winter park village 20 Iora; the Retreat HOTEL $$$ (%262411; www.kazirangasafari.com; s/d from 3300/3900; aiWs) Not quite a

CROSSING INTO BANGLADESH AT AGARTALA winter park village 20 Border Hours The border winter park village 20 at Agartala is open from 7am to 6pm. Foreign Exchange There s no exchange booth and Agartala banks don t sell Bangladeshi taka, so changing money is hit and miss; ask local traders or border offi cials. Onward Transport From central winter park village 20 Agartala the border is just 3km along Akhaura Rd ( 50 by rickshaw). On the Bangladesh side the nearest town is Akhaura, 5km beyond, reached by baby taxi (autorickshaw). From Akhaura trains head to Dhaka, Comilla and Sylhet. Coming eastbound, be sure to pay your Bangladeshi departure tax at a Sonali winter park village 20 bank before heading for the border. Visas Unhelpful, but the northeast s only Bangladesh visa office (%2324807; Airport Rd, Kunjaban; happlication winter park village 20 9am-1pm Mon-Thu, winter park village 20 9am-noon Fri, collection same day 4pm) hides down a small lane in Agartala, about 2km north of the Ujjayanta Palace.

Khasi villagers have trained across winter park village 20 streams to form natural pathways. Three of these root bridges (including an amazing double- decker ) are near Nongriat. Access involves a two-hour very steep trek down from Tyrna, a pretty, palm-clad village that s 2km from Mawshamok. From Cherrapunjee Holiday winter park village 20 Resort the entire roundtrip hike takes eight hours, is highly strenuous and involves descending and ascending some 2000-odd steps (this particular author couldn winter park village 20 t walk for two days afterwards!). The Cherrapunjee Holiday Resort provides maps.

Iora; the Retreat HOTEL $$$ (%262411; www.kazirangasafari.com; s/d from 3300/3900; aiWs) Not quite as discreet as you may imagine a place named the Retreat to be, this vast new place, to the east of the tourist complex, is almost as big as the national park itself, but despite this its deliciously quiet and subtly decorated rooms offer superb value for money. However, if you value a personal service winter park village 20 you d best look elsewhere.

Travelling to Dibrugarh ( tea-city ) usefully closes a loop between Kaziranga and the Ziro Along Pasighat route and is the terminus (or starting point) for the fascinating ferry ride along the Brahmaputra to Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh. Dibrugarh is a rapidly growing city with a new road and rail bridge being built at Bogibeel Ghat (originally scheduled to open in 2008, it s now unlikely to be ready for some years to come) that will extend the railway system to north of the Brahmaputra.