Living root bridges

The sun rises around 0530 here so I woke early.  I had breakfast at 0730 and had organised a packed lunch.  Having not heard from the girls last night I had resigned myself to getting my own taxi at INR800 roundtrip to Tyrna, the starting point for the hike for the living root bridges.

But at breakfast, the hotel staff told me that the girls had called.  He would walk me to the appointed meeting point straight after breakfast.  I got to the roundabout before 0800 and waited for about 45 minutes before they turned up.  They had some misunderstanding with their homestay which needed to be sorted out.

It was a 30 minute ride to Tyrna, largely going downhill through parts which were windy and unsealed roads.

I was ready and set off on my hike down at 0925 while the girls had breakfast first.  After a 35 minute hike downhill on concrete steps I arrived at Nong Thynmai village where there was a turnoff for the longest root bridge (Ritynmen single root bridge).  It was a 20 minute roundtrip detour to get there and stay briefly.

So at 1020, I was back on the main track heading towards the double decker root bridge.  The route took me through two wire bridges (the second of which was very sturdy with a woven metal strip floor),   I arrived at the double decker root bridge at Nong Riat village about the same time as the two girls at 1100.

My largely downhill walk had taken 1h35 including 20 mins detour to the single root bridge.  I was pleased that I had made it without any knee complaints since I had severe knee pain on my Kinabalu climb a few years again on the downhill portion.  For today, I had worn knee support.

I stayed at the bridge for about 15 minutes before heading back.  The girls wanted to swim a little.  None of us wanted to go to the next bridge at Mawsaw nor the Rainbow falls (Wei Phingam).  The were keen to get back to Shillong today whereas I didn’t want to overdo myself having had knee issues previously.

I commenced my walk uphill at 1115 and reached Nong Thynmai village at 1145 and Tyrna carpark at 1230.  I did have a five minute break along the way, which meant that my uphill and downhill times were the same at 1h15 each way.  Not bad for a 51 year old who hadn’t had any exercise for the last four months.  A local guide said they allow 2 hours each way but many city Indians take much longer.

I had my lunch, a drink and a snack in the shack at the carpark while waiting for the girls. The local Khasi guides were friendly despite not having taken up their guiding services.  Khasi people are quite small.  The women wear normal Western clothing (eg. t-shirt and pants) but complement it with a large piece of cloth tied in a knot on top of one shoulder, leaving the opposite side open down their side trunk.

It turned out to be at 1h45 wait for them.  They had stayed for another 45 minutes at the pool at the double decker bridge, and took an hour longer than me ascending.  My age was probably their combined age 🙂

Our pickup arrived about 10 minutes after the girls arrived (they had called the driver).  We drove back to Cherrapunjee, said our goodbyes and I had a well-earned rest in my room from 1500 till dinner (except for doing a small load of handwashing).

I had an early dinner of north-eastern food and joined the other guests by the garden fire before retiring for an early night.

So, how did I find the living root bridges and the hike? The bridges themselves were unique.  I had seen nothing like them before.  I wished I could see a time-lapse video of how they were made.  It must have taken forever to twine and train the roots, reinforce them with support and fill up the gaps with bamboo, wood and rocks.

The double decker was certainly the most impressive.  The longest and single decker bridge was probably only longer by a little bit.

The hike was beautiful.  It was lush and tropical without the sweaty humid tropical heat at first, but I was still completely drenched at the end from the exertion.  It was gorgeous looking from one side to the other side of the valley.  And it was amazing that the paths had allowed me to reach the other side with relative ease.