chalet romantica 1 Sights Kamakhya Mandir HINDU TEMPLE (admission for no queue/short queue/queue 500/100/free; h8am-1

Dramatic if largely unadorned, this 1752 brick palace (Indian/foreigner 5/100; hdawn-dusk) chalet romantica is the last remnant of the Ahom s pre-Sivasagar capital. The unique four-storey structure rises like a sharpened, stepped pyramid chalet romantica above an attractive forest-and-paddy setting spoilt by nearby electricity substations. It s 900m north of the Sivasagar Sonari road: turn just before Gargaon (14km) from Sonari.

Travelling to Dibrugarh ( tea-city ) usefully closes chalet romantica 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. chalet romantica

Tripura is culturally and politically fascinating, and the state s handful of royal palaces and temples draw a growing flow of domestic tourists. For the moment though foreign tourists remain very rare indeed. There s a large Bangladeshi refugee population in Tripura and much of the more accessible western parts of the state look and feel much like its near neighbour.

1 Sights Kamakhya Mandir HINDU TEMPLE (admission for no queue/short queue/queue 500/100/free; h8am-1pm & 3pm-dusk) While Sati s disintegrated body parts rained toes on Kolkata chalet romantica (see p443), her yoni fell on Kamakhya Hill. This makes Kamakhya Mandir important for shakti (sensual tantric worship of female spiritual power). Goats, chalet romantica pigeons chalet romantica and the occasional buffalo chalet romantica are ritually chalet romantica beheaded in a gory pavilion chalet romantica and the hot, dark inner womblike sanctum is painted chalet romantica red to signify sacrificial blood. The huge June/ July Ambubachi Mela celebrates the end of the mother goddess menstrual cycle with even more blood.