Krangshuri Waterfalls and Shillong
Good morning from Shnongpdeng. We had little relaxed morning, not so much of hurry. Got fresh, did wind up the tents, had breakfast of French Toasts and... lots of fresh fruits! Bananas, pineapples, oranges, cucumbers and what not! With our bags packed, we left the campsite and started our way back to where we had parked our vehicle. Again crossed the suspension bridge over Umngot river and we headed towards another waterfall, Krangshuri.
It took around 1-1.5 hours to reach the base village of Krangshuri. We had to navigate the path from the village and descend into the jungle. Like most of the waterfalls we had visited earlier, we had to climb down our path. It was easy, well marked. Half way into the path, there was a point from where you can do a zip-line and reach the waterfall directly. Some of us opted to do the zip-line activity while rest of us followed the path and within 10 mins, we reached the waterfall.
We descended the steps and this was what was in front of us!
 |
| Krangshuri waterfall |
It was little cloudy, there was absolutely no crowd at waterfall, in fact only 4-5 of us reached here and rest of the group was still on their way, I had my camera with a tripod filters ready. It was perfect opportunity to get the photos and do some experiments!
This waterfall was comparatively small, had a small basin and due to cloudy weather, the water was somewhat cold. Though, by now we all were used to these cold waters 😆. One could swim through the waters, go to the base of the waterfall, navigate the cliffs behind fall and enjoy the force! We waited for everyone from our group to join us, wore our safety jackets and one, two, three... one by one we started swimming towards the fall. I tell you, most of us were shivering.
I took my GoPro with me while swimming and then literally did a photo shoot at the base of the fall. This pose, that pose, this angle, that angle and what not.
 |
| Feel the force! |
 |
| Selfie time |
With carefully navigating the slippery surface of the cliffs, we enjoyed this side of waterfall. We didn't wander ahead as the waterfall had too much force. After spending some 15-20 mins, we returned. Changed into dry clothes and started our way back to the village. Had a very simple lunch of dal-rice and mix vegetables. With our tummies full, we started our last leg of the journey, towards the capital city of the state of Meghalaya, Shillong.
We left Krangshuri around 2pm and started heading towards Shillong. It was already cloudy and could see small drizzles here and there. As we were approaching Shillong, it was getting cold. It was around 2-2.5 hour journey to Shillong and as we reached the outskirts of the city, what we encountered first? Traffic! Moving with snail pace! After travelling the remote areas of Meghalaya, we were now suddenly in populated area! It was like we had forgotten there were crowds, traffic jams, noises and all that stuff.
It was so much of traffic jam, we offboarded from our vehicle and started walking towards Police Bazar for shopping. Driver would then meet us directly at pickup point. Police Bazar is a kind of popular tourists market area. You see malls, branded shops, cafes, eateries and most importantly, street shopping. Shillong is famous of local spices, fresh fruits, wooden crafts and it was winter, woolen clothes. I was not much interested in shopping, neither was Nikita. We started exploring the streets just to see what all they are selling. These street markets are both amazing and terrible things 😄. Amazing because you can see whole lot of things, some very interesting things on sale, some you don't even expect to see and terrible because they are always crowded.
We were hungry and knew dinner was late tonight, so we started searching for some good cafes and found Bread Café just nearby. It was Christmas time approaching in 2-3 weeks and all these cafes, eateries had already started decorating. It was really nice ambiance. We munched on some Pastas and Hot Chocolate.
 |
| Pasta and Hot Chocolate anyone? @ Bread Café |
 |
| Shop selling wooden crafts and other Meghalaya souvenirs |
We wrapped up our free time and came back to the meeting point. Some of our tour mates had bought woolen clothes, some had bought spices, some bought honey, fresh fruits and some souvenirs. We boarded our vehicle and after 40-50 mins, reached our hotel, David Residency. The hotel had a small café at the top floor. We hogged on some non-Indian food this time. Noodles, chicken wings, burgers, pastas, sandwiches and what not. Eating dal-rice and mix vegetables, even though they were tasty, it had been mundane since we were having it for most of the tour.
We returned to our rooms, packed our bags as we had to leave early tomorrow to Guwahati to start the journey back home.
-------------------
 |
| View of Shillong city from our hotel room |
Last day of Meghalaya Backpacking Tour. We woke up by 630-7am, had our tea and left the hotel by around 830am. It would be a 4-5 hour journey from Shillong to Guwahati airport, including a break for brunch. The roads were smooth, not much of a traffic and we were cruising. By 10-1030am, we took a halt at Jiva restaurant for brunch. Something between of breakfast and lunch 😁. Had Dosas, Idlies, Parathas with some tea/coffee. By 12pm, we reached Guwahati Airport. We then bid adieu to our tour mates, our guide/lead Kshitij and headed towards check-in counters to catch our flights back home.
The End
Do watch and experience this Meghalaya Tour on YouTube here :
0 Comments