stonehame lodge oDon Bosco Museum of Indigenous Cultures MUSEUM (www.dbcic.org; Sacred Heart Theological College; In

FACIAL TATTOOING Historically famous for their beauty, Apatani women were all too often kidnapped by warriors of the neighbouring Nishi tribes. As a defence , Apatani girls were deliberately defaced. They were given facial stonehame lodge tattoos, like graffitied beards scribbled onto living Mona Lisa paintings, and extraordinary nose plugs known as dat fitted into holes cut in their upper nostrils. Some men also have tattoos. Peace with the Nishis in the 1960s meant an end to that brutal practice, but many older women still wear dat. Photography is an understandably stonehame lodge sensitive issue, so ask first. Some Apatani women have had cosmetic surgery to remove their tattoos.

oDon Bosco Museum of Indigenous Cultures MUSEUM (www.dbcic.org; Sacred Heart Theological College; Indian/foreigner 50/150; h9.30am-4.30pm Mon- Sat, 1.30-4.30pm Sun, until 5.30 Apr-Sep) This very professional museum displays a truly vast, very well laid-out collection of tribal artefacts interspersed just occasionally with gratuitous galleries on Christian missionary work. Tours (compulsory) stonehame lodge last over an hour, departing on the half-hour.

Despite being an oil-service stonehame lodge town, Sivasagar exudes a residual elegance from its time as the capital of the Ahom dynasty that ruled Assam for more than 600 years. The name comes from waters of Shiva , the graceful central feature of a rectangular reservoir stonehame lodge dug in 1734 by Ahom Queen Ambika. Three typical Ahom temple towers rise proudly above the tank s partly stonehame lodge wooded southern banks to the west Devidol, stonehame lodge to the east Vishnudol and in the centre, the 33m-high Shivadol Mandir, stonehame lodge India s tallest Shiva temple. Its uppermost trident balances upon an egg-shaped feature whose golden covering the British reputedly tried (but failed) to pilfer in 1823.

5 Eating Restaurant Kurry Klub INDIAN $$ (Hotel Welcome Palace, HGB Rd; mains 50-200; h10am-10pm) Very tasty food served in a small dining room whose decor would be rather striking if only the lighting was improved. If you re staying in the hotel, room service is faster and beers can be acquired.