[Neversaygbye]

I've been meaning to write this thread for many months now but something or the other always came up and I could never get around to completing it, till now.

While we are much closer to the next monsoon now than we are to the previous one, the reason (or rather two reasons) why I'm still writing this travelogue is because I used Zoomcar for this road trip and want to share that experience and also because there are a few things to keep in mind while planning a trip to Meghalaya in the monsoon, and this thread might be of help to BHPians who are planning such a trip.

It so happens that this was an impromptu trip that happened mainly because some work that my better half had in Guwahati and Tezpur coincided with a work holiday for 4th of July celebrations in the US. Taking just a couple of days off on either side of the weekend meant that I would have a five day weekend, and what with Ananya's work in Tezpur falling on a Friday and the balance work in Guwahati on the next Tuesday, it gave us the perfect opportunity to spend a few days in Meghalaya - a place that I had never been to and one that she had visited only as a child.

I also had another reason to do this trip - my first school was in Tezpur when my father was posted there, and I had faint memories of the place, so I thought that this would be a good opportunity to see the place that I had left behind many decades back.

Since Ananya's office was paying for her onward and return flight tickets, all I had to do was book my flight tickets. However, we would still need local transport in Assam and Meghalaya so I started doing my research on the available options. It seemed that hiring a cab for the duration of our stay was turning out to be as costly as self driving, if not more. So we looked at self drive options with a CSUV, since part of the plan was to go see one of the living root bridges in Nohwet and I had read somewhere that the road quality was atrocious (completely true, as it turned out). Our first stop was the local player in Assam, FuFu Gaadi but unfortunately they did not have a CSUV available on our dates. We had not considered Zoomcar initially as it was turning out to be more expensive, but considered them once FuFuGaadi failed. As luck would have it, Vistara came with a Zoomcar promo just then and with that the cost suddenly dropped to below competition levels.

So we booked a Zoomcar Nexon for the duration of our trip - the process was seamless through the app although I was surprised that the car had the usual white number plates and not the yellow on black plates that I had seen on other self drive cars earlier, including on the Zoomcar vehicle that I had used for a weekend getaway to Coorg from Bangalore some years back. (The reason for choosing a Nexon was that the only other CSUV available on our dates was a Hyundai Venue and I had been in one earlier whereas I had never been in a Nexon and wanted to check it out, since the Beat is getting long in the tooth and might need to be replaced soon.)

So finally the day of our trip came and we took a morning flight from Calcutta to Guwahati. We reached the pick up location of the car in an Uber (the location was an HP petrol pump) in about an hour and waited for the owner to come with the car. He arrived within ten minutes and I had a chat with him about the car while doing an inspection (and taking photos for the app), especially as I was curious to know why the car had the regular white and black number plates and not the black and yellow ones that I had seen on other self drive vehicles in Bangalore and elsewhere. The car was a white Nexon that had done a little more than 17,000 kms. He said that he had purchased the car a couple of years back with the primary purpose of putting it up on Zoomcar as Zoomcar was no longer using their own cars and had shifted to using third party cars owned by individuals. He makes the car available on the platform whenever he doesn't need the car, which is quite frequently. He said that this had turned out to be very profitable for him since Zoomcar works on a revenue sharing model with the owner and also picks up the tab for repair and insurance claims due to damage sustained while the car is being used on the platform. While he was saying this, he showed me a section of the rear quarter panel and bumper which had been damaged by one of the users and fixed by Zoomcar. To say that that the quality of repair work was poor and shoddy would be an understatement, but he seemed quite happy with it. I also asked him about the service history and he showed me that it had been serviced a few months back at a TASC. I was curious to know whether he had ever claimed insurance or repairs under warranty at TASC and he said that he had claimed insurance once but as he never mentioned to the folks that the car was used for hire, there were no problems.

I doubt that this business model of Zoomcar is legal. These are personal vehicles being used commercially. I was a bit apprehensive of what would happen if I got pulled over at some naka (I was going to cross states, after all) and the police questioned me about the car. He said that it wouldn't be a problem - he had provided all the documents (I verified them and they were fine) and said that I could just tell the police that I was a friend who had borrowed his car. He also said that I should call him if I faced any kind of issues. He gave me his FasTag account details as well for adding funds and after doing a tankfull and adding a 1000 bucks on the FasTag account, we were on our way.

Some thoughts on the Zoomcar experience:

1. Zoomcar is more expensive than local competition like Fufu Gaadi and more so when compared to hiring a cab with a driver, once we factor in the cost of fuel (which was additional in the plan I had chosen). However, with promotions (I got 25% off thanks to a Club Vistara promo) it can work out cheaper than renting a car with a driver, even if the car chosen on Zoomcar is a CSUV and not a Swift Dzire (which is the most common car used as a taxi, imho)
2. The legality of their current mode of operation which uses personal vehicles on the platform is a big question mark.
3. Car maintenance is a hit or miss and even for a car with only 17k on the odo, it looked a bit abused - while the car did not have any mechanical issues, it had been in accidents and the (shoddy) repairs were glaringly obvious.
4. Am also not sure what kind of support Zoomcar provides in the event of breakdowns. I asked the owner of the Nexon this question and he said that Zoomcar will retrieve the car at their cost sooner or later, but the person who hired it will typically need to make alternative arrangements on their own. Not the most confidence inspiring answer.

So would I use Zoomcar again? Probably yes, if I again got a good deal and a car with comparatively low odometer reading, and if I'm not planning to go to some remote place. (We were actually going to some pretty remote places on this trip, but the die had already been cast.)

On another note, point 2 seems to be something other self drive players are also doing now. (FuFu Gaadi in Guwahati also uses private vehicles)

Coming back to our trip, I will mostly let the pics do the talking:

Starting odo reading:




Our first stop of the day was Tezpur which is about 200 kms from Guwahati. While there are two routes to Tezpur from Guwahati, we took the one through Jorabat and while there were some diversions initially, after a point the road became butter smooth and it was easy to maintain speed - there were a few tricky bends but that was mostly the only challenge. There was hardly any traffic and we made good progress, so much so that we reached Tezpur within four hours, even with a stop for tea on the way.




The Brahmaputra is huge in terms of expanse - crossing over to get into Tezpur




Stopped for lunch at this excellent place on the highway (Mousumi Parampara) just after getting into Tezpur




A classic two wheeler being used as decoration at the restaurant




Took the opportunity to visit my first school - I spent a year in LKG here before we moved to Calcutta where I completed the rest of my schooling. I remembered that it's a girls' school after getting there, so I did not enter the premises and only took photographs from outside. I could not find the place where we lived despite spending over an hour walking around, supplemented by a detailed description from my parents over phone. Evidently that part of town has changed beyond recognition in the intervening decades.




We completed our work in Tezpur by late afternoon, a little after 3 pm. Considering that the roads in Assam are great, we took a decision to head to Umiam Lake (Barapani) for our night stay, instead of staying back in Tezpur or Guwahati for the night. We decided that we would keep an eye on the clock and if we saw that the drive was taking too long, we would head on to Guwahati instead and stay there.

So we started back by the same route and at about 5:30 pm had reached The City Resort at Byrnihat where we stopped for tea and some snacks (both were superb). We took this downtime to review our progress and decide whether we should continue onto Umiam lake or go straight to Guwahati. Umiam Lake only seemed to be two hours away from where we were but it was already getting dark and I was unsure about the quality of the road plus limited visibility at night in case it rained on the way. A helpful server at the restaurant chimed in and reassured us that the highway upto Umiam lake was wide and good, so we stuck to our original plan of heading there. We promptly looked up Google, MMT and other sites for accommodation options around Umiam lake, and finally settled on Elasah guest house, which turned out to be a charming and cosy place overlooking the lake.

The road to Umiam Lake was pretty good - it was actually a proper highway just like the waiter had said and the drive was enjoyable what with all the twists and turns. We were stopped by the police just before the lake for a routine check and they let us go once they learnt that we were tourists.




The charming and cosy Elasah guest house, where we stayed the night.




The guest house overlooks the lake on one side




Its entrance is through a narrow path on one side of a forest




Mornings should be like this




Umiam lake at night, from our room




The boatman and the lake




From Umiam lake we made our way to Nohwet, (which is on the Dawki route and has one of the famous living root bridges) but not before making a few quick stops at Shillong, on the way. Our first stop was the Don Bosco Museum, which surprised us with the quality of the exhibits.




Quite some variety in local stringed instruments!




There is a project management software called Primavera that is quite popular. We came across an actual Primavera at the museum.




The museum is an anthropologist's dream come true, and apart from having a wealth of information on the tribes of North Eastern India, there is lot of space devoted to linguistic roots and language families




We also made a quick stop at The Cathedral of Mary Help of Christians, which is the biggest church in Shillong and located opposite St. Edmund's, which is a sister school of my alma mater St. Mary's, run by the Congregation of Christian Brothers.




It was past lunchtime by the time we were done, so we made our way to ML05 cafe for lunch.




ML05 Cafe is a very popular place with travelers and it's easy to see why.




Their food was quite good too.




By the time we were done with lunch it was well after 3 pm and we still had to reach Nohwet, preferably before dark. As I mentioned earlier, Nohwet is a Khasi village on the Dawki route that has one of the famous living root bridges (the single one) - the straight road goes on to Dawki and a right turn goes to Nohwet and Mawlynnong. (The latter has been in the news for being India's cleanest village - more about that later)

This was our route:




One would think that a distance of some 60 odd kms would be a piece of cake (like it was from Byrnihat to Umiam Lake) but then we had not factored in atrocious road conditions and a pea soup of a fog to boot. There was very little visibility for a major part of the stretch and I had to slow down to a crawl as I had just the shoulder line as a guide and that too wasn't there everywhere. Thankfully, oncoming traffic was sparse and the fog also dissipated as we got closer to Nohwet. However, we were delayed by the conditions and in the event it took us two and a half hours to reach our homestay.




The appearance of sudden road side waterfalls made up for many of the challenges that the road threw at us




It was very scenic in many places, and with the misty mountains and the waterfalls, it was wondrous despite the ardours of the road.





We finally reached our homestay in Nohwet just as night was settling in. It seemed to us that we reached when everyone else was leaving - for the last few kilometres, there was a torrent of traffic from the opposite direction most of which seemed to be in a tearing hurry to have a head on collision with us. I made judicious use of the horn and we just about managed to reach in one piece.




Our host Hali Khongsdam has a homely place which used to be his parents' home. It is located within a 200 year old Khasi village and is just a short walk away from one of the famous living root bridges.








He has a traditional wood fired stove in his kitchen which he uses for cooking traditional Khasi meals for his guests. It was the first time we saw something like this.



After a simple but hearty meal of chicken and chapati we retired for the night.

[Neversaygbye]

It poured cats and dogs throughout the night and we woke up early the next morning to a wet and green Nohwet. We promptly changed into our swimwear (which we were carrying just for this eventuality in the absence of raincoats at home) and made our way to the famous root bridge. We were carrying umbrellas too but with the pretty heavy deluge, they turned out to be grossly inadequate and we got soaked to the skin.

It was no surprise that we were the only people outside - no one in their right mind would be out in the kind of weather we were walking through. Unfortunately, this also meant that there was no one to guide us, and we ended up taking the old stone steps down to the bridge since we missed the safer modern staircase only a few metres away.




There is an easier way down as well, which we found out only after climbing down the treacherous stairway to heaven.




However the walk (and the climb down) was worth it. What greeted us was nature in its furious glory. There was a raging torrent gushing underneath the root bridge, and it was both thrilling and scary. I wish I had made a video but I was preoccupied with trying to save my phone from getting soaked.






There were signs warning people not to walk on the bridge and we were more than happy to abide by them. It is hard to describe the feeling one gets when standing a few feet away from an angry river. All of a sudden you feel overwhelmed and insignificant, while still marveling at the beauty of it all. We spent some time there soaking in the atmosphere before reluctantly returning to our homestay, where Hali was getting our breakfast ready.



After showering and changing, we had a simple but hearty breakfast of bread, eggs, poori and subzee before bidding goodbye to Hali and starting for our next stop - Sohra in Cherrapunjee. It was a wonderful stay at Hali's homestay and I would stay there again.

However, before getting onto the Nohwet-Sohra road, we decided to take a quick detour to Mawlynnong as it is just a few kilometres from Nohwet.

This small village proclaims itself to be Asia's cleanest village and honestly, we couldn't find trash anywhere, despite looking everywhere. The surfeit of bins have something to do with that, I'm sure. (Though I am curious now about where they dump all the trash they collect - pity it never occurred to me to ask at the time)




While Mawlynnong in itself is pretty and idyllic, we had just come from an even prettier and more idyllic village, so with nothing much to do except count the number of rubbish bins, we were shortly on our way.

The shambolic road greeted us once again.




Who needs a CSUV or even an SUV when you have a Lord Alto?



Apart from the horrible road, we also had to deal with fog intermittently, which meant that progress was as slow as it had been on the first leg, and eventually I stopped to refuel at an Assam Oil petrol bunk at Pynursla after about an hour or so of driving. We had just covered about 26 kms by then.

The road improved though after we crossed the turnoff for Shillong, and what with the rain and fog easing off too, we finally started making good progress. There were many small towns and settlements that we passed through - it was definitely more populated than the Dawki route. Where there were no habitations, the surroundings were lush and replete with springs and rivulets, not to mention mini waterfalls from the hills surrounding the road, and we could well understand why Shillong is called the Scotland of the East. To say that the wet and green rolling landscape was beautiful would be an understatement.






We stopped for lunch at the appropriately named Misty Hills restaurant which is a pretty big place with a large open parking and what would be nice views of the surrounding mountains on a clear day. The food was good, not great but the ambience was nice and the toilets were clean. We did not get a good view though, thanks to the hills being misty. Anyway, we were not complaining. Thanks to the rolling mist our journey had had a certain dreamlike quality so far and at times we had the distinct feeling that we were characters in a film noir.

We had not made a hotel booking at Sohra (that had been a defining feature of this trip, except for our Nohwet stay) so while we were having lunch we quickly checked our options and finally zoomed in on the Coniferous Hotel which was on the main road and seemed to be close to many of the attractions. It turned out to be quite a big hotel with its own restaurant and ample parking though the way up to the reception from the parking was through a staircase that was open to the elements. We were quickly allotted a room, which was pretty decent, and then as it was already past 3:30 pm, we asked the manager where we could go in about the two hours of daylight that we had in hand. He suggested Mawsmai Caves, the Seven Sisters waterfalls and Kynrem falls. So without further ado, off we went!

Mawsmai Caves are pretty big, but nowhere near the scale of Borra Caves and other large cave systems. Also, it had ankle deep water which became knee deep in some places. We did a part of it and went back - it was just too damp and wet for our liking.






It so turned out that the Seven Sisters falls viewpoint was right on the main road that goes to Kynrem falls. Despite the mist, we still got to see them, albeit briefly.




Thereafter we made our way to Kynrem Falls, but before we could get there, we came across the Bangladesh viewpoint which affords a magnificent view of the valley below. From Google Maps it seemed like we were looking down upon the Sylhet region of Bangladesh.



We stopped for a bit and then started going further down and right after a bend in the road, we came across this magnificent view.



The road actually runs past the main waterfall and though it's a bridge at that point, a lot of spray comes onto the road and we found a lot of people bathing there. The waterfall itself is magnificent in the rainy season, and the photo below does not do justice. In my opinion, just Kynrem Falls made our trip worthwhile.



Mission accomplished, we made our way back to the hotel, ordered room service and went off to bed. The next day was going to be our penultimate day in Meghalaya and we would be staying in Shillong again before heading to Guwahati and then home the day after.

[Neversaygbye]

The following morning we woke up unhurriedly and after having a standard no frills breakfast of eggs, bread, puri and sabzi at the hotel, we made our way to Nohkalikai Falls. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a damp squib as though we could hear the roar of the falls, we couldn't see anything because of the mist. This was the view we got.




However, this did not dampen our spirits and we quickly made our way to the Garden of Caves, which had come highly recommended by the staff at our hotel.

We were glad we went there. It turned out to be a magical place straight out of Enid Blyton's River of Adventure.




Caves, waterfalls, a wooden bridge that would bring tears of joy to Indiana Jones' eyes - this is a really nice place for an outing.








After loitering about for a bit (we loved the place and didn't feel like leaving), we proceeded towards the next stop, which was Shillong. Today we would be staying in Shillong, so that we'd be within striking distance of Guwahati the next day, and wouldn't need to wake up early in order to complete our work, then return the car and catch the flight back home from there.

We had spotted the quaint Cafe Cherrapunjee on our way to Sohra and as it was almost lunchtime, decided to stop for lunch there. Imagine our disappointment when we were told that it would only open at 3 pm, which was still a couple of hours away.




So with a heavy heart we looked at other options and saw that Soilyna Huts restaurant which was about an hour away had decent reviews. So we decided to have lunch there. While the restaurant is right on the highway, has parking and is fine in terms of ambience, service was slow and the food was just good, not great.






Lunch completed, we proceeded towards Shillong but not before stopping at Elephant Falls and the Air Force Museum on the way.

The monsoon season is the right time to visit Elephant falls where the water falls across three levels.




Shillong is the HQ of the Eastern Air Command and the Air Force Museum is part of the base. It is a unique museum and provides an inside look into an Air Force base as well as a great perspective of the IAF's evolution over the years. Many of the exhibits reference the Indo-Pak war of 1971.
















After spending about an hour at the museum and failing miserably at a flight simulation game, we saw that the weather had cleared up and sundown was still a while away. So we drove up to the Shillong view point at Laitkor Peak and then around the Golf Course area before finally making our way to our BnB in Shillong, the Pine Air.






This had been recommended by our host Hali during our Nohwet stay. It belongs to a friend of his and is a comfortable place though you will need to order food from outside or go downstairs and eat at the You and I Arts cafe which is very popular with locals for its authentic Khasi cuisine. While there is a student who doubles up as an errand boy for the guests, it's an informal arrangement and there's really no concept of room service or any of the other amenities that a typical guest house or hotel provides. In that sense this is actually similar to a hostel.

We had reached at about 8 pm and as the cafe had closed at 7:30 pm, didn't get a chance to eat there. However, the BnB is connected to the cafe from inside and we went in and really liked what we saw.




We still had to eat, though, and thought that we'd go out for dinner rather than order something in through a food app.

So we walked down to the Grill n' Ganache, that turned out to be an awesome place for continental cuisine.




The sizzling chicken steak was mouthwateringly good!




The next morning we drove down to Guwahati and completed our work there. By the time we were done, it was lunch time and our local liaison suggested that we go and have lunch at Baibhabi restaurant which was pretty close to where we were, which in turn was a stone's throw away from IIT Guwahati.




Baibhabi is know for its Assamese food and we tried the mutton thali which turned out to be delicious!




Lunch done, we still had some time to kill before returning the car, so went and spent some time at the Brahmaputra riverside.




A luckless fisherman was fishing next to us using Chinese nets that are similar to the ones we get to see in Kochi. During the hour we spent there the poor chap couldn't net a single fish, though.




Finally it was time to return the car and this not only turned out to be a smooth process (Zoomcar geofences the car, so you have to be at the right location at the right time, which we were), but was memorable as our host insisted on dropping us to the airport in the car. He really didn't need to do that, and we were quite blown away at this gesture, to be honest.




So at the end of it all, we had covered about 737 kms in a Zoomcar with no incidents whatsoever. The Nexon returned a mileage of about 13.2 kmpl (tankfull to tankfull) and I thought this was quite decent considering that we were crawling for major parts of the trip - sometimes due to visibility issues and sometimes due to the traffic in and around Shillong.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Mile_Breaker]

One more super travelogue ! The photos bring a new Meghalaya to me. Previously have seen pictures during dry season, cherry festivals. But monsoon reveals a different view with rain soaked greeneries, rivers and streams full to the brim and gushing waterfalls. Some of the roads were pathetic it seems. The decision to go for CSUV with high GC was well taken. This part of India still remains untravelled for me but my trip plan is ready to execute, just need that opportunity.

[Neversaygbye]

Originally Posted by Mile_Breaker

One more super travelogue ! The photos bring a new Meghalaya to me. Previously have seen pictures during dry season, cherry festivals. But monsoon reveals a different view with rain soaked greeneries, rivers and streams full to the brim and gushing waterfalls. Some of the roads were pathetic it seems. The decision to go for CSUV with high GC was well taken. This part of India still remains untravelled for me but my trip plan is ready to execute, just need that opportunity.

Thanks Niladri. While this was my first trip to Meghalaya, the monsoon really added a different dimension and it was wonderful except that some of the view points and waterfalls couldn't be seen because of the fog. I would recommend doing this trip despite that - this is a different kind of experience altogether. Btw it is only the road to Dawki that is bad - everywhere else the roads were great. When you get the opportunity to execute your plan for a trip, add one more day at the very least (two more if you want to do the double decker root bridge) as we skipped some of the places due to paucity of time. You can refer to Saikat's TL too - he did a more extensive trip than I did. Also, you will get clear water in Dawki only in Dec-Jan. If I go again, it will be during that time.

[ABHI_1512]

Originally Posted by Neversaygbye

Considering that the roads in Assam are great, we took a decision to head to Umiam Lake (Barapani) for our night stay, instead of staying back in Tezpur or Guwahati for the night.

So we started back by the same route and at about 5:30 pm had reached The City Resort at Byrnihat where we stopped for tea and some snacks

Wonderful travel Sumanta Da, few people dare to see Meghalaya during the monsoons which according to me is the best season to experience the true beauty of the place. Of course, winters are great to but then waterfalls are best seen in the monsoons only.

As far as Tezpur is concerned, the quaint little town has changed beyond recognition now. All the changes happened in the past 10-15 years and now the town resembles a concrete jungle. Glad that you at least saw a part of your childhood intact.

A little correction to the quoted part above- the city resort that you mentioned must be near to Sonapur and not Byrnihat since Byrnihat comes after the turn off at Jorabat on the way to Shillong. It was a great decision on your part to continue to Umiam instead of staying at Guwahati and wasting the opportunity to see brilliant morning view of Umiam. The pictures are wonderful from the guest house and certainly a reason to spend a night there.

The rest of your journey is indeed refreshing and presents the true blue Meghalaya. The varied experiences of staying at a Khasi village as well as at Shillong makes for a delightful reading. Your stay at Nohwet reminded me of my travel way back in 99 when I along with my group of college mates went to those areas. Back then, those areas were so secluded that it was almost erringly exciting. Attaching a picture, clicked from my Yashica camera.




Will look forward to reading your next adventure soon, now that you got yourself a new ride. Cheers

[haisaikat]

Wonderful trip Sumanta da. I loved the way you narrated including your rented car booking experience at the beginning, would be a reckoner for anyone venturing Meghalaya on self driven rented options.

You gave some deserving time in touring Shillong, I wish to cover the same in a future trip along with (like you also said) the Dawki in winter months on clear water and of course Meghalaya during the monsoon like you have done. Many have told me that my Meghalaya tour lacked enough megh. I missed Garden of Caves, glad you could make it. And let me assure you, you did not miss anything by not being able to have your lunch at Cafe Cherrapunji, I believe your service and food experience would have been similar to the other place.

Loved seeing Nohwet and Na-i-Mei and Mr Hali once again. I echo you on the fact that Nohwet is having more natural beauty than Mawlynnong, later being more of a organized model Village park created for boosting tourism. I also found Mr Hali to be extremely knowledgeable about Meghalaya and conducts tours himself more with foreign tourists.

Eagerly waiting for the maiden TL with you new beast !!!

Could not resist sharing a few photos of Nohwet from our Meghalaya trip, loved this place completely.

[wooka]

How nice! I just returned from a Guwahati - Tezpur - Kaziranga - Shillong - Dawki - Shillong - Guwahati circuit just last night.

Took a Zoomcar (rather nice, a 2 year old Baleno for 10.5k for 8 days!) and zipped through!

Had to fix a few car issues (this being a car owners' forum) myself (wipers, the 12V socket ACC2 fuse, washer fluid, etc.) but the car held up well.

Cannot recreate the magic of this trip. The caves at Mawmluh and the double toot trek are simply astounding and it's an exclusive club to have done them! For an obese 107 kg 6.1 man, i am proud of what I managed A good 4.5 kms and 5 hours of no light, and a fear of the unknown (and dark, and suffocating spaces!)

Bonus? Got a great view of the pink moon from there. And thankfully, the caves weren't flooded since it rained only at night.

I'll recommend the Living Roof BnB at Shillong. Turned out that the owner and I both are ex Monfortians (Ashok Vihar, Delhi) and did we have a great time finding common ground! The owner, Ankit, also chatted a daily ternary for us given our tastes. Fabulous food to boot!

To all other, leave your hotels by 7 30 AM if you want to avoid the traffic that will bring you down to a crawl. In a rental, it can get quite depressing (the Baleno was an MT with no hill hold and a worn clutch and brakes. I'll leave you to imagine how it went.)

As a not to anyone hoping to visit Shillong, leave your hotel

[Neversaygbye]

Originally Posted by ABHI_1512

Wonderful travel Sumanta Da, few people dare to see Meghalaya during the monsoons which according to me is the best season to experience the true beauty of the place. Of course, winters are great to but then waterfalls are best seen in the monsoons only.

A little correction to the quoted part above- the city resort that you mentioned must be near to Sonapur and not Byrnihat since Byrnihat comes after the turn off at Jorabat on the way to Shillong.

Your stay at Nohwet reminded me of my travel way back in 99 when I along with my group of college mates went to those areas. Back then, those areas were so secluded that it was almost erringly exciting.

Thanks, Abhi. I totally agree that Meghalaya in the monsoons is really an experience. Since ours was an unplanned trip, we just got lucky with the season. The sight of waterfalls from the roadside was incredible and the fog added a lot of atmosphere too.

Regarding the location of the City Resort, it could be Sonapur - I was trying to look up the location on Google Maps and put in Byrnihat since that seemed to be closest.

The pic you shared is awesome - it must have been really thrilling to visit these places 25 years ago.

Originally Posted by haisaikat

Wonderful trip Sumanta da. I loved the way you narrated including your rented car booking experience at the beginning, would be a reckoner for anyone venturing Meghalaya on self driven rented options.

You gave some deserving time in touring Shillong, I wish to cover the same in a future trip along with (like you also said) the Dawki in winter months on clear water and of course Meghalaya during the monsoon like you have done. Many have told me that my Meghalaya tour lacked enough megh. I missed Garden of Caves, glad you could make it. I also found Mr Hali to be extremely knowledgeable about Meghalaya and conducts tours himself more with foreign tourists.

Thanks Saikat - this was my second time using a Zoomcar and as their business model seems to have changed, I thought I would write about it. To be honest we would have liked to spend another couple of days in Meghalaya, though maybe not in Shillong. I found Shillong a little too congested and we covered most of the important places on this trip (except the bazaar). I read your TL and felt that you had covered parts that I hadn't and I would definitely want to cover those along with Dawki, on a subsequent trip. You should definitely do the Garden of Caves. It's really worth it, at least during the monsoon. Btw, I found Hali to be quite knowledgeable and helpful too - he helped in arranging our stay in Shillong on the return leg as well.

Originally Posted by wooka

How nice! I just returned from a Guwahati - Tezpur - Kaziranga - Shillong - Dawki - Shillong - Guwahati circuit just last night.

Took a Zoomcar (rather nice, a 2 year old Baleno for 10.5k for 8 days!) and zipped through!

Wow, your trip calls for a separate TL - you really covered a lot of ground! Btw is the road to Dawki still as bad? Btw, kudos on getting into the caves and for doing the double decker root bridge - we wanted to do the latter, but gave it a miss once we realized that it would involve climbing a huge number of steps. I have arthritis in my knee and it would have been tough for me to do it.

I am a bit worried about maintenance of Zoomcars - I don't think they are doing well as a company. Regardless, it's both convenient and cheap to self drive to all these places, so I suppose they'll still have customers. Glad that your car did not let you down despite the dodgy clutch and brakes and the general lack of maintenance.

I have made a note of the BnB you suggested in Shillong and will check it out if I stay in Shillong again (I just found the town too congested and Google Maps is very unreliable inside - we lost two hours because of poor route suggestions from Google Maps). It's always fun to meet schoolmates and its a bond that one can't describe so I can totally relate to what you mentioned about running into your old schoolmate. In my case, all of us who are from Christian Brother schools share a bond and it was good to see St. Edmund's in Shillong - a school we were aware of thanks to our inter-school tournaments among all the 19 or so CB schools in India. Of course, as you studied in Delhi, you would probably be knowing about our sister school St. Columba's there, which counts a certain SRK as one of its alumni.

Thanks once again and looking forward to your TL!

[Samba]

It is always fascinating to read your travel stories. The way you touch upon every single detail is always helpful for future travelers. Be it the details on the Zoom car, the route you took for trekking, or the restaurant timing for food, etc. These small yet significant details are invaluable inputs for us.
This travelogue deserves 5*.

Sharing a couple of pics from my past visit to Meghalaya.

[Neversaygbye]

Originally Posted by Samba

It is always fascinating to read your travel stories. The way you touch upon every single detail is always helpful for future travelers. Be it the details on the Zoom car, the route you took for trekking, or the restaurant timing for food, etc. These small yet significant details are invaluable inputs for us.
This travelogue deserves 5*.

Thanks Samba, your travelogues are both inspirational and informative, not to mention fascinating, so I am glad that you liked this one. The photos you have shared are awesome! I suppose the first one is of Nohkalikai falls - the one that we couldn't see because of the fog. Did you also go during the monsoon? From the clouds it looks like that, but since the place is Megh - alaya, I can't be sure.