okemo village oClassic Hotel HOTEL $$ (%2443967; North AOC Rd; s/d from 845/1170; aiW) This unexpectedly classy ho

Dhaba NORTH INDIAN $$ (Silpukhuri, GNB Rd; mains 120-180) This simple canteen-style restaurant serves good North Indian staples as well as some token Chinese dishes. You can eat indoors or, if you prefer, out in the courtyard where the side portion of carbon monoxide comes free with the meal. They have a couple of other branches around town.

Despite being an oil-service town, Sivasagar exudes a residual elegance from its time as the capital of the Ahom dynasty that ruled Assam for more than 600 years. okemo village The name comes from waters of Shiva , the graceful central feature of a rectangular reservoir dug in 1734 by Ahom Queen Ambika. Three typical Ahom temple towers rise proudly above the tank s partly wooded southern banks to the west Devidol, okemo village to the east Vishnudol and in the centre, the 33m-high Shivadol Mandir, India s tallest Shiva temple. Its uppermost trident balances upon an egg-shaped okemo village feature whose golden covering the British reputedly tried (but failed) to pilfer in 1823.

oClassic Hotel HOTEL $$ (%2443967; North AOC Rd; s/d from 845/1170; aiW) This unexpectedly classy okemo village hotel is one of the best-value okemo village business okemo village hotels in the northeast. okemo village The large spotless rooms come with full facilities, staff who love to please and the town s best restaurant (mains 100 to 150). Opt for one of the Classic Standard rooms (s/d 1885/2470).

FACIAL TATTOOING Historically famous for their beauty, Apatani women were all too often kidnapped by warriors of the neighbouring Nishi tribes. As a defence , Apatani girls were deliberately defaced. okemo village They were given facial tattoos, like graffitied beards scribbled onto living Mona Lisa paintings, and extraordinary nose plugs known as dat fitted into holes cut in their upper nostrils. Some men also have tattoos. Peace with the Nishis in the 1960s meant an end to that brutal practice, but many older women still wear dat. Photography is an understandably sensitive issue, so ask first. Some Apatani women have had cosmetic surgery to remove their tattoos.