Published by Vacation & Travel Magazine, Australia

As the river gurgles past below my balcony, a spectacular lightning storm brews on the horizon. The water is so close I can almost let it flow through my fingers as I lay in bed. It is midnight and we are anchored in the middle of the Brahmaputra River in Assam, India. Halfdreaming, I re-live my first encounter with this body of water in Tibet, some 2,000 kilometres north of where we are now. Originating in the Himalayas and finally plunging into the Bay of Bengal, the Brahmaputra River courses through the length of Assam bringing with its waters all the blessings of good soil, easy irrigation and good fishing together with the perils of floods, which often decimate the area.