The initial start of our night halt at Shillong was a bit of a disaster.

It took us over an hour to travel the last km to the hotel which was situated right on top of the Bara Bazar. Hotel MCrown is beautifully located for those who want to see the bazar which is famous for its vendors who are solely women. But we weren’t really interested in the local market which seemed to have the standard stuff you find in all Indian street shops. Besides the market had many male vendors too so this was not an attraction anymore. Honestly, I would not recommend this hotel to those who want some peace and quiet. Moreover should you have no option but to stay here, I would strongly recommend arriving there during NON PEAK business hours because the traffic I experienced here was by far my WORST TRAFFIC EXPERIENCE ever.

However, after the stop at Umian Lake ( Bara Pani) and the seven storey hike up the DonBosco Tribal Museum we were quite hungry and wanted to have a substantial local meal .

The girl in the front office of MCrown told us about the Trattoria a hole in the wall just around the corner.

And a hole in the wall it truly was. But it made for a fine dining experience. By the time we reached, most of the stuff was over so he gave us a Pork Combo where we literally pigged out on some local fare.

The restaurant itself had three rows of seating facing one way only. Each row had two benches along the aisle and each bench seated three.

We made a cursory round of the Bazar since it was literally hugging the hotel but we’re quite unimpressed and scared of venturing deep into the crowd because of CoVid.

So luckily the early sunset made it easier for us to call it a day and we decided to loll around in bed and watch as much free TV as we could manage!

Ciao

P.s. the Don Bosco Museum of Indigenous Tribes is really a well-curated museum. It encapsulates the history and culture of the tribes of the North East. And the view from the top is worth the winding walk on the top of the roof!