hotel and cabanas monte verde Around 500m from Shivadol a gaggle of hotels line AT Rd, the most appealing of which is the surprisi

The impoverished hill town of Mon is in a gorgeous setting but feels like a frontier town. There s an SBI ATM in the town centre but don t rely on it working. The little village market is well worth exploring and like so many markets in the northeast, it s the exotic food items that stick longest in the memory. Of the numerous tribal villages in the area the closest is Old Mon village, a mere 5km from town. Tamgnyu village (13km) is a rarely visited, yet easy to reach, village with a friendly hotel and cabanas monte verde headman, a couple of human skulls left over from headhunting hotel and cabanas monte verde days and

Like a practice run for Sivasagar, Gaurisagar has an attractive tank and a trio of distinctive 1720s temples Vishnudol, Shivadol hotel and cabanas monte verde and Devidol built by dancing girl queen Phuleswari. hotel and cabanas monte verde The more impressive is Vishnudol, hotel and cabanas monte verde not as tall as Sivasagar s Shivadol but sporting finer, but eroded carvings. Gaurisagar hotel and cabanas monte verde is on the main NH37 at Km501.5.

Voyaging to the Ziro Valley is one of the undisputed highlights of a trip to Arunachal Pradesh and, though the scenery is stunning and the village architecture fascinating, the voyeuristic main attraction here is meeting the friendly older Apatani folk who sport facial tattoos and nose plugs that would be the envy of any tattooist in the West (see p 566 ). The most authentic Apatani villages are Hong (the biggest and best known), Hijo (more atmospheric), Hari, Bamin and Dutta; none of which are more than 10km apart. It s vital to have a local guide to take you to any of these villages otherwise you won t see much and might even be made to feel quite unwelcome. Christopher Michi (%9402048466/8014012558; christopherdulley@ yahoo.co.in/christophermichi@hotmail.com) is the chairman of the Apatani Cultural Preservation Society and can organise superb visits to the villages don t be at all surprised if your tour culminates in an evening of drinking rice wine and chowing down on barbequed rat in a villager s house!

Around 500m from Shivadol a gaggle of hotels hotel and cabanas monte verde line AT Rd, the most appealing of which is the surprisingly swish Hotel Shiva Palace (%222629; hotelshivapalace@rediffmail.com; s/d from 715/825; a), incorporating a decent restaurant, the Sky Chef Restaurant (mains 70-180).