Adventure Weekend #2 - Shillong

This weekend we took a road trip to Shillong, the capital city of the state of Meghalaya. Shillong is pretty much directly south of Guwahati. Shillong is the city where Ray and Ellen lived and worked when they first came to India in the 1960s. There were nine of us who went from Guwahati. Kuldip, our driver, Ray, Autumn, Andrew, Drew and Rachel MacCormack, Shyam, Raysha and myself. Ellen stayed in Guwahati so that she could continue to look after our LST team, the Muirheads. Meghalaya is much hillier than Assam. As soon as we crossed the state border I noticed a significant change. We drove on some crazy curvy roads. I will never cease to be amazed at how daring the people are here when it comes to passing blindly and at high speeds around tight curves. That first day of travel we had a pretty close call with an oncoming car. We saw one truck that had overturned while going around a corner and we passed the truck in the picture, the driver of which was probably very glad that the truck stopped where it did and went no further.

This is such a common sight here. This would be so illegal in Canada!

Along the way we stopped in a town called, Nongpoh. If I remember correctly it means, half way. It is located halfway between Guwahati and Shillong. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Ray break out in Khasi and speak with the locals. He had a great big grin on his face as he inquired about the prices of fruit etc.

Ray posing with some pineapples

So many roadside stands selling their wares.

This lady is cutting the pineapple I had just bought for 25 Rupees (about 64 cents Canadian). This was my first Indian pineapple...YUMMY!!!

When we arrived in Shillong we went to visit some members of the church there. I knew some of them from the retreat and youth camp that was hosted in Guwahati in January. When we first arrived Jimmy Perry happened to be driving by on his motorcycle. He is a distant relative of Raysha's and an old friend of Ray and Ellen's. It was completely a coincidence that our paths crossed. He took Andrew for a quick ride on his bike which he thoroughly enjoyed.

Andrew about to go on his motorcycle ride with Jimmy.

Having a delicious Indian lunch at our friends' house.

After lunch Ray took us to see the church building where he and Ellen were married. This was the congregation with which they worked while they were living in Shillong. We looked around outside but no one was there to let us inside. It was also raining so we didn't stick around too long.

Trying to avoid getting wet outside the church building.


The sign on the front of the church.


This is the other Church of Christ building that is not far away from the one Ray and Ellen worked with. (this was taken on another day when it wasn't raining)

Sign out front.

This is the house where Ray and Ellen rented two rooms after they were married.

After the rain let up Ray took us to Police Bazaar to look around and do some shopping. It was Saturday afternoon and there were a lot of people!

Crowded street in Police Bazaar.

Women selling betel leaf which is used for chewing betel nut, a very popular pastime here. The betel leaf comes from a plant that is not related to the betel palm, the tree that the betel nuts grow on.

The market was full of women selling and chewing betel nut. They cut it into small pieces and wrap it in the betel leaves along with lime (not the fruit, Calcium hydroxide) and then chew it. The tell tale sign of a betel nut chewer is teeth stained brightly red. It really is quite disgusting if you ask me. If you come to India you will see the ground stained with red betel nut spit.

Ray took us through the meat market which thoroughly disgusted most in our group. I was quite fascinated though. Too bad we couldn't get meat like this here in Guwahati.

On Sunday we added two more people to our group and drove to the village of Plungwanbroi (This is my best guess of how it is spelled). It was a 3 hour drive up through the hills with 11 people in the Sumo. It was quite terrifying at times if you want to know my opinion. Hairpin turns and steep cliffs not to mention the crazy speeds at which we traveled over the very rough roads. At one point we passed equipment that was being used to haul up the remains of a bus that had gone over the side of the cliff the previous week. It was not a very comforting sight and I was surprised to learn that only one woman had been killed in the incident.

Makes Saskatchewan roads look pretty good if you ask me.

In this photo Drew is helping some men trying to push a truck that was in the road. Eventually Kuldip just drove around it...I'm still not sure how he fit our huge Sumo through that tight space!

When we arrived in the village we were greeted warmly. We held a worship service in one of the homes. It was very encouraging to see this small group of believers gathering together in this remote community.

The young woman in the photo above does not know her age but they estimate that she is nearly 100 years old.

After the worship service we were served a very tasty Indian meal. After eating some of the young people took us to see a nearby cave. We entered but did not go very far in as it was very muddy and we did not have a light with us.

This is Drew descending into the cave.

The roof of the cave was quite low at the entrance but as we entered it got higher.

The sunlight shining in was quite lovely.

Even though a language barrier existed, this woman woman made me feel very welcome through her actions. It was an honor to meet her.


I really like this picture. I took it from inside the house where we held the worship service.

Kuldip took Andrew for a little drive where he let Andrew do the steering. Andrew was pretty pumped!

I was much calmer during the trip home than I was during the trip out to the village. I think maybe because Ray had asked Kuldip to drive slower. Also I was quite distracted by the scenery The sun setting out over the hills was a spectacular sight to behold!

Immense and majestic.


Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
O LORD, you preserve both man and beast. ~Psalm 36:5,6

Missing Ellen. :(

I think the Khasi hills are maybe the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

We stopped at elephant falls just before it got dark. There was enough light that we could see the falls but not enough light to take decent pictures. I did think this sign was interesting however.



On Monday morning Ray went to visit some friends of his and the rest of us walked back to Police Bazaar to look around some more. There were fewer people which was nice. I really enjoyed walking in the cooler temperatures of Shillong.

These delicate flowers were growing out of a wall on the walk from our hotel to the bazaar.


This sign was also along the way. It amused me.

I bought a couple of pocket knives from this old guy. I think they'll make cool gifts.

Before leaving Shillong we dropped in to visit Ray's old friends. This is Philip (from Tibet) and Margaret (from the US) I really enjoyed visiting them. They are a neat couple.

This one was just too good not post. We stopped at a little amusement park on the way home so Andrew could ride the go carts. Ray offered to hold the ladies purses.

Andrew started out in the driver's seat.

This was seconds before Andrew crashed the go cart. f you could only have heard Raysha screaming. After the crash Raysha took over the wheel.

Rachel drove for Autumn.

Another beautiful sunset on our way back to Guwahati

And this was an amusing sign at a fuel station where we stopped to get diesel. You can visit Ray's blog to read his story of what happened at that fuel station. It involves counterfeit money and yelling in various languages.