Mesmerising Meghalaya – II

If you have ever watched a Disney movie in which a princess gets lost in an enchanted forest and wondered ‘what would such a place look like in real life?’ Pack your bags and book your tickets to Meghalaya. This incredibly scenic state in India offers so much natural beauty, it will take your breath away.Emerald green mountains, thrilling limestone caves, gushing waterfalls, pristine lakes and so much more. One week is hardly enough time to explore this lush, beautiful landscape. I planned my yoga retreat in Meghalaya and believed I could see its most famous sites in four days. I was right. We did manage to see all of Meghalaya’s most epic sites, but it also meant I spent a lot of time on the road. Meghalaya is huge and if you are ambitious like me—be prepared for long drives!To start with, there is no direct train or flight to Meghalaya. Oh yes, this shocked me too. I mean in an age where cities are getting bullet fast trains, if you plan to go to Meghalaya, you will have to book your flight to Guwahati and catch a minibus from there. And that’s exactly what we did..Six long hours later, we crashed at our quaint little hotel and slept all the exhaustion away. Adventure awaited us. You see, the next morning we were heading to the legendary living roots bridge. Going by the pictures I had seen; it looked like an enchanted forest from a Disney movie. Double decked bridges made from tree roots against the backdrop of some beautiful waterfalls—the google images had already stolen my heart and I couldn’t wait to see it in person.My group and I reached the entrance at 9 am, with bags packed with water, snacks and of course a change of clothes. With great josh we started our walk. The path to the double-decker root bridge is three kilometres long and no don’t smile and think 3 km sounds easy. You see the 3 km trek has approximately 3,500 stairs and descends 2,400 feet just one way!Since we were all full of energy, the descent into the valley felt easy and doable. Climbing downstairs is always easier. We made our way down in about two hours after taking tons of pictures. We found the living roots bridge and took more photos and then immersed our feet in the pool of water as we watched little fish nibble on our toes..As we sat and chilled over some warm Maggie noodles, one of my students said ‘Roh, I hear rainbow waterfalls are just further ahead on the path. Shall we go?’ Always up for a walk, I gathered the group, and we walked for about an hour. As we walked, suddenly we saw this aquamarine blue pool of water along our path. It looked so stunning and refreshing. As we took pictures, a group of boys who were returning from the Rainbow falls said, ‘Don’t waste your time, the falls are covered by clouds. Go back when you can.’Go back? No way. We decided to go off the path and climb down to the pool of water. We jumped, swam and played around for almost four hours and no one even realised the time. But that’s when I saw the sky getting darker and realised that we should be making our way back up, before it got too dark.We made our way back up to what was easily one of the toughest walks of my life. After six hours of waking and playing, climbing 3500 stairs is hard. People were struggling but there was no way out, only up.The sky darkened and using the torch of our mobile phones, we climbed and climbed and climbed for what seemed like an eternity, until we finally reached the top! This was a trek we would never forget. Normally on most treks, the way back is fast and easy. This one was the opposite—the way back was the hardest part of the journey!.Only where you have walked on foot have you really been.Messner