North East Odyssey: Part Nine

Day Eight (01.12.2021): Road trip from Kaziranga, Assam to Shillong, Meghalaya

We woke up early morning, got ready for the day, kept our luggage outside the room and went for breakfast. There was hustle bustle on the floor by the crew which checked in last night. People were talking loudly with each other so that the whole floor should know they were preparing for the Jungle Safari today. Adjacent room members were complaining because there was no water in the bathroom tap. Same was the case with us yesterday. We went to the reception area for breakfast. It included bread butter, bread cutlet, poha, puri sabzi, omelette on demand, juices, etc. The luggage got loaded into the bus. We were travelling to Shillong today. We halted at the Tea Plantation in the vicinity of the hotel, adjacent to the place where yesterday a lot of tea leaves shopping was done.

Tea Plantation

We entered the lush green tea plantation at 9AM. Bhushan briefed us on the process. The plantation was widespread with sections created to walk through and pluck the tea leaves. There were tall trees in between throughout the plantation. Everybody clicked photos and then we got back to our bus. We continued our road journey and halted at 12:30 PM near a coconut stall for enjoying coconut drink and coconut malai (soft white part of the coconut). After half an hour of drive, we halted at the IORA Food Court for lunch. Done with the lunch, we were relaxing besides the lotus pond. 

Shraddha showed us images  of some of her paintings; she is a great artist. Some were enjoying the swing, while most of us were walking around. We still had a long drive to reach our hotel in Shillong. We were singing random songs on the journey. We crossed the Jorabat bridge at the border between Assam and Meghalaya. Bhushan and Tapan went ahead to submit related documents. The sun had already set by now and we were stuck in traffic for the first time. Finally, we reached Hotel MCrown in Police Bazaar at 06:30PM. We were welcomed with tea coffee and small cutlets. Rooms were allotted and we had Room no. 325.

Street food & Shopping

We immediately freshened up and were set to explore the streets and food of Police Bazaar by 7PM. The streets were full of food stalls and sellers. There were Army Jeeps passing from here to there. We started with steamed momos and veg noodles. Some tried tea at tea-stall. 

Then we tried aloo-muri, the famous street food of Shillong. It consists of mashed potatoes, murmure, finely chopped onions and tomatoes and dal mixed in a special masala and oil. It just tasted delicious. 

Then we tried pani puri. There were a lot of stalls selling franky, spring rolls, omlette dishes, cutlets, etc. We further explored the shopping lane. There were a lot of stalls selling woollen clothes including caps, earplugs, variety of shawls, hand gloves, fur coats, socks, etc. Some explored the sweet dishes while some were engrossed in shopping. Done with the shopping, we all headed back to the hotel for dinner. The hotel was luxurious, the rooms were spacious, different types of wall paintings and even the furniture gave it an artistic touch. We were happy that we would be spending three nights here. The cherry on the cake was the delicious dinner; from the mixed salad and chat till the corn sauce and pulav, everything was lip smacking. Having satiated our tastebuds, we were discussing over the remaining sightseeing. The girl gang was deciding on visiting the Polo Tower tomorrow, except for me and Shweta. We spent a lot of time at the dinner table. We wrapped up the discussions, went to our rooms, and dozed off.

Read next: North East Odyssey: Part Ten