In school when they taught us about the rainiest place on earth, i thought who would ever want to stay there? How can there possibly be any population? But today i take back my words, Cherrapunjee has managed to awe me today like no other place has. Read on for more about the place and experience.
A great host in Zoravar’s dad, Mr Amarjit Singh; made us comfortable enough to have a good night’s sleep which made it convenient for us to leave at 6AM. We had the super-drivers who took us to Kazironga as well, Shankar Ram and Jai Prakash, they drove us in the siren-armoured jeeps to the destination. Along with them uncle also sent Kuttan who was in charge of keeping us well fed and take care of, he also doubled us as a pseudo guide, telling us about the places to watch out for. While the distance from Shilong to Cherrapunjee is only 56 kms, we had multiple pit-stops on the way, because of which we reached our destination by early evening.
When we left, we were excited about going to Cherrapunjee, but didn’t have a clue about what we will get to see, hence there was immense anticipation. We crossed the streets of Shilong and when we reached the foothills of the hills, we could see Kuttan getting a little disappointed. He told us that the hills looked covered with fog, but we kept our fingers crossed, hoping it’ll clear out by the time we get to our destination. In this fog laden mountain, our first halt was at ‘Duwan Sing Syiem View Point’. Kuttan told this point overlooks a beautiful valley and without the fog, one could see a never-ending valley and the stream pass in the valley. But because of the fog, we could not see a thing except white clouds of humid air. Nevertheless, we walked around and had a cup of chai before taking off. The way things had been planned, our next stop will be where we were to have our breakfast, this place was at one of the curves along the valley and the area had been developed for visitors to park and enjoy the view, while the view for us was still missing, we had a great snack and cup of tea that Kuttan along with the crew at Zoravar’s house had packed. Since we had the time, we just walked a little down the valley, which is where we spotted our first fall, it was nothing big, but the fact that we could see the water, we were happy. Next we stopped at ‘Noh ka li kai Falls’. The board there claimed that these were the fourth highest falls in the world, but again the dense fog cover made it impossible for us to see anything beyond 10mtrs. Having come all the way, we just thought of hanging on and waiting for the sun to shine and the winds to clear the fog, but instead it rained! While the five of us were looking for someplace to cover us from the rain, we see humble Kuttan run to us with five umbrellas, it was heart warming.
Even after an hour and half’s patient wait, we could not see the falls, but we still did have a great time there. It seemed like the ‘Jaal Mudi’ (Local version of the sukha bhel) from the pretty Assamese girl got to Sigal’s head making him a laugh riot. In the same time, we supposedly got threatened by a mountain goat for occupying his area; the picture will give you a hint of how one goat made three men almost pee in their pants. Here is also where my camera had a fall. The sound of the fall was more dreadful than anything else i have heard in the longest while.
By now, we were getting really frustrated with the fog and lack of visibility but Kuttan assured us that the next stop could be enjoyed irrespective of the weather around. We stopped over at the Mawsmai Cave, this is a natural cave about 250mtrs long with some parts in knee deep water and pathways through cracks a meter high. It was quite an experience to walk through the cave. Being ‘young’ thrill-seekers, we also explored parts of the cave that are not on the suggested route for tourists, we had to stop and retreat after the cracks started to become too small to pass through. It was about 2PM and the excursion made us hungry.
For lunch we came to ‘Thangkharang Park’. One end of this park is a sheer drop across which is the Bangladesh border. We actually saw foreign land! Although it was completely flooded, Kuttan told us that when it rains heavily, it almost looks like a water body right up to the horizon. While we were looking across the drop, the guys set up lunch for us and again, we were wowed by all the arrangements and the spread. While the clouds had slightly cleared, it was still hazy and not a clear sight.
Uncle had instructed us to reach the hotel at Cherrapunjee latest by 4PM because it gets dark early in this part. We were running exceptionally late, but had one more place to visit. This was ‘Hot Treb Koh Ramhah Falls’, this was by far our best waterfall sighting since morning. What was even better was that, there were two and not one water falls; the first one had a bridge constructed over the stream from where we could almost see the sheer drop of the fall, second was a fall with stronger currents. Here is where Zoravar has a great fall and all of us men could not put Zoravar back on the ground again.
While each of the above spots was beautiful, it was the drive that really blew our mind. Be it the complete lack of visibility on the road or the weather itself, the peeks down the valley or the steaming cuppo noodles along the way, the amazingly sweet people we met on the way or the royal treatment we got from Kuttan and his crew, all of it made it a great day and to an extent compensated for the spoil sport clouds.
Now sitting at Cherra Resort sipping on pepper flavoured tea, i’m wondering how much i would’ve enjoyed spending time in a nice quaint house in Cherrapunjee more often, thereby contradicting my thoughts in school.
Moral: Carry rain-sheeters even if you are driving to Cherrapunjee, you will want to step out very often on the way. Carry food, there are no great places to eat on the way. Charge your camera batteries before leaving, you will find many places to click pictures. While entering the caves, carry a plastic bag along if you are taking your camera in.
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