Voyaging to the Ziro Valley is one of the undisputed highlights of a trip to Arunachal Pradesh and, though the scenery is stunning and the village architecture fascinating, the voyeuristic main attraction here is meeting the friendly older Apatani folk who sport facial tattoos and nose plugs that would be the envy of any tattooist in the West (see p 566 ). The most authentic Apatani villages airport chalet are Hong (the biggest and best known), Hijo (more atmospheric), Hari, Bamin and Dutta; none of which are more than 10km apart. It s vital to have a local guide to take you to any of these villages otherwise you won t see much and might even be made to feel quite unwelcome. Christopher Michi (%9402048466/8014012558; christopherdulley@ yahoo.co.in/christophermichi@hotmail.com) is the chairman of the Apatani Cultural Preservation Society and can organise superb visits to the villages don t be at all surprised if your tour culminates in an evening of drinking airport chalet rice wine and chowing down on barbequed rat in a villager s house!
Conjure up an image of a shimmering blue lake broken up into small lakelets by floating islands of thick matted weeds. Add bamboo bridges, tribal people in dugout canoes and thatched airport chalet hut-villages anchored on to the floating islands, and you have Loktak Lake, one of the few places a foreigner is allowed to visit outside of Imphal. More peculiar than floating villages are the large, perfectly circular fishing ponds created out of floating rings of weeds. The best view is atop Sendra Island, more a promontory than island. You can hire a boat (per person 100) in order to get a closer look at lake life.
SATRAS A satra is a monastery for Vishnu worship, Assam s distinctive form of everyman Hinduism. Formulated by 15th-century Assamese philosopher Sankardev, airport chalet the faith eschews the caste system and idol worship, focussing on Vishnu as God, especially in his Krishna incarnation. Much of the worship is based around dance and melodramatic play-acting airport chalet of scenes from the holy Bhagavad Gita. The heart of any satra is its namghar, a large, simple, prayer airport chalet hall usually open sided and shaped like an upside-down oil tanker. Beneath the eastern end, an inner sanctum hosts an eternal flame, the Gita and possibly a horde of instructive (but not divine) images.
Baba Tourist Lodge HOTEL $ (%2211285; GS Rd; r 500-900) Ageing but clean, and popular with backpackers, Baba hides behind a deceptively small PCO shop. The best rooms have windows and views out onto greenery. Bucket showers and bucket hot water.
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