With several days of holiday around Eid, I decided to take the chance to head up north into India, to Cherrapunji, the wettest place on earth, and a place I've long wanted to visit. I've also been eager for a chance to explore the northern border by bicycle, so as I got to planning the trip it quickly turned into a bicycle trip with a short break in Cherrapunji: 6 days on the road and 2 at the Rayen family's Cherra Holiday Resort.
The dark green on the map above closely follows Meghalaya's borders, with Bangladesh on the South and Assam on the North. I started off going East along the small roads paralleling the border. It is remarkably beautiful country, with some unique terrain.
After a night in Birisiri, I rode into Shunamganj, but soon had to load the bike into a boat to get across the Tanguar Haor. Although it is right next to the mountains on the northern border, much of Sunamganj is less than 10 m above sea level, and has several haors, enormous areas that stay flooded even during the dry season.
The rivers that come rushing down the Meghalaya hills spread out and deposit their stones and sand in vast riverbeds... The rivers were all hubs of activity, full of people sifting out various grades of gravel to truck down South as construction aggregate. They were also a challenge for the bike: both finding where the boatman happened to be, and then pushing the bike through the endless loose sand flats.
I met many friendly and generous people along the way: a small-time coal businessman in Tekkerhat, a retired 7th Day Adventist pastor, Garo students, and the fellow below, whose uncle Jalal took me in when I failed to make it to Jafflong by evening.
The dark green on the map above closely follows Meghalaya's borders, with Bangladesh on the South and Assam on the North. I started off going East along the small roads paralleling the border. It is remarkably beautiful country, with some unique terrain.
After a night in Birisiri, I rode into Shunamganj, but soon had to load the bike into a boat to get across the Tanguar Haor. Although it is right next to the mountains on the northern border, much of Sunamganj is less than 10 m above sea level, and has several haors, enormous areas that stay flooded even during the dry season.
The rivers that come rushing down the Meghalaya hills spread out and deposit their stones and sand in vast riverbeds... The rivers were all hubs of activity, full of people sifting out various grades of gravel to truck down South as construction aggregate. They were also a challenge for the bike: both finding where the boatman happened to be, and then pushing the bike through the endless loose sand flats.
Despite this being towards the end of the monsoon, most of the roads were rideable and many in good shape. And aside from the stone extraction sites, there is hardly any motorized vehicle traffic on the small back roads. Lots of scenery like below. I think Bangladesh's green rice fields are even more beautiful with mountains in the background
I met many friendly and generous people along the way: a small-time coal businessman in Tekkerhat, a retired 7th Day Adventist pastor, Garo students, and the fellow below, whose uncle Jalal took me in when I failed to make it to Jafflong by evening.
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