One of the most beautiful, scenic, pocket friendly, heavenly, mesmerizing location in INDIA. I would like to suggest all my readers to visit northeast at least once before it gets crowded like Manali.
Before getting into my journey I would like to explain all the necessary guideline for all those people who are planning to Visit Meghalaya.
There is no train connectivity to Meghalaya, so the best thing is to through Guwahati, Assam. Get down at Guwahati railway stn and ask for the bus stand which is attached to the railway station. Either get a bus or if you go out you will find lots of jeeps which will take you till Shillong which costs around 300 Bucks.
Shillong is the Capital of Meghalaya from where the actual journey starts. Just go to “police chowki” which is a place where you can easily get a room for 1000/- per night for 2 people easily.
Plan in such a way that you reach shillong by evening so that you can book a room, shop on the local streets of police chowki and the you can take rest before starting the trip.
You will get the cab facility at the hotel reception where you can choose the packages for the next day trip, each package is around 3000/- for a group of 4 people ( so the best trick for a pocket friendly trip is by making a group of 4 ) and be sure to choose the packages wisely, basically there are only three packages
Package 1. Trek to double dekker living root bridge, seven sister falls, limestone cave, nokhalikai falls.
Package 2. Single living root bridge(yes u heard right there are two separate living root bridges one is double deck and othe other one is single living bridge both are on different locations), Mawlynnong village(the cleanliest village of India), Dawki lake(the crystal clear lake) on the way from the village to the lake you get to visit to Waterfalls which will be a treat of lifetime.
Package 3. I dont remmember, because it was all the lakes, parks, boatings which were inside the city, but I did not go to shillong for this so i cancelled this.
So each of this package will cost around 3000/- so if you go as a group of 4 you can divide it. And for all these trips you have to start the journey by morning 6AM to cover all the places.
Have the street foods which is tasty and also pocket friendly, you will get aloo paratha for 20/- and inside hotels u will get biryani for 200/-
Best time to visit: July – September ( everything will be green and fresh but you wont get crystal clear view of dawki lake because it is possible only during Winter when the water doesn’t moves much – so plan during January for that but then you wont find the greenery everywhere )
I hope I have cleared all the major questions which would have been there in your mind.Keep your eyes open throughout the journey coz every view is masterpeice there, for every turn u will find roadside waterfalls which is just a common thing for the local residents just like the the tap water for us.
Lets get into my journey, which will help you to understand more about Meghalaya.
I live in bangalore so I started my journey from Here as a solo trip till West Bengal. I took my train From Bangalore Cantonment Railway Stn at 7Pm on 7th July, 2017, sorry I don’t remember the train Name but it starts from Cantonment only. Before getting in the train I got lots of confusion which I usually get before starting a journey where you think about you family whom you left at home, their safety, your safety, their future if somethings happens to you, so with all this questions and confusions I got in and again I got down I was just standing at the station in Dilemma at finally the train moved two bogeys crossed me, I called my friend to inform him that m cancelling the trip (who had to join me from Calcutta, West bengal) but He didn’t respond, If he would have responded that day then this journey would have never happened and I would have missed a greatest journey of my lifetime, Thanks to Him.
I reached on 9th of July to calcutta at 11am due to delay( a common thing for Indian Railways – but trust me, for a middle class family Train journey gives a lot of memories throughout their life)
Our plan was to visit Darjeeling and then to Meghalaya, a Planned trip to an unknown destination never goes as per plan so the same thing happened to us. There was a protest in Darjeeling asking for separate state so there was no entry there and all those tourists who were already there were not allowed to go out of darjeeling so all those people were struck there for 30 days, so there is always a good in every Bad.
We headed from Westbengal to Assam but due to heavy rain all the trains were cancelled so we had to take 2 trains to reach Guwahati.
We reached Guwahati and from there took a Jeep which was already full still he took us and it was around a journey of 2-3 Hrs, Oh Man, just keep your eyes wide open from Here even a blink of ur eyes will cost you Thats how beautiful Meghalay is. Reached Police Chowki (Shillong) walked few streets to find the cheap and best hotels, we found few cheap hotels but they were not the best so finally got a room for 1200/night for 2 people. We ate Biryani ( all time favorite food no matter which location it is ) and we booked for the 2nd package first and informed the driver to be there at sharp 6AM.
On a Misty morning without bathing we came out at 6AM and our Driver was already out there waiting for us, without wasting much time we got in moved out of city and then we introduced to each other ( i mean with the driver), a friendly family man who used to clean his car at each and every place where ever water was available, and had contact with all the roadside hotels (may be he gets some benefits by referring us there for food) but still the food was good at all the places, which was noodles, which always tastes best on a monsoon day.
Meghalaya is called as Meghalaya not because it is named as Meghalaya but it is literally the Megh – Aalay ( if u are good at hindi ) throughout the trip we were just going above the clouds and there was a confusion on making video of the journey, whether from right or from left either way it was great with small waterfalls to greenery to all the different houses with beautiful fences. Childrens going to school, Churches everywhere, footlball in everyground, u wont c cricket there, even an illiterate speaks English there ( yeahhh, even the Hilly people listen only to English album songs n not to the bollywood ).Rivers parallel to roads, high hills you have to take your head out to view the whole view, to increase the mood, our driver started playing all the bollywood journey songs, we had our Breakfast, soupy noodles, hot soupy noodles on a rainy day with such a view. By now u wud have made a picture in mind, how Meghalaya looks.
Till now I was travelling the whole journey with the dilemma which was there in my mind from the railway stn, at any point of time I was thinking to quit and go back to ma home. Thats when our first point came we got down took umbrella for rent at 20/- each and walked for 10 mins full of downstairs
And we started listening the gushing sound of high current stream into the wild and slowly we got the glimpse of the single living root bridge, all the time which I heard, the pictures i saw they were not wrong, there was a real living route bridge – connecting two mountains below which a river was flowing. No words, I was just blushing looking at the Bridge – a bridge made only of roots. All the Dilemma vanished, I was happy that my decision was right and you cant ask for more, thats how grand it was.
SELFIE 
CANDID
Thats it, I started feeling that my journey is already complete, still I had invested a lot in this trip so was not ready to go back, continued to explore more and we moved towards the Cleanliest vilage, all the route is parallel to Bangladesh Border, every here and there you get to see the Bangladesh Border. We stopped on the way for a tree house where we also got to see picture plant for which there i a token of 10/- which we have to pay. The Tree house was slippery as it was monsoon and it was made up of Bamboo still went up and from there u can see Bangladesh land completely and clearly.
We reached the village and it was more like a commercial village as most people were aware of that place it was more crowded with outsiders than the local peoples. A clean and decent village, with bamboo dustbins for every 10meters, but soon you will realize that whole Meghalaya is maintained that way, clean and green. After taking a walk inside the village you will understand that we have somewhere forgot our responsibility as a citizen by keeping our environment so much dirty that we are travelling this far to witness a clean village.
By taking a silent Oath(in mind), Moved from there towards Dawki Lake ( crystal clear which was not crystal coz it was monsoon). There are two roads to reach Dwaki from this village ( as per Driver) and the road which we traveled has got 2 amazing waterfalls so kindly ask the driver to go on this route. These free of cost waterfalls are lifetime waterfalls which u wont get to witness in any part of the country that too next ti the road.
Stay there enjoy, Feel, understand how beautiful Our country is with these much of Diversity and u get to go to all these places without any passport. I dont know the names of any of the Waterfalls but they are once in a life time.
The Bridge on which I’m standing, to my right is INDIA, to my left it is Bangladesh at 100mts distance, you get to see even the Bangladesh people fishing at their Border.
The waterfall, very Beautyfall, Even the Bridge vibrates for its flow, a majestic waterfall and a view close to the Borders, you just have take pics and videos u cant even think of anything else, a Three tier water fall, too close to your soul, I wont call it a Noise, it was a music to my ears again dilemma whether to move for the next location or postpone the whole journey for the next day and just to walk over the bridge throughout the day.
Moved from there physically but all my soul was already wet with the SAARAL (mist) and left a part of my soul over the bridge . Within another 20 mins i got Crush on the next waterfall.
” If Falling in Love with the waterfall is a Crime, then call me a CRIMINAL“
Saran Raj
Now Look at this, No words Right ? u can even swim there but i just wanted to admire its beauty from a bit far just like a One side lover. Again a Blush, an anger that y I took these many years to come there, a frustration on y this was this far from me and y not in my native.
A Pic with my love, look how close we are, just next to each other. A journey full of one side love stories. I left my crush there, promised that one day i will come back.
I Proposed and I left without asking for a Reply
Once again into the taxi, music, rain, hills, views, curves, borders, Soldiers, check points, Football matches. So many thoughts on mind – waterfalls, the majestic views, how lucky the people are, how blessed they are, y north India this beautiful. Before coming to a conclusion our driver reached the destination. The final Destination for the Day – DAWKI ( crystal clear river which flows from India to Bangladesh – hope even we were rivers, flow continuously without barriers without borders but then u cant eat BIRYANI,, ha ha so we are the most luckiest creation of nature so don’t be disappointed.
This is the point where the driver drops you and from here you have to walk down and hire a boat – which costs around 500 for a ride. The top right part where the mountain ends is the border area from where Bangladesh starts.
Still we got a bit clear view as we were there during starting days of monsoon, still its a must ride for whoever visiting there, this is a small island like place till where the boating is served where u can stay till u wish and then u can go back. Even u can swim there if u are good at it.
The whole Boat journey is a hell of a ride as it looks like the Carribean Island, High mountains all around u, u just have to keep rotating ur head as u get to see few waterfalls, rocky mountains, sharp rocks, people fishing, diving, camping, a tall waterfall falling silently from a far away place, may be that is the origin of this river, the bangladesh border where their tourists are also enjoying a boat ride, boat man talking only english, in between all these an inner peace
Finally Ended the day one reached to our hotel, took bath ate Aloo Paratha at the street food, shopped a bit and slept nicely with few plans for the morning, next day we again asked the same driver to take us to the other package.
This is where the part one ends. Bubye.
Explore with SARAN 
Tq
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