Shillong: Raincoats, Confusing Names And Skywalking

The day two began. Our hands were holding a long checklist of must-visits and the day seemed to be beautiful. The breakfast provided by the homestay we were in - Manna Inspira - was wholesome. We could even customize everything we were served as per our taste buds. The cook was humble and sweet. Since we had our day planned to be quite busy, we had to check out early in the morning around 7 a.m. We were with our bags fully packed, double-checking if we had left something in our room. On the scooty of my friend, we finally left the place. The two-wheeler things are amazing; they do not get stuck in the traffic! We were feeling the day as it was sunny but not scorching hot. The level of efforts to maintain cleanliness around the places was also inspiring.

As we were passing by the Golf Course, the view we had enjoyed is hard to forget. We, then, started our Google Map tracking to the first place in our checklist - The Laitkor Peak or The Shillong Viewpoint. It was located in Upper Shillong. Here is a beautiful snap I had captured for you from the highest point of Shillong as soon as we reached. There were observation towers as well for better views of the panoramic beauty. However the private vehicles were not allowed inside the premises; thus taxis were available outside the campus for transportation purpose. The taxi fares were unreasonably high. Booking a taxi for the short viewpoint trip meant only the carriage from outside of the premises into that of the viewpoint; the same taxi was not responsible to drive us back from the peak. This was the only inconvenience that the place had.

The weather, as I stated earlier, was bright and sunny. Few single clouds were floating at their own pace as we could first see from the peak, resting at their own place. After about half an hour, new groups of them started invading the whole sky like the newly formed couples invade Shillong. I quickly took out my cell phone and recorded a reel. I had posted it on my Instagram handle with a random song playing in the background. Guess what? It had attained over two thousand views with my five followers back then. I seriously do not understand this obsession with the association between a random video and a more random song. But again, good for me! We had our photos clicked in traditional attire as without trying the local dress a visit to any place is incomplete.

It slowly began raining. Everyone was waiting for a taxi to come up and take them back. As we had failed to catch any of them, three kind aunties had called us to provide with lift. We finally could reach back to the scooty. While my friend was collecting our bags from the taxi ticket counter, a little girl with a basket full of pineapples approached me. She wanted me to buy some of them but sadly I couldn't. I was allergic to pineapples. I empathized her that somebody would definitely buy her pineapples; she walked away with hope in her eyes and a smile on her face. I did not know why, but seeing her happy automatically made my day.

On our way downhill, it started to rain heavily. We were pretty confident as we had raincoats and bag covers. We actually were happy that we could put our rain equipment to use. The Sivsagar trip was all rainy and wet; this time we were thankful of our purchases. However the rain was so heavy that even the raincoats could not save us. The bag coats however performed their job pretty well. At least our cash was spared from getting wet, nahi toh gareebi mein aata geela ho jaata! We wanted to visit the Mhalse Lake as well, but it was unreachable and most probably closed for the tourists.

The good day was turning into a bad day. It was raining cats and dogs and we were pretty annoyed. The slow internet connection and jumping of the live location was slowly turning the trip into a disaster. However after enquiring at the local shops and the traffic police, we could finally reach the next place - All Saints' Cathedral - one of the oldest churches of Shillong. The black roof was complementing the gothic theme perfectly. The architecture and colour palette was unique. We rested there until the rain had stopped and finally headed for the next place.

Since we were very hungry we had decided to visit The Dylan's Café first. It was designed to pay homage to the great singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. The interior was splendid. Each and every corner was decorated with aesthetically pleasing art. Even the roof was decorated with beautiful quotes, drawings, sketches and many other things. The little kettles hanging at the counter looked pretty cute and welcoming.

However the food prices were unreasonably high. We had ordered a platter of which I now have forgotten the name. The quantity was very unsatisfactory according to the prices. However the place was insta-worthy. No doubt it was a very nice place to hang out especially for the Bob Dylan fans, but they really needed to get some insights of the prices. While we were eating and ranting about the food in the café, it started to rain again. By the time we were done the rain was the heaviest. We gathered our raincoats and were off for the next place without caring much about the rain. Shillong had taught us one more thing - to buy plastic mobile covers as well. It is an important commodity for all those who are not familiar with the roads of the place. You would need the cell phone in your hands and it would be raining in Shillong at very short intervals.

For the next place we had to break a little sweat to exactly find the same. As my friend was familiar with the blue church he had told me to type Don Bosco Church in the Google Maps search bar. However it was showing a distance of about two hours which was quite confusing to us. We had to ask almost all of the local shopkeepers and pedestrians just to figure out the fact that the church we were had been searching for hours was not named Don Bosco Church, it was rather called Cathedral Of Mary Help Of Christians.

The church was located at a distance of about 2.5 kilometers from Police Bazaar Centre Point. It would be best for someone visiting the church for the first time to know the real name in order to avoid any kind of inconvenience or frustration. After we had climbed up the stairs to reach the huge terrace of the building, the weather was turning into a pleasant one. The blue color of the shrine was popping out with the grey background of happy clouds. The whole area was decorated with lush lawns and many more structures of religious importance. It was a great display of Christianity.

After half an hour of non-stop walk, interesting talk and a good photoshoot session, me and my friend were having a hard time to leave the blue beauty. But the last place in our itinerary was yet to be checked off the list. It was the Don Bosco Museum and yes! The name this time was correct. We did not have any headache that time finding the museum. When we had ultimately reached the place, we already knew that we had invested our time and energy into something awesome. The entry fee was very reasonable. More to the basket of surprises, the museum had a very active staff to guide the culture enthusiasts. On the entrance itself, the guide explains everything about the museum and the best ways to have an amazing experience exploring the same. There are many astonishing things I really do not want to reveal and want my readers to visit and discover by themselves. The only thing I wanted to tell you that it had seven floors with unique collection covering all the geology, history, geography, arts and crafts and many other topics mostly specific to the north-east as well as the neighboring countries.

After climbing up all of the stairs, some breathtaking views would be waiting for you while walking through the skywalk. There were some tags of the places pointing exactly at them visible from the peak. Trust me! It felt like I had reached the top of the world. Lastly I would love to close this Shillong trip with a request to respect all the efforts of the people working to help us enjoy their place. I had seen a few people pulling the tags towards them so that they could click some selfies; that is selfish. Other than that, if you have not visited Shillong yet do give it a try. My favorite was the museum, what's yours?