parc du bic Despite being an oil-service town, Sivasagar exudes a residual elegance from its time as the capital

Pawan Hans Helicopters (%2842174; www.pawahans.co.in) shuttles parc du bic to Shillong ( 1200, 45 minutes, 9am & 1pm Mon-Sat), Naharlagun near Itanagar and Lumla for Tawang ( 3000, 1 hours, 10am Mon-Sat). Phone through your booking then pay at the airport if the service flies (weather and passenger numbers permitting).

Noisy and polluted it might be, but Imphal, with its melange parc du bic of peoples and positioning right on the border lands of India and southeast Asia is undeniably fascinating and travellers who spend any time here are well rewarded. The airport parc du bic is 9km to the southwest.

Despite being an oil-service town, Sivasagar exudes a residual elegance from its time as the capital of the Ahom dynasty that ruled Assam for more than 600 years. The name comes from waters of Shiva , the graceful central parc du bic feature of a rectangular reservoir dug in 1734 by Ahom Queen Ambika. Three typical Ahom temple towers rise proudly above the tank s partly wooded southern banks to the west Devidol, to the east Vishnudol and in the centre, the 33m-high Shivadol Mandir, India s tallest Shiva temple. parc du bic Its uppermost parc du bic trident balances upon an egg-shaped feature whose golden covering the British reputedly tried (but failed) to pilfer parc du bic in 1823.