Just 50kms from Shillong, the weather is so different, you would wonder if you came to some other land. We have been having warm and very pleasant weather (early 20s - celcius) in Shillong - it does cool down in the evenings and is even a little chilly. There has been some rain too - only a little, but nothing prepared us for what we encountered at Cherrapunjee - the wettest recorded place on Earth.
After enquiring about the modes of transport available to get to Cherra, we decided we could spend more time at all the places if we could arrange our own transport. However, there was no way of doing this trip on the cheap. So we went on to Bada Bazar where we had to spend more time to find out where the shared taxis to Cherra would be available. We finally got into one which was almost full with places just for both of us (taking the total # of passengers to 9!). The drive to Cherra is exceedingly beautiful - the hills and the deep valley on one side of the road make for amazing views. Of course, our co-passengers were all blase about it.
Once we got to Cherra we started asking around for taxis which would show us the sights nearby. Here, our limited information got us into trouble - we found that it was much more expensive to arrange your own transport and go around! We were cursing ourselves for not taking the tourism department’s conducted tours. After a lot of bargaining, we found one driver who seemed reasonable, and started off in right earnest to Thang Karang park and Mowsmai caves which on the way to the park. Alas, our luck gave out soon when it started, well, raining! And not your ordinary drizzle or shower - but it started pouring! We got in and out of the Mowsmai caves without any trouble - water was dripping from the roof of the cave though. But it was an amazing experience - walking doubly bent through really narrow spaces, watching your step so you won’t slip on the rocks and the brain patterned rocks.
As we got out of the caves though, the rain had really picked up - our raincoats were good though and we made it safely to the taxi. We proceeded next to the Thang karang park, from where it should be possible to view the plains of Bangladesh. However, just a little while after we started from the caves, the rain stopped and gave way to our next nemesis - fog. Well calling it fog would not be correct - because we were INSIDE a cloud! We could hardly see 5m ahead of the car, but our brave driver was zipping past the bad roads and was able to avoid oncoming vehicles just at the right moment. We got to the park and realized there was nothing to be seen - except the dense white mists. Quickly finished up here and asked our driver to take us back to the bus stand so we could get back to Shillong.
Moral of the story -
- take the tourism department bus if you want to do the Cherrapunjee trip on the cheap
- You can never predict the weather at Cherrapunjee
- What you can expect at Cherrapunjee is, well, rain!