20 Mawlyn'ng
Mawlynnong - Cleanest Village in Asia
23rd December 2011: Went to Meghalaya Tourism Counter (after Police Bazar Breakfast) to see if they had gathered a minimum group size for Mawlynram or Mawlynnong tour. No such luck.
The counter lady said there were a couple (Amit Das & wife) who were very keen like me, but no more. She gave me Amit's cell#. I called him but just a bit too late; he was already on his way to Mawsynram in a hired taxi. We decided to meet in the evening and fix-up for Mawlynnnong for tomorrow, in same taxi.
24th December 2011: Amit, Nivedita and me left Shillong in the morning around 10:15AM. It was a cloudy day. The route was very scenic!
Amit Das & Nivedita; on way to Mawlynngong
Mawlynngong, 72 Kms from Shillong, reputed to be the cleanest village in India/Asia. It is in the south, near the border overlooking Bangladesh plains.
Another view from the road to South
At 12:45PM we reached Mawlynnong
Beautiful Homes ... in nice garden settings
Another beautiful garden and home
After walking around the green Village for about an hour or so, we found a nice home for a rice-plate lunch.
This hut is the dining hall where we had lunch
After lunch, we walk to Riwaii Village and go past these beautiful homes to the root bridge
Riwai root-bridge and stream flow below
Two smiling kids selling fruits by the roadside
We can see our road ahead to Mawlynnong
Two kids at play in a home porch
Another kid playing with a Khasi basket
The bamboo skywalk to the treetops ... and a platform to view Bangladesh plains way below
Zoom view of B'desh plains over tree tops
Walking on the Riwaii Root-bridge over a stream
Two shy kids (twins?) of Riwaii Village
Sunset view (5:00PM) on way back to Shillong
By 3:00PM, we started back for Shillong after having enjoyed a wonderful visit to Mawlynnong and Riwaii. There are more beautiful pictures of these two villages in the slideshow below:
The detailed travel stories, with pictures, are in following sub-pages 47-01 to 47-20:
All the pictures of this North-East Tour in 23+ Flickr Albums are available in this Collection: North East -Dec-2011