alta chalets 571 HORNBILL FESTIVAL Nagaland s biggest annual festival, the Hornbill Festival (1-7 December) is ce

Tripura is culturally and politically fascinating, and the state s handful of royal palaces and temples draw a growing flow of domestic tourists. For the moment though foreign tourists remain very rare indeed. There s a large Bangladeshi refugee population in Tripura and much of the more accessible western parts of the state look and feel much like its near neighbour.

Nestled before a curtain of luxuriantly forested foothills, Pasighat, which sits back out on the plains, feels more like Assam than Arunachal Pradesh. The town hosts the interesting Minyong-Adi tribe s Solung Festival (1-5 September). The internet cafe (per hr 60; h7.30am-8pm) is 50m from the Hotel Aane and there s an SBI ATM just along from the sumo stand in the central market alta chalets area.

583 NORTHEAST TRIBAL STATES AR OUND S H ILLO NG CROSSING INTO BANGLADESH FROM DAWKI Border Hours The border is open from 6am to 5pm. Foreign alta chalets Exchange There s no official exchange booth but ask at the Bangladesh customs offi ce. Onward Transport The border post is at Tamabil, 1.7km from Dawki market (taxis are 40-50). Coming from Bangladesh, beware that Tamabil has no Sonali bank, so prepay your Tk300 Bangladeshi departure alta chalets tax in Sylhet or in Jaintiapura. There are frequent Tamabil Sylhet alta chalets minibuses. rooms but no hot water. More rooms were under construction at the time of research. A daily bus leaves nearby alta chalets Laitkynsew village for Shillong ( 40, 6am). Going the other way it leaves Shillong at 1pm. Otherwise alta chalets a taxi from Cherrapunjee costs 250 to 300.

571 HORNBILL FESTIVAL Nagaland s biggest annual festival, the Hornbill Festival (1-7 December) is celebrated at Kisama Heritage Village (see below) with various Naga tribes alta chalets converging for a weeklong cultural, dance and sporting bash, much of it in full warrior costume. Of all the festivals in the northeast this is the most spectacular and photogenic. Simultaneously, Kohima also hosts a rock festival (www.hornbillmusic.com).