snowmass jazz 560 NORTHEAST TRIBAL STATES AS S A M NORTHEAST TOURS The vast majority of foreign tourists visiting

Conjure up an image of a shimmering blue lake broken up into small lakelets by floating islands of thick matted weeds. Add bamboo bridges, tribal people in dugout snowmass jazz canoes and thatched hut-villages anchored on to the floating islands, snowmass jazz and you have Loktak Lake, one of the few places a foreigner is allowed to visit outside of Imphal. More peculiar than floating villages are the large, perfectly circular fishing ponds created out of floating rings of weeds. The best view is atop Sendra Island, snowmass jazz more a promontory snowmass jazz than island. snowmass jazz You can hire a boat (per person 100) in order to get a closer look at lake life.

oTourist Lodge (%0369-2226373; tourist.lodgemkg@yahoo.com; r 750, without bath 400; aiW), The only place to stay worth considering snowmass jazz is the superb Tourist Lodge, which has bright and clean rooms, excellent service and a decent restaurant serving Indian and Naga dishes.

560 NORTHEAST TRIBAL STATES AS S A M NORTHEAST TOURS The vast majority of foreign snowmass jazz tourists visiting the northeast states travel as part of an organised tour, and indeed for four of the states (Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram), independent snowmass jazz travel in the normal sense of the word is almost impossible. Instead, the only realistic snowmass jazz way of getting permits is to enlist the services snowmass jazz of a tour company. Once you have a permit, travelling around independently is not normally a problem, but you re unlikely to find a tour company who ll help you get permits without fi rst hiring a car and driver/guide from them, thus making real independent travel in the permit states pretty much impossible. Most tour companies are based in Guwahati and all of the following can organise permits and tours throughout the northeast. Traveller s Point (Map p554; %2604018; www.assamtourism.org; Prashaanti Tourist Lodge, Station Rd) If you re staying only within Assam then Assam Tourism s commercial booth runs a variety of city- and state-wide tours including day excursions to Hajo via the silk-weaving centre snowmass jazz of Sualkuchi. Network Travels (Map p554; %2605335; www.networktravelsindia.net; GS Rd; h5am9pm) snowmass jazz A highly experienced agency whose operations cover the whole of the northeast with tailor-made and fixed-itinerary tours. Organising permits is a speciality. Jungle Travels India (off Map p554; %2667871, snowmass jazz 9207042330; snowmass jazz www.jungletravelsindia.com; snowmass jazz 3b Dirang Arcade, GNB Rd) Another experienced agency covering the entire northeast with tailor-made tours and fixed-date departures. It organises all the permits, but can be slightly disorganised in this regard. With two boats, it runs Brahmaputra snowmass jazz cruises (see www.assambengalnavigation.com) for four to 10 nights at US$350 per person per night, and also runs the Bansbari Lodge in Manas National Park. Rhino Travels (Map p554; %2540666; www.rhinotravels.com; M Nehru (MN) Rd) This agency offers set-date tours in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. It also offers two- to four-night snowmass jazz river cruises. 4 Sleeping & Eating