We
started our journey to shillong by online booked tickets of ASTC.Bus left at
8.00 Am from Bus stand in Palton Bazar of Guwahati.Fare from Guwahati to
Shillong was fairly reasonable at Rs 145.00 each. The
roadway from Guwahati to Shillong is very beautiful as the road passes by
various hill tops, the most amazing part of this journey.
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| Adventurous Shillong |
entire journey from Guwahati to Shillong was an exciting experience. No
sooner the City border of Guwahati was crossed; nature suddenly seems to put
its best face. All along the road, a sequence
of scenery continues to unfold in its true captivating splendour, and viewing points are hoisted
to vintage heights.
the way to Shillong, we enjoyed a breakfast at a Dhaba, consisting of the chhole bhature,
Aloo paratha and lip locking hot coffee. Shillong is only 100 km away from
Guwahati.Bus reached at 11.30AM and stopped at bus stand.
There
are many similarities between shilling and Scotland.Shillong’s rolling
landscape, sky soaring hills laden with clouds and mist, lush green hill slopes
meadows, high roaring waterfalls.On a cloudy day the mist-laden pastures look
nothing less than a paradise.
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| Breathtaking view from Guwahati to Shillong |
In
Shillong we find us between the hills, where dresses, scenes of nature,
climate, style of buildings, eating habits. Life style, road side views and
language all change so much. Which gives a feeling of newness.
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| Police Bazar-Shillong |
per our itinerary with excitement to experience some of the grandest waterfalls
and Lakes of the region. We stayed in Hotel Heritage in Police Bazaar, at a
distance of 250 meter from bus stop.After refreshing and lunch, we moved to
Ward’s lake on a shared taxi, which charged Rs 10.00 each. We realized that Maruti 800, Alto, Tata
Indica, and Hyundai i10/20 are a common mode of transport
Lake
lake a man made, at a distance of 1.6 Km from Police Bazar.Ward’s Lake is a
refreshing pool surrounded by beautiful gardens in the heart of the city.
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| Ward’s Lake |
The
lake was named after a British officer, Sir William Ward, who was then the
Chief Commissioner of Assam.He was the one with the initial plan.Colonel
Hopkins who oversaw the Lake completed in 1894.
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| Ward,s Lake |
The
serene lake and the cool shades of trees around,makes it a nice spot for
sightseeing and boating.lake surrounded by patch of land with some exotic
trees.A stylish white wooden bridge suspended in the middle of the lake is the
most recognizable feature of Ward’s Lake.
facilities are available in the lake. It has a wooden bridge at the middle. A
cafeteria is there to provide refreshment.A fountain dancing to the tunes of
song is also there.
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| Ward’s Lake |
stayed there for about one hour.walked around this lake on the cobble-stone
path and admired the colorful floral beds in the garden, relaxed with a cup of
hot coffee with Potato chips from cafeteria in side lake complex and back to
hotel on foot for rest. It
is special to mention that whenever
one plans a trip to North East; one must keep in mind that the sun sets here
around two hours before the rest of the country.
Shillong
day in Shillong ended with a stroll in police bazar and dinner in Madras
Café.Food was not good, but ambience OK.They needs to improve food quality.
The
same area converts into a non veg grilled and smoked food items like kebabs,
special chicken,fish and mutton Den by evening. Mouth watering, smoked and
grilled chicken on road side stalls were tempting.We could’t kill the urge to
feast our tongue. There
were lots of fruits available including oranges, bananas, strawberries and
pineapples
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| Police Bazar-Shillong |
Police
Bazar of Shillong is a famous shopping haunt. The
market is considered ideal for leisure seekers, shopping enthusiasts and food
lovers. It is a modern market that has a number of hotels, shops and eating
joints, catering to varied needs of every visitor.
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| Police Bazar- Road side Food Lovers |
is a shopping heaven for girls as they can find indigenous ornaments and
apparel here, and experiment with different products of fashion. Police Bazar provides an excellent
opportunity for photography.
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| Police Bazar-Road Side Food Lovers -Paradise |
Police
Bazar is always crowded but one could find the real market with its most vivid
products and food items during the winter season.Many streets performances are
thus scheduled, the number of food stalks increase during the winters. Always
crowded, one can spend hours at Police Bazar.
Shillong
next day as per itinerary with excitement to experience our road trip to
tourist attractions near around Shillong.From police bazar we hired two Alto
taxi for an adventurous trip @Rs 13oo/= per taxi.This was cheaper than innova
and scorpio.
Shillong
Air Force Museum, located in 7th mile, upper Shillong.The museum is a part of
the Indian Air Force Eastern Command in Shillong. It displays the technologies
used by the IAF Eastern Command, their missiles and aircraft, portraits of air
chiefs, and defence photographs of the Indo-Pakistan and Indo-China war. Helicopters that were used in the ‘60s by
the Indian Air Force for the bombing of Eastern Pakistan are displayed outside
the museum.
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| Air Force Museum-Shillong |
section of the museum also displays the uniforms and badges of army personnel.
Information related to the posts of the IAF personnel, along with awards, ranks
and medals are also displayed in the galleries of the museum.The museum is an
excellent insight into the culture and history of the seven sisters’.
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| Air Force Museum-Shillong |
Elephant Falls:
Falls at a distance of 3.00KM through clean, green cantonment area.On way we
saw tea plantation gardens.This fall is very near to city, this caused it
always over crowded. The
taxi stopped at a parking lot surrounded by souvenir shops and small tea
hotels.
stalls were selling tea/coffee, buttered corn, momos boiled eggs/omelette and
souvenirs. Photographers were there to print out instant pictures of tourists
with options of wearing Khasi dresses and then posing for pictures.
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| Notice board–description of this Elephanta Fall name history |
Elephant Falls was very picturesque.As I reached the first fall,I found a
notice board that narrated: The original Khasi name of the falls was ‘Ka kshaid
lai pateng khohsiew’ (three steps water falls). Because of the fact that the
water falls in three steps.
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| A beautiful view of Elephanta Fall |
The
British renamed the falls because there was a rock resembling an elephant near
the left side of the main falls.However, that rock was destroyed in an
earthquake back in 1897.
silence, I was hearing the sloshing sound of the waterfall.The walking path
gently descended from the entrance. You have to ride down quite a steep
flight of steps.It’s a top down descent and climbing down 150 rather slippery
steps is not an easy task. The last and the third waterfall is
the tallest. Elephant Falls is characterized by clear water flowing over dark
jutting rocks with no particular forms.
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| The Final view of Elephant Waterfall at bottom-below about 175 feet from top |
Top
at a distance of 10 km from city we reached here after a 20 minutes drive from
Elephant Falls. Shillong Peak/Top is the highest point of Shillong and offers
panoramic views of the city, the waterfalls, the Himalayas, the lush green
surroundings as well as the Bangladesh plains.
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| A view from Shillong Top |
is situated inside air force base and features a radar station.Due to security
reasons, heavy checking is done at the gates.ID cards are must for
entery.Photography is not allowed till reach the point.Entry fee for tourist is
Rs. 30 per head.It is a treat to visitor’s eye and camera.
The peak is at height of 1962 m,
above the sea level.To reach here; we passed through deep and dark wood and zig-zag
road.We were inhaling fresh and virgin air in our lungs.
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| A Panoramic View from Shillong Top |
We climbed a flight of stairs to have a
view of a wooded valley, cloud and mist.The wide horizon offered a panorama of
crowning glory.Shillong was visible amidst Pine Oak, orchid and rocks.It was an
incredible experience. I wish I could stand there for ages to witness the
colour of nature’s wonder.
Hydari Park
stopped at Lady Hydari Park at a short distance of 2.5 km from Police Bazar.
Lady Hydari Park is a lush green belt that stretches up to a kilometre in the
heart of Shillong. It was quite clear that “The Lady Hydari Park”is maintained
with great passion.This garden is an ideal place to spend some peaceful time to
relax in between nature.
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| Lady Hydari Park-Shillong |
Lady Hydari, wife of the Governor of Assam.Meghalaya forest department is the
administrative authority of this park and looks after its maintenance. The Park is best known for beautiful bed of
roses that blossom here in various colours.
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| A Mini Zoo in Lady Hydari Park-Shillong |
that offer swings like sea-saws,slips and other small rides for children.Besides
all this the park has a wide variety of local flowering plants and orchids, and
is landscaped in Japanese style.It has a small zoo and white pelicans playfully floating in water ponds
were treat to visitors eye.
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| Lady Hydari Park-Shillong |
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| Pelicans playing and floating in pond in Lady Hydari Park-Shillong |
exhausted yet energized; we had breathed the untouched undiluted, glimpsed the
elegance and felt the frenzy of raw nature all together.
day itinerary of shillong ended with a high dinner in Eden Restaurant in Police
bazar.Here we feasted us with Chilli Garlic Fish, Chicken
in Hot Garlic Sauce, Butter
Tandoori Roti.The value of money was very good and it was not expensive.
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| Eden Restaurant in Shillong |
the taste and the dishes quantity.It was a memorable dinner in Shillong, as
here we got foods of North Indian recipe.After dinner, we walked on roads and
to get more energy we consumed sweets from Delhi Misthan Bhandar.
and photographed by Engr Maqbool Akram, with help of some materials and photos
from other sources available on net, with thanks.
