Guwahati to Shillong & back

DAY 29 - GUWAHATI TO SHILLONG TO GUWAHATI SATURDAY 5th NOVEMBER 2016

It was the day to go where the clouds reside and it started at a lazy pace. Hit the restaurant at 7:00am to have a sumptuous breakfast of omelette with toasted bread accompanied with sausages & ham with gallons of coffee. So much different than the chicken & rice breakfast in Manipur just a couple of days back.

A kilometre from Taj and one is in Meghalaya. The city of Guwahati shares its border with Meghalaya. The hills in the yonder that one sees in the Guwahati landscape is actually in Meghalaya. Its was 8:00am when I set out from the hotel and the moment I hit Meghalaya It was cloudy all around. It was an uphill ride and was getting chillier with every kilometre. The roads were spectacular, its a two way expressway which was completed a couple of years back and very well maintained. For once I think every elected politician from Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram & Tripura should come and see how a highway should be maintained. It felt like I was riding the hills of a civilised nation and not a third world country. The hills were covered with rain forest and many new establishments were springing up along the highway. The price of modernisation was denudation and this uplifted the economy, a big price to pay. The moment the toll road starts one sees that there are a bunch of factories at the side bellowing smoke & one wonders if he is riding through smog or fog. I have seen Northeast a unchecked polluting territory, I guess its too far out to for Delhi guys to bother. Delhi itself has become the capital of pollution of this country what will they advice the Northeast guys except "welcome to the smog club".

The roads that lead to Shillong just bends & curves, at times one wants it to stop the rollercoaster ride. There is a small town in between which has a horrible stretch with very bad road condition and also very narrow. After a two kilometres the smooth expressway commences again and continues beyond Shillong. The place from where one gets off the expressway towards Shillong is the beautiful Umiam lake. This man made reservoir was made after the Umaim river was dammed for hydro power generation. The amazing thing one has to ride/drive over the top of the dam to reach Shillong. Its the best moment of the ride.

The moment I entered the city of Shillong I entered chaos. All roads are single lane and the whole city is set on the hills. The houses are packed along the hillside like sardines. (I am using the euphemism as I was taught to express crowded scenario with sardines but never with the peak hour mumbai local crowd) the single lane traffic reminded me of Kohima traffic which also moved at snail pace. There are too many VIP cars on the road which adds to the chaos texture and gives it a demented flavour. The other thing that bothered me no end was the exhaust fumes from the traffic this made the air unbreathable. I did not find any pleasure travelling through the city I was getting suffocated in the congestion. At one point I decided to turn back and head to Taj, Guwahati for lunch. The return trip was an amazing ride back on the expressway. It was downhill and it was quicker than the ride up... gravity dear Watson.

I reached Taj around noon and it was the day when Northeast united host the Mumbai team in the ISL league. Since all the players are staying in the hotel and football is the religion in these parts the hotel is crowded with fans. Thankfully the management has seen to it that my bike is parked in a nice corner with the security having its vigilant eyes on it. I had my lunch in the hotel which was a local dish of duck steamed in Banana leaves. It was cooked to perfection and I am amazed that I had never tried it before on any of my previous visits. Today will be spent lazing around since tomorrow onwards I head back homebound, Bombay. Its roughly 2700kms away.

Total distance covered today 177 kms Total Distance from Bombay 7072 kms