guwahati

The story of our fifteen-day stay in Guwahati. We took the train from Varanasi which is our previous blog at https://neuage.me/varanasi

As always (twenty-years + of doing these blogs); Narda is in italics and the other non-italics scribbler is Terrell!

No dramas this time to find tuktuks. We had practised walking through the rabbit warren a number of times before. At the station the same assortment of sleepers all over the floor, both inside and out.

We went to the executive lounge. It was ok, we got a meal and just hung around for an hour or so.

Same meals as the previous trip, though this time we had to share a 4 berth cabin with another guy. We both managed a pretty good night's sleep despite this extra passenger. It's the downside of first class. There are only 1 or 2 two-berth cabins. All of this is allocated at the last minute and there is no flexibility.

I find 20 hours on these trains, especially sharing with a stranger, not so enjoyable. Narda wants to do one of the real long ones like for a couple of days but I am not so keen. If I had a guarantee of our own cabin with no one else and if there was a dining car I may consider it. I have never seen an Indian train with a dining car. I once rode across Canada, British Columbia to Montreal (1972) with an all-glass domed upper area, that was good. What is good though is a place to plug in so I am able to spend time on my laptop making YouTube clips of where I have been instead of watching where I was going. Such is life. Narda catching me in a happy moment – just realized lunch was on the way…

I thought Narda would write about why we went to Guwahati but I don’t see it so I will tell. Guwahati is the largest city in the Indian state of Assam and the largest metropolis in northeastern India.

At our morning aqua classes – 30 or so females and me (my dream fifty years ago – not so much now) in our bathers jumping about to music – usually of the 1960s, Beatles and stuff, unfortunately with a disco beat for us to splash madly about in, there was an Indian woman that Narda is friends with. At the end of the class, a phalanx of mermaids goes off and has coffee – Narda joins them, and I lift weights for 45 minutes. BTW phalanx usually refers to a large group of people standing very close to each other, usually for defence or attack so perhaps I missed the correct word, but I like the image so I will keep it. Anyway, to cut to the chase, the Indian woman is from Assam, or her husband is or they used to live there, forget which, but she recommended us to go there and so we did. Before we left, we went to their home and got more information on what to do and see. Her husband, in his mid-80s, had motor neuron disease, and was rapidly declining. We sent them photos when we were there in March. When we returned home, he died, and we went to his funeral shortly after our return. It was sad but we are appreciative of their suggestion and to have gotten to know them over the past few years.

From my daily notes…
Guwahati - 18 days left -arrived 7.30 pm an hour late - tired and cranky - difficult station - finally got to street tried to get an Ola car - waited at least 45 minutes person could not find us so we cancelled - got a taxi to Airbnb - Zoo Road - Tiniali - running out of phone charge - air BnB person let us in.

See our clip of our first few days in Guwahati starting with the train station, to begin with…

We arrived, determined to find our way to the Airbnb, using Ola (like Uber). The driver got hopelessly lost so we had to cancel and take one of the regular taxis. It worked OK, our hosts helped direct him.

Wow. What a time. Around midnight with all kinds of people with all kinds of suggestions to relieve us of our stuff and perhaps even to take us somewhere, anywhere. For some unknown reason I believed the driver on Ola would arrive any minute. My app showed him only two minutes away. For half an hour. He kept ringing us. Neither of us could speak the other’s language. Citizens of the night surrounding us all yelled and spoke and tried to talk to the driver and then to us and after 45 minutes with the driver still only two minutes away we took a chance and went with the least dangerous-looking person and drove off into the night. Luckily, we survived and as proof, I am here in Adelaide a month later finally trying to get this story completed.

So here we are in the nicest Airbnb we have ever been in (excluding Chris and Jess’ of course). First mal – Dosa…something…

Our little flat is on the second floor, a unit in a large home. We are at the end of a street which makes it quiet. It is about two NYC crosstown blocks from the main road. As Narda said it is nicely furnished though the kitchen was small with little more than a couple of plates. But in India, it is cheaper to eat out, though not so good for a diabetic with all their breads and rice meals. As usual, we did manage to make meals at home often which was collecting fresh vegetables each day. We did not have a salad for the three months in India as we were concerned about what the salad would have been washed in.

Today we took our first random bus ride. The only rule for these is that there are two seats. We scored! The bus took us to the riverside, a large very busy marketplace. No one hustled us. Quite a pleasant change from Varanasi. It was a pleasant day out.

We came several times to Fancy Bazar on the banks of the Brahmaputra River. I will ramble on about this shortly. We usually took bus #44 from the end of our lane to the Lakhtokia Bus Stop where there is a pedestrian bridge to get across the insane traffic somewhat safely. It derives its name from the Jail and gallows for hanging (phansi) that was situated in this area—the municipal records still call it Phansi bazaar. Unsure if that is a selling point or not. It is featured in our video above.

Our first evening was also quite eventful. We walked down to our local Momo shop and were welcomed by a bunch of lads who took lots of photos and told us lots of things to do.

This city has quite a different vibe, more relaxed. It rains a bit each day, the days are wonderfully cool.

Last night we went to one of the fancy restaurants just down the road and had Palak Peneer and another kind of Paneer with a yummy creamy base with the best butter naan we’ve ever had. The lights went out several times momentarily, but this seems very common in these parts. The Guwahati Address - https://theguwahatiaddress.com/

Brahmaputra River - The Brahmaputra flows through Tibet, Northeastern India, and Bangladesh. For those who measure, it is the 9th largest river in the world by discharge and the 15th longest. And something I was not aware of, “While most rivers on the Indian subcontinent have female names, this river has a rare male name. Brahmaputra means "son of Brahma" in Sanskrit.” How cool is that?

Brahmaputra River
Brahmaputra River
Brahmaputra River

Another bus ride, this time to the Skyway. I had reservations about it but it was good.

We spent an hour or so on the northern side of the city. Completely different, just a rural village.

The ropeway stops at the village of Rajaduar. There is a ferry at Rajaduar Ghat back to the other side of the river. We only did the ropeway. Below is the village of Rajaduar.

Had a decent lunch. Spring roll and egg roll which turned out to be identical but yummy.

our fancy 🍴 with our chef
the place to dine

Selfies with locals. We are often invited for this as I think we were the only old whities in town.

We took bus # 39 to Fancy Bazar to see where the ferries were anchored but due to a few rainy days, we did not cross over to them. Returning a few days later we took the ‘Ropeway’ across the river. Narda was a bit nervous. Somewhere we read that it was amongst the five safest in the world whatever that means. Guwahati Passenger Ropeway is India’s longest river ropeway spanning almost 2 Kilometres. This ropeway connects main Guwahati city to the north bank of the river Brahmaputra. It was opened to the public in August 2020. Our clip is at…

There is a ferry service from the city side of Guwahati (opposite Fancy Bazar) connected to the village of Rajaduar Ghat. We wandered through the village, but it was on the day we took the Ropeway. Not exactly sure why it is called a Ropeway, probably an Indian thing as we rode one a month later in the Himalayas, also called a rope way (foothills of the Himalayas but that is a future blog). There is a famous temple in the village - Doul Govinda Temple, one of the most revered shrines of Lord Krishna in Guwahati. We had a good lunch of mixed vegetarian unknowns with spices included at a funky open-air bamboo-structured place along the way. On our Ropeway excursion, we went over Umananda Island, known as the smallest inhabited riverine island in the world. On Umananda Island is a Shiva temple. You can see it in the little clip above. Honestly, I get these gods mixed up but the Shiva deity is different than the Krisna one. We see everything from Lord Krishna motorcycle rental to Lord Krishna Hotel, Bar, snack shop, and so on. I have not seen a Shiva shop. In our last blog, Varanasi, we showed the Shiva celebrations on the Ganges. In a nutshell, ‘The consciousness that is bliss, innocence, omnipresent, and the bestower of dispassion is Shiva. Krishna is the outer manifestation of Shiva. And Shiva is the inner silence of Krishna.’ How Google’s AI comes to terms with all this.

I got some photos of folks having a good old time in the Brahmaputra River - I was concerned about the waste and various unsightly things floating in the river, but I kept it to myself.

We took a ferry across the Brahmaputra River - about a five-minute ride full of motorcycles and people. Walked around a small dusty village had lunch and moved on with life. There is a massive new bridge being built over the river, a groovy old temple, and a quiet village life. We needed a toilet and a lady at a small shop where we were having tea took us to her house across the street to use their bathroom. An example of how nice people are here.

Also known as the festival of colors, Holi (pronounced Ho-lee) is a Hindu religious holiday that celebrates the victory of good over evil and is one of the most well-known festivals in India. The festival celebrates the feelings of love and pure joy with a chaotic countrywide colored powder fight. Holi 2024 falls on March 25th. We were concerned folks would throw paint at us - some tried to get us to join in activites but we just smiled and took selfies.

Two days ago, we decided that 6 weeks was long enough for a cold. Terrell was improving and I was not. Anyway, the doctor at the hospital diagnosed sinusitis using an x-ray to confirm. We left the nice hospital with 5 sets of prescription drugs to deal with every possible symptom. The best one was antibiotics. Finally. Later I scared myself reading what can happen if it is left untreated. Thanks, Google!

We hailed a taxi walking out of the hospital. The driver was a nice bloke who stopped a few times on the way home to share some sights. He became our driver for a trip to Shillong and then further into the state of Meghalaya which lies to the south of Assam. So, we are venturing into the unknown and taking a tour

We will come back to that. We took a taxi/Ola to Apollo Hospital. Narda tends to end up going to hospitals wherever we are – a few years ago we were in three hospitals in three Indian cities when Narda had bad stomach trouble. When we got back to Adelaide doctors said she had crone disease which she refused to believe. After may tests it turned out she was right, it was not crone disease but instead a worm of some sort that would get wiped out with antibodies and then a few months later returned until they finally got it and shot it dead and all its babies or whatever the scenario is. Then there was the time she fell off her motorcycle in Cambodia and we were in hospitals in Cambodia, Thailand and finally Melbourne then Adelaide. That was quite serious, and she almost lost her leg. There have been other times too, can’t remember them now. So anyway, we spend about an hour getting out to this Apollo Hospital. Of course, in the future we will see lots of Apollo Hospitals and at least three within walking distance of our Airbnb. Go figure. The doctor was great. She spoke English well, knew how to get Narda all fixed up.

We were unsure how to get home. Firstly, looking at buses but finding it impossible to figure them out we went to try and get an Ola. Just then a taxi drove up toward the hospital and we hailed him. He became our driver for the next week including a three-day road trip. Back to that in a moment. On the way back to our flat he stopped alongside the Brahmaputra River where we got some groovy sunset type of photos.

Eyajul Haque was an amazing driver. His daughter Eyana came to translate for him. At 7.00 am March 28 we were on our way.

Driver's daughter on Whatsapp - we asked for another night to Shillong - she booked hotel there. Narda taking first dose of meds - up at 6.30 N-back pain - did upper back exercises + meds feeling better an hour later - walked to Zoo Corner for groceries - snacks at restaurant on way home - bought fruit - nap - T = head massage & hair wash N=foot massage hair wash - dinner at dosa shop a block away.

Well, that was my notes for the day – remembering from today, 13^th June almost three-months later I cheat a bit and look at my daily notes. I had planned to do this blog the first week at home, six-weeks ago, but, amazing how the days go by so rapidly and we are so busy doing nothing everyday here in Adelaide. Gosh, retirement is exhausting. Though going through our photos is fun and reminds me of then.

We had a grand old time with our driver and his daughter. Lucky, she came along (no extra charge). She is a twenty-year old uni student and was taking a break from upcoming exams. “Escape with us – then you can pass any test” is our motto." (well, it is now as I just made that up). Her father did not speak English, but she was very good with communication. He has done this trip many times as that is his profession – driving tourists around. I believe most of this trip was Eyana’s first trip. Her father is early 40s I think. Age of our boys. Damn we are old.

Lots of driving. First through incredible mountains (our tour guides called them hills, yeah right.) . The driver would pull over at some spots for a photo op. One scared me….no guard rail, so I stayed in the car. What a wuss.

See our clip scary drive between Guwahati and Shillong - https://youtu.be/YebJZxWjEKc?si=NQKcMKbZTAqDCBEo There are a lot of photos in this clip, so I won't make a slideshow of the images in the clip, mostly.

It is only a couple of hours drive 90 kilometres, but we took from 8 am until arriving at our homestay at 6 pm getting there with a few stops along the way. Narda was nervous about some of the steep cliff faces with no guard rails – see our video above – an even stayed in the car at one spot where I leaned over the edge to get more footage for our clip above.

Next morning we headed further south into the state of Meghalaya to Cherrapunji. Passing through broom country. This is the plant that forms the bundles fold use to sweep their yards.

This large lake called Lake Umium was formed in the 1960s as part of a major water recreation area for Shillong;

Umiam Lake is one of the reasons why the Guwahati-Shillong route is considered one of the most scenic in the region. The lake was formed when a dam was built over the Umiam River in the early sixties as part of a hydel power project. If we had more time a boat trip would have been groovy.

Next, we drove to the Elephant Falls. Three of them. Not so much water now we were told by folks in the know. Wait till you get to the monsoons!

The Elephant Falls are a two-tier waterfall. The mountain stream descends through two successive falls set in dells of fern-covered rocks. The name originated in the British era when the Englishmen spotted a giant rock that looked like an elephant near the fall. This rock was destroyed in the 1897 due to an earthquake.

Leaving Guwahati for the neighbouring state of Meghalaya means “the abode of clouds”

Not sure what the trip is/was but a lot of folks were dressed in local garb - no doubt the local tribe - look it up an get back to me. Perhaps they were selling flowers.

Garden Of Caves “Garden Of Caves: A Microcosm of Meghalaya” in Cherrapunji, Northern India.

There was a zip line in the valley of Mawkdok in Cherrapunji measuring a total length of 2,600 feet and 1,200 feet in height. but we gave that a miss. Actually, it was closed due to fog when we were there so we did not really chicken out of doing it. They claim to be the first, fastest and longest zip line in East India. Never having done a zip line in my life I am not sure if that is correct. We were not even allowed to walk to the end of the platform – it did look scarry. This image is with a 300mm lens so that is how far from it we were.

It looked straight out of the movie set made on Shimla called Indian Summers set in 1932 about the final years of British colonial rule.

Actually, it was really a homestay, though it is a hotel, but it looks more like someone’s house. Really amazing amongst a busy and a bit dirty (this is India) city. An island/oasis. I believe we were the only guests at the time. I could not find it anywhere in my notes so wrote to Eyana on Instagram (my only contact with them) to find the name, Rosaville. I feel so UpToDate and trendy. Even though I did a PhD on “chatrooms” and internet communications, it was done at the end of the 1990s and completed 2005. So much has changed since then. I would ask AI, but AI and I are not in sync. BTW - my PhD thesis "Conversational Analysis of Chatroom Talk: Online Discourse Analysis Method" is available from Amazon for Kindle believe it or not - and of course in all great libraries (actually one, National Library of Australia in Canberra).

Our driver was fasting for Ramadan, so we took Eyana to a hotel in the night market area.

We have a one-minute clip of the Police Bazar in Shillong. Typical night market. Lots of children begging and selling pencils. We ended up with a pocketful of pens.

The nights were bloody freezing. I woke up and added a 3rd woollen blanket and pulled on a bunch more clothing. Then slept like a rock.

Random thingy – as not much of a laundry person myself (the wife fired me from that exercise after I put bleach into the laundry tray at the beginning of marriage some 22-years ago. Read about it in my book “how to get out of things once married” just kidding the book hasn’t been released or even written. I was impressed by the doing of laundry along the way.

We stopped at a few waterfalls. Lost track of which is which but they are one of these: Seven Sisters Falls, Nohkalikai Falls: The tallest plunge waterfall in India and the highest in Meghalaya, Krang Suri Falls and Dainthlen Falls is one of the most powerful sights you will come across, a gushing waterfall that cuts through the hard rocks and the high plateau of Sohra before it cascades down into lush forests. It is also a culturally significant place for the Khasi tribe. But don’t take my word for it just groove on the photos and next time you are in the state of Meghalaya check them out.

The Ever-Growing Living Root Bridge in Riwai Village, Meghalaya. https://youtu.be/Gx_Tu9jSSms?si=QFD5NZDDKrmKsJ1L These structures have grown over a period in Meghalaya. The ever-evolving Meghalaya root bridges is made up of tangled thick roots that provide formidability to the structure and make it good enough to hold 50 or more people in one go. They are grown by trained Khasi and Jaintia tribes who have mastered the art of growing root bridges across raised banks of streams running through the dense woods of Meghalaya. Meghalaya’s living bridges began two centuries ago (180 years precisely) when veterans of Khasi clan living in Meghalaya put rubber tree roots into hollow canes of Areca nut palm that met halfway across the stream. The roots were nurtured and cared properly until they grew enough to reach the opposite bank, get completely entwined with each other, and make themselves capable enough to carry heavy weight.

The story of Mawlynnong becoming Asia’s Cleanest Village goes back to 2003 when it earned the title by Discover India. It slowly gained popularity after 2005 when it was featured on BBC. But, the locals of Meghalaya have always been key players in maintaining the scenic beauty of this state. Inhabited by the Khasi tribe, the Mawlynnong village appears straight out of a fairy tale. The road leading to the village passes through a thick forest cover and Mawlynnong reveals itself like a hidden charm at first sight. You will have to park your vehicle outside the village and walk to explore one of the best places in Meghalaya. I climbed the tree house – bit wobbly (both the tree house and me) – I am 76 so a bit ripe for tree houses and heights – I was a bit scared; it was a long way down – but hey, here I am a survivor. See how small Narda looks – so far away.

For example, Narda took a clip of me, unfortunately most of the clip is of her finger and this is all that I could retrieve of me walking across – holding on tight – trying to remember what I read about bamboo whether it was strong or not.

The village was a bit ordinary – clean compared to places not so clean. Here in Adelaide everywhere is just as clean. I like the recent reviews, all so different:

The town of Dawki right on the border and a crossing point for trucks as well as travellers.

Gosh! This is becoming like a thesis I did for some degree back decades ago…almost to the end though...

Dawki, Meghalaya, on the Bangladesh border alongside the Umngot River. Going over the Dawki Suspension bridge. It is the last Meghalayan village before the Bangladesh territory begins. Dawki is about 70 km away from Shillong.

The border! There is a river used for tourist boat rides. It is also used by young men hauling unbelievably heavy sacks of gravel into India.

part of the border before the river
we could have swum across the river and been into
dudes watching Narda and waving to us not to cross the stupid little line of rocks
Here is the border official telling me all about it
reaching across the border -Narda told in no uncertain terms do not go across the border - WHAT! they are just a pile of rocks - but there were dudes with machine guns watching us...

We walked a little further onto the rocky beach. Incredibly the border there is marked only by a slightly higher pile of stones. Bizzare! I asked if I could get a photo of one foot in each country and was given an emphatic “no”.

So I went for second best and got a cross border hand shake. I did see, out of the corner of my eye, our driver (a very nice man) shaking his head vigorously. That's when I noticed the border police with their machine guns…finger on trigger (according to Terrell) watching me very carefully. I don't think I would have gotten away with a visa free runner. :)

So we made it across India…..West Pakistan to East Pakistan. Then there was a horrible war in 1971, resulting in the birth of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh and India are friends, but sadly not so much India and Pakistan. I asked folks in Pakistan and also in Amritsar and they all said “it's the politicians, not the citizens”.

Driving home from Dawki was a new experience. The road was jam packed with truck to-ing and fro-ing from the border. They can only drive at night which adds to the extreme congestion.

And choosing to take the middle road!!! Scary in a way, but we had an excellent driver and I discovered that tailgating was a legitimate strategy and the only way forward.

And that is it from Guwahati. We hope you enjoyed our little story. We went to the zoo, but it was a bit depressing, not looked after very well. They need money to make it worthwhile.

We did get to see a couple of the one-horn rhinos that seem to be the talk of the town. The other animals seemed depressed in their little unkept yards.

Our next blog is our trip to and adventures in Darjeeling - stopping in Siliguri and taking that famous toy train up the mountain - or was it back down? Well, wait for it...and we will all be on the same page soon. Lovely to have you come along on our trip with us. Cheers!