Blogs from Shillong, Meghalaya, India, Asia

My cousin Priscilla and I are travelers and before completion of any trip we would start planning for our next trip. Don't be surprise when I say we have already planned our next upcoming trips. Being from North Eastern part of India we have underestimated the beauty of North East India. But this time after exploring many parts of Northern and Southern India, we wanted to visit North East, not as visiting home but as travelers. Considering the limited time we had, we planned to travel Meghalaya and Manipur, covering some portion of Assam.url=https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W2qJcSjV28w/V1-5IJpOcFI/AAAAAAAAA7g/L5fgLCZVbrMKtKEoE8D4BGMklx3pzgeDQCLcB/s1600/Hill%2Bview.jpgimg=https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W2qJcSjV28w/V1-5IJpOcFI/AAAAAAAAA7g/L5fgLCZVbrMKtKEoE8D4BGMklx3pzgeDQCLcB/s1600/Hill%2Bview.jpgI had traveled to Assam quite many times and Manipur is my home state. But I had never been to... read more

Confusing title again?!? Well..a lot of the diesel locomotives plying on Indian Railways are manufactured by the American Locomotive Company (now defunct) abbreviated Alco. My train, 15657 Sealdah-Guwahati Kanchanjunga express, was also hauled by diesel locomotive made by Alco and hence the title!! Upon reaching Kolkata, completing half of the journey, I was feeling very excited because I was inching towards my destination, although I was equally enjoying the train rides. The Guwahati bound Kanchanjunga express was scheduled to leave at 6:30 AM but I arrived at the station 2 hours before the train's departure. This was for the first time, in my numerous trips to Kolkata, I was traveling via Sealdah station and I kind of felt that I was in one of train stations in Mumbai because even at 4:30 AM, it was crowded. ... read more

Neighbourhood Watch Of course, a home is what you make it, the neighbourhood notwithstanding. My own family home is in a suburban neighbourhood not considered very hip or posh but it is home and we’ve lived here over twenty years. But for those to whom it matters, here’s a round-up of the popular neighbourhoods in the city. To find some of the oldest families and their homes, Mawkhar and Jaiaw are the places to look. The families are mostly Khasis who have been around for generations, some of the ancestors having rubbed shoulders (and even married) with the British who ruled here for many years. Quite a few are joint families with great-grandparents, grandparents and numerous descendants under the same roof. Some of these ancestors have held high posts in the Government as well as academic ... read more

Our trip, up to this point, had been concentrated in a pretty small area of the Himalayas in West Bengal and Sikkim. However, we would have kicked ourselves if we had come to this region of the world & failed to visit the Living Root Bridges of Meghalaya. We leave the Makaibari tea estate in a car driven by a teenage driver acompanied by his friend, loud bengali rock blaring on the CD player. We like it. We leave the mountains, & are soon driving thru a monkey infested military base & then thru Siliguri, the 2nd largest town in west Bengal. Arriving at the New Jalpaiguri train station several hours early for our train, we are quickly overwhelmed by this, our first exposure to Indian train stations. We are soon befrended by our "gardian angel", ... read more

Day 1 - Waking on the train was delightful as we passed through secluded villages, green fields and lakes stretching beyond the horizon. Arriving at Guwahati train station the four of us headed out towards the rickshaw stand, only to find that the prices we were quoted were too high for the short journey to the hotel area so instead we decided to walk. Heading inside multiple hotels to enquire about prices we were told no rooms were available despite several keys hanging on the wall. Knowing we weren't very welcome in this town we decided to skip staying over and take a shared sumo (jeep) straight to Shillong. Crammed into the backseat of a jeep for 4 hours, we finally arrived at Shillong welcomed by the sight of green valleys and expanding lakes. Emerging from ... read more