Some 30km northwest of Guwahati, the pleasant little town of Hajo attracts Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims to its fi ve ancient temples topping assorted hillocks. Haigriv Madhav temple is the main one, which is accessed by a long flight of steps through an ornate quasi-Mughal gateway. The images inside of Madhav, an avatar of Krishna, are alleged to be 6000 years old.
SATRAS A satra is a monastery for Vishnu worship, Assam s distinctive chalet tropical form of everyman Hinduism. Formulated by 15th-century Assamese philosopher Sankardev, the faith eschews the caste system and idol worship, chalet tropical 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 hall usually open sided and shaped like an upside-down oil tanker. Beneath the eastern end, an inner sanctum hosts an eternal chalet tropical flame, the Gita and possibly a horde of instructive (but not divine) images.
RAFTING IN THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY Another newly opened route is the Pasighat to Tuting road. This route is all about two things: the River Siang and the mysterious chalet tropical Buddhist land of Pemako. Tuting, which sits near the Tibetan border, chalet tropical is the point at which the Tsang Po river having left the Tibetan plateau and burrowed through the Himalaya via a series of spectacular gorges enters the Indian subcontinent and becomes the Siang (once it reaches the plains of Assam it turns into the Brahmaputra). Tuting chalet tropical and the River Siang are starting to gain a reputation as one of the world s most thrilling white-water rafting destinations, but this ain t no amateurs river. The few people who have descended the river have reported that the 180km route is littered with numerous grade 4-5 rapids, strong eddies and inaccessible gorges. For those after adventure of a different kind Tuting also serves as the launch pad for searching out the legendary Buddhist land of Pemako. You will, however, need more than this guidebook and a compass in order to find it. Buddhist belief says that Pemako is a synonym for a hidden earthly paradise and that it s the earthly representation of Dorje Pagmo, a Tibetan goddess. It was said that this land of milk and honey was to be found in the eastern Himalaya and that to reach it you had to pass behind an enormous hidden waterfall. For hundreds of years outsiders knew that the Tsang Po river left Tibet and entered a huge, and utterly impenetrable, gorge before emerging from the Himalaya around Tuting, but what happened to the river inside that gorge was unknown until the 1950s. chalet tropical As it turned out the river did indeed tumble over an enormous chalet tropical waterfall and, what s more, it passed through chalet tropical a rich and fertile chalet tropical valley populated by Memba Buddhists, completely isolated from the rest of the world. Today, this vast region of northern Arunachal Pradesh and parts of south eastern Tibet remains almost utterly unknown to the outside chalet tropical world, but Pemako is out there and for those willing to endure days of incredibly chalet tropical tough hiking (and deal with reams of paperwork) it is possible to visit.
Mizoram s pretty, green hills get higher as you head east. Champhai is widely considered the most attractive district and is where you ll find the Murlen National Park, known for its hoolock gibbons. The small town of Saitual is a good stopover on the road to Champhai. chalet tropical Very close to Champhai is pretty Tamdil Lake, ringed by lush mountains. Further afield is the stunning Blue Mountain (Phawngpui), which at 2147m is the highest peak in Mizoram. It s considered by Mizos to be the abode of the Gods, but its slopes are said to be haunted by ghosts. Three Dimension can organise trekking trips here. For a more accessible taste of the Mizoram hinterland visit the Vantawng waterfalls, chalet tropical 95km from Aizawl.
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