map grand lake The biggest attraction is magical Tawang Gompa (admission free, camera/video 20/100; hdawn-dusk) bac

The biggest attraction is magical Tawang Gompa (admission free, camera/video 20/100; hdawn-dusk) backdropped map grand lake by snow-speckled peaks. Founded in 1681, this medieval citadel is reputedly the world s second-largest Buddhist monastery complex map grand lake and famed in Buddhist circles for its library. Within its fortified walls, narrow alleys lead up to the majestic and magnifi cently decorated prayer hall containing an 8m-high statue of Buddha Shakyamuni. Come here at dawn (4am to 5am) to see row after row of monks performing their early morning prayers. Across the central square is a small but interesting museum ( 20; h8am-5pm) containing images, robes, telescopic map grand lake trumpets and some personal items of the sixth Dalai Lama. Spectacular chaam (ritual masked dances performed by some Buddhist monks

CENTRAL ARUNACHAL S TRIBAL GROUPS The variety of tribal peoples in central Arunachal Pradesh is astonishing, but although the Adi (Abor), map grand lake Nishi, Tajin, Hill Miri and various other Tibeto-Burman tribes consider themselves different from one another most are at least distantly related. Over the last few decades Christian missionaries have been highly active throughout the Northeast and in the process have brought huge changes to the region s traditional cultures, religious beliefs and ways of life. Despite this, some aspects of the traditional lifestyle are just about holding on and many people continue to practise the traditional religion of Donyi-Polo (sun and moon) worship sometimes at the same time as proclaiming themselves Christian. For ceremonial occasions, village chiefs typically wear scarlet shawls and a bamboo wicker hat spiked with porcupine quill or hornbill feathers. A few old men still wear their hair long, tied around to form a topknot map grand lake above their foreheads. Women favour hand-woven wraparounds like Southeast Asian sarongs. House designs vary somewhat. Traditional Adi villages map grand lake are generally map grand lake the most photogenic with luxuriant palmyra-leaf thatching and boxlike granaries stilted to deter rodents.