Rise Above the Clouds – Cherrapunjee

Ever saw the clouds above and wonder where do they come from and how it would be to rise above them? You must pay a visit to Cherrapunjee, the place we knew as the wettest place on earth. (It may no longer be the wettest one but it can do wonders for you if you are looking for a quiet and adventurous gateway but still not in the mood of suddenly discovering your next door neighbor vacationing in the same spot). We just came back and I thought I better write it down and pay the place its due it truly deserves.

Day 1:
Cherrapunjee, locally known as Sohra, is 56 kms away from shilling. It has some beautiful waterfalls and the mawsmai cave around. Both my husband and I am not the typically sight-seeing sort of person. But this time my in-laws were there and we planned to visit 4 points.  The path to sohra is a winding one and truly amazing.  Sometimes you just take a turn and enter inside the world of cloud.  Most of the journey our car was kind of playing hide and seek with the cherra cloud.

We could not actually see any of those waterfalls but people around seemed having a gala time. It was almost a picnic spot and khasi women were selling local handicrafts, honey and fruits. It was monsoon but I guess you have a better chance to see the waterfalls if you go in winter.

We headed towards mawsmai cave and were extremely disappointed after seeing numerous number of tourist buses at the parking spot. Good that we did not let that dampen our spirit. It was worth all the trouble and we had a great time exploring the cave. The limestone cave was well lit and in some parts we saw some guides sitting at the corner with their torches on. It’s a magnificent watch. You should remove and keep your shoe at the ticket counter.  Also, its better not to take your kid along as it is almost impossible to carry someone while you are trying to crawl your way in.

Our final destination was village Laitkynsew approx 17 kms from sohra town. I had booked our accommodation at “Cherrapunjee Holiday Resort”. Path to the village has steep bends and numerous waterfalls on the way.  I have been to garwal, kumaun, sikim and Darjeeling but this was so far the greenest journey I ever had. We were told that landslide do happens and people just cross the same and take a different bus to reach the village.  This is the only accommodation apart from the sohra plaza in sohra town.  Mr. Denis and his wife started this resort 10 years back and on 12^th June, 2010 they celebrated its anniversary.  It has 6 rooms, 3 deluxe and 3 executives. The deluxe rooms overlook the Bangladesh plains (Syllet formerly known as Srihotto) and if you book in advance you might get one of these.  Even if you don’t you can sit on the lawn and enjoy the view. Clouds roam around as they like and most of the times you can see their movement from Bangladesh to cherra hill.

The resort has a common dinning cum living hall and you can access Wi-Fi connection or internet by paying a nominal amount of 100 RS per day or 30 Rs per hour. It was already 3:30 pm when we reached the resort. We had the delicious local dish ‘Jadoh’ (Pork over rice). You should also try the local fish fry. Food is amazing.

We had lunch and went for a stroll through the picturesque village and walked till Nongwar village. It  rained all the night.

Day2:

Beside the wandering clouds cherrapunjee has these amazing living root bridges. These bridges are made from the roots of the rubber trees growing at the opposite sides of the river. The tribe war-khasis noticed that the tree “produces a series of secondary roots from higher up its trunk and can comfortably perch atop huge boulders along the riverbanks, or even in the middle of the rivers themselves. In order to make a rubber tree’s roots grow in the right direction – say, over a river – the Khasis use betel nut trunks, sliced down the middle and hollowed out, to create root-guidance systems. The thin, tender roots of the rubber tree, prevented from fanning out by the betel nut trunks, grow straight out. When they reach the other side of the river, they’re allowed to take root in the soil. Given enough time, a sturdy, living bridge is produced.”

Local people now daily use these bridges to cross rivers and streams.  They even have a double Decker root bridge and some of them are strong enough to hold at least 50 people at a time.

Wenda, our guide from the village, had come to take us to the living root bridge. It takes 3-4 hours. But the stepping stones were slippery as it had rained heavily yesterday night. So we had to come back and head towards the closest bridge near the upcoming splashing park. It was really sweet of Mr. Denis, who gave us a pick-and-drop service from the resort to the starting point for the treck. It’s a half an hour trek and has a beautiful waterfall at the end of the journey.  This bridge was shorter but the waterfall made up for the loss. We were pretty satisfied as we had already seen a complete living root bridge in mawlynnong (cleanest village in Asia). I will cover the details in part 2.

We bathed in the spring water and came back to our resort.  We met a family from Bangladesh. It was nice to meet those people and Mr. Denis’s family. None of the rooms have T.V and hence most of us were at the lawn or at the common room, interacting with the others. Everybody, including Mr Denis’s family dined together (though at different tables). The setup was new but we totally loved it.

Afternoon view of Bangladesh was wonderful and we could clearly see the roads on Sylhet plains. Whatever rains cherrapunjee receives in a day reaches Syllet within 12 hours.

How to go: you can drive from shillong or guwahati airport. Cab(indigo) costs 1600 if you for a direct drop from shillong. in case you want to check out the sight seeing and then for a drop, it will cost you 2000. You can contact Ban @09615024619.  There are direct flights from kolkata to guwahati/shillong airport

Accomodation: contact details is specified in http://cherrapunjee.com