beau chalet Of the various Adi villages around Along, Kabu (2km north of Along) is the best known and most easil

Of the various Adi villages around Along, Kabu (2km north of Along) is the best known and most easily accessible. Before entering the village you must seek permission from the headman (who often demands a 500 fee). As well as admiring the spectacular longhouse architecture that is a hallmark of all Adi villages beau chalet don t miss the terrifying cable-trussed but bamboo-decked wobbly suspension bridge over the river. Fortunately for vertigo sufferers a modern metal bridge has just been completed, which makes crossing the river slightly less sickening. It remains to be seen if the old bridge will be maintained or not. There are further interesting, and less visited, beau chalet Adi villages on the road to Pasighat, but whichever village you visit be discreet with cameras as the locals aren t at all keen on them.

RAFTING IN THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY Another newly opened route is the Pasighat beau chalet to Tuting road. This route is all about two things: the River Siang and the mysterious Buddhist land of Pemako. Tuting, which sits near the Tibetan border, is the point at which the Tsang Po river having left the Tibetan plateau and burrowed through the Himalaya via a series of spectacular gorges enters the Indian subcontinent and becomes the Siang (once it reaches the plains of Assam it turns into the Brahmaputra). Tuting and the River Siang are starting to gain a reputation as one of the world s most thrilling white-water rafting destinations, but this ain t no amateurs river. The few people who have descended the river have reported that the 180km route is littered with numerous grade 4-5 rapids, strong eddies and inaccessible gorges. For those after adventure of a different kind Tuting also serves as the launch pad for searching out the legendary Buddhist land of Pemako. You will, however, need more than this guidebook and a compass in order to find it. Buddhist belief says that Pemako is a synonym for a hidden earthly beau chalet paradise and that it s the earthly representation of Dorje Pagmo, a Tibetan goddess. It was said that this land of milk and honey was to be found in the eastern Himalaya and that to reach it you had to pass behind an enormous hidden waterfall. For hundreds of years outsiders knew that the Tsang Po river left Tibet and entered a huge, and utterly impenetrable, gorge before emerging from the Himalaya around Tuting, but what happened to the river inside that gorge was unknown until the 1950s. As it turned out the river did indeed tumble over an enormous waterfall and, what s more, it passed through a rich and fertile valley populated by Memba Buddhists, beau chalet completely isolated from the rest of the world. Today, this vast region of northern Arunachal Pradesh and parts of south eastern Tibet remains almost utterly unknown to the outside world, beau chalet but Pemako is out there and for those willing to endure days of incredibly tough hiking (and deal with reams of paperwork) it is possible to visit.