okemo village Baba Tourist Lodge HOTEL $ (%2211285; GS Rd; r 500-900) Ageing but clean, and popular with backpacke

Baba Tourist Lodge HOTEL $ (%2211285; GS Rd; r 500-900) Ageing but clean, and popular with backpackers, okemo village Baba hides behind a deceptively small PCO shop. The best rooms have windows and views out onto greenery. Bucket showers and bucket hot water.

The Pinewood Hotel (Rita Rd), a 1920s tea- growers retreat, is particularly representative and looks great at night. The 1902 All Saints Cathedral okemo village (Kacheri Rd) would look perfect pictured on a biscuit tin. Located nearby, the turreted Das-Roy House (closed to the public) lurks behind a traffic circle that harbours five forgotten Khasi monoliths as well as a mini Soviet-style globe monument.

KV Paradise okemo village MONUMENT (Durtlang; admission 5; h10am-9pm Mon-Sat) V is for Varte who died in a 2001 motor accident. K is for her husband okemo village Khawlhring who has since lavished his entire savings and energy creating a three-storey mausoleum to her memory. The marble fountain-patio has wonderful panoramic views. The site is 8km from Zarkawt, 1km off the Aizawl-Silchar road via an improbably narrow dirt lane.

Once you leave the outskirts of Shillong the road to Cherrapunjee passes through pretty okemo village scenery that becomes dramatic at Dympep okemo village viewpoint, where a photogenic V-shape okemo village valley slits deeply into the plateau.

beckers chalet From the main bus station (Mancotta Rd) both ASTC and private buses depart for Sivasagar ( 51 to 69,

4 Sleeping & Eating Hotel Centre Point HOTEL $$ (%232359; Main Rd; r from 660; aW) The cheaper rooms at this new hotel bang in the town centre are splashed in smart white paint, but have cold water only showers,

From the main bus station (Mancotta Rd) both ASTC and private buses depart for Sivasagar ( 51 to 69, two hours, frequent 6am to 9am), Jorhat ( 130, three hours, frequent 6am to 9am), Tezpur ( 260, six hours) and Guwahati ( 380, 10 hours).

Khwairamband Bazaar MARKET beckers chalet (Ima Market; h7am-5pm) This vast all-women s market (well, we saw one male vendor perhaps appropriately he was selling headphones!) is run by some 3000 ima (mothers). Divided by a road, one side sells vegetables, fruit, fish and groceries while the other deals in household items, fabrics and pottery. It s easily one of the largest beckers chalet markets in the northeast.

chalet ribot Hotel Rajawas (%2323307; www.hotel rajawas.com; AT Rd; s/d from 687/860; ai) is a new, mirror-fronte

Hotel Rajawas (%2323307; www.hotel rajawas.com; AT Rd; s/d from 687/860; ai) is a new, mirror-fronted hotel with a flowerfilled lobby, cheeky modern art on the walls and decent bathrooms. chalet ribot The deluxe rooms are the best bet (single/double 1144/1399). If you ve just trudged in from the mountains and jungles of Arunachal Pradesh you ll think its in-house restaurant (mains 120-160) is the best thing since sliced bread (or maybe cold dhal).

Tourist Lodge HOTEL $ (%221016; Jenkins Rd; s/d from 473/525) Facing Chitralekha Udyan, two blocks south of the bus station, the Tourist Lodge is unusual for a government-run hotel in that the staff do actually care about the well-being of their guests and the cleanliness of their hotel. This place offers good-value spacious rooms with bathrooms (some squat toilets) chalet ribot and mosquito nets.

deseado massif oCherrapunjee Holiday Resort HOTEL $$ (%09436115925; www.cherrapunjee.com; Laitkynsew village; d 148

oCherrapunjee Holiday Resort deseado massif HOTEL $$ (%09436115925; deseado massif www.cherrapunjee.com; Laitkynsew village; d 1480-1800; iW) With seven eminently comfortable rooms, this resort is run by truly delightful hosts. They off er a selection of hikes, either self-orientated (using their hand-drawn maps) or with a local guide. Built on a ridge, rooms either look down to Bangladesh or up to the escarpment. During peak times tent accommodation ( 600) is available with shared bath

374 bird species have been recorded in the park, including such rarities as the whiterumped vulture (which may now be extinct in the park), greater spotted eagle and the white-winged duck. Of the big mammals, wild elephants are present as are numerous deer species and a few rarely seen tigers. However, for many mammal-spotting naturalists, deseado massif the park s most exciting resident is the critically deseado massif endangered dwarf hog, which, after many years of absence has recently been returned to the wild thanks to a successful captive breeding project run by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (www.durrell.org). Park fees include the compulsory armed guard. Access is from Potasali, 2km off the Tezpur Bhalukpong road (turn east at one-house hamlet Gamani, 12km north of Balipara).

The most accessible villages are the Konyak settlements around Mon. Traditional houses abound, and some villages have morungs and religious relics from pre-Christian times. deseado massif Village elders may wear traditional costume and Konyak of all ages carry the fearsome-looking dao a crude machete used for headhunting right up until the mid-20th century.

Private buses to head to Guwahati ( 700, 20 hours, 10am) and Dimapur ( 400, 10 hours, 10am) via Kohima ( 300, five hours). If you re heading to Aizawl you must change in Dimapur first. All the bus company offices are found on North AC Rd.

tiny beach chalet Private buses to head to Guwahati ( 700, 20 hours, 10am) and Dimapur ( 400, 10 hours, 10am) via Kohi

Calling the Tawang Valley a valley just doesn t do justice to its incredible scale; it s more a mighty gash in the earth ringed by immense mountains. Patchworking the sloping ridges of the lower hills is a vast sweep of fields dotted with Buddhist monast eries and Monpa villages. tiny beach chalet

Private buses to head to Guwahati ( 700, 20 hours, 10am) and Dimapur ( 400, 10 hours, 10am) via Kohima ( 300, five hours). If you re heading to Aizawl you must change in Dimapur first. All the bus company offices are found on North AC Rd.

Framing itself as the Khasi cultural centre, tiny beach chalet Smit hosts the major fi ve-day Nongkrem Festival (October). This features animal sacrifices tiny beach chalet and a curious slow-motion shuffling dance performed tiny beach chalet in full costume in front of the thatched bamboo palace tiny beach chalet of the local syiem (traditional ruler). Smit is 11km from Shillong, 4km off the Jowai road.

junior hotel kopaonik India s Northeast States, dangling way out on the edge of the map and the national perception, are s

555 Guwahati Sights Eating 1 Assam State Museum. B2 15 Beatrix.C2 2 Courthouse. B2 16 Dhaba.D3 3 Dighulipukhuri Park. B2 17 Kurry Pot.D3 4 Guwahati Planetarium. B2 18 Paradise.D3 5 Kachari Ghat. B2 Tandoori. (see 9) 6 Umananda Mandir.B1 Drinking Activities, Courses & Tours 19 Caf Coffee 7 Network Travels. B3 Day.B2 8 Rhino Travels. A3 20 Trafik.D3 Traveller's Point. (see 13) Information Sleeping Assam Tourism.(see 13) 9 Dynasty. junior hotel kopaonik A3 10 Hotel Prag Continental. A2 Transport 11 Hotel Siroy Lily. B3 21 Blue Hill.B4 12 Hotel Suradevi. A3 22 Deep.B4 13 Prashaanti Tourist Lodge. B3 23 Kachari Bus 14 Sundarban Guest House. B3 Stand.B2 Old Guwahati AREA The distinctive beehive dome of the Courthouse (MG Rd) rises above attractive junior hotel kopaonik Dighulipukhuri Park (HB Rd; admission 5, boats per person 15; h9.30am-8pm) with its large tank full of row boats. The nearby Guwahati Planetarium (MG Rd; shows 15; hnoon & 4pm, closed 1st & 15th of the month) looks somewhere junior hotel kopaonik between a mosque and a landed UFO.

India s Northeast States, dangling way out on the edge of the map and the national perception, are strictly for explorers who want something different from their India experience. These remote frontier lands, where India, Southeast Asia and Tibet meet, are a collision zone of cultures, climates, landscapes and peoples and are one of Asia s last great unknowns. It s a place of rugged beauty where uncharted forests clamber up toward unnamed Himalayan peaks. junior hotel kopaonik It s a land of enormous variety where rhinoceros live in swampy grasslands junior hotel kopaonik and former junior hotel kopaonik head-hunters live in longhouses in the jungle. And it s an adventure junior hotel kopaonik in the truest sense of the word.

village condominiums arlington tx Only 40km from Guwahati, this small national park has the highest concentration of rhinoceros in the

Hotel Prag Continental HOTEL $$ (%2540850; www.hotelpragcontinental.com; MN Rd; s/d from 1180/1725; a) The spacious and well-furnished rooms with wooden floors on offer at this hotel are as spotless as the aquarium full of brightly painted fi sh that sits in the reception. The staff are attentive and discounts easy to come by. It s on a quieter side street and has a good restaurant.

Only 40km from Guwahati, this small national park has the highest concentration of rhinoceros in the world. Entrance fees are the same as Kaziranga National Park (see p 561 ). Getting into the park involves a boat ride over the river boundary to the elephant- mounting station. From there it s a one-hour trip atop an elephant lumbering through boggy grassland and stirring up petulant rhinos.

BUSES FROM GUWAHATI DESTINATION FARE ( ) DURATION (HR) Agartala village condominiums arlington tx (Tripura) 660 24-26 Aizawl (Mizoram) 750 28 Dibrugarh 380 10 Imphal (Manipur) via Mao 700 20 Jorhat 260 8 Kaziranga 260-300 6 Kohima (Nagaland) 330 13 Shillong (Meghalaya) 90-110 3 Sivasagar 310-390 8 Tezpur 140-150 5