TRAVELLING TO THE LAND OF CLOUDS : SHILLONG

Hello lovelies,

Hope that all of you are doing well. I am going great. Sorry for the little gap I took after my last blogpost. I was busy planning something new for my blog. So here I come with my very 1^st travel blog all my way down to SHILLONG.

 I traveled to shillong with my family a few months back. It was just a weekend trip of 3 days taking some time out of our busy schedule to cherish the beautiful mountains of northeast. Shillong is the capital of Meghalaya, known for its picturesque landscapes and natural beauty. It is a small beautiful hill station immersed amidst the clouds for almost the whole of the year.

DAY1:

We made our way to the Lokpriya gopinath bordoloi international airport at Guwahati. It was a short 40mins flight from Kolkata. But you can also get down there by the railways. It took us about 3hrs form guwahati to reach shillong by road. The roads up there are quiet amazing taking numerous turns around he beautiful hills and offering us a refreshment to the eyes. Just before reaching shillong about 10kms away from the city proper we passed by the famous lake out there Badapani (Umiam lake). Guys it is such a huge lake that I was completely lost while tracing its borders. We spend nearly half an hour there enjoying the beauty of the setting sun.

At the shillong city we 1^st checked in our hotel Alpine contineltal. The hotel has a central position at the busy and famous Police Bazar of shillong. We really liked the hotel very much. The rooms were well furnished with all basic amenities. The staffs were super friendly and were at service whenever required. The food was also very good, specially the breakfast buffet was remarable having a huge variety of items in both vegetarian and nonvegeterian groups. Overall our stay at the hotel Alpine continental for two days was good enough and enjoyed their warming service to its every bits.

you can book rooms in the hotel directly form their site 

www.alpinecontinental.com/

DAY2:

On the 2^nd day we visited the World largest LIVING ROOT BRIDGE which is a 3hrs drive from shillong. It was really a unique place to visit indeed. Loved the natural architecture of the bridge which was 100% natural formed by intermingling roots of 5 large trees. It as such a beautifull place that all our tiredness was gone even after a short trek up the hilly roads.

The next spot on the go was Mawlynnong, the world’s cleanest village. Truly speaking guys I couldn't even find a single piece of paper lying there on the roads. Evrything the people used there was handmade and there was a strict prohibition on use of plastics. There were hand banboo baskets used as dustbins kept almost at a hand’s distance everywhere possible. The houses were so cutie and cozy that I felt like staying there forever. All around there were plants and trees grown wonderfully and decorating the whole of the village in such a natural yet pretty way. The people there were also very. They even offered us lunch and shared with us about the way they have maintained their village and kept it so beautiful and clean. We were really overwhelmed and wanted to spend more time among them.

In the evening we returned to shillong and after refreshing up we explored the local markets and did some random shopping

DAY3:

It was the 3^rd and last full day of our trip. So we had planned to spend the 1^st half of the day in completing all the nearby local sight-seeings of shillong and the other half just to explore the city by ourselves.

Among the top sight-seeings the top 4 were

1.       Shillong top

2.       Elephanta falls

3.       Shillong tea garden

4.       Shillong meuseum

SHILLONG TOP-  it is the so called highest point of shillong from where the whole of the city was visible in a bird’s eye view.  Shillong top is a military restricted area and special passes are required to make an entry out there. There were a few watch towers from where we found an amazing picturesque view of the whole city surrounded by clouds and hills.

ELEPHANTA FALLS- this is one of the major attractions of Shillong that one should never miss. though the time we went was not the ideal one to explore the beauty of this falls, in monsoon it looks even more gorgeous. It is a 3 tier waterfalls and we had to climb almost a 100 steps to reach the highest level of the falls.

SHILLONG TEA GARDENS- Shillong has some of the largest areas of tea estates in the northeastern hills.  The vast tea gardens not only proves beneficial for the economic  concern of the state but  also serves as a mesmerizing spot for the tourists to visit. We could only see greenery in all directions we moved our eyes around. Renowned companies like TATA and others also have their estates among these hills.

After that we visited the army meusuem but unfortunately it was closed due to renovation. We spent the other half of the day exploring the city and its people. Walked around the beautiful streets and also had an amazing tibetian dinner at the café shillong, which is a renowed café of the region and known for its heritage value.

DAY4:

                               

It was our last day and I was really sad to leave the place. The beauty and people of shillong had really amazed me to each and every bit and really hope going back right there once again soon.