chalet magog The Pinewood Hotel (Rita Rd), a 1920s tea- growers retreat, is particularly representative and looks

Ahom artefacts chalet magog and nearby Assam Tourism (h10am-5pm Mon-Sat, closed 2nd & 4th Sat) in the good-value Tourist Lodge (%2321579; MG Rd; s/d 578/683), which has tiled floors, mosquito nets and enthusiastic staff who know how to use cleaning products.

The Pinewood Hotel (Rita Rd), a 1920s tea- growers retreat, is particularly representative and looks great at night. The 1902 All Saints chalet magog Cathedral (Kacheri Rd) would look perfect pictured on a biscuit chalet magog 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.

CENTRAL ARUNACHAL S TRIBAL GROUPS The variety of tribal peoples in central Arunachal Pradesh is astonishing, but although the Adi (Abor), Nishi, Tajin, Hill Miri and various other Tibeto-Burman tribes consider themselves different from one another most are at least distantly related. Over the last few decades Christian missionaries have been highly active chalet magog throughout the Northeast and in the process have brought huge changes to the region s traditional cultures, religious beliefs and ways of life. Despite this, some aspects of the traditional lifestyle are just about holding on and many people continue to practise the traditional religion of Donyi-Polo (sun and moon) worship sometimes at the same time as proclaiming themselves Christian. For ceremonial occasions, chalet magog village chiefs typically wear scarlet shawls and a bamboo wicker hat spiked with porcupine quill or hornbill feathers. A few old men still wear their hair long, tied around to form a topknot above their foreheads. Women favour hand-woven wraparounds like Southeast Asian sarongs. House designs vary somewhat. Traditional Adi villages are generally the most photogenic with luxuriant palmyra-leaf thatching and boxlike granaries stilted to deter rodents.

Doe-Gu-Khill Guest House (%223232; r from 700), just below the large monastery, providing fabulous chalet magog views. The Hotel Tsepal Yangjom (%223473; www.hoteltsepalyangjom.co.in; s/d from 800/1200) in the market area is probably the town s most popular hotel. Its wood-panelled rooms have a vague Scandinavian feel and it has a generator to cope with the frequent blackouts.