A week in Shillong, Meghalaya, India
Capital city of the state of Meghalaya, Shillong offers a perfect mix of
old world and modern charm. Tucked away in East Khasi Hills, this city
offered a much needed respite from continuous travelling, through
gruelling road conditions in much of the rest of north-east. Shillong
travel circuit can easily boast to have best roads, connectivity and
tourist amenities and hence probably more people travelling to this
state than any other out of our lovely seven-sisters.
Being a popular destination, much has already been written about
Shillong, so I kept wondering what is it that I should cover that might
be unique about this done-to-death destination in north east. I spent
about a week in Shillong and my experiences were not as marvellous or
spell binding as in rest of north-east. Not because of anything else,
but just because Shillong is well touched by tourists and didn't offer
an awe moment to me. Yet there was something everyday that I was
learning about it - things very familiar yet giving feelings ranging
from amusement to sadness. And that is also important sometimes, when
travelling. I decided to write things to do/see based on these
experiences- some popular from guidebooks & totally worth it while
some based on my own observation.
1. Barra Bazaar
If you think Police Bazaar (PB, as called locally) , the central
business district of Shillong is where all the action is, then wait till
you visit Barra Bazaar. Often dismissed by cab drivers or guides as
'just a place to buy wholesale vegetables', this huge local market
place, characterised by criss-crossing narrow alleyways, often allowing
only one person to pass at a time, is a world in itself. Its a street
photographer's dream come true ! One can easily get lost in this
labyrinth selling all things under the sun for everyday needs, and there
are whole alleys specialising in one single product- from obvious
fruits, vegetables to kitchen utensils, cane furniture, fish, all kinds
of meat, grocery, cloth, sweets. Morning hours is the best time to see
all the buzz, consider having breakfast in one of the alleys serving
quintessential poori-bhaji.
Occupying one of the top positions in things-to-do in Shillong guides,
it definitely is worth it. The unique feature of this fall is that it
gushes out water in three different steps. The name 'Elephant' was given
by British after a rock bear the fall which had the shape of an
elephant, it later got destroyed in 1890s in an earthquake. Proper steps
have been made for tourists to get down to the falls and watch it up
close. Here are the pictures.
3. Take a drive to Cherrapunji and visit Mawsmai Caves.
Even though a day- trip to Cherrapunji might involve 7-8 sight-seeing
stops, but I feel Mawsmai caves are the best or perhaps the only thing
worth doing in the whole trip other than of course enjoying the
spectacular valleys and scenery around. The drive is so good that
so-called tourist spots stand irrelevant. And yeah, one can well enjoy
some street food on the way, like these giant veg momos (pic below) we
found on our way ! :)
4. Stay in Laitumkhra
It doesn't matter how much you are coaxed into staying at one of the
hotels in Police Bazaar, promising good connectivity etc, do not opt for
it. PB is just way too busy and it just doesn't matter how good or
luxurious the hotel is. Its always a better choice to stay at places
little off from the city centre, say Laitumkhra, which was much quieter
in the nights. Laitumkhra has couple of really good cafés (the best one
too ) and eating joints and is connected to PB by shared taxi at Rs.
20/head. The place is a hangout zone for most school and college
students of Shillong owing to several educational institutions in the
vicinity. I stayed in Hotel Yalana which offered good rooms and facilities at very competitive rates. Another good option is to stay at Café Shillong B&B or if you have more budget then opt for Aerodene Cottages.
4. Chill out at Café Shillong
Located in Laitumkhra, ambience wise this café has everything you need
in a typical upmarket coffee house, from comfortable lounge style
seating to wooden table chairs to outdoor compact terrace seating. Menu
is limited and offers a much needed change to other wise very 'chinese'
dominated food in rest of Shillong. It has a selection of authentic
coffees which tasted really really good. Food was just about okay, not
close to what one might expect after tasting their yummy coffee. What
else? They have live gigs every Sunday evening. Not to be missed :)
5. Try food at Munchies
Yet again located in Laitumkhra, this little discreet (no signboard)
café- restaurant is going to surprise you! Well located on the main
road, just a few steps away from Café Shillong, this little eatery has
everything on offer what you don't get otherwise in Shillong commonly.
Absolutely yummy freshly made thin crust pizzas to just perfectly cooked
juicy burgers to pastas. And guess what ? They don't have chinese or
any rice item. The owner is frank enough to tell us he has refrained
from keeping any rice item, because pretty much all eateries boil rice
on one day and keep reusing it by frying it, for next 3-4 days. In fact
he was the one who took us to by lanes of Barra Bazaar on one of his
early morning shopping spree for his outlet. They genuinely use fresh
ingredients and one can taste that well in their food. Just that one
needs some patience, because fresh cooking on order can take some time.
Easy on pocket, this little eatery also offers an open air patio seating
along with cozy bamboo structure built on a level up which can pretty
much give you a feeling of climbing up a tree house.
6. Drinks at Pinewood Hotel Bar
Visit this bar on a weekend evening for that perfect old-school feel.
Hotel is an English style bungalow and the bar holds an old world charm
about it with heavy wooden tables and chairs, windows opening to
spectacular views of Shillong valley through the manicured garden. And
all this at prices which are far more competitive than say the more
popular sister in Police Bazaar, Cloud 9.
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| Photo: Direct Hotels |
7. Street Food in Shillong
Best avoided in Police Bazaar- However, if you feel tempted to try out,
after looking at a hoard of street food stalls, neatly placed next to
each other in a row, you may, as it is not going to cost more than Rs.
10/- for any item. But my recommendation would be to try some outside
Ward's Lake or on your drives out of city.
A two-hour drive away lies village of Mawlynnong,
once claimed to be Asia's cleanest village. It might not necessarily be
the cleanest, because I wondered what were the standards set when
Discover India magazine claimed it so back in 2003, but certainly
extremely clean and one of the very few well tended village I have ever
been to. Apart from the village, one can visit the world famous living
root bridges with just a 10 minute hike.
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