I had been planning a trip to the the North East for a long time but nothing used to come of it. The Wifey was like I am all fine to join the trip but you have to plan and execute the same. Nothing came of it and the time went by. Sometime last year around december 2015, I met up with the Mishra's and Jambekars (Friends of ours) and asked them would they be interested in going for a trip to the North East. Both the parties were keen for the trip and the next step was to determine which place in North east to visit. I for one, was keen on Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh. It has been a place I have always wanted to visit since I started driving around in India.
The Mishra's and Jambekars henceforth I will refer to them as M and J were not sure about the long trip to Tawang as the facilities are limited and it is a long drive from Guwahati to Tawang, so finally the plan to Tawan was scrapped and we signed up for a trip of Lower Assam including Kaziranga, Shillong and Meghalaya. Now came the main part of planning the trip where to stay, what to visit and how to pace the trip. Here the Wifey had a uncle who was posted in the eastern part of India and he connected us to a travel agency called Brahmaputra Jungle Resort, which organizes trips and excursions in the North East. Wife gave me a contact number to take the discussions forward but me being me, got lazy and busy and forgot about the same. Months passed and I did nothing. Finally it dawned on me to enlist Mr. M as a fellow planner as he is great as organizing things and has a penchant for it. M spoke with the travel operator at leangth and planned out the itinenrany, hotels, stays cars and all. So thanks to wifey and Mr M, the trip got organized and we bought our flight tickets to Gawhati. All in all, we were 3 families with 4 members each so 12 persons
On a Thursday morning we took a early morning flight from Bombay to Gawhati (thanks to Indigo airlines it was non-stop). Felt good to be taking a flight where I was not a time crunch and was all relaxed to take a vacation to the North east.
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We landed at Gawhati but the J family was coming via another flight and were running 4 hours behind us. At the airport the tour operator was present and he arranged 2 Yoyota Innovas for us (it must be said Toyota Innova is the best and most comfortable vehicle for long road trips). We hopped on the vehicles and bypassed Guwahati and took the highway to Kaziranga. The roads were definitely better than Bombay roads and now were also better than delhi roads but then the roads of big cities in india are quite pathetic and useless (filled with potholes). The kids, Wifey and I sitting in the car starting seeing the landscape of Assam. It is breathtaking and with limited traffic on the highway it was a smooth ride. We stopped for traditional Assamese lunch along the way and it reminded me of food similar to what we eat at home, very Bihari/Bengali in nature with limited spices (kinda sick of eating North Indian spicy masala food). I relished the food and all enjoyed except the boy who kind of likes to eat only plain boiled rice (he is going the Japanese way), the girl loved to eat the fish (she must have been a fisherwoman in her previous life) and after the sumptuous meal we drove off to Kaziranga. We had booked the Iora Resort which is a nice clean place with a pool etc. On the way when we entered the Kaziranga areas, we saw Rhino's alongside the highway, it was a sight to see. It is one thing to see Rhinos in movies/TV an another thing to see it in real life. Wifey was in Photo mode and along with Mrs M, they took a zillion pics. That night we rested and the J family also joined us for dinner.
Next day we went off to a nearby Orchid garden where traditonal Assamese dances, food etc is available. A very quaint place and something I enjoyed. I landed up buying "Bel Fruit Juice) and enjoyed another Assamese lunch. Mr. J who is also a fish lover got special fish made for himself (something he did on all meals where fish was available, he loves a good fish dish). In the afternoon, we went for a jungle safari in open jeeps. Men/Boys in one jeep and women/girls in the other one. We drove all over Kaziranga park and had numerous sightings of Rhinos who were roaming around in good numbers. Master J is a avid bird watcher and was able to identify many birds and fauna of the place. We also saw various elephants in the forest. All in all a good day, which I will cherish for many years to come.
The next morning went for the famous Kaziranga Elephant safari. It must be noted that the safari starts at 5.30 Am and oen should go early in the moring for good animal sighting. We went back to Kaziranga via another gate and had a 1 hour elephant safari which is different from a Jeep safari was elephant takes you into the marshy area etc and one gets a closer look at the wild animals. That day we checked out and drove to Shillong (Meghalaya), which is aound a 6-7 hour drive.
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Meghlaya is broadly divided into three group of hills Khasi, Garo and Jantia. Shillong is in the Khasi side.
We reached Shillong and the first thing I noticed was traffic. It seems the traffic in Shillong is no better than the traffic in Bombay and might be even worse. We checked into a hotel called Tripura Castle, which is a very nice hotels (oh I forgot it was chilly in Shillong and basic shawls or jumpers were needed). Tripura Castle is what the doctor ordered and we checked into our fancy hotels rooms (i think the room was half my apartment size from Bombay). There was a nice cafe and the crowd was eclectic. I fell in love with Shillong and personally believe all who like to travel should definitely visit Shillong for its cafes/music and food. The 6 kids had a blast. Next morning we went to the Elephant falls where I had a good work out walking from the top of the falls to the bottom and then all the way back up. Lazy me is not used to walking so much, I dont think the kind of life I lead if I even burn any calories. We did all the touristy things like going to the hilltop which is inside an airforce station and the wifey and all the J and M junta clicked a zillion pictures. The kids dressed up in Khasi outfits. Evening again we were at the hotel were living music was playing good numbers from Coldplay and the types (light rock) and with the fresh air of the city, good food and company, it was a blast.
From Shillong we drove to Cherrapunjee, which used to get the highest rainfall in the world, that honor is now another place around 50KM from Cherrapunjee. On the way to Cherrapunjee we visited a cave which was aorund 3 KM long and must be millions of years old with fossils in the cave. It was kind scary and cave had a small water system running through it. We got drenched but enjoyed the experience. Now Meghalaya is very similar to Scotland, the landscape is very similar to Scottish Highlands only I believe it is better (most of india has not found the place yet). We reached Cherrapunjee around lunch time and checked into a hotel called Polo Orchid, it was very foggy with 10 meter visibility. Thank God for the experienced drivers. We had a chance to see the 7 sisters waterfall it is one of its kind in the world. That night it rained cats and dogs and winds howling at 70KMPH or more, I was sure the hotel will fall down but luckily it survived. There was no electricity for the last 3 days but the local diesel genset was doing the honors. We survived the night and next morning we went to Mawlynoong, which is the cleanest village in Asia and has the world famous Living Roots Bridge (it is a bridge where the trees from both side have intertwined to make a natural river crossing). We reached Mawlynoong and enjoyed a great Khasi lunch. From here I convinced the M and J family to drive down to Dawki, the India-Bangaladesh border, which was around 40 KM away. Initially every one was skeptical as they wanted to go back to Shillong but being the persuasive me, we went to the border town of Dawki, took a few snaps with the BSF folks and were told not to cross the open border (one can just walk around and one will reach Bangladesh - by crossing the rice fields). it is surreal.
From Dawki we drove back to Barapani (famous for its lake) and we checked into another beautiful property which is also managed by Tripura Castle folks. We rested for the night and early next morning the ever active Mr. M took us for a long hike (again difficult for lazy me but I endured). From Barapani we drove to Gawahati and checked into the newly opened Taj Vivanta on the edge of Guwahati.
The Mishra's and Jambekars henceforth I will refer to them as M and J were not sure about the long trip to Tawang as the facilities are limited and it is a long drive from Guwahati to Tawang, so finally the plan to Tawan was scrapped and we signed up for a trip of Lower Assam including Kaziranga, Shillong and Meghalaya. Now came the main part of planning the trip where to stay, what to visit and how to pace the trip. Here the Wifey had a uncle who was posted in the eastern part of India and he connected us to a travel agency called Brahmaputra Jungle Resort, which organizes trips and excursions in the North East. Wife gave me a contact number to take the discussions forward but me being me, got lazy and busy and forgot about the same. Months passed and I did nothing. Finally it dawned on me to enlist Mr. M as a fellow planner as he is great as organizing things and has a penchant for it. M spoke with the travel operator at leangth and planned out the itinenrany, hotels, stays cars and all. So thanks to wifey and Mr M, the trip got organized and we bought our flight tickets to Gawhati. All in all, we were 3 families with 4 members each so 12 persons
On a Thursday morning we took a early morning flight from Bombay to Gawhati (thanks to Indigo airlines it was non-stop). Felt good to be taking a flight where I was not a time crunch and was all relaxed to take a vacation to the North east.
-----------------------
We landed at Gawhati but the J family was coming via another flight and were running 4 hours behind us. At the airport the tour operator was present and he arranged 2 Yoyota Innovas for us (it must be said Toyota Innova is the best and most comfortable vehicle for long road trips). We hopped on the vehicles and bypassed Guwahati and took the highway to Kaziranga. The roads were definitely better than Bombay roads and now were also better than delhi roads but then the roads of big cities in india are quite pathetic and useless (filled with potholes). The kids, Wifey and I sitting in the car starting seeing the landscape of Assam. It is breathtaking and with limited traffic on the highway it was a smooth ride. We stopped for traditional Assamese lunch along the way and it reminded me of food similar to what we eat at home, very Bihari/Bengali in nature with limited spices (kinda sick of eating North Indian spicy masala food). I relished the food and all enjoyed except the boy who kind of likes to eat only plain boiled rice (he is going the Japanese way), the girl loved to eat the fish (she must have been a fisherwoman in her previous life) and after the sumptuous meal we drove off to Kaziranga. We had booked the Iora Resort which is a nice clean place with a pool etc. On the way when we entered the Kaziranga areas, we saw Rhino's alongside the highway, it was a sight to see. It is one thing to see Rhinos in movies/TV an another thing to see it in real life. Wifey was in Photo mode and along with Mrs M, they took a zillion pics. That night we rested and the J family also joined us for dinner.
Next day we went off to a nearby Orchid garden where traditonal Assamese dances, food etc is available. A very quaint place and something I enjoyed. I landed up buying "Bel Fruit Juice) and enjoyed another Assamese lunch. Mr. J who is also a fish lover got special fish made for himself (something he did on all meals where fish was available, he loves a good fish dish). In the afternoon, we went for a jungle safari in open jeeps. Men/Boys in one jeep and women/girls in the other one. We drove all over Kaziranga park and had numerous sightings of Rhinos who were roaming around in good numbers. Master J is a avid bird watcher and was able to identify many birds and fauna of the place. We also saw various elephants in the forest. All in all a good day, which I will cherish for many years to come.
The next morning went for the famous Kaziranga Elephant safari. It must be noted that the safari starts at 5.30 Am and oen should go early in the moring for good animal sighting. We went back to Kaziranga via another gate and had a 1 hour elephant safari which is different from a Jeep safari was elephant takes you into the marshy area etc and one gets a closer look at the wild animals. That day we checked out and drove to Shillong (Meghalaya), which is aound a 6-7 hour drive.
---------------------
Meghlaya is broadly divided into three group of hills Khasi, Garo and Jantia. Shillong is in the Khasi side.
We reached Shillong and the first thing I noticed was traffic. It seems the traffic in Shillong is no better than the traffic in Bombay and might be even worse. We checked into a hotel called Tripura Castle, which is a very nice hotels (oh I forgot it was chilly in Shillong and basic shawls or jumpers were needed). Tripura Castle is what the doctor ordered and we checked into our fancy hotels rooms (i think the room was half my apartment size from Bombay). There was a nice cafe and the crowd was eclectic. I fell in love with Shillong and personally believe all who like to travel should definitely visit Shillong for its cafes/music and food. The 6 kids had a blast. Next morning we went to the Elephant falls where I had a good work out walking from the top of the falls to the bottom and then all the way back up. Lazy me is not used to walking so much, I dont think the kind of life I lead if I even burn any calories. We did all the touristy things like going to the hilltop which is inside an airforce station and the wifey and all the J and M junta clicked a zillion pictures. The kids dressed up in Khasi outfits. Evening again we were at the hotel were living music was playing good numbers from Coldplay and the types (light rock) and with the fresh air of the city, good food and company, it was a blast.
From Shillong we drove to Cherrapunjee, which used to get the highest rainfall in the world, that honor is now another place around 50KM from Cherrapunjee. On the way to Cherrapunjee we visited a cave which was aorund 3 KM long and must be millions of years old with fossils in the cave. It was kind scary and cave had a small water system running through it. We got drenched but enjoyed the experience. Now Meghalaya is very similar to Scotland, the landscape is very similar to Scottish Highlands only I believe it is better (most of india has not found the place yet). We reached Cherrapunjee around lunch time and checked into a hotel called Polo Orchid, it was very foggy with 10 meter visibility. Thank God for the experienced drivers. We had a chance to see the 7 sisters waterfall it is one of its kind in the world. That night it rained cats and dogs and winds howling at 70KMPH or more, I was sure the hotel will fall down but luckily it survived. There was no electricity for the last 3 days but the local diesel genset was doing the honors. We survived the night and next morning we went to Mawlynoong, which is the cleanest village in Asia and has the world famous Living Roots Bridge (it is a bridge where the trees from both side have intertwined to make a natural river crossing). We reached Mawlynoong and enjoyed a great Khasi lunch. From here I convinced the M and J family to drive down to Dawki, the India-Bangaladesh border, which was around 40 KM away. Initially every one was skeptical as they wanted to go back to Shillong but being the persuasive me, we went to the border town of Dawki, took a few snaps with the BSF folks and were told not to cross the open border (one can just walk around and one will reach Bangladesh - by crossing the rice fields). it is surreal.
From Dawki we drove back to Barapani (famous for its lake) and we checked into another beautiful property which is also managed by Tripura Castle folks. We rested for the night and early next morning the ever active Mr. M took us for a long hike (again difficult for lazy me but I endured). From Barapani we drove to Gawahati and checked into the newly opened Taj Vivanta on the edge of Guwahati.
