Laitlum – The Stairway to Heaven

Unblemished yet by tourism and commercialization, lies an exotic secret in the pristine valleys situated in the East of Khasi Hills, Meghalaya. It goes by the name ‘Laitlum’, which essentially means ‘The End of Hills’.

Unlike other trips, we did not involve much research for this road trip. Truth be told, the idea just popped up the night before as we were chilling over a cup of coffee in a café. Our much awaited Bhutan Road Trip got shelved owing to the outbreak of Novel Corona virus followed by Bhutan sealing its border for international tourists. We still had two more days of holidays to go, and a day long trip to Laitlum sounded like a perfect escapade.

The Road Trip

The amazing Road Trip

The next day, we started our drive at roughly 09:30 hours from Ulubari, Guwahati. We carried flasks of coffee, cup noodles, chocolates and some additional warm clothes. We decided that this road trip was the perfect ground to test our newly purchased Go-Pro Hero 7 (Black) and we did. We stopped for some occasional coffee along the way and finally reached Shillong at around 12:30 hours.

From Shillong, there are two routes available; via MRD6 which was approximately a 25 min drive and via Smit village which was around 1 hour drive from police bazaar. The perks of taking the longer route via Smit village is the possibility of experiencing the unparalleled beauty of the mountains and to soak in the laps of misty majestic nature along the drive.

If you want to add a bit of tipsy turvy element along your ride to the canyons, you may want to stop en-route and taste the Iocally brewed rice-beer.

The Cliff Edge Experience

Google maps are a savior these days. We screeched into halt at the exact parking spot and paid a nominal parking fee of Rs 50/-. A short walk of 150 metres along the gravely route lead us to the Cliff Edge.

The vast, verdant and fascinating panorama of Meghalaya was evident from the edge of the cliff. Clouds had enveloped the vast stretches of hills. So enigmatic was the tranquility, that I forgot all about capturing the landscape and just sat there marveling at the wonder nature had created.

Wondering the beauty of nature

Sunset at Laitlum

The Valley Experience

The Cliff opens to an expansive valley of different hues. As we stood there in the middle of the rippling valley, we could witness the field of gold blending into a distant undulating green. The place was quiet and cold, the air was misty and there was hardly anything to see except soak up the nature’s abundance and just be. We just sat there and had coffee and then cup noodles whilst enjoying the marvelous spectacle of nature.

The Valley

The Stream from your Childhood Dreams

Seeping through the deep huge gorges along hillocks, is the sparkling Laitlum Stream. The gurgling blue waters, the sublimely beautiful hilltops and its quaint wooden bridge invites travelers to just stand and stare at the straight from a storybook-magical landscape.

The Magical Landscape

Trek to Rasong Village

Just a few kilometres away from the Grand Canyons is a village innocently disconnected from the rest of the world. This small hamlet is nestled deep into the lush green ridges and the only way to get there is a steep rocky route. It is roughly 3000 winding steep steps from the canyons to the fascinating village.

The trek is exhausting yet exhilarating amidst bamboo plantations and wild burst of orchids, and a must-do for seasonal and professional trekkers. However, one must take care of two things; one to stuff one’s backpack with enough fluids and eatables and second to reach the Canyons by 9 am in order to trek back and forth before dusk. And of course, one must be moderately fit to undertake the trek.

The Rasong Village down the hill

Wooden Pulley System

Also worth mentioning, is the age old wooden pulley system, which is essentially a zip-line that is used to transport essentials like fruits, vegetables and grains to and from the village.  Rasong is a village so stuck up in the past that this zipline is the single most important means of communication from the village to the rest of the world.

Unfortunately, we were crunched for time and could not do the trek. But we resolved to come back sometime later in the year with better planning.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, Laitlum Grand Canyons amazed us more than we ever expected. We were told by locals that March to August rains, turns the area into an oasis of varying shades of green and that is when the canyons are at their best. We could not believe that it could get anything better than what we had witnessed.

We resolved to come back after monsoons for an even better experience and this time we would undeniably do the Rasong trek.

Gorgeous aerial view, fascinating panaroma of Meghalaya, sublimely beautiful hills, deep gorges, sparkling stream, expansive golden valley, enigmatic tranquility – the place has it all. You might want to skip a few spots in Shillong to make time for this nature’s marvel.

Make sure to visit this place before its sanctity is adulterated by any form of human-intervention.