Winter Holiday -- Shillong, Meghalaya

Last week we escaped the city and headed north into the chilly weather of Shillong, Meghalaya. It's in the northeast of India, that little part that sticks out between Bhutan and Bangladesh.

Overall we had a great time. The resort was nice, with plenty of nature for Muffin to explore. It was chilly enough to need fleece jackets some of the time, but not so cold as to be uncomfortable. That was a relief to me, wondering how Muffin would fare in weather colder than anything she'd experienced before. By the last day, she was picking up her fleece and walking toward the hotel room door whenever she wanted to go outside.

We flew from Hyderabad to Kolkata to Guwahati and the drive from Guwahati to the resort, Ri Kynjai, was a couple hours. It's usually estimated to be two hours, but it took us nearly three hours to get there and almost four on the return trip. The biggest complaint we have for the whole trip, but there's nothing anyone can do about it, was the traffic. Apparently in the winter dry season, the state comes alive with mining and the roads have "double trucks," as our driver put it. Drives that should have taken forty-five minutes took hours. But if we wanted to leave the resort grounds and to walk around other parks, we had to sit in the car. We were able plan a bit so that the bulk of our car time happened during Muffin's nap times, which made the rides a little more bearable.

Once we got out of the car, though, wow. Nature like we haven't seen in a while.

Lake view from our room.

Morning stroll around the resort grounds.

Why I always insist on seat belts in our rental cars.

Like I said, the resort was nice, and if you just wanted to hang out on your balcony and wander around for a day or two, it would be perfect. Only once did Mike have to get up and ask the kids playing in the lobby at ten o'clock at night to please quiet down. (And that was only because the private cabins were booked so we had to stay in the main hotel. Get a cabin if you can.) The resort does a package deal with the meals at their restaurant (which had pretty tasty food, especially if you don't mind Indian and Chinese) and they handle payment of the drivers as well, so there's no negotiating prices all day long. We really liked our driver and would recommend him to anyone else going. For diplomats, they offer the VAT exemption right up front so there's no blank stares or arguments or paperwork.

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