Trip to India's unexplored paradise

This November I got opportunity to visit the unexplored paradise in of India..
our own North east A. K. A. 7 sisters.. but due to lesser time I could meet only 2 of these 7 beautiful sisters..

I was there for 9 days starting from 14th Nov to 23rd Nov.
Instead of writing a huge travelogue I am segregating the info in multiple posts...

This first post is just to share travel plan & places I covered in 9 days...
 
If anybody planning to visit it will be useful.. I guess J
 
Travellers : Kaustubh Khare, Prajakta Khare, Sachin Parab, Sheetal Parab

Duration: 14th Nov 2009 to 23rd Nov 2009
 
States covered: Assam & Meghalaya.
 
Day to day Itinerary:
14th Nov:
     Travelled from Mumbai to Shibsagar via Dibrugarh. Caught Indigo plane at 7:50 am from Mumbai to Kolkata. Connected flight Kolkata to Dibrugarh @ 12:30 pm.
     Travelled from Dibrugarh to Shibsagar via bus & stayed in hotel Aryan. (Sky chef is best choice but was full).
 
15th Nov:
      Visited a temple & Rong ghar built by Ahom kings in Shibsagar which took 2-3 hours. At 1:00 pm. Started for Jorhat town.. had lunch in jorhat town & headed to Nimati Ghat
       Next plan was to visit Majouli Island, for reaching there one has to catch ferry till Kamlabari.
 They also load your car in the ferry.. & each time only 3 cars can be accommodated on ferry.
 Rush was too high & the person with whom we had done ferry booking was absconding so had to wait till 6:00pm.
       At 6 pm our ferry started from Nimatighat to Kamalabari which is on Majouli Island, it takes 90 minutes to cross huge Brahmaputra river.
       After reaching Kamalabari we proceeded to Garmur which is another village in Majouli island.
 We met a person called Manjit  who arranged accommodation in Bamboo cottages for us & also Assami dinner. After dinner we called the day off in our beautiful & elegant bamboo cottage. Just 600 rs. Per day.
 
16th Nov:
      Had our tea & breakfast in the morning & started for Majouli site seeing at 9: am
      There are 17 Satra's on Majouli Island. Satra means temple of lord Vishnu where Vaishnav's on the island perform prayers & cultural activities.
      We visited 2 major Satra's on the Island, If you have visited or read about Bali, you will find similar rituals & plays performed in Satras. 
       (I am not aware of their connection with south east Asia but many things are very similar).
       Stopped for a while on planes of Majouli to do bird watching.. many birds migrate to this beautiful island in the winter & bird lovers should definitely visit this Island.
       Further proceeded to visit tribal village near Kamalabari.. Its beautiful village situated near Brahmaputra & you can meet tribal people visit their houses made up of Bamboo
       After sightseeing came the most tricky part.. secure place for our tata sumo in ferry boat... each time they took 600 Rs. For car & driver is complementary.. I don't know how much they take from others??? But one local guy had to pay only 30 Rs. For bike...
       After returning to nimati ghat, we returned to jorhat & headed straight to Kaziranga which is 80 Kms from jorhat.
       Stayed in Green reed resort 3 kms from kaziranga. Cottage was 1000 Rs. There are around 40 resorts here but if somebody claims the resort is within Kaziranga forest then its false claim.
 
17th Nov:
      Had early morning appointment with King of kaziranga yes the mighty single horned Rhino...             Elephant safari started at 5:15 am in the morning & was till 6:40 am. Saw 10-12 Rhinos, Bisons, dears  & different birds..
      After elephant safari rested in our resort for 2 hours & then started our journey to Badapani which is a huge lake in Meghalaya 20 kms before Shillong..
      One can see many tea garden en route.. One can also drink / buy fresh tea from some of these gardens..
      Reached badapani @ 7:00pm, checked in into Orchid resort which is very close to badapani lake & very good place to stay.
      Delux room was 1800 rs. Standard room was 1300 rs.

18th Nov:
      Started from Badapani in the morning, visited shillong peak, elephant falls & headed to cherapunjee.
      Visited Mawsmai caves, eco park & then headed to Cherapunjee holiday resort run by Mr. & mrs. Rayen. Just 3 kms before Mawsmai caves you can see diversion for mr. Rayen's resort.
( You can see Restaurant called hilbari to your left. Owner of this restaurant (I forgot name) is great travel enthusiast & will be happy to guide you. )
      Visited mawsmai caves & then went to Cherapunjee Holiday resort.
      Enjoyed camp fire, music program in the resort & ended the day after dinner. Room 1200 Rs.
 
19th Nov: Our guide Peter was ready to take us to Living root bridge trek. Had our breakfast, took some food along and started trek at 8 am.
        Had to descend 2000 steps when we reached at single decker Living root bridge.
        Further walked for another km. to reach double decker living root bridge...
        Further walked for another km. to reach natural swimming pool...
        Enjoyed at the swimming pool for an hour had lunch there & headed back to resort..
        Total time duration is 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. i.e. 8 hours.. The bridges are best example of bio-engineering & if you can descend & climb back 2500 steps you should do this.
        Took rest in resort for remaining day.

20th Nov. Visited second highest fall in India near Cherapunjee market. & then headed to Dawki, If you have one more day you can visit Dainthen hills & caves with unique rock formations.
           For visiting Dawki one has to come back till 20 kms before Shilong... There is a diversion for dawki. From diversion Dawki is another 50 Kms.
           En route one can visit cleanest village in Aisa which is near Pongtung village. One has to take right turn after Pongtung & travel 18 kms to reach here. Reached Dawki at 2 pm. Visited Bangladesh border &
headed further to Jowai..
          Around 20 kms before jowai, you will see village called JAREN, stop here.. On left hand side, just before entering the village you will see small hill.. We climbed it & you can see many Pitcher plants on this hill.. These are unique plants having Pitcher shaped flowers.. remember 8th std. science book???After this we headed to Shillong via jowai.. If time permits one can visit Thadlaskein lake.
           Returned to Shillong roam in shilling market for a while, had our dinner & returned to badapani for stay.

21st Nov. Visited Shillong Church, Ward's lake then stopped at Police bazaar for shopping..
        Had our lunch, did some shopping for 3-4 hours  & then headed to Guwahati.
        Distance between Shillong & Guwahati is around 100 kms & takes 3 hours to reach Guwahati..
        Reached Guwahati at 8:00 pm. Checked into hotel rajmahal near Guwahati railway station. Per room 3500 rs. There are cheaper options available on A.t. road, or near stadium.
 
22nd Nov. Guwahati sightseeing.. Visited Kamakhya temple, Balaji temple & Kalakshetra..
         I didn't find Guwahati worth spending time Instead one can spend more time in Meghalaya & catch helicopter from shilling to Guwahati 1000 per seat..
        Also did some shopping, but few shops were open as it was Sunday..

23rd Nov.  Again did some shopping, visited emporium & few shops at PNB
road, near reserve bank. Checked out from hotel at 12:40 pm. To catch flight.
        Caught flight from guwahati @ 3:20 pm. To Mumbai via Kolkata..
         Reached Mumbai at 8:20 pm. 

Total expenses for two: 52K including airfare & all expense if 4 people are travelling..

Travel in group of four is advisable as tourism is not developed very well in some part so you have to run around managing few things.

Transportation cost very high: Indica          1000Rs per day + diesel + driver's allowance
                                        Sumo AC          1300Rs per day + diesel + driver's allowance
 
Must visit: Majouli Island, Kaziranga, Shillong, Mawsmai caves, Jaren,
Living root bridge

Can be skipped: guwahati, Shibsagar..

If planning to skip Shibsagar, catch flight till Jorhat instead of
Dibrugarh..

Can cover more: Dainthen Hills, Tawang if u have 3 days,