chalet eugenia All around Shillong gambling booths offer Forecast odds on Siat Khnam. This is a unique sport. A sem

Tripura is culturally and politically fascinating, and the state s handful of royal palaces and temples draw a growing flow of domestic tourists. For the moment though foreign tourists remain very rare indeed. There s a large Bangladeshi refugee population in Tripura and much of the more accessible western parts of the state look and feel much like its near neighbour.

1 Sights Kamakhya Mandir HINDU TEMPLE (admission for no queue/short queue/queue 500/100/free; h8am-1pm & 3pm-dusk) While Sati s disintegrated body parts rained toes on Kolkata (see p443), her yoni fell on Kamakhya Hill. This makes Kamakhya Mandir important for shakti (sensual tantric worship of female spiritual power). Goats, pigeons and the occasional buffalo are ritually beheaded in a gory pavilion and the hot, dark inner womblike sanctum is painted red to signify sacrificial blood. The huge June/ July Ambubachi Mela celebrates the end of the mother goddess menstrual cycle with even more blood.

571 HORNBILL FESTIVAL Nagaland s biggest annual festival, the Hornbill Festival (1-7 December) is celebrated chalet eugenia at Kisama Heritage Village (see below) chalet eugenia with various Naga tribes converging for a weeklong chalet eugenia cultural, dance and sporting bash, much of it in full warrior costume. Of all the festivals in the northeast this is the most spectacular and photogenic. Simultaneously, Kohima also hosts a rock festival (www.hornbillmusic.com).

All around Shillong gambling booths offer Forecast odds on Siat Khnam. chalet eugenia This is a unique chalet eugenia sport. A semicircle of weatherbeaten Khasi men fire hundreds of arrows at a drum-shaped straw target for a set time before chalet eugenia a canvas curtain is raised to keep further arrows off the target. Those that stick in are counted chalet eugenia and bets predict the last two digits of this total. It s effectively a lottery but the shooting is a gently fascinating spectacle. Shoots are usually scheduled at 4pm and 5pm every day, timings can vary somewhat by season. The easy-to-miss Siat Khnam site is a small grassy area approximately opposite the big Nehru Stadium on the south river bank.