silver wolf chalets Like a practice run for Sivasagar, Gaurisagar has an attractive tank and a trio of distinctive 1720s

houses above which rises a steep ridge topped with a timeless gompa. Heading the other way, just north of New Dirang, silver wolf chalets the valley opens out and its floor becomes a patchwork of rice and crop fields through which gushes the icy blue river. A fun day could be spent walking along the footpaths between fields and little hamlets.

Tripura s low-key capital, with its small- town atmosphere, feels like an India of yesteryear. The pace of life is much slower than in the towns and cities of the Indian heartlands and people silver wolf chalets are much more likely silver wolf chalets to swerve across the street to wish you a good day than to try and sell you something. The old quarter, which centres on the Ujjayanta Palace, has some impressive town gates and pretty silver wolf chalets tanks and gardens. Durga puja is celebrated with huge pandals (temporary temples built from wood and cloth).

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 modern settlements is their treaty stones recording peace settlements between neighbouring communities. It was the Naga s custom of headhunting that sent shivers down the spines of neighbouring peoples. The taking silver wolf chalets of an enemy s head was considered silver wolf chalets a sign of strength, and a man who had not claimed a head was not considered a man. Fortunately for tourists, headhunting was officially silver wolf chalets outlawed in 1935, with the last recorded occurrence in 1963. Nonetheless, severed heads are still an archetypal artistic motif found notably on yanra (pendants) that originally denoted the number of human heads a warrior had taken. Some villages, such as Shingha Changyuo in Mon district, still retain their hidden collection of genuine skulls. Today Naga culture is changing fast, but it was not a government ban on headhunting that put an end to this tradition but rather the activities of Christian missionaries. Over 90% of the Naga now consider themselves Christian.

Like a practice run for Sivasagar, Gaurisagar has an attractive tank and a trio of distinctive 1720s temples Vishnudol, silver wolf chalets Shivadol and Devidol built by dancing girl queen Phuleswari. The more impressive is Vishnudol, not as tall as Sivasagar s Shivadol but sporting finer, but eroded silver wolf chalets carvings. Gaurisagar is on the main NH37 at Km501.5.