River Umngot or the Dawki

This is for the 25th and the 26th.

Relaxed morning of the 25th at Guwahati as Divya got some work done and Varun drove in from Kaziranga. Spent some time getting the mud from Arunachal off the vehicle, inside, outside and underneath.

Headed out to Shillong after lunch. It is such a beautiful run. Great winding roads. The air gets chill as you climb. The fun lasts till you near Shillong and run into traffic. Like any other city, traffic has boomed without any hope of roads widening.

Ate and slept at a more decent hour instead of our early driving hours.

This morning went for along walk before breakfast. The ups and downs are great to walk on. The air is crisp and chill. Cars are yet to start crawling. You get to breathe some good air.

Walked past the site where Varun and Divya are to speak at the Shillong Literary festival.

Post breakfast, headed out to the Umngot River ( Dawki River ).

This is about 60 kilometers from Shillong, in the Jayantha Hills, on the border with Bangladesh.

Had read about it and seen the pictures of the clear water. That was the trigger for me to book myself into a home stay at a place 15kilometers before the river. The idea was to get in, have lunch, get to the river and spend a couple of hours clicking the sunset. Then go in again tomorrow morning, and repeat the process in sunrise.

It was a lovely drive to the home stay. Unfortunately there was a haze across the valley that runs along the road. Could not get any pictures. Traffic was heavy. Was wondering where it all came from.

Reached the home stay by 1300. Was told that the room was being cleaned and I was to go and come back later. That itself pissed me of. Educated the guy a bit. Then asked him where I could make a pit stop. he showed me to the room where I was to stay. Smaller than a match box. Anyways, did what I was to do and left. At that moment had every intention of getting back after a river ride and lunch at the river side.

Took me a leisurely 45 minutes to reach the river. Was accosted by some motor cycle guys by the side of the road. They were pimping for the boats. Picked up one of them, who road his bike ahead of me. Had to park a couple of kilometers before the boat area.

The river is a good 50 feet below road level. There are steep steps leading down to the river. The side I was on is the Indian side. The opposite bank is Bangladesh. It was crawling as though infested, with humans. That itself turned me of a bit. Strike two.

Went down the steps with the pimped boatman. Paid INR1200/= for an hour on the river. The water was murky when we started off on the boat which was powered by the paddle in the boatman's hand.  

The river was crawling with boats. There went my idea of a peaceful photo shoot in the middle of the pristine waters of the river. Strike three.

We passed under a bridge. That bridge leads into Bangladesh. That was what the traffic was all about. Loaded trucks go into Bagladesh and come back empty.

As we crossed the bridge the water started clearing.

 

As the boat goes up river into India, there are rapids. But, these wooden boats have no hope of going up stream past them. Stopped there for a couple of minutes, turned round and headed back. Leave you with the pictures.

Also need to show you the infestation in the opposite bank.

 Since there was nothing to negate the triple strike, headed back to Shillong.

Got back ahead of traffic. 

Now for a laid back evening of good alcohol and food.