Arunachal Pradesh

The land of Dawn –lit Mountains grips northern Assam in an embrace of densely forested ridges .These rise to some fabulous snow capped peaks along the Chinese border .In Arunachal s deep cut foothill valleys live at least 65 different tribals groups (101 by some counts ) with bucolic cultures and photogenic bamboo house settlement s . High in the beautiful Tawang valley are several splendid Tibetan Buddhist monastery villages .China has never formally recognized Indian sovereignty here and took their surprise invasion of 1962 before delhi really started funding significant infrastructure . Built since 1972, Arunchal s pleasantly green tailor made capital is named for the mysterious ITA FORT whose utterly dull bricks ruins crown a hill top 2 km above town . For tourists itanagar is mainly useful fir its helicopter and sumo connections to central Arunachal .

The valley Ziros rice fields and fenced bamboo groves are attractively cupped by highland pine clad hills .Tall babo poles and traditional lapang meeting platforms add interest to the tight packed villages of the Apatani tribe .The main attractions here is older Apatani woman who sport alarming facial tattoos and bizarre nose plugs .People watching is best just before dusk when villagers return from their rice fields .The most authentic Apatani villagers are hong ( biggest and best known ), dutta (atmospheric and easier to reach ), hari , bamani and hijo are more than 10 km a part .