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Guwahati
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Assam
India
Assam is a
north eastern state of India with its capital at Dispur, a suburb of
the city Guwahati. Assam along with other North-eastern states of
India (also known as seven-sisters) was the only independent part of
today’s India that never was a part of India before the area came
under British rule. Located south of the eastern Himalayas, Assam
comprises the Brahmaputra and the Barak river valleys and the Karbi
Anglong and the North Cachar Hills. With an area of 78,438 square
kilometres (30,285 sq mi) Assam currently is almost equivalent to
the size of Ireland or Austria. Assam is surrounded by the rest of
the Seven Sister States: Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur,
Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya. These states are connected to the
rest of India via a narrow strip in West Bengal called the
“Chicken's Neck”. Assam also shares international borders with
Bhutan and Bangladesh; and cultures, peoples and climate with
South-East Asia—important elements in India’s “Look East” Policy.
Assam is known for Assam tea,
petroleum resources, Assam silk and for its rich biodiversity. It
has successfully conserved the one-horned Indian rhinoceros from
near extinction in Kaziranga, the tiger in Manas and provides one of
the last wild habitats for the Asian elephant. It is increasingly
becoming a popular destination for wild-life tourism and notably
Kaziranga and Manas are both World Heritage Sites. Assam was also
known for its Sal tree forests and forest products, much depleted
now. A land of high rainfall, Assam is endowed with lush greenery
and the mighty river Brahmaputra, whose tributaries and oxbow lakes
provide the region with a unique hydro-geomorphic and aesthetic
environment.
Guwahati
is the largest city in Assam, Northeast India. It used to be the
capital before it moved to the planned city of Dispur.
How to go Assam / How to
visit Assam.
By plane
There are good air-connectivity to Assam from the major cities in
India. Guwahati's Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport
is the businest in Assam and other major airports are in Dibrugarh,
and Silchar. Air India and Indian Airlines along with several other
private airlines operate daily services from all the major cities
such as Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore, etc. Moreover, there are
other airports in Tezpur, Jorhat, etc with less frequent flights
connecting cities such as Kolkata and other cities of North East
Region. Arriving by plane, however, gives a wonderful welcome aerial
view of the green valley surrounded by blue hills in Assam. The
major airlines operating in the region are:
Jet Airways | Kingfisher Airlines | Indian
Airlines | Jetlite | Spicejet | Air Deccannow known as Kingfisher
Red | Indigo Airlines
For the international travellers from East Asia or South East Asia,
the most easiest route to travel to Assam is via Kolkata. There are
several direct flights from Kolkata to Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Silchar
and Jorhat. Journey time in a direct flight from Kolkata to Guwahati
is of less than 45 minutes, while to Dibrugarh (the eastern most
civil airport in Assam) is of around 90 minutes. Similarly for
travellers from Europe, Middle East, Central Asia and African
countries either via Delhi and Mumbai or even Kolkata route is
preferable. However, Delhi and Kolkata have higher frequency of
flights to Guwahati. A Delhi-Guwahati direct flight takes 2:30 hrs
of journey time. There is currently no direct flight from Guwahati
to any international destination after cancellation of the Air
India's Guwahati-Bangkok flight few years back.
By rail
Check Train networks and buy online
Rail ticket
Assam is also well connected through Rail Services to Indian cities.
Three major routes of North East Frontier Railways (NF Railways)
covers entire Assam and provides linkages to principal zones and
cities in north, east and south India. Guwahati railway station is
the largest in Assam and is served by direct trains from most of the
major cities in India. The Rajdhani Express (fully airconditioned)
from New Delhi (takes 27 hours) and Saraighat Express from Howrah in
Kolkata (takes 17 hours) are the fastest ones. There are many direct
trains from Delhi (including the Rajdhani Express) and Kolkata for
Dibrugarh in Upper Assam. Usually, Dibrugarh is an additional nights
journey (12hrs) from Guwahati.
By car
There are highways from Indian states in the west and buses run
between Siliguri (to Siliguri buses are available from Kolkata,
Darjeeling and Gangtok) and Guwahati; However, travelling by bus may
not be comfortable in this patch and travel time is usually longer
than that of trains. Road connectivity to surrounding Seven Sister
States is good, however may take different durations depending on
the location of the state.
Tamu in western Myanmar is connected to a reasonably good highway to
Assam via Manipur; Tamu in Myanmar border is closer to Mandalay. The
historic Stilwell Road between Assam-Myanmar-China from Ledo in
Upper Assam to Myitkina in Myanmar and further to Kunming in China
is right now not fully operationalised.
There are also roads connecting Bhutan.
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