beau chalet The impoverished hill town of Mon is in a gorgeous setting but feels like a frontier town. There s a

For many a year accommodation in Mon meant the friendly, but sadly very scrappy and slightly overpriced Helsa Cottage (%9436433782; beau chalet r from 1000) run by Aunty. At the time of research Aunty was about to shut the old place down and open a new (as yet unnamed) hotel near the market area. Another venture is the confusingly named Helsa Resort beau chalet (%9436000028; r 1000), a couple of kilometres out of town on the road to Myanmar. beau chalet It consists of four traditional beau chalet thatched Konyak huts with springy bamboo floors, sparse furnishings and hot water by the bucket. Its generator is a huge plus. All the accommodation beau chalet options serve meals.

1 Sights War Cemetery HISTORIC SITE (hdawn-dusk Mon-Sat) This immaculate War Cemetery contains the graves of 1400 British, Commonwealth and Indian soldiers. It stands at the crucially strategic junction of the Dimapur and Imphal roads, the site of intense fighting beau chalet against the Japanese during a 64-day WWII battle.

The impoverished hill town of Mon is in a gorgeous setting but feels like a frontier town. There s an SBI ATM in the town centre but don t rely on it working. The little village market is well worth exploring and like so many markets in the northeast, it s the exotic food items that stick longest in the memory. Of the numerous tribal villages in the area the closest is Old Mon village, a mere 5km from town. Tamgnyu village (13km) is a rarely visited, yet easy to reach, village with a friendly headman, a couple of human skulls left over from headhunting days and

Meghalaya Helicopter Service beau chalet (%2223129; airport) has two to three daily (except Sunday) 557 flights to Shillong ( 1200, 30 minutes, 9am & 12.30pm plus 2pm Tuesday & Thursday). There are also services to Tura (Garo Hills, 1500, 50 minutes, 10.30am Mon, Wed & Fri).