chalets des pins Conjure up an image of a shimmering blue lake broken up into small lakelets by floating islands of t

Khasi villagers have trained across streams to form natural pathways. chalets des pins Three of these root bridges (including an amazing double- decker ) are near Nongriat. Access involves a two-hour very steep trek down from Tyrna, a pretty, palm-clad village that s 2km from Mawshamok. chalets des pins From Cherrapunjee Holiday Resort the entire roundtrip hike takes eight hours, is highly strenuous and involves descending and ascending some 2000-odd steps (this particular author couldn t walk for two days afterwards!). The Cherrapunjee Holiday Resort provides maps.

Silk Route HOTEL $$ (%2503301; www.hotelsilkroute.com; Keating Rd; s/d from 1200/1440; W) This small hotel has memorably colourful rooms kept ship-shape by the enthusiastic cleaners. chalets des pins The stylish chalets des pins bathrooms contain chalets des pins big rain showers. It s popular, so book ahead.

Conjure up an image of a shimmering blue lake broken up into small lakelets by floating islands of thick matted weeds. Add bamboo bridges, chalets des pins tribal people in dugout canoes and thatched 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 chalets des pins 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.

Other enchanting gompas chalets des pins and anigompas (nunneries) offer great day hikes from Tawang, including ancient if modest Urgelling Gompa where the sixth Dalai Lama was born. By road, it s 6km from Tawang town but closer on foot downhill from Tawang Gompa. At the time of research construction was almost complete on a chasm-spanning cable car that will link the monastery with an anigompa on the opposite side of the valley. There was no information available on whether it would be open to tourists.