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Remote, culturally magical and scenically spectacular, Tawang is the archetypical Shangri La and a mountain-hopping journey through this, the lands of the Monpa (a people river run guide service of Buddhist-Tibetan origin) to the gates of the famous Tawang Monastery river run guide service is one of the northeast s greatest adventures.

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560 NORTHEAST TRIBAL STATES AS S A M NORTHEAST TOURS The vast majority of foreign tourists visiting the northeast states travel as part of an organised tour, and indeed for four of the states (Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram), independent travel in the normal sense of the word is almost impossible. Instead, the only realistic way of getting permits is to enlist the services of a tour company. Once you have a permit, travelling around independently is not normally a problem, but you re unlikely to find a tour company who ll help you get permits without fi rst hiring a car and driver/guide from them, thus making real independent travel in the permit states pretty much impossible. Most tour companies are based in Guwahati and all of the following can organise permits and tours throughout the northeast. Traveller s Point (Map p554; %2604018; www.assamtourism.org; Prashaanti Tourist Lodge, Station river run guide service Rd) If you re staying only within river run guide service Assam then Assam Tourism s commercial booth runs a variety of city- and state-wide tours including day excursions river run guide service to Hajo via the silk-weaving centre of Sualkuchi. Network river run guide service Travels (Map p554; %2605335; river run guide service www.networktravelsindia.net; GS Rd; h5am9pm) A highly experienced agency river run guide service whose operations cover the whole of the northeast with tailor-made and fixed-itinerary tours. Organising permits is a speciality. Jungle Travels India (off Map p554; %2667871, 9207042330; river run guide service www.jungletravelsindia.com; 3b Dirang Arcade, GNB Rd) Another experienced agency covering the entire northeast with tailor-made tours and fixed-date departures. It organises all the permits, but can be slightly disorganised in this regard. With two boats, it runs Brahmaputra cruises (see www.assambengalnavigation.com) for four to 10 nights at US$350 per person per night, and also runs the Bansbari Lodge in Manas National Park. Rhino Travels (Map p554; %2540666; www.rhinotravels.com; M Nehru (MN) Rd) This agency offers set-date tours in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. It also offers two- to four-night river cruises. 4 Sleeping & Eating