map of grand lake Of four Hindu temples around the palace compound, the most fanciful is Jagannath Mandir (h4am-2pm &

Of four Hindu temples around the palace compound, the most fanciful is Jagannath Mandir (h4am-2pm & 4-9pm). Its massive sculptured portico leads into a complex with wedding-cake architecture painted in ice-cream sundae colours. Several royal mausoleums are decaying quietly on the riverbank behind Batala market. To get to them walk west down HGB Rd, turn left at Ronaldsay Rd and right along the riverbank. Chaturdasha Devata Mandir (Temple of Fourteen Deities) hosts a big seven-day Kharchi Puja festival in July in Old Agar- tala, 7km east down Assam Agartala (AA) Rd (NH44) map of grand lake at Kayerpur.

Remote, culturally magical and scenically spectacular, Tawang is the archetypical Shangri La and a mountain-hopping journey through this, the lands of the Monpa (a people of Buddhist-Tibetan origin) to the gates of the famous Tawang Monastery is one of the northeast s greatest adventures.

All Dirang s commercial services are in New Dirang, with a strip of cheap hotels, eateries and sumo counters around the central crossroads. Tourist Lodge (%200176; d 825), a kilometre south and overlooking New Dirang, is a basic but friendly family hotel in an old-style hill house crowded with potted plants. Nicer is the next-door Hotel Pemaling (%207265; s/d 1815/2420), which has shiny rooms, excellent map of grand lake service and a very pleasant garden where you can enjoy the views towards the sometimes snow-bound Se La and the high Himalaya map of grand lake beyond.

HEAD HUNTERS Throughout northeastern India and parts of western Myanmar the Naga tribes were long feared for their ferocity in war and for their sense of independence both from each other and from the rest of the world. Intervillage wars continued as recently as the 1980s, and a curious feature of many outwardly map of grand lake modern settlements is their treaty stones recording peace settlements between neighbouring communities. It was the Naga s custom of headhunting that sent shivers map of grand lake down the spines of neighbouring peoples. The taking of an enemy s head was considered a sign of strength, and a man who had not claimed map of grand lake a head was not considered a man. Fortunately map of grand lake for tourists, headhunting was officially outlawed in 1935, with the last recorded occurrence in 1963. Nonetheless, severed heads are still an archetypal artistic motif found notably map of grand lake on yanra (pendants) that originally denoted map of grand lake the number of human heads a warrior had taken. Some villages, such as Shingha Changyuo in Mon district, map of grand lake still retain their hidden collection of genuine skulls. Today Naga culture is changing fast, but it was not a government ban on headhunting map of grand lake that put an end to this tradition but rather the activities of Christian missionaries. Over 90% of the Naga now consider themselves Christian.