ridgepoint crossing Many private buses have ticket counters on nearby AT Rd. For Kareng Ghar, use a tempo ( 10, 45 minut

oHotel Gakyi Khang Zhang (%224 647; r from 1320), a couple of kilometres out of town on the road to the monastery, offers far and away the best rooms in town colourful sky-blue ridgepoint crossing affairs with polished wooden floors. There s a decent restaurant (mains 80-120) and the staff are great fun. It also has good monastery views, a generator ridgepoint crossing and, most bizarrely, a lounge bar/nightclub complete with throbbing strobe lights!

Many private ridgepoint crossing buses have ticket counters on nearby AT Rd. For Kareng Ghar, use a tempo ( 10, 45 minutes), which depart from an unmarked stop on Bhuban Gogoi (BG) Rd, 300m north up AT Rd, then 50m right.

Doe-Gu-Khill Guest House (%223232; r from 700), just below the large monastery, providing fabulous views. The Hotel Tsepal Yangjom (%223473; www.hoteltsepalyangjom.co.in; s/d from 800/1200) in the market area is probably the town s most popular hotel. Its wood-panelled rooms have a vague Scandinavian feel and it has a generator to cope with the frequent blackouts.