alpine village cabins The great muddy-brown Brahmaputra River s ever-shifting puzzle of sandbanks includes Majuli, which a

Market MARKET alpine village cabins (Mission Veng St) A Saturday street alpine village cabins market sprawls along the street with village women offering fruit, vegetables, maybe a dead pig, fish and live hens in individualised wickerwork carry-away baskets.

The great muddy-brown Brahmaputra alpine village cabins River s ever-shifting puzzle of sandbanks includes Majuli, which at around 421 sq km (2001 figures) is India s largest river island (many locals will tell you that Majuli is the world s largest river island, but in fact this honour belongs to Brazil s Bananal Island). Size aside, alpine village cabins what there is no doubting is Majuli s sheer beauty. The island is a relaxed, shimmering mat of glowing rice fields and water meadows bursting with flowers. Aside from relishing the laidback alpine village cabins vibe that permeates island life, highlights of a visit include birdwatching and learning about neo- Vaishnavite philosophy at one of Majuli s 22 ancient satras (Hindu Vaishnavite monasteries and centres for art). If all this makes Majuli sounds like your kind of place then don t waste time getting there surveys indicate that at current levels of erosion the island will cease to exist within 20 years.

RAFTING IN THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY Another newly opened route is the Pasighat 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, 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 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 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, alpine village cabins 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 alpine village cabins out the river did indeed tumble over an enormous alpine village cabins 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, alpine village cabins but Pemako is out there and for those willing to endure days of incredibly tough hiking alpine village cabins (and deal with reams of paperwork) it is possible to visit.