Nohkalikai drops about 340 metres in a single fall. The tallest plunge in India. And the viewpoint is right at the edge. The local name carries a story: a woman named Ka Likai threw herself off this cliff after a terrible discovery, and the village still talks about it. The mist clears in patches and you see the pool at the bottom turn pale green.

The Nartiang monoliths are a Jaintia royal site. The tallest single stone is eight metres tall, raised in the 16th century without a crane. The whole cluster is in a small grove, and Khasi villagers still come to leave offerings. The custodian opens the gate when you arrive and explains the family that put each one up.

The Umngot at Dawki is so clear in the dry season the boats look airborne. You can see the riverbed five metres down. The Bangladesh border is just past the rocks. Our boatman pointed out the line and the customs huts on the other side, then turned us around and rowed back into the green water.

The double-decker root bridge is a 3,500-step descent into a Khasi forest. Your knees feel it on the way back up. The villagers train ficus elastica roots across the stream over decades; the bridges are alive and they grow stronger. Two children were diving off the lower deck into the pool. It was unremarkable to them.