20/11/2016
Our basecamp for the Shillong leg was to be a tiny traveler’s hotel near Oxford Hill. The Hotel room allotted to us at the back of the building with a view to the valley was a short walk through a narrow corridor between little staff quarters and the reception of the Hotel. There were iron stairs along the way that we climbed down to get to our room. It was a good place to recuperate, crawling under the blankets after taking the pills for an upset stomach and fever.
Through the cold night outside, a room heater that was plugged into a socket at the feet level kept the room warm. Kept between our single cots, it gave away an orange glow to the room.
We both slept much late into the morning. I realized Jai was feeling better than yesterday since he was up and looked ready for the day of outing. It made me also crawl out of the blanket and stretch a bit almost burning my feet from the hot room-heater that was still glowing orange. After a hot shower, it appeared that nothing would be achieved by crooning up in the room in the name of resting. If anything it would only make two backpackers more sick.
We arranged for a taxi and decided to cover the Outskirts of Shillong. As we stepped outside, I got a better look at the Hotel. With the gates and tall walls covered by runners and more attempt of building a garden in the little space between the wall and building and on the parapets of the first floor, the building looked more like home of an enthusiastic city House-maker than a commercial Hotel.
The taxi was there and we hopped in. The driver agreed for a nominal rate for a day of outing. We asked him to take us to a pharmacy on the way to get some Vaporubs and medicines to help us through the day.
The first item in our itinerary was Mawlynnong, a village in the East Khasi Hills district famous for the tag it won in 2003 for the “Cleanest Village in Asia” by Discovery Magazine.
Before we get to Mawlynnong, let me give you a brief about the geography of Meghalaya herself.
Meghalaya has the shape of half part of a banana leaf cut along its midrib and laid plain with the long edge of it’s lamina towards the North. The length along the soft edges is a bit jagged, devoured by caterpillar smoking a ho**ah. The length is almost five times the breadth of the state. Almost perpendicular to its length runs the The Gharo Hills in the west, Khasi Hills in the East and Jaintia Hills further east. Khasi Hills is one of the wettest parts of the planet; home to Valleys of Cherrapunjee and Mawsynram. The hills are also a great destination for Caving enthusiasts.
Along the way, the sky was showing us that the moniker “Abode of Clouds” was not a misnomer for Meghalaya. Winds were playing a much imaginative Five-year-old with the thick white clouds. We stopped at a couple of photo-spots along the way. I didn’t stay long at any, as selfie taking couples made me discomforted about the fact of my pathetic love life. We brought Chai from road-side shop that was built on planks projecting out from the edge of the road to the valleys below. Pillars that met the ground low below supported the planks. The creaks of the planks as we walked on them were a bit un-nerving though.
