Seeing the Sikkim trek was not enough punishment for the legs, we planned a milder one to a village called Nongriat where the living root bridges are situated. The locals have devised a way of growing the roots of trees to grow across rivers and brooks out of the ground one side and then back into the ground on the other. They are over a few hundred years old and it usually takes 15 years to complete one.
Nongriat village was almost untouched by tourism, there is one very basic guesthouse with 4 rooms but no electricity and running water. We would be the only tourists staying in the village for the next two nights!! We were greeted by a friendly man called Andreas in the first house you came to in the village and this would be the only time he was sober. The lady who ran the guesthouse was located after 20 minutes, in this time we took tea and stocked up on snacks and some of his rice beer for later that evening. The amazing thing about the guesthouse was the person who ran the place changed every year with the proceeds being split with them and the village.
Mary, whose turn it was to look after us was incredible, she spent most of her time cooking. Due to no electricity, she usually prepared 3 dishes with rice for lunch and dinner on a wood fire which we were amazed by as the food was so tasty. She educated us in Khasi cuisine and even the ingredients that she picked from the surroundings that grew naturally. We spent the days walking to the different root bridges and having a dip in the natural rock pools, it felt like we had the place to ourselves and we had found our gem of the trip so far.
Finding such an amazing place meant we decided to stay as long as possible and do all travel as late as possible, this turned out to be a tough journey. We had a 2 hr bus back to Shillong, a 3 1/2 hour jeep to Guwahati and then a 21 hour train back to Kolkata in the same day. The bad news for the train was we only had one bed due to India's stupid booking system so we took turns on the dirty floor! We definitely deserved our rest day and the next night went for 'date night' back at Ballygunge. We splurged on 3 prawn dishes, one being jumbo prawns and stuffed crab, then 3 desserts to finish!!
We won't talk much about our Sunderbans tour as it makes Jo too angry. This was our xmas present to each other to go see a tiger. Unfortunately, we got ripped off and didn't see a bloody tiger. You win some, you lose some. Jo's friend, Srabany and her parents took us out for a really nice meal once we returned to Kolkata. It was really good to see her but it's weird meeting all these people from home out in India. Jo's Dad next!
Sunshine and the beach was on our doorstep as we landed in Puri. The beach itself isn't anything to brag about due to the dirtiness but it's our first sighting, enough to get excited about. After tough times recently, we stumbled on the best hotel for the money yet. It had a cute garden, table and chairs on the veranda for breakfast, a four poster bed with fresh sheets and the softest pillow. Being friendly with the staff also paid off as they managed to get us 6 crabs for 200 rupees (£3), the second night for dinner which were divine.
Another excursion on a moped to Konark was squeezed in with a few pits stops along the coast for a sunbathe. We missed the sun temple Konark is famous for because of the 25 times mark up from locals to foreigner so we opted for a walk around the grounds. Seen enough temples to last a lifetime!
Vishkhapatnam was more of a stopping off place to break up the train to chennai for xmas. Unfortunately we arrived in at 4 in the morning and were struggling with information for a cheap hotel, even a map for the town. In the end, we found there was a hotel on part of the upper floor of the railway station building. The problem was, check out was 24 hrs so bizarrely we stayed there for the 2 nights. It felt really weird going back to a railway station to spend the night. Vizag as they call it, was pretty non-descript but had a few patches of decent beach to relax on, warming up for our NYE on a secluded west coast beach with some Havana 7 rum!!
Love Alex & Jo xx
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