Thailand flower garlands and coloured lanterns Festival

Coming to Thailand in November this year, you will have the opportunity to admire one of the world's most beautiful scenes voted by Lonely Planet; when the sky and water will be lit by thousands of coloured lanterns at Loy Krathong Festival.

The outstanding beauty of Thai girls in traditional costume with the glowing lanterns is the easy to see in any travel magazines and posters when November is coming, and it is a sign of Loy Krathong  festival.

Beautiful Thai girls in traditional costumes dropping flower garlands and lanterns.

In Thai, Loy means "drop" and Krathong means "flower garlands" decorated in lotus-shaped with banana leaves, flowers, candles and incense. Loy Krathong takes place on the night of the full moon of the 12th month according to the Thai calendar (about November in normal calendar). This year, Loy Krathong will take place on 6th of November, but in many places, the formal rituals of the festival takes place from 5 - 7/11. 

The purpose of the Loy Krathong festival is a tribute to the water goddess who gives people plenty of water, and excuse people from the actions muddied water. Dropping the coloured lanterns is also a way to repel bad luck in the past and pray for blessings in the future. Many people believe that if the candle is still lighting until "krathong" out of sight, then their wishes will come true. Besides the ritual of dropping  flower garlands and coloured lanterns, many other interesting activities will be also taking place during the Loy Krathong festival such as making Krathong lanterns contest, Noppamas beauty competition, folk games, art and fireworks performance...

Thousands of lanterns are releasing into the sky at Loy Krathong festival in Thailand

If you go to northern Thailand, you can admire spectacular Loy Krathong festival in Chiang Mai, and enjoy the atmosphere of releasing millions of lanterns into the sky, so called Yee Peng festival. You can also visit Tak province, where thousands of candles lighted in flower garlands and coloured lanterns along Ping river. Then you can see closely the flower garlands and lanterns made ​​of 100 thousands banana trunks in Samut Songkram province. Festival specially recalled the heyday of the Kingdom of Thailand's ancient capital in Ayutthaya or Sukhothai province, with a series of activities such as beauty queens parade, fireworks, artistic traditions, and reapearing the floating market and local markets activities, etc. 

Going on a colourful boat and dropping beautiful lanterns is one of the interesting activities during the festival

When coming to the "city of angels" Bangkok, you will be able to take beautiful pictures to record shining moments of poetic Chao Phraya River, where the flower garlands and lanterns activities of capital citizens are taking place. Many places in the city hangs red lanterns showing the the spirit of the people celebrating the festival. You can choose how to enjoy the flower garlands and coulured lanterns festival on a cruise along the glowing river, or enjoy the family dinner with delicious cuisines of Golden Temple country, or drop lantern with your wishes along the Chao Phraya River and in some few hotel pools along the river.

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6 things to know when travelling to Mongolia

(Gotravelings.com) The trusted drivers and special style tents have helped da harsh country as Mongolia attract lots of tourist from all over the world.

These are some suggestions for your trip to this beautiful steppe country.

1. Trust your drivers.

Even when you do not have maps, GPS, or any other detector equipment, you still can trust Mongolian drivers. With their skills, they will drive you to the exact place you want to go. Let your worry be vanished and enjoy the magnificent scenery here. However, if you find out that the driver is speeding up, do not hesitate to remind him to slow down.

The old Russian bus on the way to conquer Mongolia steppe

2. Time zones in Mongolia

Mongolia's time zone is UCT/GMT +8. You can compare to your country time zone to adjust your living mode. However, if you are in emergency, you can emphasize with the local people in order not to affect your expected plan.

3. Meet up and play with local children

The innocence of Mongolian children

Mongolian children are extremely friendly and cute with pink cheeks taking up most of their face. However, if you want to take picture with them, you'd better ask their parents for allowance first.

4. Taking bath

Dried shampoo is very popular in Mongolia. If you are not familiar with it, bring your favorite shampoo. In some luxurious tents, they may have solar shower. Nevertheless, you should get used to the fact of the lack of comb and mirror during your journey at this country, which is the reason for your messy hair.

5. Camping on the steppe

A tent on the steppe

There are a lot of famous destinations in this country, but do not forget to experience a night in the tent. The sound of rain dripping on your tent in a silent night will give you the unforgettable emotions. This is also an opportunity for you to explore the lives of the nomads in small huts among the vast steppe.

6. Gifts / Souvenirs

After a long trip is time for shopping whatever you like. It sounds strange to buy wool scarf in a country with harsh climate as Mongolia; however, there is nothing in the world better and smoothier than Mongolia sheep wool.

- Anna Pham -

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Where to go when you are lack of money

(Gotravelings.com) If you want to discover the world but your budget is limited, you can choose these cheap destination below to satisfy your travel passion.

Thailand

No one doubts the great service and scenery of this Southeast Asian country. It's like that winter does not exist when you come to Thailand. Thailand has countless fascinating tours for those who love to explore: from pilgrimage tour of temples or beach tour at attractive shores, to shopping for those shopaholics.

And the most amazing thing in this paradise is that it has a price on the ground. Looking for the dorm and affordable rental housing on the tourist route as Khao San, Bangkok, you can easily rent a house for 20 euro/month (if you want to live next to the coast, the price increases to 100 euro/month, but it is still an extremely pleasing prices). Thai Food costs around 150 euro/month. Paradise of low cost life is still exist, and it is Thailand! 

Laos

Although tourism is the neighbor country - Thailand - is quite developed, in Laos, everything is still tentative. Therefore, the price for service here is pretty cheap and the landscape is almost untouched, and haven't been destroyed by human hands. Tourists can visit the Buddha Park in Vientiane, Plain of Jars in Xiangkhuang. The ideal time to visit is the dry season from November to March, when the heat is not too blinding and not have the constant rainfall.

Vietnam

On the list of the cheap-to-travel countries on travelling sites and magazines, Vietnam is also listed. Therefore, there is no reason why we can not backpack and explore this beautiful country. Vietnam is full of beautiful natural terrain, stretching from the North to the South as the sea, lakes, rivers, mountains, bays, islands, etc, which attract tourists during the dry season from November to March every year.

The ideal destinations which are cheap but majestic are: Moc Chau, Sapa, Ha Giang, Ninh Binh, Hoi An, Danang, and the West provinces.

Cambodia

Phnom Penh, you can live with only 250 euros/month and eat a meal in a restaurant for less than 2 euros! You do not want to live luxury? A fast-food meal is even much cheaper in the area of ​​the historical Angkor Wat, and it will help you save quite a sum more in your budgets. 

Souvenirs can be purchased for 1 USD - 2 USD. One night at the lodge costs about $15 but can stay up to 3-4 people. 

Belize

Also located in Central America, Belize is not known by many tourists, but it is one of the most beautiful countries in the region.

Belize has everything, from a beautiful long coastline, tropical climate and rich flora and fauna. The official language in Belize is English which is quite convenient for tourists; and for those who love diving, Belize is truly a paradise. 

The cost of living in Belize is the same as in Costa Rica with cheap food can be bought at the markets or from peddlers.

Prague, Czech Republic

Perhaps Europe is the most expensive destination in the world if you travel here. However, if you still want to explore Europe, Prague is the most perfect suggestion for you. Price for one night stay at the lodge can range from 10USD to 15 USD, price for beer is even cheaper than that of mineral water. In addition, there are also many other entertaining activities which are also inexpensive, the most simple activity is wandering around the whole city to sightseeing the peace and beauty of this place.

Nepal

With the beautiful, unspoiled, peaceful natural sceneries, along with long culture tradition, Nepal attract a lot of tourists to visit every year. According to Lonely Planet magazine, visitors only cost about 5 - 7 USdollars a night to stay in local guesthouses. The local food is delicious and cheap with very good quality of service. All of those will make visitors satisfied. Cost of visa to travel to Nepal is about 25 USdollars.

Bolivia

Like the above places, accommodation costs in Bolivia are relatively low, especially cheap but delicious food. But the greatest thing of Bolivia is the natural wildlife beauty, from Lake Titicaca to the Salar de Uyuni salt plains. In addition, Bolivia has many ancient and historical cities such as La Paz. Tickets to the Museum of La Paz is only 58 cents.

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Basic things you should know for the first time traveling to Europe

(Gotravelings.com) Instead of desiring to travel to all places or eat every foods, you have to calm down and plan carefully your journey to have the very first perfect backpacking trip to this old continent.

You want to eat pasta in Rome, stand on Eiffel Tower, come across the red street in Amsterdam, or join in the party in Munich .... It is just when you have the whole year traveling in Europe, or else, you only can choose places based on your capability.

1. Right choices

Europe is a continent which has rich culture and history, and countries here connect with each other strongly. You cannot go to all the countries in a journey (except you do not care about money and time). If you try to go as many as possible, your time spending for train, bus, plane will make your trip shorter.

 

Europe nations are small in square, but rich in cultural and historical places. Photo: Google Images

So what is the secret? You might choose the best 5 places must go. It can be drinking beer in Hofbrauhaus, Munic, Germany; or eating tapas in Barcelona; or visiting Tate Modern in London. Bookmarking all the important places that you have chosen, then spread the trip around those places. When you can define which countries or cities you want to go in the allowed time, the next step is find the way to get there.

10 days are normally suitable for backpackers' wallet. Traveling alone in Europe is easier than in any other continent, because most of European can speak English. You can book a hostel room or transportation ticket online. You should find (or hunt) cheap flight tickets for months before your trip start, sometimes even year before. You should remember that using inter-city or inter-country buses will be cheaper than that of train or plane. You had better find and compare the prices before buying.

You should not miss the symbolic places like the Colosseum arena in Rome (Italy), Eiffel Tower in Paris (France), Charles bridge in Prague (Czech Republic), etc. Those are really amazing places. Many posts in a lot of forums engage travelers to discover new places, but you don't have to follow all of it, especially in your first trip to Europe.

You also don't have to follow everything written in the guide book. There are many restaurant you want to try but are not written in the book, but you can be more opened by experiencing new things. If you read about the Louvre museum (Paris, France) is the place you must go, but you are accidentally lost in the Blek Le Rat world (the famous graffity artist) with a lot of his works on the walls, you can spend times to discover both of them.

2. Travel by season

July to September is the high traveling season in Europe when you have to share spaces with millions of other travelers. Hotel, hostel, dormitory are mostly full or high price; train, bus, and plane are also harder to book. 

Therefore, you can think about Autumn or Spring time, and if you are not afraid of the cold, you can go in winter. You will find everything easier and more peaceful like it is only for you.

Winter in Austria is cold, peaceful, and not very crowded will be an ideal place for your traveling. Photo: autocarhire.com

One thing you should take notice is to travel to Europe at the right time, participating into some festival in this old continent like Oktoberfest (beer festival in Germany), Biennale (modern art exhibition in Italy), La Tomatina (tomato festival in Spain), Tomorrowland (electric music in Belgium), Exit (summer music in Serbia), etc, you will definitely have the unforgettable memories. There also one thing you should consider is the fee and expenses, and you should book all the services 3 months or more before.

3. Know how to protect yourself.

The first time in Europe, you have to take care of yourself from being cheated. Sometimes, the offer for cheap price or some winged words might attract you. In this case, being wise and cold-head will help you to stand up from the attracted words from sexy girls in Amsterdam, or street vendors in Paris. The feelings of a backpacker this time have to be strong. If you don't feel safe, you'd better to quickly go away to another place.

If you still have times after traveling to main cities, you can think about Budapest, Krakow, or Lisbon. These cities will surely bring to you a lot of surprises.

Learning some basic sentences of local language, you can at least know how to greet and ask "do you know English" in local language. 

Pack your baggage lightly, you don't need 3 jeans in the summer or big coat in the Autumn in Europe. The 1 liter shampoo bottle can be replaced by the small convenient packs or a soap. Remember, you are backpacker.

But you need to have at least one decent clothes such as a t-shirt, long trouser, or shoes when you plan to hear opera in England theater or eating dinner in a restaurant in Berlin.

4. Spend money at the right places

Although you are backpacker, sometimes you still have to pay a big amount of money to experience the special characteristics like going on the gondola boat in Venice, enjoy the afternoon tea in London, drink German beer and eat smoked pork, etc.

Bring as much money as possible, especially small money, visa card, traveler check (type of check for traveler which can be changed into money). Visa card will allow you to buy flight ticket back home, and you don't need to put it with cash. Cash should be put in different places. Europe is beautiful and the people are friendly, but there are bad and good people everywhere, so you should take care of your safeness first.

You should have visa card (or master card) and cash to guarantee the expenses for your trip. 

Photo: us.123rf.com.

You go a thousand kilometers to go to different cities with lots of new things, so don't waste your time drinking beer or wine in a bar, hotel, or hostel. Step outside where a lot of amazing things are waiting for you.

Working hard and saving money for your own journey, sometimes, you can be mean to yourself when you are at home, but generous when traveling.

The final things is to enjoy every single moment on your trip.

- Hoai Nam -

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6 cheapest places to travel

(Gotravelings.com) Let's discover some most attractive as well as cheapest places in the world.

1. Cambodia

You should bring a long a lot of 1 USD and 2 USD because everything here is very cheap and the price is around 1 - 2 USD. A tuk tuk ticket, one meal, drink, massage, souvenir all can be bought at USD 1 - USD 2. One night at hostel is around USD 15 per room for 3 - 4 people. If you go to the South, the cost even cheaper because you only need to catch the 8 hour bus to go to Siem Riep, in which there is the famous Angkor.

2. Nepal

According to Lonely Planet survey, budget for one day in Nepal is just around USD 5 - USD 7 if you stay in the inn / hostel, and eat local food. Even if you join in a trek tour to the most beautiful area of Nepal, or climb up to the Everest Base Camp, the cost for one day is only USD 8 - USD 10 (including all the fee for tour guide, meals, accommodation, food, etc). The biggest fee you might spend is flight ticket from this area to another area.

3. Thailand

Thailand is now improving their tourism after the storm and the political issue in 2011. Therefore, this gold temples country is welcoming tourists with a lot of promotions.

In average, cost for one day in Thailand is USD 40, a little bit more than the other countries mentioned about; but Thailand has a lot of cities that you might want to visit. Street foods are cheap and delicious, and you have many choices for accommodation. Therefore, 40 dollars per day is still a suitable expenses.

In Phuket, price for a room for one night is around USD 10. If you can pay USD100, you can stay in one of the most luxurious hotel which might cost a thousand dollars in other countries. In the South of Thailand, if you go to Chiang Mai, the cost may be much lower.

4. Columbia

With the price for a room in hostel is USD10, a lot of attractions to visit, and the variety in culture, Columbia is a great country to come. In big cities such as Bogota and Cartagena, you can survive with the low cost (if you know how to avoid the tourism traps). You should learn a but Spanish because local people here are nearly do not speak English.

5. Prague, The Czech Republic.

Europe is always considered an expensive place to travel. However, if you want to find a place which is not too expensive but still can visit ancient works, palaces, and churchs, Prague - The Czech Republic's capital is the right place to go. The cost to stay in hostel is around USD 10 to USD 15 per night, and beer here is even cheaper than mineral water. Prague has a lot of activities that you can join in without any fee. And if you just wandering around Prague, you can see how beautiful and magnificent it is.

6. Bolivia

Just like the other places above, the cost for accommodation and food in Bolivia is quite low, especially you can find delicious food but very cheap. The most wonderful thing in Bolivia is the wild natural scenes, from the Titicaca lake to the Salar de Uyuni salt field. Besides, Bolivia has a lot of ancient and historical cities such as La Paz. Ticket to get inside the La Paz museum is only 58 cent.

In this list, you can replace Cambodia by Myanmar - the embodiment of South East Asia 20 years ago. This is the time that travel to Myanmar is the cheapest. One meal is around USD1.5 to USD 2, and the fee for a room for 2 people is around USD 15 to USD 20 per night. Bus ticket between every places are approximately USD 8 - USD 12.

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10 stuffs that you might forget to bring along with your trip

(Gotravelings.com) These small stuffs are usually be forgotten, and without it, you might get in troubles.

1. Bathroom stuffs.

Toothbrushes are always prepared in almost all hotels. Photo: Flickr.

Try to list all bathroom stuffs such as: toothbrush, toothpaste, shaving creams, mothwash, etc. If you don't see them in hotel room, you should ask the receptionist. Or in the long flight, guests are also provided a package of toothbrush and toothpaste. If you don't have mouthwash, you can use carbonated drinks or alcohol drinks instead.

2. Glasses and eye supported stuffs.

Forgetting glasses or eye supported stuffs are often happened to travelers. However, they are not easy to be replaced new like toothbrushes or toothpastes, and you might get into trouble when lack of them.

If coming to Asia, in the big cities like Beijing, it is not too difficult to find new suitable glasses. You can also book before you come, and request for urgent buy, but you might have to pay higher price. To avoid this issue, you'd better wear glasses, or eye contacted lens before you go.

3. Charging stuffs.

Nowadays, on your list of traveling stuff always have charging stuffs for your mobile-phone, computer, digital camera, etc. Before you are panic when finding that you forget to bring, you can borrow your traveling partners (if going with you).

The best solution is to borrow from the hotel reception. This issue is not too difficult to solve because electric shops are now everywhere, even in the airport also have free charging place. If you are type of person who always forget charging stuffs in almost all of your trips, you have to prepare a small bags for all the battery charges, and put it into the baggage as soon as possible.

4. The adapters.

Adapter is a necessary stuff when traveling. Photo: Flickr.

The professional international travelers always bring the adapter as a necessary stuff for almost all their trips. However, many people are easy to forget this small but important stuff before they packing.

It will be very hard for you when lack of it. Luckily, you can easily buy the adapters at the airport, or borrow from the hotel. If not, you can also use your flash driver to plug into the television to charge your phone battery. Do not forget to turn on the TV when charging :D.

5. Umbrella or rain coat.

To save your money not to buy a new cheap raincoat or umbrella, you can ask people around you to lend you a big plastic bag. Then make a hole at the bottom of the plastic bag and put it through your head. The smaller plastic bag can also be used as a plastic hat to cover you from the rain. It is not a really fashionable raincoat, but at least it is very useful in the light rainy day.

6. Cosmetics, cleansing tone, and perfume.

For lots of women, without cosmetics on their face is "disaster". After a long flight, you might realized that you have already forgotten your make-up stuffs at home, and it is very difficult to find the same ones.

You can try the new products at the cosmetics stores, ask the sellers to use the trial products, and do not forget to thank them before getting out of the shop. However, you have to take notice about the ingredients of the products if you are easy to get allergies. If you forget the cleansing tone, you can use milk soap to clean with fragrance water or olive oil to remove the cosmetics out of your face. If you don't have perfume, you can easily ask to try perfume at the fragrance shops. They always have the small bottle to give customer to try their products.

7. Cash

Todays, forgetting cash issue is not too difficult to solve when ATM machines are everywhere. If you travel abroad, ATM is always a best way to withdraw cash. However, do not abuse it too much because you will be charge extra money for withdrawing. Therefore, you'd better prepare before.

8. Prescription drugs / medicines.

If you travel while you have to sickness have to treat daily by doctor prescription, and you forget it at home, what should you do? You have to quickly contact to your doctor to get the prescription again, then go to the trusted pharmacy to buy. In another way, if you have travel insurance, you can call them for help if cannot contact to your doctor.

Bring necessary medicine when traveling. Source: Internet

9. Underwear.

Seemed to be the necessary stuff, underwear is often forgotten at home; and this is the no-replaced stuff. Therefore, you can go to fashion shops or underwear stores to buy new ones. You don't have to buy the expensive one, but washing the new underwear by soap and dry it into your hotel room. If you have dryer, you can use it to fasten the time.

Going to the underwear shops is the fastest way for you when forgetting them at home. Photo: ppunlimited.

10. Headphone

You only realize to forget this necessary thing when you want to listen to music, or watching movie on the plane. If you are on this situation, don't forget to ask the attendant to lend you a free headphone. Many airline don't provide free headphone when being offered, but they might sell it at the cheap price.

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"Giant mushrooms" in Y Ty, Lao Cai, Vietnam

(Gotravelings.com) Standing high above looking down, the rustic and ancient beauty of old houses with green moss roofs in Y Ty, Lao Cai make many people think of the beautiful giant mushrooms growing on the side of the mountain.

Y Ty is one of the poorest areas of highland Bat Xat district, Lao Cai. Here, the haze cover year round and the weather is extremely harsh. However, more and more tourists come to Y Ty. Besides the cloudy valleys and terraced fields at the height of 1500 m, people also come here the see the villages with houses located closely together, against a backdrop of mountains as in the fairy tales.

Houses in Y Ty is only arounf 40 - 60 meter squares. Photo: Duc Ky

Only about 70 km far from Lao Cai, the road up to Y Ty is very mazy. Go along the spiral and twisted back to the top of Nhu Co San peak, you will feel like "straight to heaven", then sinking in fog and white clouds. Then suddenly, Y Ty is out front with the poetic scenery of Ha Nhi women carry baskets of firewood to the market between vast mountains.

As one of the most ethnic minorities in Vietnam who live in Y Ty besides the other ethnic minority such á Hmong, Dao, Giay; Ha Nhi people, especially black Ha Nhi, make and unique ​​charms for thís harsh land, with their mushroom house and unique wall. Unlike the common stilt houses of the highland ethnic minority, houses of Ha Nhi people located on the ground, walls and roofs made ​​from clay that looks like a pyramid shape.

The house foundation is not deep under the ground but being placed just on the rock base. 

Photo: Duc Ky

The most impressive in the architecture of the Ha Nhi houses is house's walls with the thickness of 40-45 cm, and height of 4-5 m , with two laps inside and outside. This structure is not only because of low economic conditions of a highland village, but it also shows the adaptation to harsh weather here. The houses built with very thick walls will help people here keep warm in winter Hanhi and cool in the summer .

Looking at the simple architecture of the houses, no one think to build the 40 m2 houses, Ha Nhi people have to spend months. The time for reconstructing houses usually follows each season. The first stage after selecting the suitable soil samples are building the foundation by mountain rocks. The foundation are placed on the ground without having to dig deep into the ground as the houses in the delta.

Next step is to build the wall. The land chosen has been put into formworks splinted strongly; then they use wooden pestle to pound together this layer to the other layers to create a solid and strong wall. Then assembling the wooden beams and rafters to make roof. This type of house does not have balcony, but the roofs are short and are covered by "gianh" grass.

The mushroom house keep warm in the winter, and cool in the summer. Photo: Duc Ky.

There is one main door and another door in the left of the house, or in the right of the house to go to the stall, and stables at the back. Look far away, the windows look very small like the arch holes. Compare to the H'mong minority people houses, the walls inside and outside of Ha Nhi house are retired, and finely polished to look smoothly. The shape of the house is often square instead of rectangle.

Although the original shaped houses of Ha Nhi people are not many, but its attraction to visitor is always remain, especially for photographer love shooting photos at the sunrise or sunset. Therefore, many people who have chance to admire the green moss house in the white fog have to utter that "heaven is here !". 

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Sillong, a peaceful city inside India

(Gotravelings.com) Shillong city , Meghalaya state in the North-East India is known as Scotland of the East because of its natural peaceful and magnificent beauty .

Shillong is the destination of visitor all over the world. In Shillong, tourists can take from 5 to 6 days to explore the city without being bored . Police Bazar area (often known as PB) is a commercial area of the city, which is close to the main bus station with lots of shops, restaurants and hotels . It is very convenient for tourists to visit the city's sightseeing .

Laitumukra area has many cafes, bars, and entertaining places for young people. Cuisine in Shillong also plentiful with dishes from China, North and South India .

On Jaiaw road, visitors can go to the butterfly collection showroom of Mr.Wankhar, a resident of the city. If you prefer, you can buy all kinds of butterflies are framed as a souvenir . Gallery always welcome guests from 11 am to 4 pm everyday from Monday to Friday every week.

The majestic forests are still primitive with lots of picturesque waterfalls , lush green hills dotted with deep blue lakes . (Photo: Cherrapunjee)

Take a tour around the city, you might go to several ancient churches. Stepping into Christianity cathedral , you will admire the beautiful works with stained glass windows and arches. Nearby are Ward lake, the city library, and the church All Saints church which was built in the 19th century .

There is a place you should not miss , it's Burra Bazaar . In the morning Burra Bazaar will have a market called Iewdu , the largest market in the Northeast. This market will introduce to visitors lovely scenes of everyday life of city residents .

The Khasis market has many things for tourists to choose from. You can buy more local agricultural products, all kinds of souvenirs such as hand-woven scarfs, mountainous butterflies, wild honey, wild mushrooms, berries and many other things. Many tourists carry cameras to filming the normal life here .

Leisurely taking a walk up the hill to explore the huge forests, you will see a dreamy landscape with Elephant waterfall, the Sillong peak, golf yard, Lady Hydari Park, and Polo Ground . You can relax for hours at Ward lake, which is shaped like a horseshoe. In the lake, there are many carps. There are also many beautiful roads with cafe lounges along the two sides. In the orchid garden, where you can admire the orchid flower from Meghalaya and rich vegetation. The opening hours are from 9.30 am to 6 pm, and the ticket is free.

Visitors can relax and daydream in the sunshine in the early morning, and see that life seems to slow down . Photo: Heartyindia .

You also should not ignore Mawsinram and Cherrapunjee, the places where you can admire the world's highest waterfall as Cherrapunjee. The two places about 60 km far from Shillong. You can not go to two locations on the same day. You will have to take a day just to explore one place only. Car transport may cost between Rs 1,500 (30 USD) to Cherrapunjee and Rs 1,800 (40 USD) to Mawsinram .

Only 10 km from the city, if you are kind adventurous person, you can hike to the top of Shillong (1,960 m high) or Lei Shillong, where you can see the city. Or you can climb to Sohpetbneng peak, which is 20 km far from the city, and where Hynfiiewtrep tribes live. Additionally , you can choose for yourself a tour to Mawphlang, whic is 24 km far from the city to admire the 0.4 hectares pristine forest; or Cherrapunji (57 km from the city) to admire the great waterfalls Nohsngithiang , Kshaid Dain - thlen and Noh Kailikai.

From Mumbai , tourists can take a direct flight to Guwahati and then take a taxi to Shilliong, which is nearly 100 km far. Or you can go to Guwahati airport by train or flight from anywhere in India, then drive to the North-East to Shillong. From Kolkata also has direct flights to Shillong.

The nature here is to make visitors fascinated . Photo: Heartyindia .

Shillong is the preferred location of domestic and overseas travellers.

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