Horn ok please

Rhinos and monasteries in the north-east.

It's time to head east this week. Rather than focussing on Kolkata, which is the obvious choice, I'm going to start with Guwahati as our starting point.

This is mainly because I'm about to start extolling the virtues of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, both of which are rather long drives from Kolkata (1,400 km at the very least). This is going to be a distinct two-part trip, so it requires at least eight days to do it full justice.

Shall we begin, then? Jump in the car and head for Kaziranga, a 230 km drive from Assam's somewhat unmemorable capital city (no offence, but it's true). The road is quite good, with a decent surface and relatively light traffic, so you should make good progress. If all goes well (and I can tell you some stories about things not going well here), you should find yourself in Kaziranga in about 5 ½ hours.

Head straight for Wild Grass (Ph: 0361-2546827, 2630465, Rs 1,250 onwards including breakfast, book in advance), a charming eco-resort that's almost a destination by itself. It's got lovely colonial style buildings as well as tents, in case you want that outdoors touch.

Using Wild Grass as a base, set out to explore Kaziranga National Park. A stunning tableau of grassland and dense forest, the park is home to elephant, wild buffalo, all kinds of deer, hundreds of species of birds, the world's densest tiger population (yes, there's one every five square kilometers, although they're incredibly hard to spot) and, most importantly, the Asian one-horned rhino.

More than 70 per cent of the world's rhino population calls Kaziranga home, so it's a park of the utmost importance. Ideally, you should make several forays into the park with a guide, but if you're the SMS sort, you can do worse than to take an early morning elephant ride. You're guaranteed rhino sightings, and you'll probably end up seeing various other animal and bird life as well.

For the second leg of this trip, get set for a spectacular drive to Tawang, a monastery town in Arunachal Pradesh. Drive from Kaziranga to Dirang, the overnight point on the journey. You need permits to enter Arunachal Pradesh, but Wild Grass will organise them for you. You could do the entire journey in a single day, but that'd be somewhat foolhardy.

The whole drive to Tawang is jaw-droppingly beautiful. The scenery gradually changes from emerald-green forests, to fruit orchards and terraced fields and finally, as you near the Sela Pass, to craggy-rock-and-snow.

Sela is, depending upon which report you choose to believe, the world's second-highest motorable pass at 4,150 metres above sea level, but there's no doubt that it's awe-inspiring. It's bitingly cold here and you're likely to feel light-headed, so a short break at a roadside tea shop might be called for.

After the pass, it's downwards again to Tawang, meaning "chosen by a horse" in Tibetan. The Galden Namgyal Lhatse, the town's 400-year old Mahayana-sect monastery, is why most people come here. It's almost an ancient city in itself; a living, breathing structure in which hundreds of Lamas go about their daily lives.

It houses ancient scriptures and priceless books, images and painted tapestries, so it's fully worth spending a couple of days here. You should also go to Zemithang, a breathtaking 90 km drive and where there's a big stupa.

The Dalai Lama came through here when he fled to India and, not so long ago, the area was actually a part of Tibet, which is 13 km away. In Tawang, Hotel Buddha (Ph: 03794-222539, Rs 500 onwards) is probably the best of the lot. You'll find plenty of little eateries serving up delicious yak-meat momos and bowls of steaming soup. Divine!