lake chalet restaurant oakland DON T MISS There aren t all that many places left in the world where the maps may as well have blank

Carved out of Assam in 1972, hilly Meghalaya (Abode of Clouds) is a cool, pine-fresh contrast to the sweaty Assam plains. Set on dramatic lake chalet restaurant oakland horseshoes of rocky cliff above the Bengal plains, Cherrapunjee and Mawsynram are statistically the wettest places on earth. Most of the rain falls between April and September, creating very impressive waterfalls and carving out some of Asia s longest caves.

DON T MISS There aren t all that many places left in the world where the maps may as well have blank spaces on them, snow- capped mountains remain unnamed and unclimbed, forests are filled with creatures that scientists have yet to lay eyes upon and hill tops are crowned with unmolested tribal villages, but northeast India is one such place. As the region slowly opens up, don t miss this opportunity for genuine, undiluted adventure. Areas that are safe yet largely unexplored by tourists include almost all of rural Mizoram, lake chalet restaurant oakland large tracts of Tripura (check the security situation first), the furthest reaches of Nagaland and, best of all, huge chunks of steamy forests, alpine meadows and high Himalayan wildernesses have finally started lake chalet restaurant oakland opening up in Arunachal Pradesh. Top Festivals

The biggest, most cosmopolitan and, some might say, the most Indian city in the northeast, lake chalet restaurant oakland Guwahati is an essential stop on any northeastern tour. A casual glance might place Guwahati alongside any other Indian city but wander the back alleys around Jorpulkuri Ponds, away from the concrete jungle of the central business district, and you could almost lake chalet restaurant oakland imagine yourself in a village made up of ponds, palm trees, small single-storey traditional houses and old colonial-era mansions.

The most accessible villages lake chalet restaurant oakland are the Konyak settlements around Mon. Traditional houses abound, and some villages have morungs and religious relics from pre-Christian lake chalet restaurant oakland times. Village elders lake chalet restaurant oakland may wear traditional costume and Konyak lake chalet restaurant oakland of all ages carry the fearsome-looking dao a crude machete used for headhunting right up until the mid-20th century.