What a wonderful world!

What is this life, if full of care;

We have no time to stand & stare…..

Meghalaya has always been the perfect weekend destination for me. Being only about 3 hours away from Guwahati, together with the variety of options on offer, it is my most preferred getaway destination. Also, monsoons are a good time to visit the hills. 🙂

So for my birthday weekend this year, I selected Mawphanlur to be our home for a night. Mawphanlur is a small village in the West Khasi Hills District of Meghalaya. This quaint little village, situated on a plateau surrounded by 7 ponds/lakes, is mostly known for its picturesque beauty and serenity. Recently a traveller’s nest called “THE MAWPHANLUR TRAVELER’S NEST” was opened in the village by the Mawphanlur Integrated Village Cooperative Society Limited and it was financed by the Meghalaya Cooperation Department to promote Rural Tourism development. (Source). Since we could not connect directly with the caretakers of the traveller’s nest, we contacted CAMPFIRE TRAILS, a local tour operator based in Shillong for a guided tour to Mawphanlur.

Our journey started with a smooth drive of about 2.5 hours from Shillong which changed to a tricky uphill ride on a barely-there-road (due to the heavy rains) and ended with a short trek to the Nest since the slippery road (it was drizzling) around a sharp turn in the road restricted our car to move further. Though I was not quite enthusiastic about the sudden trek, but I have to say, at the end of it, I was feeling refreshed. The cool breeze and the fresh air around me rejuvenated my soul & seemed to have blown away my tiredness. 🙂

Some views en-route the trek –

At the end of the trek, this view awaited us…….I was super happy to arrive! 🙂

At Mawphanlur, time stops! No matter whatever we were doing, the time seemed to move at a pace of its own. After a lazy and sumptuous lunch of rice, dal, home-grown potato and local Khasi chicken, we went for kayaking. It was my first time and once I got a hang of the way I needed to move the rows, I started to enjoy it. To say I loved it would be an understatement. 😛 Next we tried our hands in fishing but I was too distracted with the abundance of nature’s beauty all around me to stay put in one place patiently.  So I started to explore the place, happy to be mesmerized with every view in front of me. The hide and seek played by the sun and the clouds was a beauty to watch – one moment it was dark and gloomy and the next moment it was bright and sunny. Nature never fails to amaze me! ❤

Our cottage for the night 🙂 The view from our cottage! Kayaking! As I and my friends watched the sun go down slowly behind the hills and make the pond water shimmer in its golden light, I felt humbled and was filled with a sense of calmness and a familiar realization dawned upon me – we are but only a speck in the entire universe!

After a peaceful night with some sound sleep, the next morning when I opened the door of my cottage, I was greeted by some magnificent white clouds at my doorstep….I was spell bound!

Though we woke up late, we went for a short trek atop the highest point in the area overlooking the traveller’s nest, before we had our breakfast. After a lot of wows and equal number of photos and watching the green meadows and the cows in the distant grazing around with the tinkling of their bells filling the air, I realized how peaceful my soul felt amidst the quietness and greenness of the surroundings – it felt as if I could even listen to my thoughts here.

(The poet in me was awaken here and I even penned down a few lines – Heaven is Here)

Cows & sheep grazing in the meadows Resting in peace indeed! The greenness all around was so soothing 🙂 That’s me! 😛

As I lay on the green grass under the warm morning sun, I hummed these famous lines by Louis Armstrong –

“I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
But they’re really saying I love you.

I hear baby’s cry, and I watched them grow
They’ll learn much more than I’ll ever know
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.
Yes, I think to myself what a wonderful world.”

Happy feet! 🙂 ❤

Note:

• The package consisted of lodging, food, some activities like kayaking, fishing, trekking, star gazing, etc. and the per head expenses was Rs.4000/-. Car hiring charges to and fro from Shillong costed us another Rs.7000/-. Though the expenses was a little on the higher side, there were no regrets since the experience we had was that for a life time. 🙂
• Details about Mawphanlur and the Travellers Nest here – http://villagegetaways.in/destination_Mawphanlur-village.html