DAY 1: DIBRUGARH
Dibrugarh in the northeast corner of Assam is known as the Tea City of India as it is home to some 144 tea estates. We meet post-lunch to visit the Mancotta Tea Estate which is home to a gracefully restored 150-year-old property built in the traditional style of using stilts known as Changs. We get to learn more about the famous Assam tea here, observing at close quarters all the various operations from picking to packing that bring the world’s favorite beverage from tea estates to morning cups the world over. Assam is the largest single tea growing region in the world and its tea is unique, unlike in most other tea growing regions, Assam tea is not grown in highland areas but at or close to the sea level, giving it its malty taste and bright colors. We meet in the evening for a bike fit and a tour briefing. Tonight, our stay is at the Chowkidinghee Heritage Bungalow, an early 20th-century property built in colonial style and standing on the edge of a tea estate. Expect the sweet aroma of tea leaves to waft through the window first thing in the morning to wake you up refreshed for an exciting journey ahead.
Meals: D
DAY 2: INTHONG
We begin the day’s cycling with a visit to Namphake village on the outskirts of Dibrugarh. This village is one of a kind as it is home to the Tai Phake people, a tiny community of only about 5000 in India most of whom are settled in this village. The Tai Phake migrated from Myanmar and Thailand in the 17th & 18th centuries and practice Buddhism. The town has a beautiful Buddhist monastery. As we bike along the languidly meandering Dihing river, we get to witness a curious geographical feature formed by the river’s meandering curves – oxbow lakes. Oxbow lakes are horseshoe-shaped lakes formed by the meandering path of rivers with a wetland at their center. The Dihing river forms a beautiful oxbow lake at Sasoni Merbil, an ecotourism spot that is a birder’s paradise. The terrain remains flat for the most part.
We continue riding to Inthong, a village close to the Assam –Arunachal Pradesh border. Inthong is a tea-growing region, and our stay for the night, the Singpho Eco Lodge is situated among lush green tea gardens. The Singphos are a tribe found across Myanmar, China, and North-east India, known for their fighting skills, herbal healing, craftsmanship, and hospitality. The Singpho eco-lodge is a spacious property with rooms built in the traditional style on stilts, using locally available materials such as bamboo and timber. While at the lodge, don’t miss traditional Singpho cuisine. We especially recommend a local tea known as Phalap that is grown by the Singpho people in their own gardens without the use of any chemical fertilizer or pesticide. The tea leaves are processed by frying them and stuffing them in bamboo hollows, and allowing them to dry slowly in wood-fired kitchen ovens over a period of three months. Because of the long processing time, the Phalap is rarely sold in commercial quantities and is considered more of an emotional artifact close to Singpho culture than a commercial enterprise. We raise a cup of the finest Phalap tea as a befitting toast to the beginning of an exciting journey of adventure and discovery.
Cycling Distance: 70km
DAY 3: NAMSAI
Today we enter Arunachal Pradesh and begin cycling due east. We cross the Dihing river and cycle through the historical town of Ledo, the easternmost railway station in India, and the starting point of the historical Ledo road – a 1726 km road built by the Allies during the Second World War to connect Ledo to Assam to China. Constructed under the supervision of General Joseph Stilwell of the US Army, the Ledo road was the lifeline that allowed the Allies to send supplies to China as it was being overrun by Japan.
We stay tonight at the Golden Pagoda eco-resort, which has charming wooden cottages spread atop a hillock overlooking the Tenga Pani river and surrounded by pristine forests. Looming large over the resort is the awe-inspiring Kongmu Kham or the Golden Pagoda, a Buddhist temple built in the Myanmarese style. In the evening, we pay a visit to the temple.
Cycling Distance: 80km
DAY 4: ROING
A great day of cycling awaits as we head northwards across the Mishmi Hills, a mountain range that acts as a transition between the Himalayas and the Indo-Burma mountains. The fauna and the geography alter drastically through the ride today - from tea estates to the forest near the base of Mishmi Hills. We experience the colorful lives and livelihoods of the Mishmi people who inhabit this region.
We continue riding due north across the mighty Lohit, a powerful, swift-flowing river originating in Tibet that is a major tributary of the Brahmaputra river. The Lohit is also known as the river of blood because of the high levels of lateritic soil that it brings down from the Mishmi hills. Wild orchids and rhododendrons bloom along its fertile banks. Once across the Lohit, we enter the Himalayan foothills and ride past low-rising mountains and fields of wild orchids to reach Roing, the last major township along India’s north-eastern frontier.
Roing is located on a watershed where the Brahmaputra, entering India from Tibet, takes a south-westerly bend, offering great views of the Himalayas on one side and the mighty Brahmaputra on the other. We stay tonight at the Mishmi Hills Camp, a quaint resort nestled among low hills and overlooking the Eze river, a frolicking, dancing stream that joyously goes on to meet the Brahmaputra a few km downstream. The cheerful energy of the gushing Eze river will wash over you as you look back on a wonderful adventure that comes to an end over a traditional Mishmi dinner, and under a starlit north-eastern sky.
Cycling Distance: 70km
DAY 5: ROING
Today you can plan your own day. Spend the day reading a book right next to the Siang river or go for a birding tour in Mishmi Hills, a heaven for bird watchers, with a local guide.
DAY 6: PASIGHAT
This is an exciting riding day as we cross the Siang river to head west towards our eventual destination, Pasighat. The flora consists of sub-tropical vegetation such as bamboo forests and betel nut trees. The Siang river flows through the dense forests with the Mishmi hills in the backdrop presenting a picture postcard setting to the day’s ride.
We stay for the night at the Abor River Camp, located on the banks of the might Siang.
Cycling Distance: 70km
DAY 7: DEPARTURE
We proceed from here in accordance with our onward travel plans and fly out of Pasighat airport.
Special note: We also customize cycling trips as per your requirements :)
DAY 1: SHILLONG
Our guide meets you at your hotel for tour briefing and bike fit. Post-lunch, we bike to the Laitlum Canyon. Laitlum in the Khasi language means ‘the end of the hills’, and that is exactly what the Laitlum Canyon is – a jaw-dropping cliff at which the rolling hills of Shillong seem to suddenly come to an end giving way to a vast nothingness surrounded on all sides by mountains.
Cycling Distance: 20km
DAY 2: MAWPHANLUR
We start with a van transfer of about 45kms before beginning the day’s biking. We ride through some gorgeous scenery comprising of rolling hills and verdant forests to reach the tiny hamlet of Mawphanlur, the icing on the cake of the day’s delectable riding. Mawphanlur is perhaps Meghalaya’s best-kept secret. A highland village of a handful of inhabitants, Mawphanlur is mile upon mile of grassland and rolling meadows interspersed by seven lakes. It’s the kind of dreamy, faraway place one usually finds pictures of on desktop wallpapers. If time permits, we make a visit to Kyllang Rock – a giant grey monolith shaped like an ice cream dollop jutting out hundreds of feet above the surrounding meadows and forests, that is home to some rare flora such as the white rhododendrons.
Todays’ stay is at a simple guest house managed by a local community-run cooperative. These cooperatives operate on a model that involves the local tribal communities in tourism, ensuring that the indigenous communities become equal stakeholders and beneficiaries of tourism. It also ensures that tourism in Meghalaya stays sustainable The room is neat and comfortable. Expect slow service, typical of Meghalaya, and possibly, no hot shower. Although, with a stunning view outside the window that overlooks a mesmerizing lake, you’ll probably not mind it much.
Cycling Distance: 50km
DAY 3: MAWKYRWAT
Mawkyrwat is a small hill village with little connectivity with the outside world and even less desire to have any. It’s the kind of place where time comes to standstill. Velvet green grass, violet wildflowers, bubbly mountain streams, and gushing rivers. Talking of rivers, Mawkyrwat offers delightful views of the Rilang river that snakes ribbon-like through the Khasi hills, like the innocent paintings we all drew when were children just beginning to make sense of the world. That is what Mawkyrwat offers – a return to the beginnings and simple, child-like joys of life. Be prepared however to earn your stay in this little paradise as the ride to Mawkyrwat is a little bumpy and through a canopy of thickly wooded forests.
Stay is once again at a simple community-run guest house. However, this time you can expect hot water. Try bathing using a bucket, Indian style.
In the early evening, we visit the Mawkyrwat monolith, a series of stone structures that are of cultural significance to the local tribal communities, and which show a striking resemblance to the Stone Henge in Great Britain.
Cycling Distance: 40km
DAY 4: MAWLYNGBNA
On this day we bike to Mawlyngbna, a picturesque hilltop village dotted with a number of natural, freshwater springs that offer a panoramic view of the Khasi hills merging into the plains of neighbouring Bangladesh. However, Mawlyngbna is more than just another pretty hilltop hamlet. It is also home to India’s only carnivorous pitcher plant species – the Nepenthes Khasiana. Named after the Khasi tribe, the Nepenthese Khasiana is a rare and endangered plant that is endemic to the region around Mawlyngbna. Pitcher plants attract insects with their vivid colors and then devour them by trapping them inside their pitcher-shaped flowers. The Nepenthes Khasiana is on the IUCN Red List of endangered flora, and at Mawlyngbna, you have your best chance of seeing this fascinating flora.
This is one of the best riding days as we bike through a route that has meadows on one side and a sheer drop on the other with misty clouds rolling in through the mountains You will experience today why Meghalaya is known as the abode of the clouds.
In the evening or tomorrow early morning, we visit Mawjymbuin Cave that is a fascinating natural formation of calcerous sandstone over 200m in height studded with numerous stalagmites. Mawlyngbna is also home to Krem Puri, the longest sandstone cave in the world with a staggering length of 24.3 Kms. The Syntein village in the vicinity is known for its world-renowned Bamboo handicrafts.
Cycling Distance: 45km
DAY 5: CHERRAPUNJI
Today we ride towards the fabled Cherrapunji, one of the wettest places on earth. With 11,700 mm of annual rainfall, Cherrapunji is second only to the tiny hamlet of Mawsynram that is located some 15kms from Cherrapunji. At 1490m above sea level, Cherrapunji lies at the centre of a funnel-like formation made of three mountain ranges – Garo, Khasi, and Jaintia – that obstruct any rain-bearing winds that flow in from the Bay of Bengal leading to more rainfall than any other place on earth. As a result, the countryside around Cherrapunji is as unique as its high rainfall, with limestone caves, lush green valleys, and rubber trees with roots that grow for hundreds of meters.
While riding, do stop by at Mawkdok Dympep Valley, a vantage point that offers a panoramic view of the V-shaped valley that looks like something right out of a picture postcard.
And, if time permits we may also visit the Mawphlang Sacred Grove, an ancient forest considered sacred by the local Khasi tribal communities.
Cycling Distance: 60km
DAY 6: CHERRAPUNJI
If you’ve still got the legs for it, we walk to one of the most unique sights anywhere in the world – a bridge made from living roots of trees, that has not just one, but two levels. These famous living root bridges of Cherrapunji are a result of its unique climate, and are a testimony to what happens when man and nature live in harmony – they support and nurture each other, growing strong together. The Khasi and Jaintia people of Meghalaya believe that as long as the tree remains healthy, the bridge will continue to grow and strengthen with time, repairing any damage it incurs by healing itself. Be warned, however, that mother nature will test your strength and endurance as it’s a challenging walk up to and down from the bridge.
If you’re not up for a challenge, we recommend visiting the Mawsmai caves and the Seven Sister Falls - a 1033 feet waterfall over the limestone cliffs of the Khasi Hills.
While riding, do stop by at Mawkdok Dympep Valley, a vantage point that offers a panoramic view of the V-shaped valley that looks like something right out of a picture postcard.
Meals: B
DAY 7: DAWKI
Dawki is that little slice of tropical heaven we have all daydreamed of on hot summer afternoons at work. A beautiful lake surrounded by lush green hills, with water so clear you can see all the way to the bottom. Next, picture a canoe lazily carried away by ripples, and mountains all around. That is Dawki for you. On this day we ride through some gorgeous green valleys to make our way to this picturesque place. You might want to save up some steam to enjoy boating, snorkelling, and Kayaking here that offers a great way to explore the marine life under the crystal clear waters.
Meals: B,L,D
Cycling Distance: 50km
DAY 8: SHILLONG
Today's morning is on your own. Enjoy boating, snorkelling, or kayaking that offers a great way to explore the marine life under the crystal clear waters before departing in a shuttle to Shillong.
We aim to reach Shillong by 1 pm. Tour ends.
Special note: We also customize cycling trips as per your requirements :)
India's North East is a true frontier region. It has over 2000 km of border with Bhutan, China, Myanmar and Bangladesh and is connected to the rest of India by a narrow 20 km wide corridor of land. One of the most ethically and linguistically diverse regions in Asia, each state has its distinct cultures and traditions.
From times immemorial, India’s North East has been the meeting point of many communities, faiths and cultures. A place renowned for its magical beauty and bewildering diversity, North East India is the home for more than 166 separate tribes speaking a wide range of languages. Some groups have migrated over the centuries from places as far as South East Asia; they retain their cultural traditions and values but are beginning to adapt to contemporary lifestyles. Its jungles are dense, its rivers powerful and rain, and thunderstorms sweep across the hills, valleys and plains during the annual monsoons.
The lushness of its landscape, the range of communities and geographical and ecological diversity makes the North East quite different from other parts of the subcontinent. In winters, mist carpets the valleys but swirls around the traveller in hills during summer rains, thus creating an enchanting and romantic atmosphere. The region has borders with Myanmar Bhutan and Bangladesh.
The festivals and celebrations in the North- eastern states of India are a colourful reflection of the people and their lives. Throughout the year, different people celebrate festivals with lot of fanfare in different ways, most of them centering around their modes of living and livelihood.
North East India comprises of seven states commonly known as the “Seven Sisters”. They are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura.
Each state is a traveller’s paradise, with picturesque hills and green meadows which shelters thousand of species of flora and fauna. In addition, the states provide scope for angling, boating, rafting, trekking and hiking. Besides, there are a number of wild life sanctuaries and national parks where rare animals, birds and plants which will surely provide fascinating insight to the visitors.