The unknown Paradise – North East India Travel Guide

North East India – a part of India we Indians never actually consider Indian enough but it is as Indian as Maharashtra is or Punjab is or for that matter any other Indian state is. The 7 states of North East India – Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura – the 7 sisters as they are fondly called now have 8^th sister as well after addition of Sikkim in this area. The term ‘Unity in diversity’ which is generally used to describe India epitomizes itself in any state of the 7 sisters with their innumerous tribes and their different customs and cultures. But the same warm Indian hospitality runs through the bloods of these peace loving people that will immediately connect with you.

We (me, my wife and two of her friends) visited 7 cities from 3 states - Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya during our 12 days journey and feel we have not even covered 1/4^th of the terrain. The mesmerizing beauty, infectious simplicity and divine purity of the area shall definitely compel us to visit this area again.

Also, the spine chilling cold weather of Arunachal was a delightful break from our moderate to hot travel destinations during past three years – Andaman (you can read the review here - An escape from thanes hurricane - Andaman Nicobar Travel Guide), Rajasthan (you can read the review here - Royally yours! Rajasthan travel guide) and Gujarat (you can read the review here - Gleaming Gujarat - a Gujarat travel guide).

So here I go with my destination appraisal:

General Season: October to June (it will be impossible to bear with the winters of Arunachal and Shillong so avoid mid November to mid February)

Best season: Mid February – Mid May (it will be too hot in Assam though after mid April so best time to visit North East India is March to mid April)

We visighted: 1^st March 2015 – 12^th March 2015 (probably the most apt season)

Itinerary at a glance: Mumbai – Guwahati (Assam) – Bomdilla (Arunachal Pradesh) – Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh) – Dirang (Arunachal Pradesh) – Kaziranga (Assam) – Shillong (Meghalaya) – Cherrapunji (Meghalaya) – Guwahati – Pune (via Kolkata)

Approx cost for 1: Rs. 50K/- (decent hotels, air fare, food and AC Innova)

Inner Line Permit: Indians require a special permit called Inner Line Permit to enter Arunachal (or to cross the Inner Line (state border)) due to Indo – China border dispute related with this state. Any Guwahati based travel agent can easily arrange it for your group (from Office of the Deputy Resident Commissioner at G. S. Road, Rukiminigaon, Guwahati). You just need to send the scanned copy of passport size photo and a photo id for each traveler.

Food: People might scare vegetarians by telling them that you would get only non-veg in North East but trust me, that’s not true at all. I freaked out on the Veg food for the entire duration of the trip. In fact the army guys we met at Jasawant Garh had advised us to avoid non-veg at all cost especially in Arunachal. One can’t guarantee which meat you would be served even if you have ordered a chicken dish (we experienced this at one of the Highway Dhaba on our way to Kaziranga).  You can safely take the risk though at big restaurants in Guwahati / Kaziranga or Shillong.

Also, if you are planning to have your dinner at your hotel restaurant then make sure that you have place the order well before 7.30.

Mobile N/w: Only BSNL, Airtel and Vodafone have the network coverage in Arunachal. For other two states Idea works fine in addition to above 3 networks.

: Route Map :

Follow the link: North East Travel Map - Circuit 1 for actual map.

: Travel Itinerary and Quick Tips :

Ratings Indicate:-

Extremely Great:  A⁺⁺⁺, Great: A⁺⁺, Good: A⁺, Nice: A, Okay: B, Bad: C, Worse: C^-, Worst:C^--, Extremely Worst: C^---.

Day	Origin – Destination		Travel Time	Stay		Airline / Hotel		Seat / Room Type		Itinerary	Cost for 2 (as on Feb 2012)
1	Mumbai – Guwahati		3 hrs (Early morning flight)			Indigo		Economy			11000
2	Guwahati – Bomdila		11 hrs (leave immediately)	Bomdila		High Landers Inn*		Suite		Upper Gonpa	1000
	Ratings:		Destination: B | Hotel:  B
	Tips: 1. We actually wanted to book a hotel called Doe – Gu – Khil which is the best hotel in Bomdila. But I couldn’t get the contact information of this hotel on net and thus had to get it done from ‘Tribal Experts’ – a local travel agent and they screwed it big time. When we reached the hotel Doe – Gu – Khil at around 10 pm we got to know that ‘Tribal Experts’ had not confirmed our booking and thus had to search for an another hotel in that chilly weather. Thankfully our Driver (arranged by ‘Tribal Experts’) was damn good and he managed to check us in Hotel High Landers Inn. He also requested the owner to serve us the dinner though it was quite late for Arunachal standards. 2. High Landers Inn is a very basic hotel with no heaters. Even geysers jet out luke worm to cold water when hot water is what you need the most in that chilly climate. So avoid this hotel. 3. There are 3 Gonpas (Buddhist Monasteries) – Lower Gonpa, Middle Gonpa and the Upper Gonpa where the later one is the most famous. You can see lot of Gonpas in Arunachal, so you can easily skip the former two. External view of Upper Gonpa							Deities in Upper Gonpa  Prayer Wheels
	Shop: We didn’t have the time to visit local market.
Day	Origin – Destination		Travel Time	Stay		Airline / Hotel		Seat / Room Type	Itinerary		Cost for 2 (as on Feb 2012)
2	Bomdila – Tawang		9 hrs (including site seeing, leave early)	Tawang		Gakyi Khang Zhang		Suite	Sela Pass, Jaswant Garh War Memorial, Nurannag Water Falls		2860
3	Tawang			Tawang		Gakyi Khang Zhang		Suite	PT Tso Lake, Shungatser Lake, Tak Tsang Gonpa, Tawang War Memorial, Sound & Light Show at War Memorial, Tawang Monastery, Ani Gonpa		2860
	Ratings:		Destination: Sela Pass, PT Tso Lake, Shungatser Lake – A+++, Jasawant Garh, Tawang Monastery – A++, Nurannag Falls, Tawang War Memorial – A+, Sound and Light Show, Tak Tsang Gonpa, Ani Gonpa – A, | Hotel: A++
	Tips: 1. We checked out from Bomdila at around 7 and visited Upper Gonpa as it was closed when we reached the Bomdila. 2. After Bomdila, our journey to and through the paradise began. Tawang undoubtedly is ‘the destination’. The fun, the thrill, the joy, the amusement etc etc we felt at Tawang is unmatched even if we sum up the excitement of all other destinations of our trip. 3. After crossing Dirang valley, snow capped Himalayan mountains start making their appearance felt at a distant horizon. 4. Foggy roads, chilly winds and sudden drop in temperature made our driver predict that Sela Pass might be covered in snow. But we didn’t believe him as none of the reviews / travel-logs on net had mentioned that there would be a snow at any of our destination during the month of March (and so snow fall was absolutely out of question). 4. Snow dusted mountains welcomed us to Sela. Sela Pass is at a height of 13,700 ft. which is almost 8 times higher than Pune (Pune is at 1837 ft. above mean sea level). 5. Paradise Lake / Sela lake just after the pass is the 1st picturesque lake amongst many you will see at & around Tawang and it was all frozen. Even when it’s not frozen the turquoise blue colour of the water will give a tough competition to most pictured Pangong Lake at Ladakh.  6. And here at this lake three of us experienced the 1st snow fall of our life. Soon the weather turned wild and snow flex were so hard hitting that they started pinching like a needle. But still all of us  were in the 7th heaven. 7. Our next stop was at Jaswant Garh War Memorial –dedicated to Rifleman Jasawant Singh Rawat – an Indian soldier who along with his 2 company men (and supposedly two local monpa girls) changed the course of Sino-Indian War of 1962. 8. They have preserved the actual bunkers used during that war and one of the army personnel posted for the ‘seva of Jasawant Baba’ takes you through the history and tour of the memorial. 9. Nurannag Fall was not on its full strength at this time of a year but it must be a site to behold when it roars down in its full strength. 10. Next day we started our journey to Shungatser lake some 40 kms from Tawang. It’s in the Indian side of approx 80 kms of no man’s land between Sino-Indo border. 11. Locals sometimes call it Madhuri Lake after Bollywood actress & dancing diva Madhuri Dixit’s  song ‘Dekha Tujhe to..’ from film Koyla was shot here. 12. This beautiful lake was the result of a massive earth quake some 60 years ago which submerged the entire forest into water and the numerous leafless tree barks in the lake stand tall to prove this incidence. 13. Tak Tsang Gonpa is close to the lake but nothing much to talk about it. 14. On our way back the luck smiled again on us. We experienced feathery soft snow fall at Shungatser and we enjoyed it thoroughly. 15. It snowed continuously for almost an hour or so and it made our return journey risky on those slippery snow covered roads. We couldn’t drive at a speed of more than 20 Km/hr as we didn’t have ropes or chains to wrap around our car tyres. 16. On the way you could stop at Ani (Female monk) Gonpa which is the monastery for Female monks (nothing different than the normal Gonpa except it is managed by and for female monks). We got an opportunity to interact with one of the friendly female monk at the Gonpa. 17. Once at Tawang we went to Tawang War Memorial. It’s built like a Tibetan Styled Gonpa. An army soldier takes you on a tour of the Memorial. 18. There is also a sound and light show here at 6 pm which talks about the history and culture of this place. (Though they call it sound and light show, it is nothing more than a short video displayed through a LCD projector). 19. It rained very heavily during the show and temperature dropped to bone chilling levels. 20. During this show you can submit your photo-ids to army men here and they will hand over the permit to visit Bum la (Bum Pass) which is on Indo- China border. (This permit is mandatory if you wish to visit Bum la). Because of lack of time we couldn’t go to Bum la. 21. You can cover Bum la and Shungatser lake on the same day as they are close by. 22. When we woke up in the morning it had snowed all night at Tawang and we could see the snow scattered on the road and on the slopes from our room. 23. Next day morning we went to Tawang monastery could witness the morning prayers of the lamas (monks). But the museum and library located in the monastery were closed that early. 24. I strongly recommend that one should have at least 3 days halt at Tawang to cover all its tourist attractions and to get the feel of the land. 25. We could not see - Namgye Lhaste, Gontse Garden, Gorsham Chorten, Tibetan Dispensary. Shungatser Lake Its snowing We drove on this road Ghee Lamp Search the number plate Road							Sela Pass Frozen Sela Lake Frozen Water Fall on the way Bunker at Jasawant Garh Yak Nuranang Falls P T So Lake Snow & Snow Everywhere Snow Fall Highest point of our journey Tawang War Memorial Inside Tawang Monastery Its the road
	Shop:		There are lot of army sales desks on the way and at Jasawant Garh where you can buy army Jackets, shoes to fight the cold weather as well as Tees, caps and such souvenir items. Nothing much at Tawang.
	Eat:		Piping hot Samosas and Tea at Jasawant Garh, Momos and Chole Bhature at Army managed Shungatser cafe. (There are quite a few army operated food joints here which serve hot and hygienic food to the visitors). Thukpa and momos at a small family owned joint just next to the Gakyi Khang Zhang hotel.
Day	Origin – Destination		Travel Time	Stay	Airline / Hotel		Seat / Room Type		Itinerary		Cost for 2 (as on Feb 2012)
4	Tawang – Dirang		6 hrs (leave early)	Dirang	Pemaling		Deluxe		Yak breeding centre, Hot water Springs, Dzong Fort, Nag Baba Temple, Orchidarium		2231
	Ratings:		Destination: Yak breeding Centre – A+, Hot water springs, Dzong Fort – C, Orchidarium – A+++ | Hotel: C (because of lack of power back up provision)
	Tips: 1. Yak breeding Centre is few kms before Dirang on a Hill Top. You will have to drive up on a rough lonely ghat for almost 20 odd kms. 2. You will get to see Male and Female Yaks, a first survived clown Yak, a Bhutanese Yak, a Zumu (cross of male Yak and cow) and aTuyu (its calf with a male Yak) etc. 3. Hot springs are just cool to warm so nothing exciting about it. 4. Dzong Fort is the ruined fort close for visitors so it’s better to skip it. 5. You may also cover Sheep Breeding farm, and Kiwi and Apple Orchards. Our driver advised us not to waste time on these orchards as these trees bare fruits in winters and by Feb end or March, all trees dry up. 6. Pemaling hotel rooms have beautiful Dirang valley view but there is acute power shortage in this area and power back up is given only from 7 am to 10 am and then from 5 pm to 10 pm. Geysers heat up just a half bucket of water at a time and thus there is no way that a 2nd occupant of the room will get the hot water before half an hour of first use. Toilets stink. 7. Next day we started early and our first stop was Nag Baba Temple – a shrine dedicated to Cobra Snake who accidently got killed by a worker while making the road on which this temple stands. It’s worth the visit. 8. Nechifu ghat (mountain passage) on the way was covered in thick fog and on an average visibility had dropped to 5-6 mtrs only. It was an amazing experience to drive in such a dense fog. 9. Orchidarium (Orchid Garden) is at village Tippi (on the way to Kaziranga) , and just before Bhalukpong (entry / exit point for this side of Arunachal). March is not the right season for orchids to grow but still there were 5-6 different varieties of Orchids. They have a sampling of the biggest flowering orchid. Orchidarium closed on all Sundays and is open from 8.30 to 4 on other days. Foggy Nechifu Ghat						Bhutanese Yak
	Shop:	Absolutely nothing
	Eat:	Butter tea (a salty tea made with Amul (processed) butter), Bamboo Shoot Soup and Chese Kamtang (a local vegetable stew) at hotel Pemaling restaurant.
Day	Origin – Destination		Travel Time	Stay	Airline / Hotel		Seat / Room Type		Itinerary		Cost for 2 (as on Feb 2012)
5	Dirang – Kaziranga		8 hrs	Kaziranga	Bonani		Top floor room				1000
6	Kaziranga			Kaziranga	Bonani		Top floor room		Elephant Safari and Jeep Safari, Ranga Sandhya Show		1000
	Ratings:		Destination: A+++ | Hotel: B
	Tips: 1. We reached Kaziranga at around 6 and immediately queued up at the elephant safari ticket counter located in the hotel campus. It opens at 7 pm. (if your hotel does not & / or fails to manage it in spite of promising the same while taking the room booking for you, you have to be really lucky to get this ticket). 1st priority for the tickets is VVIPs and VIPs then foreigners and then Indian residents so you can imagine the probability of you getting the tickets. To make it more difficult for us we were there on a public holiday of Holi and all the hotels in Kaziranga were booked to their fullest capacity with VVIPs, foreigners and Indian residents. 2. There were 2individuals standing in the queue before us. They were from some hotel and provided us with all the wrong information (So better do not trust anyone in the queue). 3. Your chances of getting a ticket increase if a woman accompanying you is standing in a queue. 4. Each individual can buy a ticket for 4 individuals including him/her. 5. Due to heavy rush that day just first 5 individuals got the tickets. How lucky were we! 6. This counter where we had queued up, gives the elephant safari tickets for the central zone of the park. We heard that there is one more counter for some other zone of the park at some distant location but we didn’t get a chance to verify it. 7. There is no e-reservation system in Kaziranga which makes it so tedious to book the safari. 8. Each elephant carries 2 or 3 people depending on its age and size. 9. You are sure to site at least 4 – 5 rhinos during the elephant safari as elephants go deep in the jungle. So if in Kaziranga do not miss the elephant safari at any cost. 10. There are only 2 elephant safari slots (5.30 and 6.30) in the morning and if I am guessing it correctly each slot accommodates 30 – 40 individuals. If there is a heavy rush they might add an extra slot at 7.30 am. (We were accommodated in the 3rd slot as first two slots accommodated all the VIPs and foreigners). 11. Maximum no of rhinos could be sighted during the 2nd slot when there is a clear day light. 12. It’s absolutely easy to get the jeep safari slot and you can choose the zone of the park (there is different rate for each zone, the logic for different rates is unclear though). Booking counter for jeep safari located in the hotel campus opens early in the morning. We booked the jeep safari after we came back from the elephant safari. 13. You have to categorically mention that you need a guide for the safari as he is not a default offering for the safari like any other national park in India. We didn’t get one and our jeep driver was a noob and had difficulty understanding Hindi or English. 14. We sighted lot of rhinos, wild buffalos, swamp dears, couple of  hog dears, Indian rollers, Eagles, vultures, Sheetal fish (an endemic diving fish) and a wild elephant, spotted dear, wild boar etc. Though Kaziranga claims to have densest population of great Bengal tiger, we didn’t sight any tiger. 15. I feel one elephant and one jeep safari in two different zones of the park is sufficient to sight most of the animals. 16. Our hotel was a government owned property constructed during British era. The only way to book this hotel is by sending an e-money order by Indian post. They do not keep packaged water bottles and you must keep a stock of packaged water bottles with you. (My wife had bad stomach after drinking RO purified tap water provided by the hotel). 17. Safari booking counters, souvenir shops and 4 -5 other hotels owned by the government are located in the same campus. I suggest that one should book any hotel in this campus other than Bonani and Bonashree lodge. 18. Recently they have started an hour long folk dance show called ‘Ranga Sandhya’ at the old botanical garden located in the same campus. It is privately managed show with couple of food and  handicraft stalls for an entry fee of Rs. 100/ person. Two different groups perform Bihu (a traditional Assamee folk dance) and zumaru (folk dance of the tea labourers who came to Assam from UP and Bihar). Show is fantabulous and worth the every penny they charge. We liked the Bihu troop more than the later and especially there percussionists. Our elephant - Prithviraj Chouhan Indian Jay / Indian Roller (Nilkantha) Wild Buffalo						Swamp Deer (Barashinga) Two hour old Calf with its mother On Elephant Back - through Elephant Grass Injured Female Rhino   Tea Garden Vulture Eagle Wild Boar
	Shop:		Souvenir items and Kaziranga grown tea at Hathikuli sales outlet. Sales person at the store confirmed us that the store will be open on the next day (which was a day of Holi) but it wasn’t. It is open from 10.30 in the morning till 6.30 in the evening.
	Eat:		On the way to Guwahati, at a distance of around 40 kms from Kaziranga there is a restaurant called Choupal serving variety of food with great test. We got some amazing south Indian food here which is a rear thing in this part of the country.
Day	Origin – Destination		Travel Time	Stay	Airline / Hotel		Seat / Room Type		Itinerary		Cost for 2 (as on Feb 2012)
7	Kaziranga – Shillong		6hrs	Shillong	Asian Confluence		Deluxe		Umiam Lake, Don Bosco Museum, Police Bazar		3445
8	Shillong			Shillong	Asian Confluence		Deluxe		Cathedral of Merry, Lady Hydari Park, Air force Museum, Shillong Peak, Elephant falls, Ward’s Lake		3445
	Ratings:		Destination: Umiam Lake, Don Bosco Museum, Police Bazar, Cathedral of Merry, Elephant Falls – A, Lady Hydari Park, Ward’s Lake, Shillong Peak, Air force Museum – B | Hotel: A
	Tips: 1. Shillong is the tackiest hill station I have ever seen in my life. With blood stained wooden hut like shops selling pork and beef, open sewage ducts, oily smelly areas and over all filthy feel as soon as you enter Shillong add to the chaos caused by the traffic jams on narrow roads going up and down the uneven hilly terrain of the city and make it measurable for you. 2. If you can, I suggest you to avoid going to Shillong because there is nothing overtly exciting in this city. 3. Umiam lake is quite beautiful. 4. Don Bosco Museum is a huge 7 storied museum and gives you a glimpse of overall life at North East India. 5. Again cathedral of Merry is a huge 2 storied church with 1 altar and a nave on the ground floor while the top floor has 3 altars and 3 naves. 6. Half part of Lady Hyadari Park houses a zoo with quite a few wild animals and remaining half part is a regular park. 7. In addition to the regular artefacts, Air Force museum has a collection of Helicopters and fighter jets but you cannot enter them. It remains closed on Monday and is open till 1 pm on Sunday. 8. Nothing different at Shillong Peak. 9. Elephant fall cascades down in 3 steps through small streams.  An elephant shaped stone at the 3rd level used to justify its name but it was destroyed in the massive earth quake. 10. You will get some amazing clicks of the ducks at Ward’s lake which are now perfectly fine with the human presence. 11. We didn’t go to sweet falls and to Butterfly Museum as our driver advised us that we shall see more butterflies at Cherrapunji than the Butterfly Museum at Shillong which was true. 12. The hotel rooms are aesthetically designed but they are small for the money they are charged for. Toilets stink. 13. Market remains closed on Sunday Lady Hydari Park Local Lime						Umiam Lake Don Bosco Museum Khasi Shawls  Khasi Attire Elephant Falls In the woods Ward's Lake
	Shop:		Shawls and Khasi woollen jackets at Meghalaya Emporium or Khasi Emporium at Police Bazar. Both the shops are adjacent to each other and have good collection. Meghalaya Emporium is costly than the later one but you could easily make out the quality of its products. At no other place in North East you will get so many designs and verities of the shawls. Meghalaya Tea at Don Bosco Museum if you are getting it at MRP.
	Eat:		Sweets / snacks / chats at Delhi Mistanna Bhandar at Police Bazar. This being the capital of Meghalaya you will find all the popular food chains serving variety of food from all across the world.
Day	Origin – Destination		Travel Time	Stay	Airline / Hotel		Seat / Room Type		Itinerary		Cost for 2 (as on Feb 2012)
9	Shillong – Cherrapunji		2.5 hrs (Leave early)	Cherrapunji	Cherrapunji Holiday Resort populary called as Cherra Resort		Deluxe (in old building)		Double Decker and longest  living root bridge, Natrual Swimming Pool, Mosmai caves, Nohkalikai Falls, Bangladesh view point		2350
	Ratings:		Destination: Double Decker and Longest Living Root Bridge, Natrual Swimming Pool – A+++, Mosmai Caves, Nohkalikai Falls – A, Bangladesh View Point – B | Hotel: – A+ for their hospitality
	Tips: 1. As soon as you reach Cherrapunji, check in the resort which is around 20 – 25 kms away from the main town. 2. Hotel staff will give you the print out of road map for the Living root bridges trek and would happily arrange a guide for the trek who will charge 600 rupees. You may opt not to take a guide as there are no confusing turns. 3. It’s better to carry a stick with you as a walking aid during the trek and immediately leave for the trek. 4. There is much hype about the difficulty of the Double Decker Living Root Bridge Trek but that’s not true. What makes it tedious is the man made steps which are too steep at the beginning. You need to climb down 2400 steps to reach the bridges and then climb them up again. We could complete the entire trek in just 6hrs even after spending 1 – 1.5 hrs at the bridge. 5. Me (though I exercise quite regularly, I don’t consider myself a fit person) and my wife (who is not in to exercise and all) could finish the trek without any great difficulty. 6. ‘Man made natural wonder’ of the double Decker bridge deserves the effort you need to take, to reach it. (Just to give you a rough idea, a trek to Sinhagad Fort at Pune would be more difficult than this trek). 7. All of us were wearing floaters and faced no difficulty because of it. Each of us was carrying a water bottle, few chocolates, and Glucon-D powder to recharge ourselves. 8. There are couple of houses on the way where you may buy packaged drinking water bottles, chocolates, Maggie noodles and other snacks. 9. Cherrapunji was once the wettest place on the earth but it’s no more so. We had carried ponchos with us but it was all hot and dry. 10. Don’t forget to carry swimming costume as you will be compelled to take a deep in natural swimming pool (at double decker bridge) once you see it. Cold water of the pool is absolutely rejuvenating especially after you have climbed down 2400 steps and soon will be climbing them up again. There is also a small make shift changing room near the pool. You can also rent the swimming costume and towels from a house just before the double decker bridge. We regretted not carrying or renting the swimming costume despite lot of net reviews and hotel staff advising us about it. (I still took a deep in my shorts). 11. But make sure you don’t carry lot of weight with you for obvious reasons. 12. Roots of Indian Rubber tree are directed to grow from one shore of the river to the other so as to form a sturdy bridge over a river. Thus I call it ‘Man – made – Natural – Wonder’. 2nd level of the bridge was grown when the 1st level was submerged in the floods and this is the only such bridge (with 2 levels). 13. If you stand still in the natural pool, you will get free fish pedicure in the most natural way. 14. On your way back you may also visit the longest living root bridge which is just a 15 – 20 minutes detour. If you are not sure about whether you will be able to complete the entire trek then, you can aim this mini trek up to longest living root bridge and skip the double decker bridges trek. But I will strongly advise against it. 15. Once you are back to the hotel, hotel guys will be ready at the entrance to give a warm welcome to you with a glass of water and a smiling face. You will be bowled over by their hospitality. 16. The local people also present an hour long show of local and Bollywood songs. They charge 100 rupees per room for it. 16. Mosmai cave is a huge cave, nicely lit with marked pathways. I have visited 2 caves at Gujarat and Andaman, but Mosmai is definitely bigger than those two. 17. Nohkalikai Falls must be a roaring fall during the rainy season but you should still visit the site just to enjoy the pristine blue colour of the water pond at its foot. 18. We couldn’t see anything from Bangladesh view point as it was all foggy and dusky in the valley. The longest living root bridge Where do they get this strength from At the famous Double Decker Living Root Bridge The Double Decker Bridge Natural Swimming Pool and the Double Decker Bridge So pure... On our way to the Double Decker Bridge						The difficult part Free fish pedicure A deep in the natural swimming pool Mosmai Cave Nohkalikai Falls Month
	Shop:		Meghalaya Tea, Natrual Honey, Bay leaves at Cherra Resort. Local pickles at  Nohkalikai Falls
	Eat:		Chicken Neillog (I am not sure about the spelling). It’s local chicken curry.
Day	Origin – Destination		Travel Time	Stay	Airline / Hotel		Seat / Room Type		Itinerary		Cost for 2 (as on Feb 2012)
10	Cherrapunji – Guwahati		4 hrs	Guwahati	Gateway Grandeur		Executive		Bashishtha Aashram, Srimanta Shanardev Kalakshetra		4468
11	Guwahati			Guwahati	Gateway Grandeur		Executive		Kamakhya Devi Temple, Umanand Temple, State Emporium		4468
12	Guwahati – Kolkata – Pune		1.5, 3 hrs								11136
	Ratings:		Destination: Bashishtha Aashram, Srimanta Shanardev Kalakshetra, Kamakhya Devi Temple, Umanand Temple – B | Hotel: A++
	Tips: 1. Bashishtha Aashram is okay. 2. Srimanta Shanardev Kalakshetra has 3 different museums in it including one dedicated to famous Indian lyricist, poet, musician, singer and film maker from Assam – Mr. Bhupen Hazarika. If you have seen Don Bosco Museum then you need not see any other museum. 3. You can’t photography is not allowed inside the museums so it’s no point in paying the camera fees. 4. They also host a sound and light show here in the evening but we didn’t watch it. 5. Kamakhya Devi Temple is one of the 52 Shaktipithas of Goddess Sati – 1st wife of Lord Shiva. Story says that it is representation of the ‘Yoni’ (vagina) of the goddess Sati and thus there is no Idol in the temple but a stone depicting a Yoni with live water spring at its bottom. It is said that this Devi menstruates once a year and the temple remains closed sometime during May – July for this. 6. There is huge queue in the temple and I would suggest to buy a darshan ticket of maximum amount to by-pass the queue otherwise be prepared to wait for 4 – 8 hrs in the queue (depending upon the amount you have spent on the darshan ticket). Also, make sure you are there in the temple at around 7 to avoid the long queues. 7. Reason for our visit to Umanand Temple is its location. You need to sail through Brahmaputra river to reach Umanand Temple which is on a river island. 8. There are private and government boats plying between the shore and the temple. Government boats offer the service at cheaper rates but boat doesn’t leave the shore unless and until it is occupied to its fullest capacity. You can always negotiate with the private operators and bargain for half the cost they have initially told you. 9. Brahmaputra has a huge basin so much so that in most of the places you cannot see one shore of the river from the other. It was a mindboggling experience especially for us where the river in our city is not big than a canal. 10. This hotel has an in-house spa where you can indulge after a hectic Cherrapunji trek. 11. We didn’t visit Sukleshwar Temple, State Museum, Nabagraha temple and evening cruise on Brahmaputra.						In the queue of Kamakhya Devi Temple The mighty Brahmaputra
	Shop:		Khasi jackets, Shubnams (jute sling bags), dress materials, sarees, Neharu / Modi jackets, gamacha, tea, concentrated sharabat of wood apple (Kawath in Marathi) and of Otunga (a local fruit) from the state emporium. Sandal Attar and Surama at Biswa Bangla – Kolkata Government operated store at Kolkata Airport
	Eat:		The testiest and juiciest momos I ever had was at ‘Wow! Momo’ at Kolkata airport. Mishti Doi at the Kolkata airport.
Travel cost for 2 by AC Innova (Innova shared between 4 individuals)											30000
11 Nights 12 Days					Total Cost (for two):						81000

General Tips:

1.     Travel sector in North East is still developing. So do not expect any world class hotels / services / roads etc.

2.     The most lacking thing in the entire travel circuit is authentic / government approved guides.

3.     Cameras which run on pencil cells seize to function in cold temperatures of Himalayas. Cameras which operate on flat pocketable batteries (as used in our Mobile phones) work fine.

4.     It is extremely important to hire an experienced driver as most of the times Himalayan terrain could get really challenging.

You can check out rest of the snaps here: The Unknown Paradise

Travel Guide Ref: www.wikitravel.com and www.transindiatravels.com (Please visit the site for latest updates)

If you would like to get your trip planned /booked by me, kindly get in touch with me at sagargogate@gmail.com. I charge 10% of the entire trip / travel cost as my fee. You can also get in touch with me @ 9011021602.