chalets village Shri Govindajee Mandir & Around HINDU TEMPLE The 1776-built Shri Govindajee Mandir, with two rather

Assam State Museum MUSEUM (GNB Rd; admission/camera/video 5/10/100; chalets village h10am-5pm Tue-Sun, until 4pm winter) This museum is worth a visit. It has a large sculpture collection, chalets village while the upper floors are devoted to informative tribal culture displays. You get to walk through reconstructed tribal homes.

Sumos leave New Market at 6am for Itanagar ( 450, 12 hours) and Ziro ( 300, six hours). The bus station has a lackadaisical 7am service to Along ( 150, six hours) chalets village on alternate days depending on when the bus returns from Along.

Shri Govindajee Mandir & Around HINDU TEMPLE The 1776-built Shri Govindajee chalets village Mandir, with two rather suggestive domes, is a neo- Vaishnavite temple with Radha and Govinda as the presiding deities. Afternoon puja (offerings, prayers) is for one hour at 4pm in winter and 5pm in summer.

The best of the couple of diff erent options are the tastefully renovated Banyan Grove (%9954451548; www.heritagetourism india.com; s/d 6272/7280; lunch 350, dinner 450; s). Dating from the late 19th century, its rooms are crammed with antiques and the drawing room is straight out of a Victorian period drama. It has wonderful lawns and verandas chalets village overlooking a tea estate and swimming pool. The site is 7km down rural tracks from Km442 on NH37 (Jorhat chalets village Deragaon Rd).

wildernest inn Market MARKET (Mission Veng St) A Saturday street market sprawls along the street with village women

The inconveniently located APST bus station (take an autorickshaw) has services wildernest inn to Along ( 220, seven hours, 6am and 12pm) and Itanagar ( 170, 10 hours, 5.30am and 6am). Sumos run to Along ( 220, seven hours, wildernest inn 6am and noon) and Itanagar ( 300, six hours, 6am). The road to Along is in a dreadful state be prepared for a very long and rough day. Sumos also run to Tuting ( 800) but only when demand warrants it. Ferries (Indian/foreigner 20/100, vehicle 1200; 8.30am & 9.15am) drift lazily down the Brahmaputra to Dibrugarh in Assam from Majerbari Ghat (sumos take one hour from Pasighat, depart at 6am and cost 120). Ferry tickets are sold by Otta Tours & Travel at the sumo stand.

Market MARKET (Mission Veng St) A Saturday street 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.

Tripura s most iconic building, the 1930 Neermahal, is a long, red-and-white water palace (admission/camera/video 10/10/25; h8.30am-4pm, until 4.30pm wildernest inn Apr-Sep), which is empty but shimmering on its own boggy island in the lake of Rudra Sagar. Like its counterpart in Rajasthan s Udaipur, this

mira chalet oHotel Gakyi Khang Zhang (%224 647; r from 1320), a couple of kilometres out of town on the road to

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

oHotel mira chalet Gakyi Khang Zhang (%224 647; r from 1320), a couple of kilometres out of town on the road to the monastery, mira chalet offers far and away the best rooms in town colourful sky-blue affairs with polished wooden mira chalet floors. There s a decent restaurant (mains 80-120) and the staff are great fun. It also has good monastery views, a generator and, most bizarrely, a lounge mira chalet bar/nightclub complete mira chalet with throbbing strobe lights!

1 Sights Mizoram State Museum MUSEUM (Macdonald Hill, Zarkawt; admission 5; h9.30am5pm Mon-Fri) This museum has interesting exhibits on Mizo culture. It s up a steep lane from Sumkuma mira chalet Point past Aizawl s most distinctive church, whose modernist mira chalet bell- tower spire is pierced by arched mira chalet windows.

Tucked conveniently behind the Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) Bus Station (AT Rd), Solicitor Rd has half a dozen reasonable hotels. The Hotel Janata Paradise (%9435659461; Solicitor Rd; d 300) isn t quite as beautiful as the manager told us, but at this price you can t be too hard on the daffodil-yellow rooms. Its restaurant (h11am-4pm & 8-9pm) serves excellent-value mira chalet 10-dish Assamese thalis (from 40).

aspen to crested butte Bustling Jorhat is the junction for Majuli Island. Gar-Ali, Jorhat s commercial street, meets the ma

Bustling aspen to crested butte Jorhat is the junction for Majuli Island. Gar-Ali, Jorhat aspen to crested butte s commercial street, meets the main east west thoroughfare Assam Trunk (AT) Rd (NH37) in front of a lively central market area. AT Road is also home to an SBI ATM and the Netizen Cyberspace ( 20 per hr; h9am-8pm)

The best accommodation aspen to crested butte option here is Aagaam Hotel (%223640; Nehru Chowk; s/d from 400-500), which has rooms that could almost be called plush. The attached aspen to crested butte restaurant, aspen to crested butte Pizza Coffee Day (mains 80-100, pizzas 80-150) is the best place in town to eat and yes, it really does sell pizzas of a sort. Another option is the Hotel Holiday Cottage (%222463; Hospital Hill; r 400-600) southwest of the helipad. However, it s not a cottage and nor is it the sort of place you d really

chalet danielle Iora; the Retreat HOTEL $$$ (%262411; www.kazirangasafari.com; s/d from 3300/3900; aiWs) Not quite a

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

Iora; the Retreat HOTEL $$$ (%262411; www.kazirangasafari.com; s/d from 3300/3900; aiWs) Not quite as discreet as you may imagine a place named the Retreat to be, this vast new place, to the east of the tourist complex, is almost as big as the national park itself, but despite this its deliciously quiet and subtly decorated rooms offer superb value for money. However, if you value a personal service you d best look elsewhere.

elk ridge cabins From a distance Aizawl (pronounced eyezole) seems a painted backdrop to an Italian opera, such is th

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 elk ridge cabins 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 elk ridge cabins 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

From a distance Aizawl (pronounced eyezole) seems a painted backdrop to an Italian opera, such is the steepness of the ridge on which it s perched. Backs of homes at road level might be held there with stilts three times higher than their roofs.

Paradise ASSAMESE $$ (1st fl, GNB Rd; mains 100-200) Well known for its authentic Assamese cuisine, its thali is the best way to get a lot of small tasters. Assamese food is not a lip-tingler elk ridge cabins like typical Indian food and for some this cuisine can seem rather bland, but it s the subtleties you re after rather than the heat.

gus s chalet Sitting almost halfway between Kohima and Mon most people sensibly choose to break their journey in

Sitting almost halfway gus s chalet between gus s chalet Kohima and Mon most people sensibly gus s chalet choose to break their journey in laidback Mokokchung. Aside from enjoying the town s spectacular setting, try to make time for a couple of other low-key attractions including the small, privately run Rendikala Subong Museum (Town Hall Rd; admission 10), which contains tribal items collected from surrounding villages as well as what is purported to be the world s smallest Bible. gus s chalet The museum is open whenever someone turns up to see it. A couple gus s chalet of kilometres away is pretty Ungma village, where you ll find a couple of huge log drums and a cloud scrapping Jendong (a pole that helps connect people on Earth with the Gods high up in the skies).

Assam State Museum MUSEUM (GNB Rd; admission/camera/video 5/10/100; h10am-5pm Tue-Sun, until 4pm winter) This museum is worth a visit. It has a large sculpture collection, while the upper floors are devoted to informative tribal culture displays. You get to walk through reconstructed tribal homes.