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| Other countries sue_and_nathan visited in New_life_in_Bombay |
| India (9) |
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| Our big holiday of 2011 took quite a while to come together, we had many rethinks to get the perfect route, along with many a plane and train rebooking to keep the flights to a minimum. Shillong (capital of the state of Meghalaya) was our first destination after a flight to Guwahati and a long taxi ride. The road from Guwahati to Shillong is currently being widened and whilst I am sure it will be great when completed, at the moment it is creating horrendous traffic problems (and that’s compared to Bombay!) On our first morning we visited St Edmonds School. Sue’s Dad went here as a boarder from the early 20s. Back then he would have caught a boat from his home in Calcutta through what is now Bangladesh and then taken a horse and cart to get to school, so we couldn't really complain about our 7 hour road trip! Luckily we bumped into the school’s principal, Dr Lamare and Rector, Brother Abreu, who showed us around the original parts of the much enlarged school and plied us with tea (Assam of course!), biscuits and stories in the staffroom. It turns out that a tiger was killed on the school playground sometime in the late 20s! From here we headed to Cherrapunjee, a town close to the Bangladesh border and famous for being the wettest place on earth! This small remote area has an average of 10,000mm of rainfall a year, which if you compare it to London’s 700mm is really quite something! The rain however was not our reason for visiting and we knew that in November we would be just about guaranteed a rain-free trip. We had in fact come to see the living root bridges – bridges that are grown, not built. Hundreds of years ago the local Khasi people saw the potential in the secondary roots of the local Ficus elastica, a type of rubber tree, to span the rivers and so they began to train the roots. They used hollowed out bamboo and betel nut tree trunks to guide the roots across the river and once they reach the further bank they again take root. Khasi families continue to nurture the bridge over many years until they become sturdy and fully functional. The bridges are simply amazing and unique to this area, although when we stopped to talk to a local Khasi lady she looked at us in bewilderment when we explained that we didn’t have living root bridges in London. And when we further said that we didn’t have rubber trees there either she gave us a look as if to say ‘What sort of useless place is that?’! The thing with root bridges is that they are at the bottom of valleys and we were staying at the lovely Cherrapunjee Resort which is at the top of the ridge! First day we trekked down to Ummunoi Bridge. At 500 years old it is the oldest around and really quite stunning. After the trek of a mere 2,500 steps hewn into the rocks, you feel like you are truly in Indiana Jones country! Following a day of rest we were ready to visit the more famous double decker living root bridges. This was a round trek of about 18 kms including 4,500 steps down (not easy) and (it even hurts to type this!) 4,500 steps back up. The trip was totally worth the 2 days of jelly legs after – the lovely villages on the way, the tiny kids plodding along to school who smiled and then burst into the Bollywood hit “My Name is Sheila, Sheila ki-Jiwani, I’m too sexy for you…”, the bee hives lining the paths, the scary iron bridges on the way, our chattie guide Cooper and of course the 300 year old double decker bridge. Take a look at the photos for yourself as it’s very hard to describe. The Cherrapunjee Resort where we stayed was a great choice. The eight bedrooms are built around a communal dining hall and in the evening a campfire was lit which encouraged people to sit and chat. Dennis Rayen, the hotel owner, said he had a dream 10 years ago when he worked for a bank of setting up the resort. He quit the bank (always a good idea!!!) and slowly over time has created a hotel that truly encompasses his idea of ‘inclusive tourism’. The Resort it seems has become the hub of the local area, with the staff and guides coming from surrounding villages, evening entertainment provided by young people from the nearest village of Laitkynsew (who admittedly could have looked a little more like they were enjoying themselves!) and local families turning up for plates of pakoras and chai. We left Cherrapunjee just as the sun rose silently over the Bangladesh plains below. This was truly a million miles away from Bombay! | ||||||||||||
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| 12 Sep 2011 : Bombay Chowpatties - India | 15 Dec 2011 : Majuli - India | |||||||||||
| Ganpati Bappa Morya! | Rhinos in the mist | |||||||||||