chalets st gervais SATRAS A satra is a monastery for Vishnu worship, Assam s distinctive form of everyman Hinduism. For

Diphlu River Lodge HOTEL $$$ (%361-2602223; Guwahati; www.jungletravelsindia.com; chalets st gervais jungle chalets st gervais plan Indian s/d 9000/12,000, foreigner s/d 18,000/24,000) Fifteen minutes drive west of the tourist complex, this new lodge, with its chic-rustic feel, is without doubt the most comfortable place to stay in the Kaziranga region. It consists of six bamboo cottages on raised stilts overlooking a river. The rooms have enormous soft beds and the bathrooms sport heavenly rain showers. There s no sign look for the dirt track on the left (if travelling from the Guwahati direction) beside the 37 marker post.

SATRAS A satra is a monastery for Vishnu worship, Assam s distinctive form of everyman Hinduism. Formulated by 15th-century Assamese philosopher Sankardev, the faith eschews the caste system and idol worship, chalets st gervais focussing on Vishnu as God, especially in his Krishna incarnation. Much of the worship is based around dance and melodramatic play-acting of scenes from the holy Bhagavad Gita. The heart of any satra is its namghar, a large, simple, prayer chalets st gervais hall usually open sided and shaped like an upside-down oil tanker. Beneath the eastern end, an inner sanctum hosts an eternal flame, the Gita and possibly a horde of instructive (but not divine) images.

Calling the Tawang Valley a valley just doesn t do justice to its incredible scale; it s more a mighty gash in the earth ringed by immense mountains. Patchworking the sloping ridges chalets st gervais of the lower hills is a vast sweep of fields dotted with Buddhist monast eries and Monpa villages.