Perumal's Travel Blog

Day 3: S hillong & Cherrapunji (Sohra)   Went for a morning walk from 6.30am but no spectacular views.  Departed hotel at 9am for Laitlum Canyon.  Some nice views but covered in mist even on a sunny day.  Arwah Cave: https://www.meghalayatourism.in/destinations/arwah-cave/ There are fossils visible on the roof and walls but we couldn’t spot any until we happened to see a guide for another group who pointed them out to us.  Thought I saw a Vishnu conch or Ganesha on the hillside - see if you agree… We stopped at a viewing point for the Gorge.  Disappointing as river beds are all dry with no rain from Nov to March.  Most memorable was meeting King Kong at a hilltop.  We went on to Noh Ka Likai Waterfall viewing point There was just a light trickle of water flowing and you had to imagine what it would be like after rain.  Mawsmai Cave  https://www.meghalayatourism.in/destinations/mawsmai-cave/ This cave was extremely narr...

Day 1: Chennai to Guwahati  Very relaxed flight out, reaching MAA airport at 1pm for a 3pm departure.  Settled in to the lounge and caught up on a few emails and other admin.  Saw our fellow travellers Viji and Saradha on the aircraft; they were seated many rows behind us. After landing at Guwahati, we waited for a long while for them to come forward and only later realised that they had left thru the rear doors. The front door was connected via aero bridge while the rear door had a bus waiting below.   First time I had seen it but apparently Indigo practices that.  An interesting welcome photo op at the airport: We had our driver Rajesh waiting for us and he would be taking care of us for the entire tour.   Checked into Hotel Sachika and had a quick dinner together before retiring for the night.   

Day 2: Guwahati & Shillong 6am departure for Maa Kamakhya temple aka Kameswari or Goddess of Desire.  https://thefloatingpebbles.com/kamakhya-temple-of-the-bleeding-goddess/ A few hairpin bends to reach the hilltop but not as many as Yercaud.  Queues::: First queue we stood in closed when we were just 10 heads away. Then went to a second queue where we successfully got pre reserved tickets (online or offline, not clear, both terms were used by people in the queue). Then joined the queue for darshan where we were told to expect to wait 3 hours.    Which would take us past the hotel checkout time.  Another phone negotiation was done for immediate darshan. A donation was agreed and we were soon seated in the waiting room for feeding mums, waiting for the 9am darshan.  Got collected just before 9am and escorted thru an exit passage. Our "Panda" (temple priest or poojari) did some good escort service, firstly doing archanai to the statue on ground floor, the...