This is one of the longest trips I have been on that we planned ourselves. Also, it is going to be one of the longest blogs ((: In total the trip spanned for a long 10 days which includes our travel time from home to Guwahati as well. I am going to split the blog in the day-wise schedule that we followed so it is easier for you guys to plan your trip.
Day 1
In this trip/trek, there were a total of 5 friends, me and my brother were traveling from Mumbai to Guwahati, one from Bangalore to Guwahati, and 2 from Delhi to the Assam capital. We all met each other at around 12:15 am at the airport. We had booked a hotel to stay near the airport since we had to leave early in the morning to reach the city center and rent bikes to start our ride to Cheerapunji in Meghalaya. But as things don't go that smoothly when you plan things yourselves, our hotel bookings got canceled at the last minute and we were left stranded at the airport. We soon booked another hotel near the Airport and requested them to allow check-in. Finally, everything was alright and we made it through the day.
Day 2
The next morning we decided to start our day early to reach the city center and rent bikes. But since we had the episode of cancellation of the hotel the last night we were stuck in our beds till 9 am. Then after breakfast, we made our way to the city center in the hope of renting the bikes as soon as possible and starting our journey to Cheerapunji. But to reach the city center we had to take a tum-tum and then a bus. So we were there by 12:30 pm, now the problem was that we were in Guwahati on a weekend and no bike rentals had the bikes of our choice available. So after roaming multiple shops, we could finally find a Royal Enfield Classic 350, Royal Enfield Hunter, and Pulsar NS 200. The prices for these bikes for a total of 8 days were Rs 1200, Rs 1100, and 900 respectively daily. Also, I have provided the contact details for the bike rental there so you can book them in advance.
The ride from Guwahati to Cheerapunji was so enjoyable since the roads were part of the national highway and very well maintained. We reached Shillong in no time, took a break there, and had dinner, then started our journey to the Village named Tyrna in Cheerapunji where we had booked our homestay. My advice would be to dress up properly since the winters here are too harsh and we had a tough time reaching our stay. Meanwhile, on the road, we bought some whiskey with us that can keep us warm in the night and enjoyed it once we were in our homestay. Please "Don't drink and drive". You can contact Ben or Edward the owners of this homestay from booking.com to book this property. Ben also prepared dinner for us which was super delicious. The sky was so clear, with innumerable stars it made our whole 150 km bike ride worth it.
Day 3
This was our sightseeing day and we picked a few spots that were in the range of 30 - 40kms. We left at 10 am from our homestay and reached Sohra where we ate the most delicious breakfast ever. You should visit this small food outlet in Sohra if you ever pass this area, the aloo parathas, the Maggi also the super-sized momos were just amazing.
After having a stomach full of breakfast, we then proceeded on our journey to Arwah Caves. They are one of the many tourist attractions here in Cheerapunji and also the caves are well maintained. But a word of advice would be to not go deep inside the caves as one may get lost in there.
Then just 10 km from Arwah Caves was the Lyngksiar Falls, which we were going to visit next. But there are two routes for this spot, please avoid the route where you find yourself driving on a kaccha road, for example, if you find yourself in the area such as these images you are on the wrong path.
If you take the right route which is a well well-maintained concrete road, this path will lead you to the parking area of these falls. Then from the entrance, a small walk of 10 mins will bring you to this nice small fall and pond where you can dive, but rent a life jacket since it is compulsory and also the pond is deep. Remember the water will be ice cold !!
By 8 pm we were back in our homestay since we knew how bad the weather would be after that. Returning we took our dinner break at Sohra where we tried almost everything on the menu. Then we had some interactions with local children and people about their daily lives and also some information about the trek that we were going to start tomorrow.
Day 4
Early morning 6 am we packed our bags for the Double Decker trek. Since Tyrna is the base village for this trek we had an advantage and reached the entrance of the trek in 5 minutes, if you don't have the offline maps with a complete route up the Rainbow Falls then you can take a local guide with you or download the .gpx file from Wikiloc and open it in the OsmAnd app. The rates of the guides are already fixed and they are very helpful if you want them to carry weights.
The 1st spot that you will come across is the Longest Root Bridge and this is a marvel of nature. We were lucky enough to enjoy this spot in the morning silence and chirping of birds since none of the other tourists had begun this trek. We enjoyed quite a bit here and also walked across this bridge which is an experience of its own.
Once you are done exploring the Longest Root Bridge, the weirdest thing that we experienced was that this trek was reversed from what we had previously experienced in Maharashtra. Mostly you climb your way up in a trek, but here in the Double Decker trek you have to go down and down so keep in mind that you have to climb all these stairs on the way back. Soon you will come across an old bridge that will be closed so the actual route is from below the bridge to continue the trek.
Finally, 45 minutes after starting the trek we encountered the Double Decker bridge, this was something that showed how old these roots and trees are and why we should protect them. Once you are here you will at least take half an hour to admire its beauty. You can see it from the pictures and videos below. Try to start early or you will be surrounded by many people and the place won't be good enough.
Now that part of the trek begins where most of the people don't go. So continuing this trek for more than 3 km which is mostly climbing up.1st you come across the Blue Lagoon, but we skip it initially to dive into it later while returning once we reach the Rainbow Falls.
Finally, after 3 hours of trek, we reached our final destination the Rainbow Falls. The beauty of these falls where a small rainbow appears at the bottom is out of imagination. The falls can only be seen from a little distance and no one is allowed to go inside in the winters. Here we took a nice break and with a few people coming till here, there was no noise of humans only the pleasant sound of the waterfall. A small shop is situated here where you can have some refreshments.
Now in the heat of the afternoon, we were returning with only a single hope of swimming in the Blue Lagoon that we skipped while treking here. Once we reached here, we were in awe of the beauty this lagoon has and rented some life jackets and dived inside this pool of heaven. It was one of the best swims I ever had with the water being so clear and blue. Be careful and if you don't know swimming don't go deeper, but I went ahead where the falls were above my head and it was a very good experience. We were in the lagoon for more than an hour, imagine us in the icy cold water for this long time (: of course, the cramps were the reasons we had to come out.
Then we planned to return to the Double Decker bridge and stay here for the night since the sun sets very early here. Also, we were exhausted from the swimming, while coming back we had some interactions with the kids playing football and joined them, the way back was so nice and full of bird cries which were returning to their nests in this forest. The route back to the bridge was very pleasant. We finally settled in a homestay and were done for the day.
Day 5
The next morning we had an early start to reach the top (here top means the village), we planned our journey in the morning cold so that we wouldn't get exhausted much since it was a continuous climb and we did not take many breaks and reached the base by 8 am. We got into our homestay in Tyrna, thanked Ben for his service, and packed our bags to ride to the next spot.
We then started our bike ride to the Mawryngkhang village which is the base of the Bambaoo trek that we had planned next. We reached the base around 12:30 pm of course once again taking the stop at our famous Sohra restaurant (we loved the food here that much). Here at the entrance of the village, we got several guesthouses where we could stay, booked them, and then unpacked ourselves.
In the scorching heat of the afternoon, we began this trek and by 5 pm we had completed this trek with high spirits, but soon the fact that there will be no sunlight while returning to the village shattered our spirits. But still, under the moonlight and the torches, we came back to the village safely, and in summary, it was a very good and unique experience. The villagers have maintained the bridges that are made from bamboo in very good condition and the scenes from the top of the mountain are also mesmerizing.
Day 6
We had a surprise waiting for us in the morning when we came to know that the clutch wire of the Pulsar NS 200 was broken, it would have been done by the kids who were innocently playing with the bikes. But for us, this was the most difficult challenge to overcome since we had to change gears with no clutch and ride our bike to a mechanic who was 30 km away. Still, we managed to do it somehow and were saved or else this trip would have ended for us there.
By evening we reached Dawki which was our next destination. We had to ride our bikes for 80 Km straight and that too in darkness and the road conditions here were very bad, add in the dust, and it was the most uncomfortable ride for us. We reached there at 8:30 pm booked our stay and straight away went to bed to heal our broken backs.
Day 7
Dawki had warm weather as compared to other villages since the density of tourists here was more and also the border trade was going on so a lot of trucks were here.1st we went to see the India-Bangladesh border where I think we were the only group visiting and the soldiers were happy to see us and greeted us with smile.
Then we went to the main attraction here, the Dawki River, the boat takes only 3 people per boat and the boat ride is almost 45 minutes. But every minute is worth it since the beauty and cleanliness, clarity of the river will leave you at the loss of words. To keep it short you can see the images and videos here.
After the boat ride, we enjoyed bike riding up to Shillong city, the roads here are just so good you get a feel of riding bikes without any fear in the mountains and also an adrenaline rush. Since Shillong was at the center of the spots we were going to visit the next days we decided to book our stay there. We reached Shillong at 8:30 pm and explored the city a bit before summing up the day.
Day 8
After having a stomach-full breakfast we started exploring the city and went to a botanical garden and rested there until 2 pm, then we proceeded on to the Umiam Lake. The peace this lake had to offer was of no comparison, we just sat down here for more than 2 hours straight and listened to music while discussing our comic journey till now.
Then after sunset, we proceeded to our next stop known as "Cafe ML 05" also known as the Bikers Den. It was a very unique cafe and also the vibes here were perfect for a biker group, we had a nice time here and then returned to Shillong after dinner.
Day 9
The day finally arrived, and we visited the best-ever spot to watch a sunrise. To reach this spot we had to start our ride by 3 am in the coldest weather that we had ever ridden. We were shivering while riding our bikes but soon at 4:30 am, we reached the Nongjrong Sunrise Point. The place is literally above the clouds and you can see the movement of clouds under the golden rays of the sun and the sky changing its color every minute as the sun rises, It is one of those spots that no one should miss and everyone should visit it at least once.
After having our minds full of this extraordinary sunrise we then went on ahead to the Laitlum Canyon, it is one of those spots where you can see a rally of mountains lined up. I am sure this place would be a house of many waterfalls in the rainy season.
We returned to our hotel in the afternoon, took some rest since we had started our day too early, and then went out to explore the nightlife of the city. We visited nearby markets and food streets and then also had dinner and drinks at a nice restaurant and thought to ourselves that finally, the trip had come to an end.
Day 10
On the final day of the trip, we packed our bags with a heavy heart leaving this place "The heaven above the Clouds" and then started our bike ride back at 8 am back to Guwahati. Again we enjoyed this 150 km ride returned our bikes and took a cab to the airport. And finally went on ahead with our different destinations.
Some tips for this trip
Keep 2 to 3 credit cards in handy that will help you with the lounge access since there will be very few direct flights and you need to chill at some good place in the airport while waiting for your connecting flights.
Make friends along the way and interact with locals, this can fetch you a better deal for stays and find some exciting spots.
Learn some local dialects like "Khublei" which in the Khasi language means Thankyou!
Please try to book your bikes in advance.
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