To Haflong and back....

Finally home..... after a rather eventful stay at Haflong. For starters, the journey to Haflong was very tiring coupled with multiple, albeit avoidable delays on the way . The journey began at 7.30 am , an hour late, as the driver had not turned up on time at the travel agency. As we inched our way across the town, we were caught in the rush hour traffic....and by the time we were on the outskirts it was already 9.30 am. Then just before Nongpoh, the right tyre on the rear, punctured and we had to spend some more time fixing that by the wayside. We eventually reached Shillong at around 11am.
Onwards from Shillong , we lost our way twice....first, near the Laitkor peak (on the way to Jowai) and secondly, near 8th mile (on the way to Umrongso). We were already running late and these delays only compounded our existing problems. Our main aim was to reach Haflong before dark and we really had a loong way to go.....without delays, the journey could be covered in 10 +/-1 hours ....but that seemed a distant reality....what with a rather inexperienced driver at hand.....it wasn't helping things much.
The weather was a bit dull...it was cloudy and a bit chilly....with a slight drizzle now n then. As we moved on from Shillong....the roads got better and so did the scenery. There were pine trees dotting the hillside with neat little cottages by the wayside. Sparkling steel utensils out in the backyard to dry, beautiful lace curtains and bright coloured flowers in neat pots, lined the verandah of each house.....it was beautiful.....
As we moved further towards Umrongso, the scenery changed a bit....got a glimpse of the Kopili River...in all its turquoise blue splendour...sitting placidly...amidst the rolling hills. It was getting dark ....it was about 5 in the evening...and we hadn't had lunch as yet....man...i was hungry like hell. So we stopped by at the Inspection Bunglow of NEEPCO at Garampani for a quick lunch over a steaming cup of tea and rather cold, but nevertheless tasty puris and sabzi!!! It was quite dark by the time we began our journey again...we still had around 4 hours to go....and our last experience had shown how horrible the roads were....and as we moved on ...our worst fears came true. For miles on end, our car was the only thing visible on a lonely stretch through a thick jungle.....there was nothing....no people, no animals ...just the quiet, dead stretch of inhospitable road. So we just turned on some music and babbled on...hoping that we'd reach soon...and we did, at around 9pm.
Haflong was asleep at that hour and with not a soul on the road to guide us, as usual we lost our way...... and by that time , it wasn't funny anymore. We were tired and literally dropping off. When we reached the Circuit House , we realized that the housekeeper there, hadn't cooked dinner for us..as he thought we had cancelled our trip.....as if the journey wasn't enough....
Anyway, we requested them and after a lot of complainin, they did make some rice n dal and salad, and i tell you ...the food tasted heavenly. After a quick dinner, we freshened up and just plopped on the bed....it was such a tiring trip.....


To be continued........