steamboat springs bike rental Assamese people might look Indian, but Assamese culture is proudly distinct: their Vishnu-worshippin

Assamese people might look Indian, but Assamese culture is proudly distinct: their Vishnu-worshipping faith is virtually a regional religion (see the boxed text, p 562 ) and the gamosa (a red-and-white scarf worn by most men) is a subtle mark of regional costume.

Sumos leave New Market at 6am for Itanagar ( 450, 12 hours) and Ziro ( 300, six hours). The bus station has a lackadaisical 7am service to Along ( 150, six hours) on alternate days depending on when the bus returns from Along.

India s Northeast States, dangling way out on the edge of the map and the national perception, are strictly for explorers who want something different from their India experience. These remote frontier lands, where India, Southeast Asia and Tibet meet, are a collision steamboat springs bike rental zone of cultures, climates, landscapes and peoples and are one of Asia s last great unknowns. It s a place of rugged beauty where uncharted forests clamber up toward unnamed Himalayan peaks. It s a land of enormous variety where rhinoceros live in swampy grasslands and former head-hunters live in longhouses in the jungle. And it s an adventure in the truest sense of the word.