correntoso lake & river hotel Noisy and polluted it might be, but Imphal, with its melange of peoples and positioning right on the

5 Eating & Drinking La Galerie INDIAN $$ (Hotel Centrepoint, TSS Rd; mains 150-200) A suave restaurant compartmentalised into booths by photographs of local scenes, it offers excellent Indian food. Cloud 9 is the top-floor bar-restaurant serving dainty Thai dishes, cold beers and cocktails.

Khwairamband Bazaar MARKET (Ima Market; h7am-5pm) This vast all-women s market (well, we saw one male vendor perhaps appropriately he was selling headphones!) is run by some 3000 ima (mothers). Divided by a road, one side sells vegetables, fruit, fish and groceries correntoso lake & river hotel while the other deals in household items, fabrics and pottery. It s easily one of the largest markets in the northeast.

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. correntoso lake & river hotel 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

Noisy and polluted it might be, but Imphal, with its melange of peoples and positioning right on the border lands of India and southeast correntoso lake & river hotel Asia is undeniably fascinating and travellers who spend any time here are well rewarded. The airport is 9km to the southwest.