travelling in india

hi all, im looking @ travelling to india & nepal for 6-8 wks & touring around & im after all the advice i could prob get.
ive been looking up loads on the net but its not the same as talking to someone who has been there or is there.

many thanks

erbalist

 

Try to visit Rajasthan...it's great..
http://www.rajasthantourism.gov.in/

 

Have a blast and take care of your feet! i'm headin to nepal sometime feb-apr for a trek in the annpurna circuit ...here's to a good time!cheers

 

I just spent 9 months in India and Nepal, what do you wanna know?

 

6-8 weeks..for both nepal and india?.. its tooo big to explore comeletely in such little time
where all do u plan to travel in india?
some of the "MUST" places to travel around could be rajasthan..himachal.. delhi/bombay.. goa.. pondichery.. kerela..haampi..madhya pradesh..varanasi etc. etc!!
it realy depends on what kinda stuff u wanna visit..
i live in delhi... havnt travelled a lot around india...but been round a bit here and there.. might be able to helpa bit... who yu gonna travel with? what time of the year etc?

 

thanks for your replies, i was thinking of starting in goa then making my way to nepal & just see what i find on the way, then back into india to agra & delihi, when i get to delihi i want to try & get to manaili. i'll be travelling on my own as no one i know would be up for such a trip.
i can only get on the net every now & then so im just looking @ as much stuff as possasble. i was thinking of travelling over either l8 this year or the start of next near, just saving the money up.
will it be too much to do in 6-8wks? how much do u think i could see in this time?
sorry for so many questions but ive got loads to ask.
thanks erbalist

 

Well if you start in Goa you can go to Delhi and Agra on the way to Nepal. There's a direct bus available from Delhi to Kathmandu. When I went I just got a train to Gorakhpur from Haridwar (you can also get one from Delgi), then a bus to Sonauli (the border town) and then a bus from there to Kathmandu.
Manali is nice but this time of year it would be very cold. Goa is cool, but some beaches are real tourist resorts. I was in Arambol which was nice, and less touristy, more backpackers and other travellers.

You can do what you want in 6-8 weeks but it'll invlove alot of travel and travel in India can sap the energy out of the best of travellers. It might be better try and fit a bit less in.

 

Skip Nepal and spend the 8 weeks in India.
Just go along and you always end up where you did not want to go, but are happy to be.
Love it, it is awesome.

 

i think ur right about fitting a bit less into my trip spacer, got meself a big map so ive got more idea of what im looking @. is it easy to get around from city to city or is it a mission? will i be ok travelling on my own? where would be best to visit in rajasthan on the way to delhi?
thanks erbalist

 

Travel between cities is easy on the trains. It's perfectly safe to travel on your own. In Rajastahn there's alot of class places. Where you go depends on what month it is as the seasons vary dramatically from place to place.

Also what Bird migration said is very true, when you get there plans go out the window!

 

Why don't you try to narrow it down? You can always go on another trip in the future. India is huge and so diverse, I think if you spent a life time travelling in it, you still wouldn't have been able to take it all in. So yeah, if possible, maybe you should narrow your area down a bit. I know it's hard because you want to see so much, but at least this way you can fully enjoy and take in the sights and sounds.

 

Some Sadhus walk all over India all thei life and never see it all!

 

thanks violet n spacer =) chaos signiture hahahaha love it
from what ive been told & read i think im just going 2 start in goa & see where i end up. im buzzin just @ the thought of going over even though its not going to be for a while.
has anyone got any good tips or advice for the trip?

 

A friend of mine has just spent 3 months in Leh, North India. He found it an enlightening experience, as he got to spend some time with Buddhist monks up in the mountains. It looked beautiful.
He also said that he didn't like Delhi very much because it was too hectic.

 

Hey~

I just spend about a month in India, mainly in Kolkata (commonly known as Calcutta) and the Sikkim region. I loved both areas for different reasons.

Nepal is a mess right now.. I have a friend in there who recently would have been killed had he not had a Nepali guide with him. If the name 'The Maoists' is unfamiliar to you, then unless you do some intensive research for the next while before you go, it is a definite possibility that you would not leave the country alive... as dramatic as that sounds. Google it.

So yes, stick with India. Sounds like you haven't travelled before, really. You are diving into the deep end. India is the most backwards place you can go, so be ready to be patient and exhausted (not to mention filled with wonder). Kolkata is beautiful, intimidatingly smelly, ridiculously chaotic, and rich with beggers and fascinating people. Sikkim is high up, near Everest and Kanchenjunga... it's cool and less chaotic. There are many monasteries and villages up there, and you may find some wonderful niches where you can get to know and understand some people...
Bring hand sanitizer, realize that much of India is dirty with sweat, shit, and pollution. Get past that.

Expect to be robbed. Pack light... be fascinated by everything--even yourself and your feelings

Be present

Get travel insurance, know how to contact people if you're in trouble (it would be good to have at least one contact inside India)

Look people in the eye.

Be with love~

Have fun, bee!

 

I only really spent time in the north, but absolutely loved it.

My favourite part was probably Leh and the journey from Srinagar to Leh then from Leh to Manali is unforgetable despite the hellish 36 hour bus journeys...Every moment of that trip I felt as though I was on another planet let alone another continent. Just an endless desert, towering mountains and a crystal clear blue sky. I never felt so far away from home as I did then. I had to pinch myself at times.
Actually one of my deepest regrets is not spending more time in Ladakh and Kashmir. Next time i'll definitely do a trek around Leh.

Despite it being described as a 'tourist trap', I also love Mcloed Ganj (Dharamsala) because I just loved the beautiful surroundings; the misty pineforests with the snow capped mountain, the Tibetan people, and all the courses on offer there ranging from cooking and sitar classes to the Vipassana and Tushita meditation centre...Screw all this pretentious whining about how touristed it is, at the end of the day it's what you make it. I personally met some of the most interesting people in my life there and had some wonderful experiences...
If you're interested in Buddhism it's a good place to go.

A note on Nepal:

I was there very recently after the Maoists called off the ceasefire. Yes there was daily violence in some parts of the country and some bombings in Pokhara but these weren't anywhere near the tourist areas like around lakeside, instead they targetted military/security forces...Despite this there was no real sense of fear or immedient danger when I was there, partly because Nepalis are getting used to seeing headlines day after day about killings and bombings, but partly because other travellers I spoke too didn't seem at all worried about being targetted.
Infact the Maoists have stated they don't intend to ever target tourists and have said they are welcome because they are so vital to the Nepal economy.
I went trekking through Maoist territory, I was stopped by the district leader near Siklis and found the guy pretty friendly and reasonable. I ended up getting the price of my 'donation' down to 500 rupees with some friendly bartering and chit-chat. I never felt at all threatened. He ended up giving me a receipt that I could show other Maoists if I bumped into them again. Then he helped me getting plasters onto my feet which were covered with leeches and bleeding all over the village said farewell and we were both on our way...Totally uneventful.

So please bear this in mind before making the decision to go or not;
The vast majority of what you hear from other travellers is hype. Plain and simple. They are exaggerating the situation to make themselves look 'cool'; "Yeah, don't go to Nepal man it's so dangerous, theres Maoists and bullets flying everywhere...Yeah i've just been there, don't go man unless you arm yourself and wear a bullet proof vest...and this one time at band camp..." Okay so you get the picture.

Why this really REALLY annoys me more than it does most people? Because I have friends out there who are suffering because of all these bullshit scare stories and hype about the situation there. The tourists numbers are down there and it's really hurting a lot of businesses, especially in Pokhara. I know a trekking guide there who's had to go back to his village because he can't get work now. People are getting too scared to go.

My advice to you is definitely go. But be on your guard as although the Maoists aren't targetting tourists you could still get caught in the crossfire. Don't go too far off the beaten track. Take a trekking guide if you plan to trek through Maoist territory. That's about all you have to do!

I plan to go back to Nepal this year with no real anxiety...Infact i'd probably feel more anxiety In L.A or New York than I do in Nepal.

Final few thoughts on India;
I admit the place totally terrified, mesmorised, confused and appalled me during about the first week...I openly admit I found it very hard at first. But stick to it and after a while you start seeing past all the negatives; the poverty, the pollution, the scams and start appreciating the amazing positives; The diversity, not just in religion but in the landscapes, climates, cultures, colours, the food, the nature, the history...Beautiful chaos!

Don't try and rush it, you'll never see it all. Take your time and absorb it.

Don't be afraid to totally lose yourself!

Enjoy it!

Pete xx

 

Hello again, I just wanted to respond to a few things Pete said.

He knows a lot more about Nepal than I do. My friend, by the way, is a photographer-journalist and spends a lot of time in Nepal. He's pretty humble, and not the type to exaggerate his stories. Because he reports on a lot of the violent activities going on, he will be in the more dangerous areas, and certainly not the tourist areas, and thus my harried warning..

I think that treating it as casually as Pete suggests is not a good idea.. but of course, it depends what sort of traveller one is. My advice to the OP is still to stay on the safe side and do a good deal of research so he knows what he's getting into, at the very least.

Pete--loved your descriptions of your experience in India. I would love to go to Dharamsala sometime.

 

I would be more worried about being robbed in Europe than in India, I found it very safe in that respect. However they will try and rip you off at every oppurtunity, but it'll only ever be pittance when you translate it into dollars or euros, so it's best to let it go and don't dwell on it.

Dharamsala is a tourist trap, but I agree with Peter, it's a great place. I stayed in Bagsunath which was further up and found it great, there's a lovely waterfall and the back of it and it's easy to find places to get away from it.
My favourite place in India though was Varanasi. It was great, humanity at it's rawest. It was a powerful place to be.

 

I don't feel i'm treating it 'casually'. Maybe I didn't explain myself clearly enough in my last post when I said; "be on your guard as although the Maoists aren't targetting tourists you could still get caught in the crossfire. Don't go too far off the beaten track. Take a trekking guide if you plan to trek through Maoist territory."
Exercise caution yes. Being constantly paranoid no...Don't get involved with protests when they happen. Don't travel during strikes (it probably wont be possible anyway). Avoid the western Maoist controlled areas...etc
If you stick to the popular destinations you're very unlikely to have problems.

Secondly I didn't intend to suggest your friend was one of the exaggerating types although it probably felt that way looking back. I just felt that I needed to set the score straight with the real situation in Nepal for a few reasons; Many because I love the country and the people and many of them really do deserve better. Obviously Nepal has had a lot of bad press, some undeniably deserved, but a lot not at all deserved, and this has negatively effected the reputation and therefore the tourist numbers which is having a negative impact on the lives of many Nepalis.
Secondly because i'm trying to put all the cards on the table so 'erbalist' can make a decision thats based on other peoples experiences rather than just hear-say.

That's all I have to say about Nepal (for now!).

Pete

 

Hmm.. excuse me~casual was the wrong word. I'll leave it at suggesting the OP (erbalist?) does a good deal of research if he decides to go.

Yeah, I interpreted that you were suggesting, but not accusing.. either way it's not an unreasonable suggestion; I did feel I had to be clear that it wasn't the case, though.

I absolutely respect that (and at the same time encourage erring far to the side of caution, even if that means paying attention to rumours that may or may not be true.)