Mesmerising North East

Incredible India! Yes you heard it right! We have heard people around us saying India is beautiful and after my recent trip to north east, part of India I can firmly say Yes, India is special.

I always had dreamt to explore new places and to live this dream I started visiting places. Recently I had visited Sikkim and Meghalaya, two states from north-eastern part of India. And I must say both places are just amazing. In Sikkim, I witnessed the Snowclad Mountains while in Meghalaya I got mesmerized with the natural beauty.

In Sikkim, I visited to Gangtok the main city of the state. Gangtok city is always the tourist’s attraction as the city is covered by mountains. In Gangtok one can visit some very old and attractive monasteries a few famous ones are Rumtek Monastery, Lingdum Monastery and Enchey Monastery. There is a famous waterfall name Jhankari waterfall which is few kms from city and also flower gardens. There are many more exciting places one can visit in Sikkim.

Some few kms from Gangtok city you can witness the beautiful places like Tsomgo Lake, Baba Mandir and Nathula Pass in East Sikkim. There are some beautiful places like Yumthang Valley, Lachen, Lachung and Gurudongmar Lake in North Sikkim and Pelling in west Sikkim.

I had visited these in April first week and that is the time for heavy snowfall in Sikkim so maximum places were closed due to that effect but I still managed to go Tsomgo Lake which was frozen and was looking like a white marble sheet and Baba Mandir is situated at the height of 13,000 fts. And with snow all around it was freezing all around. The way from Tsomgo lake to Baba Mandir was more mesmerizing, I was just lost in thoughts as to how can some place be so serene.

Ideal time to visit Sikkim is May and June by that time snow fall also stops and you can have a look of all tourists attractions.

After this cold experience I headed for my next destination, which was Meghalaya. Meghalaya as by name you can guess Megh+Alaya means Clouds coming so the name define the nature of the place. Meghalaya is a beautiful place surrounded with nature. You can witness some breathtaking natural beauty. The roads are very narrow as compare to our cities but much cleaner than our cities.

The very first day I landed to Shillong the capital city of the state. The Capital city was tiny but beautiful. In Shillong itself there are few points which I had visited, few of them are Shillong peak from where whole city’s panoramic view can be seen, Elephant fall the crowded one since it was in city and the very special sacred forest. The villagers treat the forest as holy place and it is said that one cannot allow taking anything from the forest. The forest has some auspicious trees.  There is a story behind this forest which I got to know by my guide there.

After visiting the Shillong city next, I headed to the wettest land of India that is Cherrapunji. The locals from there called the city as Sohra. Cherrapunji is the land of some beautiful waterfalls. I visited some famous ones as Seven Sisters waterfall, Nohkalikai falls but the one which blows my mind was Weisaw Dong waterfall. This waterfall was found few years back and to reach there I need to do a forest trek.

Since it is not so famous so the place was less crowded and I do follow the instructions of my driver who introduced this fall to me. After the trek when I reached to waterfall I was just awestruck. Awestruck to the beauty of nature and surprised with the fact that this is a hidden gem which found recently by the villagers. Then after seeing the most beautiful natural beauty of my life then I headed to some ancient caves.

After Cherrapunji, my next day’s stop was the cleanest village of Asia, Mawlynnong. When I reached there I found that the villagers there were very protective about the nature and they are very responsible. The village was so beautiful and clean.

After the village then I went to Living root bridge. And after seeing that I just thought how god has created these amazing things for us.

The very next morning, I headed for Dawki village which is situated at India Bangladesh border. Dawki has a beautiful clean river Umngot river and to get even better and southing experience my driver take me to village name Shnongpdeng. The village is few kms ahead of Dawki and share the same river. I did boating on that beautiful river. The water was so clean so I can able to see the rocks under the water upto 30-40fts.

And next morning before saying bye to Meghalaya I visited one more place, Laitlum Village. Laitlum is around 20-25 kms from Shillong city and has some great views of Canyons. The place is famous as Laitlum Grand Canyon name. There was a beautiful canyon view which can blow your heart and mind. You can sit there for some times and feel the place.

With this I have to leave for Mumbai. But the whole 8-9 days trip was amazing. I must say that the North-east part of India has some hidden gems.

One must visit there and experience the freshness and nature. I really fell for Meghalaya. So friends get your bags ready and do visit these places and you won’t be disappointed that’s my promise.

Mitali Shukla

http://www.salt-pepperlife.in

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