Tell me about visiting India

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’ve recently been thinking about visiting India, and thought I’d see if I could find anyone here on the Dope who had been and could talk about their experiences: where they went, where they stayed, how they got around, how much everything cost, what they did, etc.

I found a fair amount of descriptive info in this thread about moving to India, but not much in the way of tourist-y info.

What I’m thinking of doing is heading over for the Great Indian Rock Festival or something similar, but since the airfare is huge, I figured I better stay over there like 3 weeks or a month or something and really make the most of the trip.

Any itinerary you had would be great to know about. I’m open to hotels, resorts, hostels, backpacking, etc.; nothing is too low-brow or too high-brow.

2

I’m sure you will get better information from folks who have wider experiences, but I’ll share some details about a recent trip, for what it’s worth.

I spent a week in Bangalore earlier this summer. In no particular order, I’ll offer the following comments, tips, and general observations:

[ol]
[li]I’ve traveled quite a bit to Europe, so I know what it’s like to be on a plane for 8-9 hours, but I’m really glad I was able to fly business class.[/li][li]You may recover quickly from the flight, but if there is a doubt, I would plan to schedule a down day for when you arrive. I did and it was a smart, smart move.[/li][li]I stayed at the Taj Vivanta Hotel. Very, very nice place. Incredible Indian restaurant. Nice pool/spa. Just all around a top notch experience. Price was over 75,000 in local currency (I have a visual memory of the invoice.) I think that is somewhere slightly over $1,500 US.[/li][li]Biggest cultural shock was the total disregard for any type of traffic law. I can only imagine how many people die in accidents annually there.[/li][li]We all know it is a developing nation in a lot of ways, but I’ve been to many places in the Caribbean and interior areas in Mexico/Central America that aren’t nearly as developed as the Bangalore area.[/li][li]I had a chance to buy a 1200 knot per inch hand made silk on silk rug for $4,500. Now I’m angry that I didn’t do it, as my post trip research confirms that I would pay over $20k for a similar quality rug here, if I can even find one. Take some money if you want to buy some heirloom quality rugs or other local art.[/li][li]Research the visa and medical requirements for the trip. My company spent about $600 on my expedited business visa and the medical stuff. Now, I’m sure the process for a short term tourist visa are probably less rigorous, but don’t make any assumptions.[/li][li]Final thought…before my trip, it was a task I wasn’t too excited about. After the trip, I’m trying to figure out how to make it happen again. It was a really awesome experience.[/li][/ol]

3

I was in Hyderabad about this time last year, and I’ll echo a lot of what Jammer said, especially about the traffic. It seems like absolute chaos (especially with the odd cow in the road), but curiously enough I didn’t see a single accident in the 10 days I was there. I think there’s something about living in such a densely populated place that requires people to have a different sense of where they are in relation to others than we have in the spread-out USA.

We stayed at a Taj hotel as well (because that’s where my wife’s company puts all the westerners) and it was really nice. You’ll find Taj’s in all the major cities. Not the cheapest place, but not outrageous either, and they definitely cater to Western tastes.

Men’s clothing is pretty cheap. I picked up a couple of nice kurta-pajamas like this one for something like US$80 each; less ornate suits were even less.

The tourist visa process was pretty simple; download an application, fill it out, take it to the processing place in downtown Chicago and pick it up the next day. Depending on where you live you might have to mail it in, but it wasn’t that big a deal.

Depending on where else you’ve traveled and what you look like, India could very well be the place you most feel like a foreigner. I’m 6’-1, very fair-skinned, with light-brown hair and blue eyes. I did not fit in, at least visually. On the other hand, people in general were very kind and warm and made me feel welcome.

Hyderabad had lots of pedi-cabs for transport (I think they call them tuk tuks in some parts of the world). They’re OK for short-distance travel, but get the driver to give you an idea of the fare before you commit to the ride. Playing a little hard to get will generally bring the price down. Depending on your budget and where you are, hiring a driver with his own car can be an attractive option. I don’t remember exactly what my wife paid (again, the company paid for it), but I was astonished at how reasonable it seemed to have a driver for an entire day.

I got a full round of CDC recommended vaccinations, mostly because it just seemed like a good idea. If you have one in your area, see if you can find a clinic or physician’s practice that specializes in travel medicine; the one I used not only gave me all my shots, but also sent me with an antibiotic in case of emergency and some anti-malarials as well.

Above all, enjoy! The people really are, on the whole, lovely, it’s easy to have a good time on not a lot of money (except the airfare), and the food is wonderful.

4

Thanks very much, both of you.

I basically just made up my mind the other day that this might be something I’d like to do… wait. Lemme try that again:

I basically just made up my mind the other day this is something I’d like to do, so I’m still at the gathering information stage of things. I hadn’t given a thought at all to medvax or visas yet, so it’s good to have that on the list early.

However, since I plan on staying longer than a week, I’m thinking a lot at this point about money and stuff to do. I’m not wealthy, so this trip will involve a lot of saving and planning, to ensure that I can go over there and enjoy myself without having to worry about those details, but a big one I have is: what can I do?

I mean, I know I’ll have some time occupied with headbanging, but that’s really just a few days out of the whole trip. FWIW, I’ll prolly be flying in to Bombay, as that’s where the bands I already know of are from. I have no idea how far away anything is, or how much it costs to get anywhere from Bombay, or even why I’d need to go anywhere other than Bombay.

Also, why does the rest of the world call Bombay “Mumbai”?

5

Mumbai is the new name, which is related to the older pre-colonial name. A while back a fairly nationalist government changed a lot of names to try to slough off some colonial heritage.

I think your first step would be to grab a copy of the Lonely Planet and get a better idea of what you are looking at. While the Lonely Planet has it’s ups and downs, the India edition is pretty helpful, covers a good range, and has really helpful history/culture/reading recommendation sections. It goes through the ins and outs of getting from place to place, etc. A whole lot of research has gone into the book, and it’s a good place to start thinking about your trip. They even have recommended itineraries.

I spent three months budget (less then $10 a day- for everything) backpacking all over India and it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done. India is an incredible, unbelievable, just breathtaking place. That said, it’s not for everyone. It’s the most pain-in-the-butt place to travel in the world, with the most persistant touts, insane scams, and dangerous chances to become a crime or accident victim. In both the good and the bad, it is a really, really intense place (unless you spend a ton of money on luxury touring that isolates you from the actual country.)

If you are going to have a good time, you are going to need to be patient, have a good sense of humor, and do your best not to get worked up about hassles- because there will be plenty of hassles. The only way to enjoy yourself is to learn to let stuff go and realize you are going to get ripped off now and then and there is nothing you can do about it, and you gotta just shrug it off, move on, have fun, and stop stewing over the fifteen cents the cab driver overcharged you.

I would stay as long as you can. Getting there is the big price. Once you are there, depending on what you are willing to put up with, you can live pretty inexpensively. It was quite a few years ago, but I hung out in Mysore for a while sharing a 1.75 hotel room and eating .50 all-you-can-eat meals and $.10 street snacks. Even staying at slightly nicer guesthouses- which often have a lot more charm than the countless generic hotels- can be pretty cheap. The Lonely Planet has a good range of recommendations, and I had lots of fun at the mid-low range places described as “slightly funky but charming” or “simple but clean.” In my experience the faceless mid-range hotels are not much better than the guest house, and the guesthouses are a lot more fun and hanging out with the owners is an easy way to get some local perspective. That said, there are honest-to-god luxury hotels and they are a great value.

India is HUGE and there is only so much you are going to be able to experience in a few weeks. I’d warn you against trying to do too much. Think of it like “America,” you can’t “see” America in a few weeks, but you can see a part of it. In a month you could probably explore the highlights of two regions- maybe the ancient holy city of Varanasi and Agra to the North, and maybe make it to bizarre landscape and ruins of Hampi or some of the beaches (I liked Kerala better than Goa, but that’s just me) to the South. Don’t linger more than a couple days in Mumbai- it’s expensive and a pain in the butt. There are much better places you can go. I also recommend Rajasthan to anyone and everyone. You could easily spend the majority of your time there exploring it’s storied city and desert.

Wherever you end up, the “attractions” are petty repetitive- almost every city will have a temple, a holy mountain, a market, a palace. Besides the Taj Mahal, it’s not so much about “must see” sightseeing. It’s more about people watching at temples, exploring old cities, chatting with people in parks and generally soaking up the atmosphere. The attractions are really just an excuse to get out of your hotel and explore. So it’s better to linger in a place a few days so you can really get to know it.

India has a great train system and a terrifying but convenient bus system. You should ride at least one overnight non-AC sleeper train for the experience of it. That said, a lot of discount airlines have popped up and I believe internal travel is pretty reasonable these days. India has a lot of people, so there is pretty much always some way to get from one place to another.

Here is a journal of my adventures- you might want to start from the end and read it chronologically.

http://jeninindia.livejournal.com/

I’ll check back here and also feel free to PM me if you have any questions. I did this in 2004 so no doubt a lot has changed since then, but I covered a pretty wide range and travelled pretty close to the ground, so I’ve got plenty to share!

6

I’d like to suggest a forum you might want to visit. It is http://www.indiamike.com/india/

Its a travel advice forum for people visiting India. Many posters are expats living in India. I was a lurker there for years before I moved to the UK.

Good luck with your trip!!

7

Thanks again!

I’m about halfway thru your livejournal, even sven; it’s been great reading. I was very glad to read that you had no problem maintaining a veg diet while in India.

I haven’t gotten to the forum Djinn suggested yet, but I did bookmark it (I started a folder for India).

I also checked online and found a temple here in Las Vegas where I can prolly learn more about the country & culture and maybe even take some Hindi lessons. That should be interesting, eh.

8

I spent two and a half months in Hyderabad last summer doing an internship; I also visited Mumbai while I was there.

I found being in India to be an overwhelming and often exhausting experience. Maybe I was overconfident - India was my eighteenth country, I had lived abroad before, I’d been to developing countries, I thought this was going to be a cool experience that I could totally handle. I spent a lot of the time I was there on the verge of freaking out, from the constant noise and press of people. I remember asking my coworkers if there was someplace quiet I could visit, and they all looked at me like I was out of my mind. I went to a park one day and at least four people asked if they could take their picture with me. I was just trying to relax and read my book!

In all, I am glad I went because I learned a lot and it was a very eye-opening experience. But it was tougher than I had expected. Maybe if I had been a tourist and been moving around a lot, it would have been easier, because I could have just gone to a more quiet and rural place when the urbanness got to be too much.

9

The thing about going to a quiet and rural place in India is that there will also be 50,000 urban Indians going there to get away from it all.

10

Enjoy!

11

I have a feeling I’m going to attract a fair amount of attention over there: I’m just shy of 2m tall, after all, and although darker complected than your average white guy, still noticeably not brown.

I don’t think the crush of people will be a problem for me, mentally, although I confess to wondering how you secure your personal belongings in a sitch like that. I’m guessing that carrying my wallet in my back pocket will be a bad idea lol.

12

For sure. Get a secure money belt, ideally with steel wires to prevent cutting through it with a razor. Assume everything else you bring will get stolen. Don’t travel with anything you care about. Bring as little as possible so you can be in contact with your stuff rather than putting it on the tops of busses and the like to get stolen. If you will be staying in guesthouses, bring your own solid Master lock from the States and don’t leave your valuables in the room. In short, you pretty much just have to assume hands will be in your bags and pockets at all times, and plan accordingly.

You will attract a lot of attention and get lots of requests to have your photo taken. It will be charming and flattering at first, and will quickly slide into really obnoxious. One thing that will help is to try to dress “business casual.” Indians generally appreciate trying to look nice, and will not look kindly on holey jeans and beat up tee shirts. Comb your hair and trim your beard. Trying to look neat (but not rich) will help you get more “oh, that’s an interesting looking guy, let’s talk to him” attention and less “Ha ha look at the foreign freak” attention.

13

Before visiting India, while in Nepal, I had a Buddhist Nun tell me the reason that Sri Lanka and Nepal are right there is so when it’s all too much you can slip away.:smiley:

It’s kind of true. I had visited Nepal a couple of times before braving India, thought I was ready. I was not, entirely.

Succeeding in India is about remaining calm, smiling a lot, having patience and an open mind.

You’re going to have an awesome time, promise you’ll return to tell us all about it?

14

This trip is likely over a year away, but aye, I’m already thinking about how I can blog it while I’m there or something.

15

even sven, do you think your digestion was more acclimated against illness because of your time spent in Cameroon and elsewhere? Would a less-traveled American need to be more delicate about his diet?

Oh no! My insulin! :smiley:

16

If India is the first Asian country you are visiting, I urge you to reconsider. As noted before, India is not for the faint of heart. I’ve traveled Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodja before I did India, and I felt I had a good grasp of Asian culture, but India was intense. It is not a beginners country.

I’m loathe to generalize the people of a culture, but I found that I was forced to in India. I traveled Uttar Pradesh, Hymanchal Pradesh, Rajastan and Kashmir in 7 weeks (including a short trip to Varanasi), so only a small part of the entire country, but one thing I learned quickly is that every one is out for your money. It matters not if it is a beggar, shop keeper, waiter or priest. Everyone has the mindset to get better from you. What even sven said: assume you get scammed, because you will, no matter how careful you are. In those 7 weeks I was there I only met one person who appeared not to like me for my money. And honestly, I am a person who takes someone at face value, and not assume something because of how someone else reacted to me.

That said, I loved India. Kashmir is breathtaking. I drove an old Enfield motor bike through the Hymalayas and it was one of the best experiences in my life. The roads can be treacherous, and the traffic is insane, but if you keep your wits you’d be alright. Traveling this way allows you to see sights that you wouldn’t if you were traveling by bus or public transport. Reports of the unsafety of the region are also wildly exaggerated. I felt nothing of the supposed tensions there, and Amritsar and Srinagar are beautiful (and not overrun by tourists).

Regarding transport: the trains are an excellent way to get around. They are much more comfortable than busses and go everywhere. They are also very reliable and allow you to meet Indians in a different way than any other mode of travel. Be careful when booking train tickets in Delhi though and follow the instructions in your guide book closely. I got scammed several times when trying to book my train tickets, and I was very careful not to. Touts and ‘travel agents’ will try to drag you away from the train station to book the tickets in their office. Don’t fall for it: you can book a ticket yourself at the train station, no matter what anyone says. Also, don’t fall for the spiel that trains get booked weeks in advance and that you should book your entire itinirary in one go. While some trains do get booked full (especially on the more popular routes, like Delhi - Agra, or Delhi - Varanasi), there usually will be a seat available the next day.

Be wary of the following scams:

  • an Indian poses as a friend and want to go out for a drink with you. While you could go out with him if you want (nothing bad will probably happen if you stick to well known paces), don’t go with him to his house, or friend who has a shop, or aunt who is a psychic, or uncle who is a priest, or whatever. You’ll end up buying stuff you don’t need for prices that it’s not worth.
  • Tuctuc drivers who tell you something is closed or that he soesn’t know where it is. He’ll drive you somewhere else in stead, probably somewhere that he gets a commission from. That said, this probably will happen to you anyway, no matter how careful you are. Just don’t pay the man until he has dropped you off at the place you want to be.
  • ‘Real’ jade/diamond/ruby for way too low a price. It’s fake. You know this, don’t fall for it.
  • Tailor made suits that are finished in a day? Don’t be rediculous. Three fittings is the least you need. They lure you in with the promise that it will be finished tomorrow, but it isn’t and you are stuck in the place you are until the tailor has time to finish it. Assume a three day minimum. Also don’t fall for the promise that they’ll send it home if you don’t have time to pick it up. They either don’t, or, if they do, may not fit properly.
  • All artwork should be assumed fake.
  • Look up your Lonely Planet for places where guides are mandatory. This is rarely so, but at the entrance there will be people who persists that they are. Even ‘free’ guides insist that you pay them afterwards, even if you made it very clear that you won’t in advance. Funny anecdote: I was chased by a ‘priest’ for half an hour in Pushkar because I refused to pay for this ‘blessing’ he gave me. He followed me around, constantly clapping his hands and announcing to everyone who would want to hear that I wasn’t allowed in the temples becaseu I hadn’t paid. Nonsense of course, I could enter any place I wanted to.

Sometimes scams are not scams. When leaving you shoes behind to enter a temple, it is customary to tip the shoe minder. Occasionally, a tuctuc driver is honest and will gladly drive you around all of Varanasi and help you entering places. Sometimes an invite to someone’s home is honest and you’ll have a lovely time celebrating a ritual to Kali (not the Indiana Jones heart offering type luckily, but an innocent offering of some sweet cake dough). The trick is to distinguish between the two. You’ll fail. Don’t worry about it, but enjoy the times that it turns out OK.

17

India was my first big trip, so I wasn’t really acclimated to anything. I did get sick- once for a few days in Pondicherry, and for a few hours here and there on a few occasions. That said, I eat almost everything and am a street food devotee. I was travelling for enough time that I could afford to get sick, and so I really just dived in. I mean, I was eating raw fruit from gloopy buckets served by grubby kids in the dirt, stuff like that.

Probably some minimal cautions would greatly reduce your chances of getting sick. If you stick to hot food, you probably won’t get sick at all. Street food and cheap restaurants can be fine if the food is piping hot. And the “tourist” restaurants are probably the dirtiest of them all. The Lonely Planet has all the food hygiene advice you could need.

I think India did do something to my immune system. I didn’t get so much as a sniffle for a full year after my trip!

18

Or maybe it’s a great beginner country. After India, pretty much anyplace will seem clean, honest and laid-back!

But really, the people I know who travelled in south-east Asia first unanimously had a tough time with India, in part because it didn’t fit their expectations. It makes me think it might almost be better to be going in fresh. Anyway, I think India is going to be a love-it or hate-it kind of place no matter what your travel experiences are.

You can book train tickets online now! Something like 20% of my trip was spent dealing with train hassles (at least until I got smart and started having my guesthouse book stuff for me.) Now you can just go online and click-click-click. Between that and Hostelworld.com, I imagine travelling in India has become so much less stressful.

I agree it might be smart to look into popping into Nepal for a break. South India is also a lot more laid back.

19

Great decision, Snowboarder Bo. You won’t regret it. India is a wonderful country to travel around - it’s cheap, easy and everybody (almost) speaks English. I have traveled around India for months on several occasions (the last time with a two year-old) and lived there for shorter or longer periods. I have always felt very, very safe. Use a bit of common sense and you’ll be absolutely fine - i.e. don’t eat street food (unless the stand has a lot of local customers), decide what you think something is worth before starting the bargaining process (expect to pay a bit more than the locals under most circumstances), be open, friendly, curious.

India can be overwhelming, but it is always fascinating. The more you know about the country beforehand, the better, IMO. Read something on Hinduism, for instance. Or even better: try one of the novels recommended in this thread.

Indiamike and the Lonely Planet homepage are good places to check out. Also these threads.

ETA: As even sven suggests, India is a great “beginner” country. I went there for my first big trip when I was 20, and I have never, ever felt out of my depth anywhere in the world after that. The only trouble is that everywhere seems boring in comparison to India.

20

Thanks to everyone for the replies.

I’m heading over to the local temple this evening for the Dusheera Mela festival. There’ll be food (mmmmm curry) and there should be some folks there I can talk to about stuff. Specifically, I’m looking at classes on the culture & country in general, and more importantly, learning some Hindi.

I really appreciate all the cautionary tales about how crowded, dirty, etc. it is. My only experience abroad is a week spent in Paris (awesome place!), so I’m definitely taking them to heart and mentally prepping myself for it.

At the moment, I’d say my biggest fear is just simple theft. I’m a world class haggler, so the notion of getting scammed out of money by waiters, cabbies, etc. doesn’t bother me too much as I expect to give about as good as I get. And if I end up on the losing side, it’ll just help me improve my already mad skillz!

I mean, even sven, you were blogging from all over India, aye? No worries about your laptop getting stolen? Did you just have a backpack that you never let go of, or what? Do I need to get a shoulder holster for my iPhone? I’m already looking for a motherfucker of a money belt, as per your advice.