chalet michel REGISTERING ON ARRIVAL IN MANIPUR On arrival at Imphal airport all foreigners must register with the

oHotel Tripura Castle HISTORIC HOTEL $$$ (%2501111; Cleve Colony; s/d from 3600/3720, ste 7200; aiW) Tucked away on a wooded hillside is the distinctively turreted summer villa of the former Tripura maharajas. It s this private castle that features in hotel brochures, but accommodation is actually in a mostly new, if pseudo-heritage building behind. Pine-framed rooms have a gently stylish vibe with period furniture chalet michel and a level of service that s hard to beat. For the full maharaja experience opt for a suite. The hotel is 2.5km southeast of the centre.

REGISTERING ON ARRIVAL IN MANIPUR On arrival chalet michel at Imphal airport all foreigners must register with the police chalet michel stationed next to the luggage collection point. You must then register again with the CID at the main police station. In both cases it s a fairly painless affair (assuming your papers chalet michel are in order). Technically you don t need a local guide if you are just staying in Imphal, but it s highly unlikely that any tour company will help you obtain a permit without you agreeing to take one of their guides. A reliable tour company (who can also help obtain permits) chalet michel to Manipur is Seven Sisters Tourism Services (%2445373; sstourism@redif fmail.com; MG Ave, Imphal). NORTHEAST TRIBAL STATES IMPHAL

Some 3km west on Mahatma Gandhi Marg is Ganga Market, landmarked by a red, triple-spired temple and nearby clock tower. The market itself is a busy clash of peoples from across the borderlands as well as piles of colourful fruit and some other decidedly exotic food items. The good-value Hotel Blue Pine (%2211118; s 300-500, d 500-600) is here, with well-maintained rooms and a mix of common and private bathrooms. Don t mind the caged receptionist, he s quite tame and helpful.

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