Above: Random sign for a restaurant.
After a very restful day of doing nearly nothing yesterday, I’m moving on from Cherrapunjee to Guwahati through Shillong. I had sore calves yesterday from the hike the day before; a little unexpected as I thought I’d get sore quadriceps perhaps. My knees lasted surprisingly well.
After breakfast, I headed to the nearby stand where yellow Mahindra 4WDs (called “Sumos”) had gathered. As it was largely filled already, it was only a 15 minute wait till we had all the required passengers. But the downside was I was in the back (third) row in an elevated position.
We left at 0845 and I was dropped off at Shillong’s Anjalee Cinema Hall two hours later where I found a shared taxi to Guwahati. This time, I was first and got the front seat. I wasn’t a long wait as a family with young kids turned up soon after and we left at 1045.
The wife and one of the kids didn’t take well to road travel. Even though the road wasn’t altogether that windy, they threw up lots. Initially, the wife threw up through the window and that upset the driver. He asked her to wash it off with her bottled water. From then on, she used a plastic bag.
Including a lunch break, the journey took 3h15 and I was dropped off at the Hotel Sagar near the railway station in Guwahati, the big city of the North-East. The hotel name on the website I used was appended with “Pure Veg” so I thought it meant they had a vegetarian restaurant.
But at check-in I was politely told that no outside food was permitted, along with alcohol. I didn’t have a problem with it, but it does have parallels with McDonald’s in some countries requiring that bring-your-own birthday cakes for kids’ parties to be Halal certified.
It’s the issue of cross-contamination. And in some cases, it is the issue of being able to meet the certification requirements. For example, AirAsia meals are Halal certified. But the same meals on AirAsia X are only stated as Halal. Perhaps, it is because the latter sells alcohol on board.
After not having internet for 3 days, I spent some time catching up before wandering out to explore the area and the railway station. I took dinner in the hotel’s South Indian restaurant which was only Veg rather than Pure Veg (meaning no egg, onion and garlic).