26th April 2010, 15:04
| #46 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: TSTN
Posts: 6,236
Thanked: 9,643 Times
| |
|
| |
|
26th April 2010, 15:43
| #47 | |
| Senior - BHPian  | Quote:
Also I don't wanted to waste time in fighting with these morons while in family tour, some times we need to learn it hard.  | |
|
|
26th April 2010, 17:30
| #48 |
| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Bangalore, Dxb
Posts: 64
Thanked: 2 Times
| |
|
|
|
26th April 2010, 18:03
| #49 |
| BHPian  | |
|
|
|
26th April 2010, 22:23
| #50 | |
| Senior - BHPian | Quote:
I was suggested by few to go to Gangtok but then I have a separate tour plan in the middle of next educational year to visit Gangtok so it is not added to the last visit. Also if I keep adding all the places with short time frame then the vacation would turn into a tiring trip. follow this thread until I post the word "~~~The End~~~", for now I'll be writing the chilling memories of northeast visit. | |
|
|
|
26th April 2010, 22:29
| #51 |
| Senior - BHPian | Elephant Falls & Air force museum - Shillong When we arrived at the parking yard of Elephant Falls, I really found amazing with the cleanliness maintained, all the places in NorthEast tourist spots had properly maintained paid toilet arrangements which is a welcome fact. In the parking yard I saw an old lady selling some striking blood colored fruits, at first from distance I thought it was Shillong Strawberry but I was wrong after going closure I understood it is something else. The fruit had a texture that is similar to our taste buds, we had no time to think any further I just grabbed some from the lady and she offered the fruit with salt in a paper.  She didn’t know Hindi and we had to stop in another souvenir shop to know the name of the fruit that is Shofie a berry family one.  With a pack of Shofie fruits in hand I moved down the stairs to reach the water falls, the fruit had a real delicious taste. ah once again a board asking armed personals to obey the rules here!  After passing the ticket booth, we reached the first waterfalls. The water flows through three stages farming three water falls in a same place.  Some information on the board about the name of the falls here, I must admit at every 3 meters the management of this place kept dust bins and it was so much useful and I could not see any plastics spoiling the environment. Hats off to the management for maintaining the environment so clean.  After seeing the first falls, we reached the 2nd falls which again below some 10 meters, then the last one; to reach the last and larger falls one need to step down in steep staircases, my parents backed off at that stage as they couldn’t go down and climb up. So the rest of the family proceeded down and had a look at the beautiful but lean (not much of water) water falls.  While we were returning back, we noticed one of the shops that provide the traditional Megalaya custumes for rental to take pictures, hmm they had all the sizes and many took the chance to jump inside the heavy dresses, no one from my side had interest in wearing them. So I had to click a picture of some children who had enjoyed the dress (there were some adults who also wore them but I didn’t click)  Oh I forgot, while I was asking the name of fruit with one of the shops there I also requested the cute girls in the shop to pose for my camera as they were in Megalaya’s regular costume.  Finally we moved out of Elephant falls and proceed towards the Shillong city, but then my kids after seeing the Airforce establishments which had few old aero planes parked on the lawn wanted to check that out. Luckily I came to know that it was Airforce museum and the car parked at the gate, no entrance fees but one has to enter the personal information before getting inside.  The museum had good amount of stuffs on the display from rocket to helicopters and cultural pictures and statues of northeast life. We thoroughly enjoyed and found very informative while the kids spend quality time in running around the aero stuffs.  When we out of the museum everyone was completely exhausted and lunch was the immediate need, but then I only came to know from the driver that we need to visit Shillong peak before heading for lunch as it is on the way and lunch will be available only in the main city, hmmm tough call but I had to shudder to his words  .Coming up next Shillong peak To be continued… |
|
|
|
27th April 2010, 13:03
| #52 |
| Senior - BHPian | Scottland of India is a proper term to address the Shillong in all the aspects be it hygiene or climate, I loved travelling on the admirably beautiful roads with lush green on the sides of shoulders of the road greets like mother nature is in happy mood. The conifer family plants made arches across the divisions of internal roads while we approached the highly secured Airforce officer’s enclave kind of location.  One need to sign the register before entering into the Shillong peak which is inside the quarters, the atmosphere inside was excellent and I love to be part of the place now.  We reached the parking lot which was again a properly organized setup with a hut to sit and relax.  The Shillong peak had a corridor to walk around and a watch tower for the tourist to admire the beauty of the city, I had a feeling that Shillong is a small town only till I climbed up the watch tower but then my perception changed and Shillong is a full-fledged city spread across the mountain massively.  The view from the watch tower gives a panoramic picture of the entire city, only thing my tiny Canon Powershot S3IS didn’t support such a large wide angle shot.  Once again it is souvenir shops and few fruit shops on the peak with which we did some window shopping and stepped down towards our lunch break at 4:00pm. The whole family enjoyed the pine trees with in the airforce complex.   Now the driver took us to the center point of the city that showcased very familiar name such as “Chennai Central” and “Madras Café”, that was awesome I spotted fellow south Indians here. With no thinking we entered in the Madras Café just to understand no seats are available to take immediate lunch and the queue inside was really big, I met the owner of the establishment who introduced himself as Manoj of Trichy a Rtd. Officer from CPT or something else.  Since the place was over crowed I asked him if he can point to any other place, we landed in Arun Hotel next to his restaurant a Bengali one, but I did a mistake in that part as none of the food served tasted good and we were the only people sitting on the 15 tables they had. Hmmm I understood why only we were there. The center of the city seemed always busy like T. Nagar streets in Chennai, So much of people walking on the streets around the corner and my father were asking me if there is a movie theater and the show ended now.  When we had finished our lunch it was around 6:00pm and the dawn set to dusk, that is the time I realized that I missed room booking in Shillong and started hunting the hotels for accommodation and found most of them were booked due to Bihu season, those which available are like Rs.2500 per two person and we were seven. I went to the Magalaya Transport Corporation office which had facilities for accommodation at cheaper tariff but then you need to climb three floors without lift to reach the rooms and you know with 63 year old father it was not going to happen. I went back to Manoj and he pointed me to a gentleman next to him, who introduced himself has AB (A Bhattacharjee) and an central government employee who also runs a furnished apartment in Shillong. Thank God I met Manoj, AB had his furnished apartment in the residential area that was around 4kms away from center point of the city and it was two bedroom with on Diwan bed on the entrance and two attached bath rooms and one kitchen in it.       A neatly white painted house with good interiors, the kitchen had tea bags, whiteners and instant coffee packs. Also kitchen was equipped with Gas stove, Toaster and all the utensils. You know what all of these for only Rs.1500 for 12 noon to 12 noon day schedule.     In the morning before we checkout the place, I spoke a lady(owner of the premises) stayed in the same compound who also own a smart Chester (name of the dog) stating that this house is around 94 years old and also got some heritage value with it, The great poet Rabindranath Tagore paid a visit to this house in one of his 3 Shillong visit during his life time. I was proud that I found this place, only thing that Mr. AB didn't like the driver staying in the same place and I need to pay for driver’s accommodation elsewhere.  Mr.AB also shared information about Cheerapunjee that the unscientific illegal mining of coal makes lot of cave-ins and the precious Cheerapunjee rain water makes floods in Bangladesh a complete disaster to the environment, a pity state of administration is what he mentioned. That was the end of our Shillong trip and the car zoomed towards Cheerapunjee aka Sohra. Shillong furnished apartment accommodation could be booked by calling A Bhattacharjee aka AB(in the picture below) at +91-94361 02252 (Arunavabhattacharjee.2009@rediffmail.com), he also stated he can arrange food if pre-requested.  to be continued… Last edited by trammway : 27th April 2010 at 13:11. |
|
|
|
28th April 2010, 10:52
| #53 |
| BHPian  | fantastic log going on , how are you keeping yourself online?  please continue!!! |
|
|
|
28th April 2010, 13:01
| #54 | |
| Senior - BHPian | Quote:
  Last edited by trammway : 28th April 2010 at 13:02. | |
|
|
|
28th April 2010, 13:59
| #55 |
| BHPian | Boss I am waiting for the Cherapunjee log...... Long time since you updated. My virtual tour of the North East is waiting... |
|
|
|
28th April 2010, 15:57
| #56 |
| Senior - BHPian | Cheerapunjee aka Sohra Pleasant weather and almost flat but winding road in a Toyota with family, there is no other reason required to say that we have enjoyed while we were on the move towards Sohra.  We crossed several Strawberry farms while we were closure to Shillong, later it was only the roads and small villages.  Most of the stretch from Shillong to Sohra was wearing deserted look and its like going on a lonely ride, but the Mother Nature always engaged us in some or other discussion about the plants, hills, sky, color and the birds we spotted.  There is a strong reason to believe in a short time the Shora or Shillong may loose its charm as we witnessed the entire road side from Shillong to Shora been looted by mining activities. Mostly the mines are for Coal or Sand or Granite, but it is in a sad condition for sure. I’m only hoping this will not remain this way for a long time, otherwise the generations to come will not be seeing the beautiful and unique part of the world.   Children from any part of the world are always an attraction and they give the most stunning pictures to my collection. I always like to record them in my camera; here is some from Megalaya kids bunch that I clicked in Shillong to Sohra trip.   We stopped at a tea shop on the way and I got this picture of Tata 407 nosed bus on the opposite lane.  One more thing which was always in my mind, how in the earth these trucks spotted in North East manage to see what is in front of them on the road? Most of the trucks are decorated with ornaments, colors and stickers and height of all many of them had too many stickers including cheap quality and too dark sun film on the windshield. See the truck below which had a combination of sun film and reflective stickers on the windshield covering the entire windshield area, adding to that there is also a Sun shade that covers a quarter of the front face of the truck.  We passed lots of the mines and reached a canal that looked beautiful with no water and a hanging bridge above it for us to cross, when the Innova passed over the bridge the driver pulled the car to park on the road side.  I saw there was lot of tourist looking at the side of the road and moved towards them to see a huge congress of mountain valley with green carpet before me.  That place supposes to be a tourist attraction with the name “Duan sing syiem view point”, it had staircases down the mountain to stand and watch the beauty. After spending few minutes in admiring the place and clicking few family pictures, our driver moved the car and that is the time I realized we were already reached Sohra aka Cheerapunjee from the view point board.  With in a short while, we have reached a road that is elevated by the mountains and nothing above us, I felt like driving in plains. Slowly the winding roads revealed clouds underneath the tyres of the car, means I could locate the thick white smoke below the ground level in the distance. Driver indicated saying that the areas covered with the white cloud in the distance are part of Bangladesh.  I also witnessed the cave-ins and water caves that is created by unscientific coal mining by local which sends all the water from this side of the mountain to Bangladesh side.  At distance I also seen a small town that is Sohra, to precisely describe the way I looked place like a town with a cloud umbrella over it as if the rain god is always read to pour when Cheerapunjee wears dry surface, when approached closely I found that there is a huge Ramakrishna Mission established in there. With a short break in Cheerapunjee we passed the place towards the most desired spot of our trip, before revealing the name I wish to describe the details of reaching that place.  The more closure we have approached that place, the more plains and water channel we found, there were some burial grounds on the ground and up the hills.   In a short while we reached a very small town and a civil construction of a bridge that made us to an uneven road diversion.  The car further moved and reached very narrow village streets but clean and neat place, I guess since Cheerapunjee is always raining all the dirt is cleaned off and making the cleanest place in the world like rainiest place in the world title.  We traveled through the narrow streets for half a kilometer distance and took a right side turn to witness a destroyed sculpture of elephants  Then once again a short lonely slow drive that ended in an entrance of that place, which had display of parking fee information.  Once we moved in the entrance of that place, we found couple of vehicles parked and my kids are already excited with the weather and jumped out of the car as soon as the ignition was set to off mode.  What is the place that excited my family the most, why did I say this place is the most desired one in the entire tour? to be continued… |
|
|
| |
|
28th April 2010, 17:25
| #57 |
| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Bangalore, Dxb
Posts: 64
Thanked: 2 Times
| |
|
|
|
28th April 2010, 20:20
| #58 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Guwahati
Posts: 536
Thanked: 90 Times
| Tramway, this travelogue gives a wealth of information to a potential NE visitor. I really like the way you observe things.  Did you visit this place near Cherrapunjee? One can see strangest possible rock formations here. The place is called Dainthlen IIRC. |
|
|
|
28th April 2010, 21:43
| #59 | ||
| Senior - BHPian | Quote:
Quote:
Hi, Thanks for appreciating the thread and pics. I think this rocks are made of Limestone that is why they looks in so differently.  I didn't know such place existed in Cheerapunjee, anyway I had already tight schedule may be next time when I visit I will keep this under the must see list. Last edited by trammway : 28th April 2010 at 21:45. | ||
|
|
|
28th April 2010, 23:24
| #60 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
|
|
 |
Most Viewed