Place: Sky View Homestay in Mawlynnong

Mawlynnong is supposedly the cleanest village in all of _____. We’d heard from someone “all of Asia”, someone else “all of India”, but who really knows. The place is very clean indeed however, and the landscapes are all very well maintained.

We were drawn to this homestay by the name and indeed they lived up to it. They have a several story tall tower built that you can walk up and see past the trees from. You can actually see Bangladesh on a clear day in the distance. The tower gets rebuilt every year since it’s made out of bamboo. Quite surprising the structural integrity of such a monolith.

Food: Khasi home cooking

Our host, Hep, let me watch as he cooked dinner for us. We wanted to eat with them together, but they insisted we as their guests eat first. The chicken curry in my hand is made of black sesame, tamarind, bay leaf, onion, garlic. Quite an interesting combination, will try it out when I’m back home. They also use cooked jack fruit often as a meat substitute. It does seem to have a similar texture as meat!