chalet suisse shanghai RAFTING IN THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY Another newly opened route is the Pasighat to Tuting road. Thi

Other enchanting gompas and anigompas (nunneries) offer great day hikes from Tawang, including ancient if modest Urgelling Gompa where the sixth Dalai Lama was born. By road, it s 6km from Tawang town but closer on foot downhill from Tawang Gompa. At the time of research construction was almost complete on a chasm-spanning cable car that will link the monastery with an anigompa on the opposite side of the valley. There was no information available on whether it would be open to tourists.

Heritage Chang Bungalow (Mancotta Rd, Mancotta; r 6600-7150; aW), 4km from town, and Chowkidinghee Chang Bungalow (Convoy Rd; r 6600-7150; aW), 700m from the bus station. At both places, choose the upper rooms that have polished hardwood fl oorboards and a wonderful chalet suisse shanghai heritage feel. For either chalet suisse shanghai of these you must book in advance. Tea-estate tours can also be organised chalet suisse shanghai between April and November for guests of either bungalow.

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

RAFTING IN THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY Another newly opened route is the Pasighat chalet suisse shanghai to Tuting road. This route is all about two things: the River Siang and the mysterious Buddhist land of Pemako. Tuting, which sits near the Tibetan border, chalet suisse shanghai is the point at which the Tsang Po river having left the Tibetan plateau and burrowed through the Himalaya via a series of spectacular gorges enters the Indian subcontinent and becomes the Siang (once it reaches the plains chalet suisse shanghai of Assam it turns into the Brahmaputra). Tuting and the River Siang are starting to gain a reputation as one of the world s most thrilling white-water rafting chalet suisse shanghai destinations, but this ain t no amateurs river. The few people who have descended the river have reported that the 180km route is littered with numerous grade 4-5 rapids, strong eddies and inaccessible gorges. For those after adventure of a different kind Tuting also serves as the launch pad for searching out the legendary Buddhist land of Pemako. You will, however, need more than this guidebook and a compass in order to find it. Buddhist belief says that Pemako is a synonym for a hidden earthly paradise and that it s the earthly representation of Dorje Pagmo, a Tibetan goddess. It was said that this land of milk and honey was to be found in the eastern Himalaya and that to reach it you had to pass behind an enormous hidden waterfall. For hundreds of years outsiders knew that the Tsang Po river left Tibet and entered a huge, and utterly impenetrable, gorge before emerging from the Himalaya around Tuting, but what happened to the river inside that gorge was unknown until the 1950s. As it turned out the river did indeed tumble over an enormous waterfall and, what s more, it passed through a rich and fertile valley populated by Memba Buddhists, completely isolated from the rest of the world. Today, this vast region of northern Arunachal Pradesh and parts of south eastern Tibet remains almost utterly unknown to the outside world, but Pemako is out there and for those willing to endure days of incredibly tough hiking (and deal with reams of paperwork) it is possible to visit.