Suggestions for Travel to India

[Profileid]

Well, I figure Mumbai is the New York of India. So might as well end the trip there, before I fly back to the states. Probably going to stop by Singapore for about 3 days. I have a friend there.

That would be cool. I'd like to see Singapore. Seeing a huge east asian city is one thing i really want to do.

[zhaoyun]

That would be cool. I'd like to see Singapore. Seeing a huge east asian city is one thing i really want to do.

Yeah, there are a lot of choices, but most of them are very vibrant, futuristic, safe and fun with great public transportation.

[von.nteller]

Puroh jit or Milo would know everything, since they live there.

Also, I highly doubt an Asian of your type would be unsafe in India. Or anyone for that matter.

[JohnSmith]

That is cool I would love to go there.

[Purohit ji]

Would you suggest traveling through Rajastan from Delhi by train? If so, any tips?

Yes. But indian trains are always crowded. Go in first class ac coach.you will see upper class indian or other foreignERS. In thoses coaches. Also less crowded.

[Purohit ji]

Top places to visit in rajasthan jaipur, udaipur,mount abu, jaisalmer
In uttarpradesh must visit the agra(tajmahal) in the west and varanasi in east.
Also the capital new delhi.
In punjab the golden temple in amritsar also chandigarh
Also the whole himachal and uttarakhand are good too many good places to go there.
Like Nainital mussorie rishikesh haridwar dehradoon.
In himachal kullu manali shimla are good.
Most of my friends and relatives go to these places in the north

[Óttar]

I just don't want to see a good friend of mine to get hurt. I mean, I know people here who went to India for their vacation and they came back traumatized. Yes, it's a shithole. If you want to visit some exotic country or something, why don't you visit countries like Bhutan or Bangladesh or Nepal even?

Dude, are you f*cking serious!? Bangladesh safer and less of a shit-hole than India!? Unreal.

I'll contribute to this thread later when I get back from class...

[JMack]

All the places in the Himalayas are amazing. Sikkim, Darjeeling, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh.

These places are very calm and nice. I have travelled throughout all Asia in the last years and I can assure you: There's nothing to fear in India. The only ones who are afraid are some faggots who see anything less western/developed as dangerous. The sad thing is that the place is becoming more and more westernized, till the point of being almost 'western' looking in some rich places (Connaught Place in Delhi, for example). If you really want the traditional stuff go the less developed parts, they are amazing.

If you are a mountain lover I would also recomend Nepal.

[Óttar]

I lived in Delhi for two months the first time I went to India, and this last time I spent the summer in Jaipur, Rajasthan before moving on to Pune for a year. I spent an evening in Mumbai and I honestly wish the program that I attended was in Mumbai because it such a cosmopolitan city with so many different influences, British, Portuguese, Parsi, Persian, Hindi and Marathi. Victoria terminus is beautiful and the city has an energetic, bustling feel to it. It was so refreshing to hear Hindi spoken there after a year listening to Marathi (which I neither speak nor understand) in Pune. It is the film capital of India and its dialect of Hindi uses a rough, simple, street grammar that is unique to the city.

Jaipur is called the pink city and there are a number of Mughal and Rajput castles and forts on mountaintops. Jaisalmer is known for its cannabis and opium. Udaipur and Jodhpur are both interesting cities with palaces, museums, bazaars, and polo teams. If you want to take a dip in the Ganges, it is possible to avoid the pollution and filth if you bathe near its origin in the Himalayas where the water is fresh and crystal clear. I really liked Rishikesh and there were a lot of Germans. I speak German, so I appreciated that. Varanasi is very crowded and you have the opportunity to hang out with and smoke cannabis with several tents of sadhus. Find a friend and spend time with them.

There are no police, liquor, or non-vegetarian food allowed in the city due to its holy status. You will see burning pyres and corpses up-close and personal. You will be inhaling the smoke from 30 yards away. Down by the ghats there are children who make a living by stealing funeral shrouds from the pyres. One of them told me, "We are all going to die. The burning is learning, cremation is education." I remember feeling pretty upset watching this corpse being set alight and watching its flesh melt. You will be confronted by death very vividly. It is not like the US where death is sanitized, denied, and hidden from us. Death is everywhere. Burning on the pyres, in the streets, in the slaughterhouses, meat-shops, and fish markets. The cows, goats, and buffaloes are in the street along with dogs, cats, crows, rhesus macaques, langur monkeys, rats, and in some places, wild boars. I almost had the perfect shot of a rhesus macaque in Varanasi. It was literally a foot away, but then a girl in the program said, "Watch out!" I flinched, and the monkey ran away.

You will miss things like American sandwiches, meat, and fresh water from your tap.

I was also in Musoorie, a hill-station. It is very scenic and you can get Turkic karaqul wool caps, carpets, and woolen garments. Fruit and milk smoothies by the roadside are cheap and really filling. The street-food is cheap and very good. I never got sick from street-food, but I did get sick from hotel food. Twice. In Delhi, there are a number of "multi-cuisine" restaurants which combine Indian, Chinese, and Italian food. Tea, rice, and flatbread is VERY cheap and plentiful. You will get irritated by the beggars and aggressive shop-keepers, and Indian people are very friendly, so sometimes it will be difficult to distinguish between a friendly person who genuinely wants to get to know you and an aggressive salesman. That can be frustrating. There is a market in Delhi called Dilli-Haat which has sit-down food to eat from every region of India. The vast majority of temples will let you in; there are only a handful where non-Indians are not permitted and luckily, most of them are in the deep south. The exception in the North being the Jagannath Temple in Varanasi and Orissa. Recently, a Western Hindu built a parallel Jagannath Temple which allows entry to foreigners and people of all castes. There are also a number of posh nightclubs which sell Western food and alcohol if you need a break. I also highly recommend taking advantage of your lopsided US-India Purchase-Power-Parity (PPP) and investing in some custom-made tailored suits which can be made according to just about any specification in any number of a broad range of colors and fabrics. World-class Italian style loafers are also very cheap and fashionable.

Agra. Literally the Taj Mahal is the only thing worth seeing. No joke. I HATED Agra. Some of my friends went back to the Taj Mahal to view it by night and I was fed up. I exclaimed to my Hindi teachers, "Agra Narak hai." (Hindi. "Agra is Hell".) Get out to Amritsar to see the Golden Temple if you can. It is very far out and I couldn't make it there this last time.

Don't let any of your friends convince you that you should walk miles in 120 degree heat to save money, or that you should wipe your ass with your left hand. Take an auto-rickshaw. Toilet paper is your friend. Like Shaka Zulu once said, "If a lion were given wings, he would be a fool not to use them." Roughing it doesn't make you any more "authentic." There is no virtue in poverty.

[zhaoyun]

I lived in Delhi for two months the first time I went to India, and this last time I spent the summer in Jaipur, Rajasthan before moving on to Pune for a year. I spent an evening in Mumbai and I honestly wish the program that I attended was in Mumbai because it such a cosmopolitan city with so many different influences, British, Portuguese, Parsi, Persian, Hindi and Marathi. Victoria terminus is beautiful and the city has an energetic, bustling feel to it. It was so refreshing to hear Hindi spoken there after a year listening to Marathi (which I neither speak nor understand) in Pune. It is the film capital of India and its dialect of Hindi uses a rough, simple, street grammar that is unique to the city.

Jaipur is called the pink city and there are a number of Mughal and Rajput castles and forts on mountaintops. Jaisalmer is known for its cannabis and opium. Udaipur and Jodhpur are both interesting cities with palaces, museums, bazaars, and polo teams. If you want to take a dip in the Ganges, it is possible to avoid the pollution and filth if you bathe near its origin in the Himalayas where the water is fresh and crystal clear. I really liked Rishikesh and there were a lot of Germans. I speak German, so I appreciated that. Varanasi is very crowded and you have the opportunity to hang out with and smoke cannabis with several tents of sadhus. Find a friend and spend time with them.

There are no police, liquor, or non-vegetarian food allowed in the city due to its holy status. You will see burning pyres and corpses up-close and personal. You will be inhaling the smoke from 30 yards away. Down by the ghats there are children who make a living by stealing funeral shrouds from the pyres. One of them told me, "We are all going to die. The burning is learning, cremation is education." I remember feeling pretty upset watching this corpse being set alight and watching its flesh melt. You will be confronted by death very vividly. It is not like the US where death is sanitized, denied, and hidden from us. Death is everywhere. Burning on the pyres, in the streets, in the slaughterhouses, meat-shops, and fish markets. The cows, goats, and buffaloes are in the street along with dogs, cats, crows, rhesus macaques, langur monkeys, rats, and in some places, wild boars. I almost had the perfect shot of a rhesus macaque in Varanasi. It was literally a foot away, but then a girl in the program said, "Watch out!" I flinched, and the monkey ran away.

You will miss things like American sandwiches, meat, and fresh water from your tap.

I was also in Musoorie, a hill-station. It is very scenic and you can get Turkic karaqul wool caps, carpets, and woolen garments. Fruit and milk smoothies by the roadside are cheap and really filling. The street-food is cheap and very good. I never got sick from street-food, but I did get sick from hotel food. Twice. In Delhi, there are a number of "multi-cuisine" restaurants which combine Indian, Chinese, and Italian food. Tea, rice, and flatbread is VERY cheap and plentiful. You will get irritated by the beggars and aggressive shop-keepers, and Indian people are very friendly, so sometimes it will be difficult to distinguish between a friendly person who genuinely wants to get to know you and an aggressive salesman. That can be frustrating. There is a market in Delhi called Dilli-Haat which has sit-down food to eat from every region of India. The vast majority of temples will let you in; there are only a handful where non-Indians are not permitted and luckily, most of them are in the deep south. The exception in the North being the Jagannath Temple in Varanasi and Orissa. Recently, a Western Hindu built a parallel Jagannath Temple which allows entry to foreigners and people of all castes. There are also a number of posh nightclubs which sell Western food and alcohol if you need a break. I also highly recommend taking advantage of your lopsided US-India Purchase-Power-Parity (PPP) and investing in some custom-made tailored suits which can be made according to just about any specification in any number of a broad range of colors and fabrics. World-class Italian style loafers are also very cheap and fashionable.

Agra. Literally the Taj Mahal is the only thing worth seeing. No joke. I HATED Agra. Some of my friends went back to the Taj Mahal to view it by night and I was fed up. I exclaimed to my Hindi teachers, "Agra Narak hai." (Hindi. "Agra is Hell".) Get out to Amritsar to see the Golden Temple if you can. It is very far out and I couldn't make it there this last time.

Don't let any of your friends convince you that you should walk miles in 120 degree heat to save money, or that you should wipe your ass with your left hand. Take an auto-rickshaw. Toilet paper is your friend. Like Shaka Zulu once said, "If a lion were given wings, he would be a fool not to use them." Roughing it doesn't make you any more "authentic." There is no virtue in poverty.

Thank you. That was a very informative and interesting read. Will probably have to hit you up for more info closer to the trip. Did you primarily get around on trains?

Yeah I am actually not that keen on going to Agra, just seems like a tourist trap centered around the Taj Mahal. I'm actually more interested in perhaps going to Jaipur and such. Definitely very interested in seeing Varanasi, if Agra is on the way, I'd probably stop by just to see the Taj Mahal, but it's not a priority. Definitely want to see Mumbai before I leave. At least stay a couple nights.