dialed-up to his boss and expression of denial (to move) on his utterly shrewd face. OHHH MY GODDD!! This guy was now playing on my nerves with his new gestures of lying on our face. Again Rahul had to talk to the Cab owner and explain him that the driver is lying and we haven't visited the place yesterday, then only he drove further.

Finally we reached Dainkund with kind of bad mood. But as soon as we started climbing up the mountain my mood was reset, as the clouds were playing hide and seek to give a blissful sight of the lush green mountains. The trek offered awesome views of the nearby mountains, as the Dainkund peak is one the highest among the nearby hills, good top view of the valley. The total walking time is required to visit the Kali Mandir at the top of the peak is around 1.5 hr - 2 hr (to and fro).

Dainkund Terk

After this we headed back to the city for lunch to walk around thandi and garam sadak, spent time strolling here and there, then left for Pathankot at around 4.30-5.00 to catch our train. On the way, just before entering the city (Pathankot) you will find lot of farm houses which offer good variety of food with nice ambiance. We halted at Mama’s (the only good thing our driver did in entire trip) they served awesome food and nice garden seating was available. With our stomach full till neck we started for the railway station and then to Delhi.

So this was the end journey of Mc-leodganj and Dallhousie except the last bit of nagging at the station which our driver did to complete our experience. Our trip is concluded such an eventful trip with some good, some not so good and some bad experiences*...  But all that makes it a memorable trip, with lot of stories to remember or forget ;-) :-P !!

*All not so good and bad experiences are related people, and their behaviour!!