Dawki and Mawlynnong are the places in Meghalaya to create memories forever.
From Cherrapunji or Sohra, it takes three hours to reach
Dawki. Dawki is the farthest town in Meghalaya situated on the border of India-Bangladesh.
Dawki’s Umngot is the cleanest river in
India with mesmerizing green water. It truly is clean! In Monsoon, the water
gets muddy, but otherwise, it is pristine.
Once we entered Dawki, from the hilltop we saw a huge crowd on the Umngot riverfront. We were dismayed by the thought of standing in the queue for a boat ride. To our surprise, the crowd was from Bangladesh!
On the riverfront, there is a huge rock that marks the
border of India-Bangladesh. The upside part of the river belongs to India and the
downside is to Bangladesh. Security personnel standing beside the rock does not
allow Bangladeshi residents to come to India’s side. The only exception was the
Bangladeshi photographers who earn their living by taking pictures for the
tourists. Even though not needed, we also took photographs from one such
photographer. (With an exchange of Bangladesh currency; i.e., Taka!)
We took a boat ride and entered the tranquil water. Also, we drank a few sips from the river. Elegant ladies from Dawki were catching fish from the river to prepare their meals. They get meager income from selling the fish. We couldn’t see much fish in the river.
The boat took us to the end where the water was turbulent due to rocks. The riverfront with round rocks was marvelous.
Taking pics, we sailed back to the starting point. With memories to cherish for a lifetime, we started our journey towards Mawlynnong, India’s cleanest village!
The road towards Mawlynnong runs along with the Bangladesh
border fencing most of the time.
Meghalaya is a very clean state. Most of the villages carry out cleanliness drives to keep their surroundings clean. However, Mawlynnong is an ideal village model. The homes are adorned with gardens. Beautiful flowers bloom in most of the front yards. Efforts have been taken to promote tourism and create livelihoods for people residing in the village. Tourists can leave in the homestays as well.
There are other attractions near the village. One of them is a single root bridge. It is a bridge formed by the roots of the rubber plant. Meghalaya is famous for such root bridges. More on root bridges in a different post.
Balancing rock is another interesting place and an opportunity to take funny pics. A huge rock balances on very small support. So, one can pose like Hanuman or Krishna to lift a Parvat.
Traveling to Dawki from Sohra, we can experience changing plant diversity. Sohra is a wet desert with no vegetation except grass. Then on higher altitudes, we see temperate coniferous forest plants like pine, fir. As we go down vegetation changes to the tropical form.
Dawki is at a lower altitude. It has an ample amount of betel nut (Supari), Bamboo trees. Plant to make a broom (Broomcorn) is abundantly seen here. Making brooms is the means of livelihood for people. So, the broom in your home may have come all the way from Meghalaya!
Traveled back to Sohra, we slept peacefully relishing the
day spent well. Dawki and Mawlynnong truly gave us memories to last forever!
