Wettest place on earth

There was a bit more light this morning when I woke compared to yesterday.  But it was only 0530 when I checked my clock.  That’s because the weather wasn’t gloomy like yesterday.  With a 0745 report for my tour, I talked my way into having tea at 0720 in the restaurant, 10 minutes before it officially opened.  I asked for some milk and had my own cereal.

At 0745, the Meghalaya tourist office wasn’t open.  The staff opened up at 0800 which was the departure time of the tour.  But first we had to check-in before boarding the bus.  We eventually left at 0820.  About an hour driving, we stopped at a viewpoint of the Mawkook Valley.  It was very green and lush.  We arrived into Cherrapunjee and continued beyond it to a place called Eco Park, one of several paid entry spots (camera chargeable separately).  It was a really nothing place.  It offered views of Bagladesh plains but no one pointed it to us. There was  hole in the grown in which a small torrent of water flowed  into; it was labelled as Missing Falls.

We then visited the Seven Sisters Waterfalls.  As it was the dry season, the falls didn’t put on the best show for us.  I understand they can be quite impressive during the monsoon but then this place could be the most miserable, being the wettest in the world.  Cheerrapunjee (along with nearby Mawsynram) is the wettest place on earth but it is quite seasonal.

Next up was Maw Smai Stalactite-Stalagmite Cave.  We were warned that there would be stooping and crawling involved.  I didn’t want to crawl as I had limited change of clothing and also limited opportunity to wash and dry my pants.  Besides, I had been to what was the world’s largest caves twice already.  However, when the rest of the party emerged, no one looked liked they had been on the ground crawling.

We stopped at Mot Trop Rock (Khah Rambah) rock which was the lowest point in Cherrapunjee for a view of Bangladesh.  Even though we around 300 kilometres inland, the Bangladeshi plains were sodden.  I googled it subsequently and 80% of the country is made up of the plains which are very low-lying.  No wonder they have issues with flooding.

Next was the Botanical Gardens which offered more views of Bangladesh.  I did walk in the park briefly to kill time.  I was starting to lose interest in the ho-hum sights of the day.

We passed the town again but I didn’t get off since there were more sights to be “enjoyed”.  We pulled into a Mission for a visit.  Unusually, this was a Hindu mission.  The Ramakrishna Mission is very highly respectable and offers schooling and aid to locals. Assistance is not limited to Hindus, which is good since much of the area is tribal.

I was hungry and I had wished that I had been dropped off at my hotel earlier.  Our last stop was the Noh-Ka-Li-Kai waterfalls.  Being the world’s 4thhighest waterfall, it was impressive enough and worth staying on for. I’m sure it would have been a stunner during the wet season. I finally got my lunch around 1500.  I had had enough after my lunch but this was a long stop.

It was nearly 1600 and the sunlight was getting soft (being east in the timezone) as we hopped back on the bus.  I had regrets of not taking the public transport; the station in Shillong was a bit far which would have required a taxi ride and the buses didn’t look busy which might have meant a long wait … and no one could tell me where the shared taxis left from.  While the tour wasn’t expensive at INR350, public transport was about INR70.

The tour bus dropped me off at a corner near the bazaar together with a couple of girls from Mumbai.  We shared a taxi to near my place and I walked to my home for three nights, La Kupar.  We exchanged numbers so we could share a taxi tomorrow for going to the double decker root bridge (not knowing that internet is unreliable in town).

The inn came highly rated and it didn’t disappoint.  The hospitality, information given and atmosphere was goods.  The meals which I did have during my stay were excellent too.  Strangely, I felt very comfortable here even though the condition of the room and the place was of a lesser standard than elsewhere in my stay; eg. smudges on the wall, untiled floors, mildew on walls in the main reception hall.  Perhaps the hospitality made up for it.  Or perhaps it was knowing that this was the best place available in town whereas, say, in Delhi there would be many other places which one could pay for to get better quality.

Since I had  a late lunch, I topped it up with a light and late dinner of egg curry and tawa roti (chappati) before joining my host and others around a fire in the garden.