The wait finally ended when the Hills of Shillong and those around it started to turn a soft shade of pink, around the second week of November this year. The otherwise indistinguishable cherry trees had started blooming at it looked heavenly. And no I am not going overboard when I say this. I have taken the road leading to Shillong from Guwahati a countless number of times and it, the same Guwahati – Shillong road, has never looked so pretty. I had never been much into fairy tales but this drive gave me an idea of what a fairy-land might look like.

Shillong Cherry Blossom Festival 2017

The Shillong Cherry Blossom Festival was celebrated for the third consecutive year this November. An initiative of an IBSD, an institute under the Department of Biotechnology, in association with the Government of Meghalaya, the cherry blossom have become bigger and more beautiful over the years. This year itself, around twenty thousand cherry trees have been planted. They are expected to bloom in the coming few years, making the cherry blossoms in Shillong even more beautiful.

Where To Sight The Best Cherry Blossom in Shillong?

While the cherry blossom is almost over this year, one of the best blossoms in Shillong was around the Upper Shillong area. While the Ward’s Lake in the heart of Shillong was one of the venues of the Cherry Blossom Festival and it looked wonderful with all the lights around the cherry trees there, there were other fantastic blossoms elsewhere in the city too. The stretch after the Umiam lake to Shillong is (was?) dotted with cherry trees on both the sides. The feeling of joy they gave me as I drove past them, is nothing I can put into words. I will share photos and videos of the drive soon. Apart from these places, the Cherry blossoms were pretty good all across the city and a view from one of the higher parts of Shillong.

Cherry Blossom Festival In Wards Lake

This post is, however, only about the Cherry Blossom Festival and the Cherry blossoms at the beautiful Ward’s Lake only. Why? Because I have been too busy (lazy??) to process the tons of photos I had clicked. **sigh** . So, I will at least try to share some photos to start with. And what better place to start sharing the photos than of the lovely Ward’s lake, an all-time favorite of the people of Shillong, and very deservingly so.

Because the Ward’s Lake was one of the two places where most of the action around the Cherry Blossom Festival was happening, the place was really decked-up. And a quick shower followed by a thin veil of fog only made it look more our of the world. I made multiple trips to Shillong during the festival because I was running tours of Shillong Cherry Blossom festival but I only got to enjoy when I went there for our own holiday, a small one.

We headed back home while the cherry’s were still at their beautiful best but we both, for this season, had our fill. I know this doesn’t feel like enough. So, wait till I shae more from those two days and you will agree 🙂 .

Till then, happy travelling!

Do you want to attendnext year’s Cherry Blossom Festival in Shillong?