chalets meaning panelled rooms with a more reliable electricity supply than many similar places. It s in the market

panelled rooms with a more reliable electricity supply than many similar places. It s in the market area. The Hotel Siddhartha (%222515; s 750, d 1030-1350) has large, carpeted and well-kept rooms that help make it the best of the town-centre options.

Framing itself as the Khasi cultural centre, Smit hosts the major fi ve-day chalets meaning Nongkrem Festival (October). This features animal sacrifices and a curious slow-motion shuffling dance performed in full costume in front of the thatched bamboo palace of the local syiem (traditional ruler). Smit is 11km from Shillong, 4km off the Jowai road.

The most accessible villages are the Konyak settlements around Mon. Traditional houses abound, and some villages have morungs and religious relics from pre-Christian times. chalets meaning Village elders may wear traditional costume chalets meaning and Konyak of all ages carry the fearsome-looking dao a crude machete used for headhunting right up until the mid-20th century.