Mask's Meghalayan Adventure 2012 -The last leg & a few insights

Day9: Sunday - 16th December, 2012
Shillong-Guwahati-Mumbai

The last day of the trip. We were to reach Mumbai via Guwahati by the end of the day. We were gonna use this ay to just wean ourselves out from this trip. Two of us had the return flight at 1330hrs, other four at 1830hrs and the last two guys had a flight on the next day.

We had an early breakfast at the Hill Top Chateau. The pre-booked cab picked us up by 0830hrs and we were off. On the way we passed the Umiam (Barapani) Lake again. We had earlier passed the lake after dark and hence could not see anything then. The lake is truly splendid. The road from Shillong to Guwahati passes along the shores of the lake and is pretty much a fun ride.

We took a small break at Nongph for a snack and then continued to Guwahati. Te cab dropped us at Phaltan Bazar in Guwahati by 1030hrs. We took a room at the New Maitri Hotel nearby for a night. The hotel is new and one of the cleanest in the area. We dumped our luggage, freshened up and just relaxed for a while. Two other two guys had reached the airport by this time. We left for lunch at 1400hrs and then four of us promptly left for the airport. The other two guys just relaxed for the night.

The flight to Mumbai was a little late but uneventful. I reached my home by 0100hrs on Monday and left for work by 0730hrs. And already planning a retrip!

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A Few Insights on Meghalaya:

Meghalaya is a beautiful place. One of the lesser known paradises of India. Even though some sections like Shillong and Cherrapunji are popular among the tourists, many more places are yet undeveloped in this aspect. There is a very high potential for adventure tourism here, yet it is largely untapped.

Meghalaya is culturally divided in three sections: Garos in the East, Khasis in the Centre and Jaintias out West. Our trip was largely in the central Khasi districts with some places of Jaintia districts checked out as well. The Jaintia districts have many huge cave systems as compared to the Khasi districts but the coal mining in the area poses a significant threat to their existence.

Before embarking on this trip we had read that Meghalaya observe a matriarchal society, i.e. a woman heads the household instead of a man. This may be true domestically, but there we hardly observed any traces of it out in the city or markets.

The scenery around Meghalaya is beautiful and distinct. However, some of the scenery looked an possible replica of what we observe along the Konkan coast - the arecanut plantations, portions of red soil on the Guwahati-Shillong highway, the quick slopes ...

Geographically, Meghalaya, like the Himalayas, owes its existence due to the pressure exerted by the Indian subcontinental plate on the mainland Asia. This portion of the earth was earlier a part of the sea, however, the pressure has resulted in formation of fold-mountain like landscape. This is also a reason why Meghalaya has a high percentage of pre-historic fossils. We saw a few in Krem Mawluh.

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A Few Last Words

Overall we had an awesome experience in Meghalaya.  As I've already stated earlier, I will be back here! There's a lot I've missed during this trip and found a lot of things that can be done: Thyrshi Falls, Nongirat to Nohkalikai trek, vertical caving (second hand experience is not good enough), Dian Thlen falls, lots of other caves around Meghalaya, David Scott trail, paragliding, maybe ...

This was the first time any of us had come to Meghalaya and hence we decide to stick to a well trampled path. Also, time is a critical factor. Many of us find it difficult to get leaves from their professional commitments for such a trip. Such leaves are usually reserved for planned family outings or the annual vacation. We took around 2 months to plan the trip, 4 more fine-tuning it, and yet faced a few hiccups. The tentativeness was present right till the point we returned to Mumbai: the what-if-the-next-thing-doesn't-workout thought process was constantly nagging our minds.

The people that we met made the trip even more memorable: Mr. Dean and Ms. Aishwarya at the Hill Top Chateau, Men and MAT team in Cherrapunji, David, Jason and PAT team in Dawki ... Our sincere thanks for making this trip memorable.

The next trip that we will plan in Meghalaya may take some time coming but planning it will surely be simpler than planning this trip was.

Basically: Ek aur trip to banta hai boss!!!

Khublei!

- Kapil Pilankar

Mask's Meghalayan Adventure 2012 - Riverside Adventure

Day7: Friday - 14th December, 2012
Mawlynnong-Dawki-Shnongpdeng

We left Mawlynnong at 1000hrs for Dawki. The road from Mawlynnong to Dawki is not that great. The road runs parallel to the Bangladesh border and has a good presence of the defence personnel. We crossed the Dawki bridge by 1130hrs. We were instructed by the guards on the bridge not to take pictures and we obliged. The views from the bridge are amazing with the Umngot river up north and the Bangladesh plains down south.

Our actual destination was the campsite of Pioneer Adventure Tours (PAT hereon) a little upstream on the banks of the Umngot near Shnongpdeng village. The guys at PAT had arranged for the transport from Mawlynnong to Dawki and then on to Shillong on the next day. A little ahead of Dawki on the Jowai road we were joined by a local villagers, Jingmen, who assists at the campsite and was to guide us there. The road diverges at a point from the Dawki-Jowai highway and then deteriorates to a cart track. The only smooth sections are the three wooden bridges on the road. These bridges are surprisingly sturdy and did not even creak when our vehicle - a fully loaded Scorpio - passed over it.

A little ahead we passed through the Shnongpdeng village and reached a dead end. Jingmen said that this is it. The place was the end of the road with a path leading down to a makeshift jetty on the river. Jingmen said that we had to cross the river to reach the campsite.

We got our luggage and descended a few steps to take us to the jetty. Two local boats (long slim ones) were waiting for us. The luggage went in the middle and we were at the ends. The water of the Umngot river is crystal clear and the view of the valley from the river is simply superb. Just across the river and a little to the north is a small beach which doubles up as the PAT campsite.

This place is Heaven!!!

The campsite across the river

Local boats

Loading up!

Southern side of the valley

Northern side of the valley

The campsite is located on the white sandy beach with tents for accommodation. A mountain stream met the river near the beach; this section was set as the camp kitchen. There was a separate dining shack at a little higher level of the bank and a permanent toilet with temporary walls was a little higher. During the monsoons the water level rose to the level of the toilets thus demolishing all temporary structures.

Dawki is supposed to be warmer than Shillong and Cherrapunji but somebody forgot to tell that to the cold wind which blew steadily from the north to chill the place. We had a cup of tea and biscuits (cheese cream is simply delicious) and set out for the activities.

PAT is managed by brothers Gary Jarman (the first individual from Meghalaya to scale Mt. Everest) and Jason Jarman (played Ranji Trophy for Assam) and their cousin David Ingty. Gary manages the operations of PAT in Goa (scuba diving et. al.) while Jason and David look after the Dawki campsite. David was present at the campsite when we arrived and Jason was to arrive there the next day.

We started off with zip-lining and completed two rounds before lunch. Zip-lining for the uninitiated is a method of valley crossing on a fixed sloping iron cable. The participant is strapped to a harness suspended from the cable by means of a wheel-like arrangement. A small push from one side takes a person zipping to the other bank in an instant. It is important to brake near the end as it can lead you to crash hard.

Zipline Setup

Zipline 

The line

After lunch we went for a boat ride upstream. The valley gets better and better as we go upstream upto a point where you see a small waterfall. We did not go farther than that.

Boat ride - Ajay manning the oar

Boating through northern end of the valley

L-R: me, Deepak, Praful

Headed straight to the barbecue!

We returned to the other bank where there was a rocky outcrop which served as a base for activities like cliff diving, rock climbing and rappelling. We were to do cliff diving that day. We changed into our wetsuits so as to keep out the cold. There were three stages: 10ft. 20ft. and 30ft. All of us did the 10ft. dive while a few tried the 20ft. dive. It was almost sunset by the time we finished the activity.

The diving spot

The correct dive

Ouch! Not so correct ...

We returned to the camp and after changing had a quick round of tea and settled by the campfire. Some took a break to catch a wink of sleep while others just lazed about. A local villager was brought in to give a massage. A fish, caught earlier in the day, was marinated and set up for the barbecue. A sumptuous dinner followed soon. Post dinner we had the entire beach to ourselves to do whatever we wanted. However, we tired folks preferred to sleep it off.

Day8: Saturday - 15th December, 2012
Shnonpdeng-Jowai-Shillong

Today most of us had decided to get up early to witness the sunrise. The morning views from the campsite were fabulous with the sun rising from the south-east corner of the valley. It was quite chilly due to the winds from the north but the view more than made up for the effort.

All of us were up and ready by 0800hrs and finished the breakfast. We had to wait till 1000hrs for the wind to subside before beginning with the water activities. Also Jason was a little delayed due to which rock climbing and rappelling could not be started.

We started with snorkeling by 1030hrs. Snorkeling involves wearing a snorkel (air-tight face mask with a pipe for breathing) and swimming just on the surface of the water. The underwater views were simply splendid. We could clearly see the fish, river bed and the patterns created by the ripples and the sun-rays. Some of the adventurous fish even swam up to our masks! We tried in vain to catch a few. We swam the entire width of the river from bank-to-bank.

We be mummies?!

L-R: Deepak, Praful, Pradeep, Nandit, Arun

Searching for fishy!

Snorkeling

Finally Jason arrived with the scuba gear and we proceeded to the rock face for rock-climbing, rappelling and scuba diving. The water near the rock face was deep and ideal for cliff diving and scuba diving. It took them a little while to set up the gear and in the meantime some of the guys got a few cliff-dives in.

Here I comeeee!!!

Experimenting...

We were to start with rappelling and scuba diving together. David was managing the scuba diving while Jason managed the rappelling. We were to take turns to dive and rappel. The rappelling setup was on an almost flat rock wall of 60 odd ft. The scuba dive was from the same area with a rope anchored to the river bed for a controlled descent.

The diving spot, rappelling and rock climbing wall

Rappelling or abseiling involves climbing down a flat rock face by means of a rope, such that your feet touch the rock and your body is at right angles to the rock face and you face upwards. You move down by loosening the rope and hopping down one step at a time. The guys took turns rappelling and most of it was incident free. After first rounds of normal rappelling, some of the guys decided to do it commando style! Commando style is similar to normal style with an exception that you are facing down! Its an exhilarating experience.

Rappelling

For rock climbing, we had to scale the same rock face we rappelled down from. The challenge here is to find cracks and holds to fit your hands and feet and to hoist yourself up to the next grip. It takes a lot of effort and you are required to have a flexible enough body to swivel around if needed. Most of us skipped the rock climbing and those who did could not manage to reach the top.

Attempt at rock climbing

Scuba diving involves diving deep inside the water with the help of supplemental air (carried on cylinders on your back). The depth of water here was a good 12m. David had explained the commands to be used during the dive. These commands are the only mode of communication under water and have to be adhered to strictly. Each dive lasted for about 15-20mins. The water temperature drastically decrease as one went deeper. By the time half of us finished David was shivering and had to take a small break. There was a sunken boat which was the landmark for the dive. A few pictures were taken there. A large school of fishes was spotted nearby.

David in his scuba gear

Going up! - Scuba

Jesus poses!

We wrapped up the activities and headed for lunch after which we were to check out from there.

We left the campsite again in the local boats. We did the return boat ride in the fading light at 1630hrs. The trek up to the car with all the luggage was a real pain, but swiftly done none-the-less. After a quick loading and the customary cap presentation, all of us, including Jason and David, left for Shillong. This time we took the highway via Jowai. The road up to Jowai is in pretty good condition and the drive is a breeze.

L-R: David and Jason

We had a break for dinner at a small dhaba after Jowai, where after a simple meal we got our first taste of the local rice beer. The beer had proved to be quite elusive for us throughout the journey. We had asked almost everyone to arrange some for us but to no avail. Finally Jason was able to pull it off. The beer has a sweet taste and the one we had was a mild one; so far so good.

We reached the Hill Top Chateau in Shillong by 2130hrs and promptly drifted to sleep.

Originally posted in Indiamike.
All photos by Mayank Sharma.

- Kapil Pilankar

Mask's Meghalayan Adventure 2012 - Asia's Cleanest Village

Day7: Friday - 14th December, 2012 (Part1)
Mawlynnong

A silent stomach is a happy stomach. The medications taken yesterday seemed to work a bit and the day started on a relaxed note.

Mawlynnong is a small village tucked away in a remote corner of India within a stones throw from the Bandladesh border. Mawlynnong's claim to fame lies in its label as Asia's Cleanest Village. The village has a community tree-house and few homestays for accommodation.

Most of us woke up early today in anticipation of enjoying the morning at the village. The village is really picturesque with well tended lawns and beautiful buildings. We all had an early morning stroll by ourselves and then settled for breakfast.

We had been assigned a local lad - Tingshen (Shen hereon) - as a guide for the tour of the small village. He was a student and worked as a guide during his free time. After breakfast he took us for a tour of the village. There is not a lot to see in the main village but the place is very soothing. A few guys made up their mind to return here for their second honeymoon.

We started from the guest house towards the overhead view point which is actually a platform made up of bamboo on a tall tree. The access stairs are also made of bamboo. The view from up here is really splendid. You get a view of the entire village and also of neighbouring Bangladesh. The contrast in landscapes of Meghalaya and Bangladesh are easy to make out: the place where the slopes and tree line ends and the plains start is the Bangladesh border.

The tree-house at road level and the bamboo viewpoint in the background

Climbing to the viewpoint

The wooden scaffolding bearing the weight of the viewpoint

Football field in the background

 

Carnivorous Pitcher Plant

This alley leads to the football field

Most houses here are tree-houses, balanced on stilts

 

Local parish

Random orderliness at Mawlynnong

 

A lotus pond

While strolling through the village we saw a few children playing cricket. This was the first instance of cricket we saw on the entire trip. By the way Mawlynnong also has a very good football field. We also met a kid who was sitting on a perch and shooting us with a mock gun. The kids here were fun.

Cuteness

Cricket!

Sambha on the rock

Huh? Who's you?

We left Mawlynnong at 1000hrs for Dawki and checked out the balancing rock along the outside of Mawlynnong.

The balancing rock

Originally posted in Indiamike.
All photos by Mayank Sharma.

- Kapil Pilankar

Mask's Meghalayan Adventure 2012 - Caving in the Health Centre

Day6: Thursday - 13th December, 2012
Cherrapunji-Krem Ri Blai-Mawlynnong

Quick question - what is the best activity to do after horizontal caving?
Quick answer - vertical caving!

We were supposed to start early for the day, finish the caving by 1300hrs and head to Mawlynnong after lunch. We wanted to reach Mawlynnong before dark and hence decided to wrap up caving a bit early.

I started the morning with a bang! Literally, but in the loo. My queasy stomach from yesterday took over for the day which resulted in me doing frequent rounds of the loo throughout the morning. Another guy suffered the same fate. We both then decided to opt-out of the days activity and visit the Cherrapunji hospital/health-centre instead. However, the person who was down yesterday was up and running today!

The rest of the gang left for caving by 0900hrs which was a little late. We both decided to rest till 1000hrs after which the hospital would open. Ended up resting till 1100hrs and left the resort only after 1130hrs. The resort manager said he could not get a cab at this time (he'd got one yesterday). We waited outside the resort for a shared cab. One finally turned up after 15mins. We were a total of 8 people in the cab including the driver. The cab in question was a Maruti800. The ride was oddly comfortable despite the crowd.

The cab dropped us at the petrol pump near the hospital and charged Rs10 per person. Not bad. The hospital was a further 100m walk from the pump. We took the OPD slips from the counter for a price of Rs2 per person. We had to wait in a queue where people who came later went ahead. After waiting for about 30mins we went in together. We both had the same symptoms and were prescribed the same medicines which we got at the in-house pharmacy. There was a bottle of antacid which we agreed to share. Not a penny was charged at the pharmacy.

We did not get a taxi for the ride back and had to walk all the way. We rested till almost 1430hrs with quick rounds of the loo and had lunch after the others returned.

I did miss the caving, but you should not. Time for the second hand caving report! The caving for the day was planned at Krem Ri Blai. Today we were joined by Teddy, one of Men's friends, to assist in the caving. The guys left the resort at 0900hrs. The starting point of the cave was a good 45mins of downhill trek away. And the trek had stairs for most part; the same ones as at the Double Decker bridge.

Puppies!

Stairs again!

Men said that no body had ventured in Kerm Ri Blai for the past two years. The path from the base of stairs to the mouth of the cave was full of overgrown vegetation. Men and teddy had brought a chopper to clear the way. The last section of the path had sharp rocks with a precarious pathway. One mistake and the person would be halved! There was also a poisonous plant on the way with sharp leaves. Any wound from the plant would take a long time to heal.

Men (proper noun) clearing the way

Making our way through the vegetation

By the time my friends described this I was already cursing myself for the stomach bug.

The entrance of the cave was small hole with a 15m initial drop. There were two more drops which followed. One of the guys had bruised his knee the last day and decided not to attempt this. It took them some time to ready the ladder and the harness for descending. The ladder used here is a peculiar one: it can be coiled while packing, and each step is only few inches wide. The idea is to descend/ascend by digging your heels on each step, such that the ladder is between your legs and the body. You will understand it better after seeing the pics.

Entrance to Krem Ri Blai

Inside the cave

The descending technique

The ladder goes on ...

Creepy crawler

Going down was fairly easy compared to coming up. The loose soil and rocks and the cave were not helping either. It took quite a bit of time for everyone to complete the first descent. Hence it was decided to head back without completing the other descents so as to reach back on time. A few guys did not get the technique right, I am told, due to which they started swinging on the ladder. This meant they had to put a lot of effort while getting up. One of the guys got so exhausted that he was stuck for a while. It took a lot of encouragement from others for him to reach the top safely.

After completing the caving the guys also had to negotiate the stairs. The "huff, puff, break and curse!" routine was repeated ardently this time around. By the time the guys returned to the car Men, Teddy and Gear had reached and finished their lunch. The guys reached the resort by 1430hrs.

End of caving

L-R: Gear, Teddy, Pradeep, Men

Immediately after lunch, by 1600hrs, we headed to Mawlynonng. We reached Mawlynong by 2000hrs, checked in to our rooms and rested till dinner. There was nothing to do in Mawlynnong after dark. Half the guys were accommodated in the tree house while the other half were in another guest house. We had a local veg dinner and then promptly went to sleep as most of us were tired: either by caving or by running to the loo.

Here we bid farewell to Men and Gear who had accompanied us till Mawlynnong and had been an integral part of the group. Thank you guys for all the fun!

Farewell Men! (proper noun again)

L-R: Mayank, me, Praful, Ajay, Men, Deepak

Originally posted in Indiamike.
All photos by Mayank Sharma.

- Kapil Pilankar