Saturday, March 3, 2012

A Trip to Mawlynnong (cleanest village in Asia)

While in IIM Shillong, I was lucky enough to see many scenic locations. One of those places I have been to is the famous village: Mawlynnong . It was termed the cleanest village in Asia by Discovery and BBC in 2003. Along with the mesmerizing cleanliness of the village, we could experience the beauty of Meghalayan Living Root Bridge.













Meghalaya is famous for the living root bridges. This root bridge is located in Nongston, Meghalaya. We started for this place from IIM Shillong at 8am and on the way we had breakfast(tea and maggie) on a roadside shop. We reached Nongston at 10:30. We got down the hill to the root bridge, played in the stream, clicked photos, trekked to the nearby villages and returned back to the car. We then moved on to Mawlynnong which was half an hour journey from there.
We reached Mawlynnong and ordered lunch in one of the restaurants. They prepare vegetarian food only after ordered. So we rested for 2 hours during lunch. After lunch we went on to explore the place. We first went to Sky View Spot. It is a platform constructed on top of the tree to get a view of the entire forest of Eastern Khasi Hills. The interesting part is the way to the top of the tree; we had to walk on the planks constructed with tied bamboo trunks.
After the Sky View, we went to the Church which was unfortunately closed during that time. We then went to see the Tree House which was facing the woods. The construction was mindblowing and the atmosphere was serene and peaceful.
Most important aspect of this village is the clean roads, dustbins put up at every corner, neatly built houses with proper drainage system and public toilets. Can you ever find such things in any ordinary village in India? That is why it is the cleanest village.
We missed an important landmark: natural rock formation. In Khasi language, "Maw" means stone or rock. If we had seen this, then we would have known why exactly this place was named "Mawlynnong". We started back to campus at 4:30m and reach within 2-2.5 hours.

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