My Visit to the Superb City and Hill Station of Shilong in State of Assam, India

India is a country that is full of all types of sites seeing places like hill stations, sea beaches, large cities, beautiful forests, and places of pilgrimage. Shilong is one such place that can serve as the most beautiful outing as the hill station as well as the visit to a large city. It is a capital city of State of Assam. The regular flow of the visitors continues here at Shilong all through out the year. However, the best season to visit Shilong is during the winter months from October to March.

Shilong cannot be reached by train as it is not connected by railway line. If you want to travel by train, you need to get down at Gauhatti Railway station. Shilong is 45 miles away from Gauhatti. The taxis, hired cars, and the buses are available from Gauhatti for Shilong. There are regular flights from Delhi and Mumbai for Shilong. Shilong is very beautiful place full of natural beauty of all types like thick forests, hills, and tea gardens. There are beautiful hills, valleys, lakes, rivers, and gardens full of flowers. The crops of tea, rice, potatoes, oranges, bananas, pineapple etc. are growing here in large proportion. The people here are very religious in nature and have strong faith in their god, who is known as U-Bli. Shilong is situated at the height of around 5000 feet from the mean sea level. Shilong has developed very well after it has become the capital of Assam. The most vital place to see here is Rajbhavan or secretariat. There is a beautiful lake opposite to this Rajbhavan, which is called Ward Lake. There is a boating facility also available here in this lake. Rajbhavan also is an architectural marvel and its design is really unique. There is always a flee market held in different areas of the city. There are couples of beautiful gardens at Shilong that have wonderful fountains. There is a special show of dancing fountains everyday here in this Botanical garden at 6 pm in the evening. The weather here is the most pleasant all through out the year.

There are two picnic spots near Shilong. These spots are really very beautiful and should not be missed. First place is the Heavy Palley. This is the most scenic place having a large garden and the view of hills and the valleys with the tea gardens on the slopes of this Heavy Palley. The other picnic spot is Shilong Peek. This is the highest peek of the entire area. The view of the entire area from this point is really breathtaking. There are two falls also located near the city of Shilong. These falls are known as Bishop Falls and Beshan Falls. The pure white milk like water is freely falling from the height of around 350 feet presenting all the tourists with the most thrilling view. There is a famous forest of Kaziranga near the city of Shilong that is treated as the reserve for the rhinos. There are around 350 rhinos in this forest. This forest is around 55 miles away from Shilong and must not be missed at any cost. There are forest huts available for the stay in the middle of the forest operated by the State Government of Assam. You will be required to book your forest hut in advance to avoid the last minute hassle. There is one rare animal called Hulock staying in this forest. This monkey is of special type that does not have any tail. It can be really a memorable experience to stay here in this forest for at least one night so as to experience the camp life of a forest.

There are hotels like Hotel Grand, Hotel Indiana, Prakash hotel, Tiptop Hotel, and Hotel Anand to stay here at Shilong. All these hotels are in the range of Rs.1600 ($40) to Rs.3000 ($75) per day for a nice double room. Make sure to book your hotel accommodation in advance as there is a very heavy rush during the peek season of early winter here. Shilong is the best place to stay in peace in the most fantastic weather conditions to enjoy the local beauty in ample. The standard of living in this region is not that high and hence, food and all other expenses can be reasonable, particularly during the off season of winter.

I am sure that many of my AC friends would love to visit Shilong during their next trip to India based on my above article.