baby mar el chalet FACIAL TATTOOING Historically famous for their beauty, Apatani women were all too often kidnapped by

houses above which rises a steep ridge topped with a timeless baby mar el chalet gompa. Heading the other way, just north of New Dirang, the valley opens out and its floor becomes a patchwork of rice and crop fields through which gushes the icy blue river. baby mar el chalet A fun day could be spent walking along the footpaths between fields and little hamlets.

FACIAL TATTOOING baby mar el chalet Historically famous for their beauty, baby mar el chalet Apatani baby mar el chalet women were all too often kidnapped by warriors of the neighbouring Nishi tribes. As a defence , Apatani girls were deliberately defaced. 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.