CAPITAL NEW DELHI - POPULATION 1201 MILLION - AREA 2,973,190 SQ KM - OFFICIAL LANGUAGES 22; ENGLISH FOR NATIONAL, POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL COMMUNICATION
The last of the great Shangri-las…
Shangri-La is a mystical, harmonious valley', or so goes the description in James Hilton's 1933 novel, Lost Horizon. Hilton went on to describe a Garden of Eden on Earth: a land of milk and honey in a hidden Himalayan valley, where nobody grew old or ugly. Over the years there's been no shortage of contenders for the title of 'Lost Shangri-La', but now there's a new kid on the block: Arunachal Pradesh. Sitting exactly where India collides with Bhutan, Tibet and Burma, it's an ethnic, biological and geographical explosion of peoples, cultures, climates and landscapes - and is one of Asia's last great unknowns.
A combination of rugged terrain, limited infrastructure and headache-inducing travel restrictions has meant that Arunachal Pradesh has been off the radar of all but the most determined (and cashed-up) travelers, but big changes are afoot. The good news is that travel restrictions have just been eased. Gone are the days of 10-day travel permits, minimum group sizes and weeks of waiting for permits to be issued; today even individual travelers can obtain one-month permits in a matter of days. With an expanding transport system, India's wildest state is ripe for the picking in 2012.
And what will today's traveler find there? The answer is thunderous Himalayan peaks so little-known that few have even been named, let alone climbed, plus jungles teeming with life forms that scientists are yet to catalogue (Arunachal Pradesh has the richest biodiversity in India), delicately tattooed and pierced tribal peoples living in longhouses in the forests, magnificent Buddhist temples and a severe dose of near limitless adventure.
BENGALURU (BANGALORE), INDIA
The Chill drill
The undisputed Elvis of South Asian megacities, Bengaluru is in a class of its own when it comes to redefining flamboyance. Perpetually drunk on the good life, this South Indian metropolis packs in the best brews, the scrummiest cuisines, the trendiest shopping malls and the liveliest arts and music scene, not to mention the hippest population you could hang out with. Move over Delhi and Mumbai - Bengaluru's stolen your fizz. And this year, evenings in the ‘capital of cool' are poised to get even more intoxicating.
Home to both the UB Group (India's numero- uno brewmasters) and an ever-increasing community of white-collar expats, tech-savvy Bengaluru offers the choicest cosmopolitan pleasures to make visitors feel at home. Want a heads-up on the newest hot spots? Well, there's Skyye Bar, a super-stylish lounge at dizzying heights, with bird's-eye views of the city below; and Touche Diner, the first of its kind in India offering gizmo-aided fine-dining. English Premier League fans can check out the Manchester United Restaurant Bar, complete with a stadium tunnel and dugouts. And if the maddening traffic has always been your concern, take heart: Bengaluru's new high-speed Metro network now ensures that your favorite watering hole is easier to reach than ever. There's only one thing you could say to that: ' Chill maadi!' |
