It is day 5 of our stay in Shillong. We planned to visit Ward’s lake in Shillong. After reaching Ward’s lake we came to know that every Tuesday it is closed. Without knowing what to do, we opened our trip advisor app and came to know about Umiam water sports complex.
After seeing about the place in trip advisor we headed towards Megalaya tourism department in Police Bazaar (which is near Madras café) and inquired how we can reach that place. The people in megalaya tourism are very helpful. They told us it is in Guwahati road and asked us to go to the end of GS Road in Shillong where we can find plenty of sumo services. From Police Bazaar we went to BaraBazzar from there to Motphran and then to Garikhana; some 15 to 20 mins walk in busy roads of Shillong. In Garikhana you can find lots of sharing jeep services (either TATA sumo or Mahindra Maxx). Here is where you can find yellow painted sumo vehicle and the fare is very cheap. Normal capacity of sumo is 9 but here even though 10 people are sitting inside the sumo, the driver tells 2 more can come !!! finally we 12 are there inside that sumo (thanks to TATA for pulling more people that quoted :D)
We should get down in Orchid Lake resort and water sports complex which comes after Barapani dam bridge. But we got down before the bridge and unknowing even entered military/defense land because there is no sign saying this is army land and entry is restricted. As soon as we enter one guy was running towards us and asked who we are, once we told we are tourist and coming from southern India he smiled and told ‘you should go to water sport complex which is after the bridge and this is restricted/protected area’. We shook our hands with him and exited the defense land. Since the taxi which took us from Shillong left we need walk some 1 to 1.5 kms to reach that place.
After some 15 mins of walk we reached the point, there are three places of interests in this point
(1) Nehru park
(2) Umiam water sports complex
(3) Orchid lake resort
We didn’t go to Nehru park as we are grownups ;) we went to water sports complex and lake resort. Entry ticket is Rs20/- per person. Inside you have a decent snacks shop and wash rooms. The place is well maintained with plants and grasses. Don’t go craze by the word ‘water sports’ the only entertainment it has is boating. They have different types of boating ranging from River Boat, Motor boat, Speed boat and few others. It is a good place for people coming in group because they even have place for cooking and having food. They charge 500 to 1500 for cooking depending on the group size. It was wonderful to see group of families comes together and enjoy cooking (ladies are peeling and cutting vegetables, boys are serving coffee to other, gentleman are making fire for cooking), playing (kids are running here and there), dancing (yes they came with their sound system!!), boating, talking with each other.. it is a perfect place for family get together..
After spending our time in the lake we went to Orchid resort for food (no group invited us for food :D). The restaurant in the resort offers a good view of the lake and the ambiance was good. The quality of food is decent but they took more time to serve. We were roaming the resort and found a beautiful location for selfies :)
After spending some time in resort we were heading to Guwahati-Shillong road to catch taxi to Shillong. Luckily one taxi was standing in the main road and it was empty; even if a taxi is not standing outside for sure you will get a seat in any of the passby taxis from Guwahati. We 2 of us boarded and waiting for few more people to start the taxi as it is sharing. After 5 to 10 mins, 3 Kashi girls came and boarded the taxi. On our way to Shillong, we were talking to them about language, food and culture in Meghalaya. And they told interesting stories of Meghalaya.
After seeing about the place in trip advisor we headed towards Megalaya tourism department in Police Bazaar (which is near Madras café) and inquired how we can reach that place. The people in megalaya tourism are very helpful. They told us it is in Guwahati road and asked us to go to the end of GS Road in Shillong where we can find plenty of sumo services. From Police Bazaar we went to BaraBazzar from there to Motphran and then to Garikhana; some 15 to 20 mins walk in busy roads of Shillong. In Garikhana you can find lots of sharing jeep services (either TATA sumo or Mahindra Maxx). Here is where you can find yellow painted sumo vehicle and the fare is very cheap. Normal capacity of sumo is 9 but here even though 10 people are sitting inside the sumo, the driver tells 2 more can come !!! finally we 12 are there inside that sumo (thanks to TATA for pulling more people that quoted :D)
We should get down in Orchid Lake resort and water sports complex which comes after Barapani dam bridge. But we got down before the bridge and unknowing even entered military/defense land because there is no sign saying this is army land and entry is restricted. As soon as we enter one guy was running towards us and asked who we are, once we told we are tourist and coming from southern India he smiled and told ‘you should go to water sport complex which is after the bridge and this is restricted/protected area’. We shook our hands with him and exited the defense land. Since the taxi which took us from Shillong left we need walk some 1 to 1.5 kms to reach that place.
After some 15 mins of walk we reached the point, there are three places of interests in this point
(1) Nehru park
(2) Umiam water sports complex
(3) Orchid lake resort
We didn’t go to Nehru park as we are grownups ;) we went to water sports complex and lake resort. Entry ticket is Rs20/- per person. Inside you have a decent snacks shop and wash rooms. The place is well maintained with plants and grasses. Don’t go craze by the word ‘water sports’ the only entertainment it has is boating. They have different types of boating ranging from River Boat, Motor boat, Speed boat and few others. It is a good place for people coming in group because they even have place for cooking and having food. They charge 500 to 1500 for cooking depending on the group size. It was wonderful to see group of families comes together and enjoy cooking (ladies are peeling and cutting vegetables, boys are serving coffee to other, gentleman are making fire for cooking), playing (kids are running here and there), dancing (yes they came with their sound system!!), boating, talking with each other.. it is a perfect place for family get together..
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| Boating in Umiam |
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| Boating in Umiam |
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| Cooking in Umiam |
After spending our time in the lake we went to Orchid resort for food (no group invited us for food :D). The restaurant in the resort offers a good view of the lake and the ambiance was good. The quality of food is decent but they took more time to serve. We were roaming the resort and found a beautiful location for selfies :)
After spending some time in resort we were heading to Guwahati-Shillong road to catch taxi to Shillong. Luckily one taxi was standing in the main road and it was empty; even if a taxi is not standing outside for sure you will get a seat in any of the passby taxis from Guwahati. We 2 of us boarded and waiting for few more people to start the taxi as it is sharing. After 5 to 10 mins, 3 Kashi girls came and boarded the taxi. On our way to Shillong, we were talking to them about language, food and culture in Meghalaya. And they told interesting stories of Meghalaya.
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