Shillong getaway!

Well, last month, for about ten days, I disappeared off the radar for a nice vacation to Shillong. Was definitely the most relaxing vacation I've had till date. And the most scenic too.

I had internet connectivity for the first two days, after which going to a snail-paced cyber-cafe became too much of a pain.


Day 1(14/01/2010):

Alright, this was my very first visit to the North-East city namely Shillong. One entire day's stayover and a nice dinner with my dad and his colleagues left me slightly drunk and a little bit wiser about the workings of the directors of HPCL and what they're all doing. Not that it matters.
Moving on.

Did you know winding roads can make you nauseous? Yeah, but showing awesome courage and some unbelievable bowel control, yours truly managed to keep his senses about him and his breakfast within. Shillong is an awesome place and as far as first impressions go, it definitely impressed. Some kickass sunset views along the winding roads from Guwahati to Shillong was the cherry on top for this first day of my vacations. Oh and did I mention I saw Mount Everest? Finally!
Now I plan to scale it someday, since it looked so accessible. Don't comment on what the real conditions are. I like my daydreams raw.

Now, with all the natural beauty, lakes, mountains, awe-inspiring views and what nots, Shillong has some of the best night life. EVER!! I mean, everything shuts down by 8:00pm. It's like night never even gets a chance to say, "I'm here!" Everyone's indoors and asleep by then! We sat at a bar, having some light dinner and a round of long island iced tea when we realized the bar's empty. What time was it? 9:00pm. It's like the boogie-mans's dream. Roads empty, shops shut by 9:30pm. Heck! Here in Mumbai(I prefer saying Bombay but for instigating some fanatic parties)...well, as I was saying, here in Mumbai, 9:00pm is the time I get out of my house for some night-life action, be it parties, dinner or otherwise. I hear here in Shillong, the DJ parties start in the afternoon and get done by around 6-7pm. Day after tomorrow, I'm gonna go to a DJ live performance that starts at 8:00pm. Just IMAGINE what an exclusive event it's gonna be!

Dinner got done by 9pm, that too a very very light dinner. For the night(the REAL night, up to at least around 12am) we've stocked up on glucose biscuits and bottled milk in case we starve of hunger.

It's gonna be a long long LONG series of vacation nights!!




Day 2(15/01/2010):
Day two started off with a very very drowsy me waking up at 7.30am thinking the day's begun. Then I fell asleep again.

The day saw us heading for what is the third oldest golf club in India. Huge-ass golf course(as all golf-courses are) and SO far from where I'm staying. It was a six kilometer hike and from there, another five kilometers or so to the middle of a forest. A total of eleven kilometers but trust me, it felt a lot more. But it was all worth it for the journey, for what better way to explore a place than to walk? It's a hillside forest filled with pine trees and valleys. Beautiful! And that's just in winter. Now imagine the entire vista in lush green! Nature treks take a lot out of a person and we simply had no energy to hike all the way back. That too uphill! I tell you, my ass has never felt so sore and I wasn't even spanked. Although I'd have liked it. By a girl. A hot one.

Close to the forest there was a small shack where we had some awesome pork curry served by the most soft spoken little girl I've ever had the pleasure of talking to. She was too sweet.

Around 3:30pm we were back in our hotel thinking of what to do when we met one of Madhur's local friends, Bobby. He dropped by with his son. Now, the thing about these pahadi(for lack of a better term) guys is that they look SO young! I could have sworn Bobby was not a year more than thirty years old when he was actually forty!

A nice round of drinks and some time at the bar later, we had dinner, and what a dinner it was!! Thai curry with mushrooms and chicken, pork chops and fried rice and some awesome roasted peanuts. And then, because of a misunderstanding, we got a plate of chilly pork too! Not to waste food, we wiped the plates clean of the thai curry and chilly pork. As for the pork chops? Not to worry! We got that parceled and brought it back to our hotel room for some chilled out midnight snacks.

Good end to a good day eh?


Well, needless to say, after the second day, I realized words can't do justice to beauty. So I'll let you guys be the judge of it.


Green green hills with wide blue vistas!

From Shillong 2010

And one without me :D

From Shillong 2010

This view blew me away! Look how small the house appears against the sky!

From Shillong 2010

Somewhere close by

From Shillong 2010

Cherrapunji, point Zero, above cloud level
Everything you see behind me are clouds!

From Shillong 2010

An early view of the ocean below.
An ocean of clouds!

From Shillong 2010

Felt like diving into it!(This was just fifteen minutes after the previous picture. Check out the contrasts!)

From Shillong 2010

Light in my hands

From Shillong 2010

Check out the hues on this one! Waited for an hour for it!

From Shillong 2010

Plate of pork-rice we had near a power station somewhere in the middle of nowhere:

From Shillong 2010

Mauphlang dam - we found this viewpoint quite by chance. The road to the base of the dam was closed. So we climbed around the road onto this small path which gave us an awesome view of everything around

From Shillong 2010

A river worth a white-water rafting adventure. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough water.

From Shillong 2010

Inside a stalactite cave. I guess there were stalagmites too...still, it was mighty cramped in there!

From Shillong 2010

A fleeting look into the approaching clouds before I had to put my camera inside my bag to avoid it getting wet:

From Shillong 2010

Days and night within the city are pretty much the same. It's the open countryside(rather mountainside) that's the best experience!

I shall be posting a few more pictures in the next post too. Watch out for them! =D