India - tell me where you've been
 

Planning on flying into India out of Brazil in February.

Can pretty much fly into any major city, mostlikely mumbai or new dehli.

going to either sri lanka or skipping it and straight to thailand after so out of the country from a different city.

I Went to New Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, and Udaipur last year November.

Whaddya wanna know?

if you want info on sri lanka... pm me.

what sites did you see?
where did you stay? (price?)
how did you get around?

any info would be appreciated

almost everyone i know to a tee says India is the worst place they've been by far.. all well traveled people and businessmen who go 1-2 times a year.

Would be interested to see what people have to say about it, not on my bucket list but if i was over that way i'd probably check it out

Fly into Mumbai and check out the city to get a perspective of the country. Honestly most of India isn't all that great. I've never been outside of Punjab but it was enough to let me know how depressing it is there.

From Mumbai get into the state of Goa and check out the coastal cities. It's nothing but pristine beaches and laid back living. Next time I go I'm definitely going to be visiting Goa.

I mostly stayed in private rooms in cheapish mid-range hotels because I heard that going cheap in India gets you shitty digs (as say, opposed to SE Asia where it's fine) ~$30-50CAD a night. In the end I met fewer travellers than I would have staying in cheaper places however. There are many cheap hotels under $15 if you want to risk it.

Took trains- and Did 3rd class and 2nd class mostly. 3rd class is interesting because it's basically open seating so a 6 seater becomes a 10 seater easily. You get to meet a lot of friendly locals and they share food with you and stuff and try to talk to you in varying fluency of English. 2nd class is your own sleeper bed 2x2 in an open car basically.

I saw a shit ton of forts, temples, mosques, and of course the Taj Mahal. I did the Golden Triangle and Rajasthan. Basically the former consists of:

Delhi - Quite possibly the worst city I've been to (And I've been all over Asia and Cairo). Everyone there will rip you off BUT there are a bunch of interesting sights like Humayun's Tomb and Qtub Minar.

Agra - Another shithole of a city, however everyone must go here for the Taj Mahal which is hands down the most beautiful single building I've seen. A couple of other sites around town like the Agra Fort keep you busy.

Jaipur - Most of the sights that are interesting are in the outskirts of the city. Don't miss the Amber fort, and there's also the Hawa Mahal. People seemed a bit more genuine here and less scam prone.

Rajasthan is a State that includes Jaipur but I saw these cities as well:

Jaisalmer - Amazing place, it's a 12 hour train ride out into the desert but worth it. It's basically a city that's grown into a fortress. You can stay inside the fort and feel like you're in Indiana Jones. Has a real chilled out backpacker atmosphere that I didn't find much elsewhere. You can also go on a camel safari (ride camels around the desert and sleep outside under the stars).

Jodhpur - A photogenic city that paints all it's buildings blue. The Fort there is one of the nicer ones I saw on my trip. If you watched The Dark Knight Rises, its the city at the end when Bruce climbs out of the giant pit.

Udaipur - Beautiful (but its still dirty, it's India) lakeside city where all the buildings are white. Some very nice (and expensive hotels) but worth it. Watch James Bond's Octopussy as it was filmed there.

On the way from Jodhpur to Udaipur I hired a car with some other travelers and we visited Kumbhalgarh Fort and Ranakpur Temple.

All in all, a fascinating trip but exhausting. India isn't for the people who need creature comforts 24/7 or are afraid of being scammed. They will scam you, but in the greater scheme of things it's peanuts if you make a 1st world wage. It's almost like a game with them, just play along and keep a sense of humour. Don't try to speak to too many Indian people who immigrated to Canada, they all seem to bad mouth their home country and try to put you off from visiting. They will give you some good advice though if you're adamant.

definitely not worried about staying in "lower end" places as long as it's clean and doesn't have bed bugs.....i can't even count the number of different hostels i've stayed in the last year and a half

as for getting scammed....i make a point of always checking what pricing should be before doing anything, taxis etc. if they try to rip me off $.25 i'm not concerned....once it get's to be a couple bucks i make an issue of it or just walk away, there's always someone else looking to get your money, never forget that

thanks alot for the list, great start.

how long were you there for?

approx costs on transport? food?

Food is very cheap and fckin awesome. Booze is super cheap too.

Everyone seems to say the same thing re: Taj Mahal, must be very impressive

Keepin an eye on this thread, a buddy and I are heading out on an Intrepid 15 day tour starting in Delhi and ending in Goa, departing March 4, 2016 called Real Food Adventure. I am heading to Bandhavgarh after the tour for some wildlife photography - India is one of the best (and only) places to view wild tigers in their natural habitat, pretty cool stuff.

Mark

I'll add my 2 cent on WHY it's not a great place to go.

Bottom line, brown people do not up keep their things. You go to any country, UNESCO World Heritage Centre has specific standards, Taj Mahal is probably the "best" of India.

When you go to India, there's no "AMAZING" for places to stay. I was in a 4.5 / 5 star and it had power outage 3 times. Roads are dirty as shit. One of the few places in the world you'll see 12 zodiacs with you when you're on the bus.

Garbage is everywhere, along with traffic, filth etc. There's China with poor social class, but you got brown people who just aren't clean and good at up keeping their stuff.

Depends on where you're going I suppose. Rajasthan doesn't have too many "local" places to eat, it seemed like I had to eat in tourist restaurants to get a proper meal. So generally about $5-10 for a sit down meal with naan or rice that's very filling. There's some street food but it's of the deep fried variety - not something to eat frequently if you value your health.

For trains, you definitely need to book ahead for the more popular routes. I used IRCTC Indian Railways Train Reservation | IRCTC Train Tickets Online Booking at Cleartrip.com which has a tiny markup but doesn't require an Indian phone number to buy. Train tickets are cheap esp 3rd class something like $5 for a 3 hour ride.

I was only there for 15 days, India definitely needs more to do justice, but then I didn't try to see the whole country. Would love to go back someday to see the South of India - Mumbai, Goa, Kerela, and Tamil Nadu + Sri Lanka.

I will throw in some opposite perspective on India.

Like any trip, your experience will be judged against your expectations going in. India is probably the best example of that. With any trip to a third world country, especially India, never ever expect anything to go as smooth as we are used to in North America. You will ALWAYS be left disappointed. The same thing can be said for China, Vietnam, Africa, Philippines, and more.

The trick is to go in expecting it's going to be a shit show. Electricity goes out all the time, traffic will always be slower than you are used to and make you late, when you order food they might get your order correct only 50% of the time, people will constantly try and sell you things, and nobody understands the concept of personal space. So you can be frustrated all the time... or instead, just go with the flow! Whatever happens, happens.... just embrace the experience for what it is.

And if you do that, you're more likely to have a great time. I know I did, but it took me a few days to make this adjustment.

I think everyone should visit India at least once, just to see how a billion people are living on the other side of the planet. It gives you a perspective that many North Americans could very much benefit from.

Was the hotel really 5 star? When we arrived in Delhi the Hotel car that picked us up said 5 star on the side. The sign at the hotel said 4 stars. The guy on the phone at the front desk said 3 stars.

There are very nice places to stay but they are not going to be cheap.

Around $300 bucks a night at the Oberoi in Delhi ranked 9th in the world.

Luxury Business Hotels in Delhi | The Oberoi, New Delhi

Not to mention some of the most ridiculously opulent palace hotels are in India as well.
Take for example this one in Udaipur:

Taj Lake Palace - Taj Hotels, Resorts & Palaces

Starts at around $600 a night upwards to $13,000 a night. You also have to take a guests-only boat into the middle of the lake to get to the island. Definitely keeps the riff-raff out.

or this one in Jodhpur which was a former maharajah's palace and looks like a Parliament building:

Umaid Bhawan Palace - Taj Hotels, Resorts & Palaces

6793026 was probably just pissed his travel agent marketed to him a "luxury package" and it turned out to be a 3 star hotel he was booked in. Plus any experienced traveler can tell you stars are virtually meaningless especially in Asia and refer to the amenities offered rather than any objective standard. Even more so, to attribute power outages to the hotel rather than the city's power grid is something to be laughed at. I suspect he may be one of those Tripadvisor reviewers that leave a one star review for a resort when it "rained too much".

Not that any of this matters to intrepid travelers or the OP, who's looking to stay in guesthouses/hostels and keep to a backpackers budget.

you can find very decent (breakfast incl.) for around 60$ look at (Online Hotel Booking for Cheap, Budget & Luxury Hotels in India | MakeMyTrip.com)
Plz dont stay at cheap and eat a cheap places.

u can rent car for 20$ all day/ plus gas. (mind you half of the time u'll be sitting in traffic)
metro works well too and so does auto taxis.


i suggest stay travel outside cities (of course once u see the major attractions), southern part of India is amazing/ goa/Andaman islands. kerela etc.

and dont go in winter. (cause of pollution during winter time)

get a sim, maybe ull need someone from india to sponsor u for a sim (security shit). but so cheap and unlimited internet for $10

I agree at not staying at cheap places but cheap food is another story. Some of the best food you are going to eat is what the locals eat. Those road side food stalls are awesome. Winter might have more pollution but it also has cooler temperatures and that when most people who like to go.

guys, i'm no stranger to shit buses, food and hostels.

there's no way i'm spending $60 or more on hotel.....some of you do, but seems like one or two of your have no idea what "backpack/poor ass" travelling means

sit on a bus for 23 hours from laos to vietman then let's talk

i appreciate the info those who have experienced this sort of travel have offered, that's exactly what i'm looking for....local food, local transport (to a degree), bare bones (but clean) accommodation

currently planning on a month, may cut that shorter if necessary, also might head to sri lanka depending on flight costs etc.

Non of the places I stated in where supper high end. Just wanted to point out not everything is crappy in India.

Good idea to have a role of TP with you at all times.

Seriously... a place isn't worth visiting because it has no amazing places to stay? Tanzania is the most incredible place in the world I have been and the accommodations were horrendous. Not to even get started on "brown people" this and that... I'd fail you twice if I could, such an ignorant post.

Mark

Heh, I would hazard to say that RS is probably not the place to seek advice for budget level backpacking trips. Most people here are content taking their annual level back to the "home country" (i.e. HK, China, Korea, Japan, other parts of Canada) where they stay with relatives or if they venture off, stay in 4-5 star hotels. Even if they do go out of the norm, it's mostly to places like Vegas or all-inclusive resorts in Mexico.

Another thing that's been bugging me, my FB feed is full of these FOBs taking photos of themselves at the Airport Gate, but none of the actual place they're visiting. Oh and taking photos from the plane when you're at 35,000 feet. Real creative. I've never seen clouds before like that. :rukidding:

I think you're better off asking for advice at the following:

Thorntree Forum

Bootsnall Forum

Tripadvisor Forum

...or if I've been to a place you're asking about, I'll keep an eye on it here in this forum.

Like saying people in China don't line up, spits in a 5 star carpet hotel, kids poop in plastic bags when I'm lining up in a theme park; not saying i'm racist, just observation. China is mofo huge, comment is just a comment, can't generalize all 1+ billion people.

:nyan:

The government needs to confiscate your passport.

thanks...baby wipes ftw