Day 3 of our Meghalaya trip – we finally wake up on time.
Our first stop was Krang Suri waterfalls, which is about 90 kms from Shillong’s Police Bazaar. We struck a pretty good deal with a driver, who said he would charge us Rs 3000 per day to drive us around, that’s about 42 USD per day, less than 15 USD per person. Since we were three of us, it would cost us Rs 1000 per day.
“I’ll be with you for 24 hours, you don’t have to pay for petrol, for my stay or for my food. Just pay me Rs 3,000 per day and you will have to pay for parking at the spots you visit. And on the way if you see anything interesting, I will stop wherever you want” the driver had told us.
So he picked us from our hotel in Shillong at 8 am and we left for Krang Suri. The route was very scenic and we stopped once or twice to take pictures. Took us a little over 3 hours to reach there. So we were there by 11.15 am.
From the parking lot of the falls, to the actual fall was a 15 minute easy hike.
The waterfalls was breathtaking. And there were only three other tourists when we got there. So it felt like our own little private waterfall!
It’s mandatory to wear a life jacket if you want to go for a swim in the waters. While on the surface it looks like the water is pretty shallow, you don’t even realise when it suddenly gets deep when you wade in.
We had some nice home made Khasi food and chicken at a small stall near the parking lot after were done chilling at the waterfall.
We headed next to Shnonpdeng, where we had booked a room at a camping site. While they had tents and stuff, we had opted for a regular room which costed Rs 1500 (about 21 USD) in total.
We reached Shnonpdeng by 4 pm. After dumping our bags in the room, we went for a boat ride in the famous Umngot river. So here is a spoiler – we were pretty disappointed with the river. Probably because we had exaggerated expectations?
So the Umngot river is famous for being transparent and pristine. Which it was, but only downstream, where the water was shallow. Here is the deal, go to any interior part of India, in Maharashtra or Karnataka, where the area is not urbanised, and the rivers that flow through, will be as transparent and pristine downstream.
Anyway, it still was obviously a pretty place to be at. The boat ride was calming. There were a lot of locals fishing in their boats. The whole place gives you a very laidback, relaxed vibe.
We weren’t interested in any other water activities, so we just did the boat ride. Then we headed to a tea shop by the river and gossipped away.
P.S – I go by @scarredfoot on Instagram.