How to get to Meghalaya, the kingdom of clouds
The famous traveler Ibn Battuta said, ‘Travel will first make you speechless and then force you to tell stories.’ On Friday-Saturday, September 20-21, 2019, I decided to visit Meghalaya for two days with a close friend of school life and a colleague.
Since all three of us had already added Dauki port to our Indian visas. So in just one week's decision, we have completed the necessary work including travel tax, dollar endorsement and prepared for the trip. It is to be noted here that we have already arranged the return transport of this trip. In particular, the microbus from Sylhet to Tamabil Border and the private car from Dauki Border to Meghalaya for two days were arranged by another friend of school life.
We got out of the hotel, got in the car and went to the famous Pansi restaurant in Sylhet for breakfast. In the morning the pansy is full to the brim. Mostly come to visit Sylhet. After breakfast we left for Tamabil Border. Tamabil Border is located 54 km from Sylhet city. On the way we reached Tamabil land port at 9.15 am to see the gentle nature of the dawn, the tea garden, the anagona of the people going out to work. When I arrived, I saw many Bangladeshi tourists going to Meghalaya. It is to be noted here that the immigration process at Tamabil and Dauki border is from 9 am to 5 pm.
I got out of the car, collected the forms and stood in line for immigration. I finished immigration in fifteen minutes and stood in line again for customs clearance. Customs operations manual at Tamabil land port, the line was moving very slowly.
We entered Dauki on foot at the end of BGB check at the end of customs and first checked the BSF check and went to the Indian Immigration Office. The activities there are also manual. After some time of immigration, we got in our scheduled car and left. The driver is a very sincere and nice person. His home is in Shillong, he can speak Bengali, Hindi, Khasia, Assamese, English. He gave us accurate information about everything and walked around with sincerity and joy for two whole days. Note that those who travel by shared jeep; They will walk about one kilometer from Dauki border and get in the car from the jeep stand.
Meghalaya is the kingdom of clouds. It is a province in northeastern India bordering Bangladesh. The state of Assam to the north and east and Bangladesh to the south and west. Meghalaya is one of the Seven Sister States of North-East India. Shillong is its capital. Shillong is called the Scotland of the East. Shillong is located at an altitude of 4908 feet above sea level. Khasia and Garo mainly live in this state. Meghalaya is one of the three Christian majority states in India. Eighty-five percent of the people in the state are Christians. Being mostly Christians, they eat all the cows and pigs.
Khasi and Garo languages are the two major languages spoken in the state. However, English is also used as an official language. Cherrapunji is the wettest region in the world. There is Maolinong, the cleanest village in Asia. There are many rivers in Meghalaya, most of which are rainfed and seasonal. The total number of districts in Meghalaya is 11. There are many places of interest in the entire state of Meghalaya. Which has taken place in the list of travel favorites. Due to its mountainous nature, community based tourism has developed in the state.
Dauki came to the market and stopped the car. Dauki Bazaar is a small market on the border, with a variety of stores. Money exchanges are few in number and can also be exchanged in general grocery stores, here the rate of Bengali taka is better than dollar. We exchanged money and bought some packaged food and juice and left.
A little further on we came to the edge of the Dauki Bridge. Which we see from Jaflong. It is nice to see the bridge connecting the two hills on the clear water of the Dauki River flowing down. After crossing this bridge, all the vehicles go towards Shillong-Cherrapunji. Driver Alim can take good pictures. I took our pictures with him. At the bottom of the hill, people from the Khasia community are fishing with fishing rods on both sides of the river, and many are taking tourists back to the river by boat. After spending some time there, we set off for Umkrem Falls, the next destination.
Numerous springs can be seen all over the hill state of Meghalaya. There are numerous waterfalls including Umkrem Falls, Borhill Falls, Kransuri Falls, Nokalikai Falls, Seven Cerstus Falls, Elephant Falls, Sweet Falls, Rentium Falls, Spread Eagle Falls, Bishop Falls and Biden Falls. There are many unnamed fountains on the way. It will take a few days to see all the fountains. We will now go to see these two fountains in phases, the position of these two is in the same direction.
After crossing several paths we reached the edge of Umkrem Falls. A spectacular waterfall in the clear water of the mountains. After staying there for a while, I took a picture and set off towards Borhill. This whole path is in the folds of the mountains bordering Bangladesh. On the one hand, in the Indian state of Meghalaya, on the other hand, the hills, on the other hand, the plains of Bangladesh, the occasional barbed wire fence, the Tata Alto mini car carrying us is moving forward after crossing the BSF border outpost.
After some time we came to Borhill Falls, which can be seen from the village of Pantumai in Bangladesh. As soon as we got out of the car and looked at the fountain, our eyes filled with tears. The white water of the mountain is flowing on the huge black colored stones. It looks like a sack that encloses with a drawstring. The water is flowing towards Bangladesh by rolling under a Bailey Bridge. Seeing a fountain of extraordinary beauty brought peace to my mind. We stayed there for a while, took pictures and started our journey again. This time the destination is Living Route Bridge and Asia's cleanest village 'Maolinnong'.