Travellers to Guwahati queue up near the narrow exit door. The booths of tourism departments of Nagaland, Assam and Meghalaya states can be seen.
The airport arrival area appears to be lively due to bright bill boards and pictures of life in North east states.
A picture of life in this part of India above the arrival hall; all passengers have moved towards the exit.
The door separating the arrival hall and the visitor lounge. There is a restaurant on the first floor.
The visitor's lounge of Guwahati airport.
A picture of the bridge across Brahmaputra river. A train track runs on the lower part of the double decked bridge. Later, I realised that photography of bridges is not permitted in this troubled part of India. A new bridge (to the left of the current bridge) is being built to handle increased traffic on this National highway.
A view of the campus from the 1st floor of the IITG guest house. Note the tiles on the roof.
A view of the guest house room. There is a balcony attached to every room.
A view of a portion of the inner courtyard of the guest house. A circular tower houses the rear staircase.
There are two lakes on two sides of the guest house on a hillock. On the other side of one of the lakes is a series of three residential buildings on a hillock. These are at a height unlike other residential as well as office buildings that are close to the lake. These 3 buildings attracted my attention.
A view of the inner courtyard as well as that of the section of the building that houses the main entraince. The floor at the level of the inner lawn has a large lounge; on a floor lower is the reception desk.
Another corner of the guest house; there is a lounge where one can relax and have informal discussions.
The IITG guest house is a rectangular building with an inner courtyard; there are steps such as seen in this picture that opens out to a gardern around the building.
Having landed at lunch time, I had the afternoon for a quick visit to the town. Not far from IIT is a covered stadium; a picture from the moving vehicle.
On the way to Guwahati city, a left side road leads to the famous Kamakhya temple. The welcome gate is visible in this picture.
An attractive foot over bridge.
We hired a boat to take us to the peacock island. We had to wait in another boat and cross over to our boat. The transit boat, as any boats in the vicinity, was not completely water proof. Water used to leak in and get accumulated inside the boat. Thus, a container (a tin box in this picture) is an essential item on a boat. On the adjacent boat a man was collecting water using such a container and was discharging to the river.
Steps leading to the Brahmaputra river; beyond the temple is the main road of Guwahati.
The cluster of trees on extreme left of the photo is one shore of the river. To its right is the peacock island. Further right is an unoccupied island.
There was a 'sand island' which was densly populated by a lot of crows!
A closer view; the south shore of the river can be seen in the picture.
This island had rocks and a tree.
A lot of crows sat on the top branches of a dry tree on the 'rock island'.
We are approaching the peacock island - our destination.
On another rock island was a light house (correction: a water measurement tower).
A closeup view of the ancient 'light house'. Note carvings of Gods on a stone at the extreme right of the photo.
The trees on the Bhasmachala Hill on the peacock island can be seen here. The building on the shore is the dock where our boat was headed.
This is the main gate of the Umananda temple complex.
This is the view of the main gate from the other side.
The front door of the temple hall.
The 'gopura' of the temple.
On the left side of the temple is another shrine; the idol is about a foot below the ground level.
A monkey (Golden Langur - thanks Manaiitg for the info), with a very long tail, had climbed a lamp pole and was watching the proceedings.
Note the uninterested look!
Light reflecting off the river surface.
Ancient and modern signalling towers.
The docking station of the peacock island. Also a glimpse of the city on the other shore of the river.
A glimpse of Guwahati city on the southern shore of the river.
A boatsman is navigating the boat close to the docking station. Another boat, at a distance, is transporting people from one shore to another.
Here is our boatsman; the docking station is in the background.
A movie with a 360 degree panaromic view around the boat.
A historical structure on the shore.
'Jolporee' is the place where we hired boat. From the city, there is a regular boat service to the peacock island. The boat in the picture houses a restaurant.
A foot over bridge close to 'jalporee' that facilitates devotees to cross the main road from right to left on their way to a templeon left.
On the way back, we saw a city bus listing dangerously to the left.
Next, we went to 'purva tirupati' Balaji temple. It was a spacious, clean complex.
The main 'gopuram' (gate house) on the right and the temple on the left.
2nd day: Today is the evening before the 'Chhat puja' day. After prayer at the river shore, people were returning home. Note 'puja items' in a natural container on top of heads of men in procession. The next day, women will offer prayer to Gods, and seek their blessings for the welfare of their male children.
A night view of buildings in front of IITguest house.
We visited the Kamakhya temple in the night; we reached just before the temple doors were shut for the night. The entrance is just to the right edge of the photo. The yellow building is the main hall. The idol is farther below the 'gopura'. To the left of the photo are a series of stone paved steps.
A closer look at the 'gopuras'.
On sunday, I went on a tour of scenic places in the adjoining state of Meghalaya. After a 2 hour travel on a winding road we reached Shillong. We moved on because the first stop on our itinerary was Sohra (formerly chirapunjee), the wettest place on earth for a long time. Sohra was 50km from Shillong. About 10 kms prior to Sohra is the 'Duwan Sing Syiem' bridge on a stream that flows into a deep valley. This bridge marks the beginning of fantastic views of valleys and waterfalls - the Sohra tourist circuit. Maps of the Sohra tourist circuit are at http://megtourism.gov.in/guidemap-sohra.html and http://megtourism.gov.in/images/map/sohra-map-stds.jpg
Before the new bridge was built, the road used to take a long route to the right and crossed the stream on a short bridge. A view of the new bridge from the old (unused) road. There are a few shops at the other end of the bridge. A shelter with a viewpoint is built opposite these shops.
A view of the new bridge from the old bridge. The minor stream under the bridge is visible; this pours down to a deep gorge. Possibly this stream becomes a minor river during the rainy season. The rainy season had just ended; it was october.
A view of the hills on either side of the 'Mawkdok Dympe'p Valley (ref: http://megtourism.gov.in/sohra-circuit.html).
The 'Duwan Sing Syiem' bridge as seen from the viewpoint.
A close up of a waterfall (nearly dry after the end of the rainy season).
Another couple of kilometres down was another viewpoint. I got down the road and took a picture of the parking area. A memorial for the dead can also be seen near the parking lot.
A view of waterfalls.
Further down, on the right side of the road, were a pair of memorials. I got down to have a closer look.
A closer view of the bigger structure. A plaque can be seen.
The name of the person (in Khasi language), the name of the place (SOHRA) and the date (15-03-1955) can be read from the plaque.
We reached the Sohra village finally. The Ramakrishna mission runs a (high) school amongst other things.
A closer look at the Ramakrishna mission complex on the hill of Sohra village. A road behind this complex goes to right and leads to Noh-Kalikai water falls.
Soon, we reached the famous Noh-kalikai water fall of Chirapunjee (current name: Sohra). See http://megtourism.gov.in/guidemap-sohra.html for a map. A tourist complex was built recently. All these regular shops are shut (the tourist season has ended along with the rainy season). Quite a few temporary stalls were catering to the occasional tourists.
A plaque in the tourist complex (seen in the previous photo).
The (old) viewpoint at the Nohkalikai falls, Sohra.
The driver in front of the famous Nohkalikai water falls of Sohra. Note the turquoise green coloured water in the pool.
Beyond the sheltered viewpoint, a new view point was built in 2005. A series of cement concrete steps permits tourists to get down and have a closer look at the waterfall.
The steps leading to a view platform closer to the waterfall. I was reminded of similar steps (but in poor condition) in Jog, Karnataka.
A closer look at the waterfall from the platform.
The main and two sister waterfalls.
Video: A closeup view of the Nohkalikai water falls from the new view stand.
Video: A 360 degree perspective from a place halfway through the series of steps leading down to the new viewpoint of Noh-kalikai waterfalls near Sohra. Beyond the hills (seen at the middle of the video) is Bangladesh.
The sports centre of Sohra.
From Nohkalikai falls, we return to Sohra. A view of the Ramakrishna mission complex.
A steep road from Sohra town leads to a junction. The road to the left leads to Shillong; the road to the right leads to seven sisters water fall and the Mawsmai cave. See a location map at http://megtourism.gov.in/guidemap-sohra.html
Seven sisters falls. There is hardly any water; rainy season is over. At the top is an 'echo park' that has a bridge over the water flowing into the fall.
Close to the view point of Seven sisters falls, are a pair of memorials.
A few kms prior to the seven sister falls, you have to turn right to go to Mawsmai Cave that is at a distance of 1.3km from the main road from Sohra southwards.
The right road crosses a bridge over a stream. Just after the bridge (on the right) is an info board and a community centre.
A board lists various caves in the region and a map of the Mawsmai cave (Krem Maswmai - in local language).
The modern building on the right is a kind of community centre of Mawsmai Nongthymmai. Some conference was going on; rows of chairs can be seen. More interesting are the monoliths similar to the 'stone henges' in UK. The second monolith from the left has a carved stone disk on top!
In front of the community centre (and on the left side of the road) was a shamiana. The board announces the "Ka Jingiaseng Youth conference" at the Presbyterian Church of Mawsmai during 23-25 October, 2009. Later I learnt via google image search that there are several stone memorials behind these flowery curtains.
This is the church where the delegates had congregated on Sunday. The church is on the left side of the road from Sohra going southwards, just before the right road to the caves.
It was a sunny day (for a change in Sohra) and several umbrellas were out unfurled.
Video: I could record the last few words of the chorus. One can see stone monoliths on a hill.
This is the Ramakrishna Mission Lower Primary School at Mawsmai; the school is funded by the Ministry of tribal affairs, GoI.
This is the parking area cum tourist complex of the Mawsmai cave. The cave is to the right at the end of the road. A cow has strayed on the road.
The SBI announces the Mawsmai cave - a wonderful work of nature.
A info board lists the flora and fauna of the Mawsmai cave (Krem Pubon in local language)
Entrance of the cave; a few faujis and their families were visiting the cave; they used the army school bus to come to the place.
A crowd has jammed the narrow path inside the cave. Quite a few people were found struggling to move through humid, uneven path inside the cave despite the fact that the path is well illuminated. A few elders returned after viewing a wooden path 10ft above the ground.
Video: a short video of the cave just after entering.
Use of flash light inside the cave is discouraged as it may blind people. I was just aiming at the low height passage when no one was around. The flash took a while to discharge and a man had crept through by then.
Creative art of nature.
The path inside the cave. A member of the armed forces is seen walking (centre of photo).
I had daal and rice at the (Nangiai Kyrsoi Tourist) restaurant, one of the eateries in the tourist complex. There was also a Nestea vending machine; that took care of the food needs of a veggie. The driver went inside the kitchen of the restaurant and ate whatever he liked.
From the cave, we travelled towards Sohra and thence to Shillong. There are 'resorts' in Sohra (Chirapunjee).
The Government Normal training School in Sohra (so says the board - zoom in to read). Are there abnormal training schools in Sohra?
Thomas Jones School of Mission & Evangelism (year 2000)
According to http://megtourism.gov.in/sohra-circuit.html, this church in Nongsawlia was built by Welsh missionaries who visited this area in 1841. The next photo is that of a marble plaque near the gate of this church. This village Nongsawlia was the British headquarters of the area before it was shifted to Shillong about a century ago.
The Rev. Thomas Jones (the first missionary) arrived in 'cherra' (cherrapunjee aka sohra) on 22nd june 1841.
A kutcha road, In front of the church, leads to a hill where quite a few Europeans are buried. There were two goats on the road. I walked up the road and turned left halfway the road to see some tombstones that are near the left edge of the photo.
Here is a tomb stone, dated 10-APR-1910 and memorial (close to the road in front of the church).
A tomb stone errected in 1910 in the Nongsawlia European cemetery.
Another tomb stone (1926) with a cross shaped structure.
Then, I moved upwards towards a few memorials inside an enclosure (left).
The well maintained stone steps.
The gate of the enclosure was not locked; I went inside and inspected the plaques on the memorials. Reverend Daniel Jones, a welsh missionary was laid to rest here in 1848. D. Jones is probably a sibling of the Thomas Jones, the first missionary.
The memorial of Rev. John Roberts was in an enclosue inside the enclosure! The next two photos are testimonies to the reverence with which he is held in this part of India.
Tomb stone of Reverend John Roberts, who was born in Corris, Wales, UK, and died in 1908 here.
The tablet inside the enclosure to commemorate the death centenery of Rev. John Roberts who died in 1908.This tablet was errected an year ago (2008)
There are memorials further up the hill; I did not pursue them as I did not have sufficient time.
An old cemetery on the opposite hillside (far side of the photo). Possibly this is the European cemetery referred to in http://megtourism.gov.in/guidemap-sohra.html
A view (from the hilltop) of the church and the surrounding houses.
A glimpse of Nongsawlia village, the headquarters of this region during the British times.
Another curiously shaped tombstone below the enclosure.
I walked back from the cemetery hill to the main road (in front of the church)
The Sohra town (also known as upper cherra) on the hill, as seen on our return from lower cherra and Nongsawlia.
I returned to Shillong. The notice board at the Elephant falls, Shillong.
Beautiful flowers (with 'flourescent' colours) at the garden of Elephant falls.
There was a gate where entry tickets could be bought and checked. On the right side of the gate, was a notice announcing the autumn festival being organised by 'The San Shnong Youth Welfare Organization' in collaboration with the Meghalaya tourism development forum.
On the left side of the gate was a notice painted in bold letters. The military has a heavy presence in Shillong, being the largest town in this area. There is a special request to the members of the armed forces (why such a special request was necessary?).
The adjacent notice announces that violation (probably of smoking ban) can attract a fine of Rs. 500 to 5000.
The first stage of the 3-stage Elephant water falls.
The second stage of the water fall.
The final stage of the Elephant water falls. Visitors cross the bridge from right and get down to have a good view of the 3rd stage of the water falls.
A view of the Mattilang park (on the opposite hill) from the bridge over the water fall. Tourists are busy posing. The park cannot be accessed from the waterfall side!
Video of the first stage of the 3-step 'Elephant Falls' of Shillong.
Video: Shillong Elephant Falls and the Mattilang park.
Finally, we went to the Shillong view point. The road to the viewpoint goes through an airforce establishment. The car driver had to make an entry in the register and get a huge token with a number that had to be shown at the 'second barrier' later. While photography on the road to the view point is prohibited, one can take pictures at the view point. A tourist map of Meghalaya is shown on a board.
Shillong city as seen from the Shillong peak.
A closeup view of Shillong city.
Video: a panaromic view of Shillong city from the "Shillong View point"
At one end of the parking lot of the Shillong view point, was a glass enclosed cabin.
The cabin, with a rustic ambiance, had cane chairs, and offered a good view of the trees and the city.
On our way back, we saw potato fields by the side of the road. On the roadside was an informal market selling potato.
The white flowers of potato plant.
Close to the main road was even a Central Potato Research Station (CPRS)!
Then, we went into Shillong city proper. This is the bus stand of Shillong (in police bazaar area). To the right of the bus stand is a dosa point, where you can get idli and dosas (and 'vegetarian meals').
This is police bazaar, the main junction of Shillong city. The road from right of the circle goes out of city to Sohra, Guwahati etc. The road to the left leads to the bus stand.
It was sunday and an informal market was flourishing.
This is the road coming from Guwahati. A bill board announces the "Miss Shillong 2009" Beauty Pageant to be held on the next day. Oh, I won't be here tomorrow :-(
Video: a panaromic view of the main junction in police bazar, Shillong. Three evangelists were singing; a motely crowd had gathered.
Video: another perspective; the trio has stopped singing; one of them is giving a mini speech now.
Shillong has a rhino heritage musium ..
with a statue of a rhino in the compound.
There is even a Lord Mahavira Park in Shillong!
On the way back, we stopped to view 'barapani', a lake created by building dams across a river.
On the last day of my stay at Guwahati, I climbed a small hill within the IITG campus to the 'view point'. A partial view of the campus from the 'view point'. The main road comes from the national highway (that runs parallel to the distant hill).
The shopping complex (with red tiled roof) can be seen on centre left of the photo.
The yellow dome (near top of the photo) is the indoor stadium of North Guwahati, and is outside the campus (and is closer to the national highway).
Traffic jam near the bridge over Brahmaputra river (a frequent event): I was travelling in a car from IITG campus to the Guwahati airport. I had a lead of 1 hour 45 minutes. One hour would have been sufficient under normal conditions. However, a truck had turned turtle, and there was a traffic jam on the national highway north of the bridge. The driver me cautioned that we may be stuck here for an hour or more and may not reach airport on time. On his suggestion, I called my host; my host came from the campus on a scooter. I had just a small bag which I could hang on my shoulder and travel as a pillion rider. My host carefully drove the scooter on mud shoulder of the highway as fast as he could. Still, we could reach the airport just 20 minutes prior to scheduled departure time of the flight. I was worried since the counter closes 30 minutes before the SDT of the flight. Luckily, my flight to Kolkata via Aizawal had been cancelled; I was re-booked on a later flight via Agartala.
