North-East Tour - Day 4, Nov 1

They say a journey becomes more interesting when the destination is a mystery or mysterious. We were told that Mawlynnong, in East Khasi district, 100 km south of Shillong, is a must-see. It's the cleanest village in Asia. But we kept wondering what's so special about this village to get this tag. It sounded quite mysterious to us, and heightened our excitement to be at that place.

We started off from Shillong at 7 am, and passed through a number of villages. Virtually the entire journey is beside hillocks with green-carpeted steep precipice on the other side. It's a breathtaking view of green landscape some of which in captivating formations. It's amazing the way Nature presents itself.

It's hills all over, either we are going up, or going down, moving from one hillock to the other. There are just no plains on the way. As we go, we realise that green hills have been chipped to create roads. From afar the road looks like a step.

At a number of places we could see waterfalls, big and small. At some places there were just the trails of water on dry rocks.

The cleanest village is... indeed clean, very clean. People are obsessed with cleanliness. Don't be surprised if you see people always cleaning the premises.

Adjascent to this prestigeous village, there is a bridge across a stream. It's an unusual bridge: it's made of live roots of a rubber tree! Then nearby there is a balancing stone -- a natural marval: a huge rock balanced on a much smaller rock.

Since we had to catch the 10.30 pm train to Dimapur, we were in a hurry to return to Shillong. We reached back around 3 pm.

Big or small, any city is congested. Shillong's city Centre is choc-a-bloc. Narrow roads, lots of people and cars all over the place.

We reach the Meghalaya Transport Corporation bus stand around 3.30 pm. Chances of getting a bus looked really dim. Since taxi operators were still on strike, we had to hunt around for a private car to take us to Guwahati.

Finally, reached Guwahati railway station at 9.15 pm. Now, in the train heading to Dimapur, Nagaland, where we will spend the next two days.