north mountain village Draped across the dazzling hills and valleys of the India Myanmar border regions is Nagaland, an oth

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

While each of these hotels have good restaurants, the cosy Dragon Restaurant (Old Market; mains 60-150) is the town s best eatery with freshly made local dishes such as churpa ( 150), a fermented cheese broth with fungi and vegetables that tastes much better than it sounds. north mountain village Also don t miss the Tibetan north mountain village tea. An acquired taste if ever there were one.

HEAD HUNTERS Throughout northeastern India and parts of western Myanmar the Naga tribes were long feared for their ferocity in war and for their sense of independence both from each other and from the rest of the world. Intervillage wars continued as recently as the 1980s, and a curious feature of many outwardly modern settlements is their treaty stones recording peace settlements between neighbouring communities. It was the Naga s custom of headhunting that sent shivers down the spines of neighbouring peoples. The taking of an enemy s head was considered a sign of strength, and a man who had not claimed a head was not considered a man. Fortunately for tourists, headhunting was officially outlawed north mountain village in 1935, with the last recorded occurrence in 1963. Nonetheless, severed heads are still an archetypal artistic motif found notably on yanra (pendants) that originally denoted the number of human heads a warrior had taken. Some villages, north mountain village such as Shingha Changyuo in Mon district, still retain their hidden collection of genuine skulls. Today Naga culture is changing fast, but it was not a government ban on headhunting that put an end to this tradition but rather the activities of Christian missionaries. Over 90% of the Naga now consider themselves Christian.

Draped across the dazzling hills and valleys of the India Myanmar border regions is Nagaland, an otherworldly place where until very recently some twenty north mountain village headhunting Naga tribes valiantly fought off any intruders. Today the south of the state is fairly developed, but in the north, north mountain village tribesmen in loin cloths continue to live a lifestyle that is normally only seen within the pages of National Geographic north mountain village magazine.