Umngot River, Dauki, Meghalaya, India

When I first saw the picture, I thought it was editing. After browsing the internet and watching videos on YouTube, I became a little convinced that there is such a thing. Then I borrowed from my elder brother, a Meghalaya expert. The time was May 2016. The brother said clear water and floating boats have been seen since November. But in June / July we see a completely different Meghalaya, when its springs become eternal youth. Out of love for Jharna, I got a visa to Meghalaya through Dauki Port in June. Aslam turned out to be some wonderful and unimaginable fountains (I will not go that way anymore, there was a lot of trouble: P). Even after such a beautiful trip, the picture of that floating boat was still lingering in my mind.
Finally the time has come, November 30, 2018. This time our plan was to go upstream to Nohkalika Falls, the highest waterfall in India, to a strange village called Kanthong where there is a Tune next to all the people’s names and boating in the clear waters of the Umngot River.
On November 30, 2018, our journey started from Saidabad on “Ahmed Paribahan”. I heard Ahmed Paribahan local type bus before the journey. The reason for going by this bus is that it is the only bus that goes directly to Jaflong, which can drop us off at Tamabil border at 8 am where the bus from Sylhet goes to Tamabil at 9/10 am. The 10 o’clock bus leaves at 10 o’clock (if the local bus is like that then it is better for all the buses to become local: P). Although we were supposed to reach Tamabil at 8 am, we wasted no time in loading and unloading goods from the bus, so we reached the border at around 6.45 am. Immigration activities at this border usually do not start before 9am but on Fridays the Shillong package of Shyamli bus service is available. This is an opportunity to finish immigration work quickly. It was about 9.30 am (Bangladesh time) to finish breakfast and work on the two borders. Now it is the turn of mobile recharge and car reservation. But when we heard that we were going to Kanthang, no car would agree to go because the long distance road was broken. Anyway, a car is managed with a lot of difficulty and this is the beginning of our extraordinary journey. The first thing to do is to go boating in the clear waters of Dauki. E-boating’s place can be reached on foot from Dauki Bazaar. Seeing the water of the river, everyone’s eyes will come out of this hole. The water was so clear that the rocks and fish at the bottom of the river could be easily seen and the most coveted floating boat could be seen. From where the boating starts, we can see Jaflong. Seeing again and again how we have destroyed part of our river. After boating on the river for 20/30 minutes we set off on our way to Kanthang village. Sometimes I will take a break for lunch. On the way to Kanthang, it was 5 o’clock in the afternoon. When I reached the village, I could hear the call of birds from side to side. This is the “tune” that the villagers use to call each other. The people of the village were very surprised to see us. I understood that tourists do not come here very often. There are cottages for overnight stay in this village but due to lack of time we moved from that village to Cherrapunji for only one hour.
On December 2, the top of “Nohkalika Falls” and on December 3, Sonengpadong, I returned to Bangladesh.

How to get there: Dhaka> Sylhet> Tamabil> Dauki

All you need to have: Passport, Indian visa with Dauki port

Cost: Visa Fee: TK.600, Travel Tax: TK.500
There were 9 of us in total, excluding visa fee and travel tax, we spent 800 rupees per person in 2 nights and 3 days.