Delhi

DELHI Final destination, the capital of India, with strong Muslim influence from its Mughal past. As always, cities are at their most unwelcoming when arriving in the morning on a slow sweaty night train. We passed miles and miles of shanty town at the exact moment before breakfast when India goes for a poo. The smell and these rows of naked bums were well too much after a bad night sleep ... As with Bombay and Chennai, the huge shanty towns sprawl around the city and disappear when you arrive in the centre. We found Delhi a paradoxical city: rich/poor, congestions/calm, the classic stories of capitals. Groomed lawns and well tended houses around the smart districts were a usual sight, as was the overtly British architecture such as the commercial district of Connaught Place. The Muslim market and the maze of Old Delhi where huge crowds coexist in rundown buildings. Cycle rickshaws everywhere (but banned from the financial quarters), an old bull pulling a cart in front of a designer name shop. We stayed in the Paharganj district where most travellers stay, lovely mix of working class locals, high speed internet cafes and colour TV in the hotel room. Sitting along chai stalls, we saw the biggest number ever of westerners, some so obviously freshly arrived that our 6 months experience made us grin at their sight. We saw street kids sniffing glue, beautiful women with this Capital touch of daring to be different, the best rickshaw drivers, skyscrapers with revolving restaurants, business men speaking only in english, an impressive hippopotamus in the zoo. By that time, we were filled with apprehension and excitement at the idea of returning back to England, and as the temperature went higher and higher during this last week in Delhi (up to 42 degrees, end of April, when the Monsoon is building up), we lived it in a kind of haze. People slept on their rooftop at night to find a bit of fresh air, and rumours went around of a monkey-man attacking sleepers all over the city. Intense heat create intense paranoia, the newspapers said. We were off! We would love to come back, this time to stay in one place (buying a camel in Pushkar's fair, exploring the extreme north or staying in an ashram for a long while...)

Anche chi si reca per la prima volta in India non si deve preoccupare. Le infrastrutture ed i trasporti sono all'altezza. Occorrre solo avere un po di pazienza, e pensare che si � in India e non a Milano per poter apprezzare meglio ci� che il paese offre.Trasporti e hotel sono talvolta pi� efficienti che a casa nostra, la cosa che pu� mancare � il lusso ma forse non � il caso. Dal lato sicurezza non ci si deve proccupare, forse le donne che viaggiano sole possono avere qualche problema.

cosa portare
Il meno possibile, tutto si pu� comperare in loco a buon prezzo, solo abbigliamento ed attrezzature tecniche sono costosi ed introvabili. As little as possible!. Uno zaino con capacit� di 40 litri dovrebbe bastare, ci� rende pi� facile l'uso dei mezzi pubblici di trasporto.

On our way from Varanasi to the mighty Himalayas in Nepal, we stopped briefly into Bodhgaya, high worshiping place for buddhists. The majority of people were gorgeously young and muscular tibetan monks dressed in purple and orange, head shaven. Circulating around the main stuppa, we suddenly understood the reason of their extreme fitness: the main religious activity was to lower oneself rapidly onto a plank of wood, muttering a prayer, standing up quickly and repeating the gestures "ad infinitum". Really impressive use of the body to reach the stillness of the soul... It was a touching experience to sit under the famous tree and feeling the nearly martial dedication of the believers around us. Our main memory though is falling ill in perfect synchronisation, and staying mostly in bed under lots of covers, feverish and losing appetite. By amazing coincidence, as we managed to reach a restaurant to try to swallow some soup, we bumped into someone met 5 years ago in London.... KARMA OR WHAT? Mahabhodi temple Buddha's enlightment is said to have taken place under a bodhi tree in Bodhgaya, after a night of contemplation during which he resisted the wordly temptations set before him by the demon, Mara. Soon afterwards he gave his first sermon in Sarnath, now a major pilgrimage centre. For the rest of his life he taught, expounding Dharma, the true nature of the world, human life and spiritual attainment. A large stupa was built at the emplacement of the dodhi tree, where hundreds of monks recite prayers and meditate.

DELHI Final destination, the capital of India, with strong Muslim influence from its Mughal past. As always, cities are at their most unwelcoming when arriving in the morning on a slow sweaty night train. We passed miles and miles of shanty town at the exact moment before breakfast when India goes for a poo. The smell and these rows of naked bums were well too much after a bad night sleep... As with Bombay and Chennai, the huge shanty towns sprawl around the city and disappear when you arrive in the centre. We found Delhi a paradoxical city: rich/poor, congestions/calm, the classic stories of capitals. Groomed lawns and well tended houses around the smart districts were a usual sight, as was the overtly British architecture such as the commercial district of Connaught Place. The Muslim market and the maze of Old Delhi where huge crowds coexist in rundown buildings. Cycle rickshaws everywhere (but banned from t he financial quarters), an old bull pulling a cart in front of a designer name shop. We stayed in the Paharganj district where most travellers stay, lovely mix of working class locals, high speed internet cafes and colour TV in the hotel room. Sitting along chai stalls, we saw the biggest number ever of westerners, some so obviously freshly arrived that our 6 months experience made us grin at their sight. We saw street kids sniffing glue, beautiful women with this Capital touch of daring to be different, the best rickshaw drivers, skyscrapers with revolving restaurants, business men speaking only in english, an impressive hippopotamus in the zoo. By that time, we were filled with apprehension and excitement at the idea of returning back to England, and as the temperature went higher and higher during this last week in Delhi (up to 42 degrees, end of April, when the Monsoon is building up), we lived it in a kind of haze. People slept on their rooftop at night to find a bit of fresh air, and rumours went around of a monkey-man attacking sleepers all over the city. Intense heat create intense paranoia, the newspapers said. We were off! We would love to come back, this time to stay in one place (buying a camel in Pushkar's fair, exploring the extreme north or staying in an ashram for a long while...)

Planning, organisation & difficulties encountered It took me nearly five months to plan the trip to India, nearly as long as it took to save up to go there. I enjoyed reading all the books and websites I could find. In the end I planned everything myself: where we would go, how we would get there, where we would stay and what we would see. Then I turned the whole plan over to an Indian tour company, TCI, so that I didn't have to do the actual bookings and organisation myself. On the whole we were very pleased with the service they gave us. Some of the choices we made were different from those often made by travellers to India. A lot of people just set off with the idea of arranging everything when they arrive. This is almost certainly cheaper and means you have the fun of figuring out a foreign country's way of working the hard way. I was often glad that I had made those pre-bookings and had the tour reps to help me through daily life, since it left me free to concentrate on the amazing sights that I had heard so much about and also to learn how things work through relaxed observation rather than frantic experience. We only had five weeks in India and Nepal which is really a very short time, but we managed to see a huge number of things. Towards the end of our stay, I was feeling pretty comfortable in India, and another time I might do less planning. We also spent at least as much money on hotels as we would have done if travelling in Europe. Although this made our trip rather expensive it's another thing I don't regret. It's very easy to suffer from over-stimulation in India before you get used to it: the noise, the people, the dirt. The hotels we stayed in tended to be quiet and peaceful oases to which we could retreat and relax before heading out again. This is what made the trip into a holiday, rather than an upheaval. It all depends what you're looking for. Although I did a lot of planning, I was forewarned that things were not necessarily going to go according to plan (though mostly they did). Once our trip actually started I was completely laid back about everything. People's response to a lot of things depend on their individual attitudes, the following mishaps and inconveniences happened to us: We had a lot of trouble with our flight to Katmandu (this is the sort of trouble we were expecting. In retrospect, losing that day in Katmandu was the most disappointing mishap but I'm sure we'll be back there); Our credit card number got stolen and we are still sorting it out 6 months down the road (for some reason this doesn't seem to upset either of us much); We both got sick once, and spent quite a bit of the rest of the time feeling not exactly queasy, but not quite ourselves, maybe due to the malaria tablets (this didn't bother me much but Mike still talks about it); Mike disliked: mosquitoes, hawkers, travelling by car because of the potholes and lack of suspension, and dirt and litter everywhere; I disliked: leeches, walking around on the streets because of the traffic and lack of sidewalks, the frequent absence of wine at dinner, and the fact that the quality of the food was generally inversely proportional to the cleanliness of the table cloth; We both disliked: tipping since we had no idea how much we should give, and being taken shopping by guides and drivers to those dreadful tourist shops. on the other hand; We enjoyed: getting our laundry done regularly, being able to afford room service, almost everything we ate, talking to almost everyone we met and all the sights and cities we saw. We took the Palace on Wheels and you might wonder what we though of that and whether it was worth it. I certainly wondered before we went, so here are my conclusions.
It was virtually the only way to see everything we wanted in Rajasthan in the time available, and it was out of the question that we could have more time. From that point of view, it had to be worth it, I wouldn't have wanted to miss anything we saw for the world. It was undoubtedly the most comfortable travelling we did in India and we had done a lot by that time. As a hotel/restaurant it also compared favourably with others we had been in. It was very well planned and organised, the schedule was quite tightly packed which is what we wanted, the guides were of well above average quality. We enjoyed the train food, but got a bit tired of the buffets in the hotels. Certainly, we were touring in very large groups and that sort of thing has some inherent disadvantages that you can either live with or not. You have next to no freedom to do anything of your own accord. Actually, it also has some advantages, since it is much easier to avoid the hawkers by hiding in the middle of the herd. Some shopping is built in to every day, but on the one hand, you are likely to get that anyway, unless you manage to avoid any contact with Indians whatsoever on your trip, and on the other the shops had been selected for quality and value rather better than any others I was hauled along to without being asked. Also we never felt that we were being rushed round the sights as quickly as possible so we could get to the shops, as we did on a few other occasions. True, there were places where we, individually, might have spent longer, but we felt that on the whole the group was ready to go. Our travelling companions were much more interesting than we had imagined. Many of them had been in India working for several months and were offering themselves a leaving treat. There were a few Indians, clearly extremely rich. I think it very likely that due to economic changes in the world an experience of this sort will eventually pass completely out of our reach financially. After all, its very borderline already. As such, there was certainly an element of 'seize the day' and it's something I'll be glad to tell my grandchildren (if any) about!

Books & web sites

Travel books:
The Lonely Planet guide to India - the one everyone swears by, but I have often found the Lonely Planet very negative. Haven't you ever read an entry in there and wondered why on earth you would want to visit that place! Footprint India Handbook by Robert and Roma Bradnock - a highly recommended alternative and the book we actually took with us. A variety of other French published travel books that compared very favourably with both the above. Berlitz guide to India - recommended if you are trying to get an introduction to India with a view to planning a trip, if you will be just passing through, or if you have a business trip with some free time thrown in.
Non-fiction:
Karma Cola by Gita Mehta - an Indian's perspective on some of the strange things westerners get up to in her country. Snakes and Ladders also by Gita Mehta - an Indian's perspective on some of the strange things Indians get up to in her country. The Age of Kali by William Dalrymple - a British journalist's close up look at people in the Indian news. Cows, pigs, wars and witches by Marvin Harris - although only the first chapter is about India, this is a really good book anyway. A cultural history of India by A.L. Basham - bought in India, pretty interesting. Monde Indien by Larousse - simple rundown on Indian geography with nice pictures (in French). In the Skin of an Untouchable by Marc Boulet - about a French guy who disguises himself as an Indian beggar for a few months to see what it's like. Despite his claim to having succeeded in becoming Indian it strikes me that he failed to have a single thought that was not French to the core. Yoga Techniques by Mercia Eliade - detailed discussion of the history and development of a very specific part of Indian religious life. Warning! this is a 'serious' book devoid of rosy pink prose and exercise sequences. Culture Shock India by Gitanjali Kolanad - not very deep but definitely better than no preparation at all.
Novels:
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy - very sad but very good book. Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai - funny, sensual and much lighter than the above. Picture books:
Indian Interiors, published by Taschen. India Unveiled by Robert Arnett - a very attractive pleasant book, with quite a religious or spiritual orientation. Web sites:
travel-library.com is my favourite travel site. I read everything on there concerning India! I used a variety of travel and hotel guide sites to check out plane times and hotel details, but I suggest you search around as these have evolved a bit since the time of my trip. tcindia.com is the site for the travel company we used.

Agra Jim: To get to Agra, I had to back track to Delhi, spend the night, and then catch the morning train: all because the airport was closed. I arrived about 10:00 a.m. and was escorted to the Trident Hotel. Phil: I didn't stay in Agra, but took a taxi to and from Agra for a day trip to the Taj Mahal. Taxi was a big mistake - take the train, it has to be more pleasant! Delhi Jim: In DELHI: we stayed at B-57 Inn (phone 4632914 or 4694239; approx 1200R). In a residential area, it is quieter than Connaught Circle. Rooms are pretty. Showers have "geysers," meaning individual water heaters--an essential in the North. Also, the shower was in a separate stall, not the typical showerhead-in-middle-of-bathroom that you find in India. Great Chinese restaurant on Ring road, a 4 block walk away called Jade Princess�Very fresh food. We had the vegetarian stir-fry. Restaraunt is run by Tibetans and cooking was really superb. Hotel Cosmo was in the 700R range (phone 5756299 or 5783599). Clean rooms; a/c; geysered shower, but a little loud. Then again, you learn to sleep with earplugs in India. My husband also stayed at Yatri House and said it was clean and quiet. Yatri House (and Master Paying Guest House) are very popular places to stay, so if you plan to stay there, make reservations far in advance. Yatri sometimes gets reservations a year in advance for the time around Christmas. So my advice is: once you get your tickets to fly into Delhi, call Yatri and make a reservation. Do not wait until 2 weeks before you leave. My husband waited, and he ended up getting into Yatri for 2 nights and having to move to another hotel for the final night. All 3 hotels, Cosmo, Yatri, and B-57 have Western style toilets. [Note: if you are sensitive to soap, bring soap from home. Two of the three main Indian brands of soap we saw in hotels gave me a rash. The third, an Ayurvedic soap, was fine.] Yatri House is great and good value (and QUIET, relatively -- not like the stuff in Connaught ). Anyway, call the place, make reservation WELL ahead if it's Yatri as the Lonely Planet reference makes them very popular (nuther good reason to have the other book handy), and have them send a cab to meet you there. If your plane gets in five hours late, chances are STILL that the cab will be waiting. In terms of luxury hotels, we had reservations at, but didn't stayin, the Ambassador. Rate was about $80 US. Hotel looked quite nice. (We didn't stay because we left Delhi early.) Some luxury hotels want you to make a deposit in India to keep the room. Also, when we left Delhi, Radisson was building a hotel near the airport. Call Radisson 1-800 number for details. Restaraunt-wise, in addition to Jade Princess on Ring Road, I'd recommend Host (in Connaught Circle--all the rickshaw drivers know where Host is). It had very good Muglai food. Also, Karim's in Nizamuddin West had great Muglai Food. Husband also raves about a pastry shop in Connaught, but I don't remember the name. Nirula's had good pizza, he says. This was a nice touch when he was first getting used to India. Most people want to get the hell out of Delhi and enjoy other cities in India. Delhi is quite pollutted and big. If U have only 3 weeks in India, I would not spend more than 1-2 days in Delhi, and I would use that time to equilibrate to the time difference. But that's just my personal opinion. Others like Delhi. We had a very good travel agent in Delhi. You can take an autorickshaw to his office or just call him. They were helpful in making all sorts of arrangements and also with aiport and train station pickups. Hanif Kawa of Highland Tours & Travel; 2,Bhagat Singh Market, New Delhi. Phone (11)334-3430 or 336-0217. If Hanif is not in, ask for KamalGupta, his boss, who is also very good. We had a very helpful, knowledgable travel agent in Delhi, who charges very reasonable prices: Hanif Kawa of Highland Tours & Travel; 2,Bhagat Singh Market, New Delhi. Phone (11)334-3430 or 336-0217. Highland is able to arrange trips to Rajisthan, tours of the "Golden Triangle": Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur, tours of Delhi area, etc. Hanif has lived in Delhi for several years now, but his family is from Kashmir, so he can do all sort of Kashmir tours (light hikes to full treks), he told us. Highland was able to arrange for reasonable hotel rates for us on short notice--it seemed that they got a discount--and they picked us up at the airport and train station. This was a great service, as in Delhi, most of the taxi drivers are waiting to rip you off big time. We primarily used Hanif and his office to set up drivers for us in Delhi, as well as some hotels and airport pickups. We hired drivers for 1/2 day in Delhi, but they can do full days and driving tours of Rajisthan, etc. Best of all, Hanif is a very nice person--very friendly and easy to deal with. Hanif took great care of us and worked with us in planning the kind of trip we wanted. This is the reason we are recommending him. He helped us a lot on our trip to India in October-December 1996. If Hanif is not available, ask for Kamal Gupta, his boss. Kamal was also very helpful. He grew up in Delhi, and spent time studying in the U.S. Because he is a Delhi-man, he is very good at arranging things in Delhi. (S Hanif is no longer with them, alas -- but Kamal's a good guy. He won't rip you off unless you really WANT to hire an expensive car tour of Rajasthan. ) I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to have your travel agent or hotel send a driver to pick you up at the airport when you arrive in the country. The touts really will rip you off. There are stories of people being driven to Agra "because there are no hotel rooms in Delhi" and we met people who had paid $100 cab fares. When we made our hotel reservations for the first night in Delhi, we asked the hotel to send a driver. It cost about $20-30 U.S. After that, we had our travel agent pick us up. Also I used three of my Ben's for charity -- to a Swami I met who was a the friend of a family and I knew was real (prostheses for kids type stuff), and to a homeopath named Dr. Qasim who's a really good guy and who also helps poor kids. Qasim's worth seeing for some homeopathy to ease trip. Say hi if you go (Delhi). Dr, Mohammed Qasim 1 Basti Hazrat Nizamuddin (near Police station -- have driver take you there, it's a long way from Connaught Place) New Delhi 110013 work: 011-91-11-463-6161 home: .................. 684-9199 Phil: Delhi was my first in India, so I went for luxury for the first two days. I stayed at the Connaught Hotel, which is rated as a high-end, four star hotel. It had the whole 'mint on the pillow' number, but it still seemed a little worn around the edges. I quickly realized if this is the high end in India, I'm about to have some interesting adventures! It had an excellent breakfast buffet. It is also nicely located in the outer Connaught Circle area, and you can walk in various directions to some interesting shopping venues, some in back alleys (but well lit and safe). Lots of excellent restaurants nearby also. Security guards keep away the beggars. Another hotel that I would definitely recommend is the Hotel Janpath (332-0070). It is a state run hotel that is 3-4 stars but considerably cheaper than the 4 stars hotels nearby. Rooms are large, nice restaurants, classy place, relatively speaking. It was during my stay at the Janpath (note: this is not the Janpath Guest House), that I became very ill, and was down for several days, staring at the ceiling of my hotel stricken in my bed. The hotel sent for a doctor, which was so cool - house calls!!! I really liked Delhi, despite the absolutely, horrific, nightmarish pollution problem during November, I couldn't see past 40 yards or so Delhi is one of the top 5 cities in the world for pollution - in my book, it is probably the worst. If you're into temples and architecture, do check out the Laksmi Narayan Mandir, The Humayan Tomb, The Bahai Lotus Temple, and the Chartarpur temple complex in South Delhi. A little time spent in the intensity Old Delhi will give you greater appreciation of the spaciousness of the Connaught Circle area. For my early trip, I used Sun and Snow Travel, a family business, probably run by the two brother now, Anil and Mohit Bhatia. (91-11-576-3657). Not the cheapest but they gave me great service, meeting me once in the dead of night to find me a hotel room. They invited me to their home for a party with several other Americans, and it was a learning experience to witness extended family life in India. Varanasi Phil: I came to Varanasi expecting to stay for a few days, and ended up staying over a week. Varanasi, considered the holiest city in India, has a powerful mesmerizing effect on one, particularly the area around the Ganges. A very powerful place. Based on a friend's advice, I stayed near the Asi Ghat, the southernmost ghat in the city. I booked far in advance Hotel Ganges View, as it has become quite the popular place for westerners. And when you stay there, you'll understand why. The rooms are very 'cute' and nicely decorated (though small), and there's a nightly meal that the hotel serves which is a good forum to mingle with the other guests. The owner is a very interesting fellow (and his little white dog). The hotel has a nice veranda to watch the the Ganges and the people meandering to the Asi Ghat next door. Nice little lunch place next door. Varanasi has some very aggressive monkeys, so beware. Telephone number: 0091-0542-313218. If you want to stay near the Asi Ghat, I recommend the Sahi Guest House next door the the Ganges View, very cheap. I stayed there for a couple of days when I lost my room at the Ganges View, and it was very inexpensive. Another recommended place is Hotel Temple On The Ganges, a block away from the Asi Ghat. This hotel is a 6 story structure, and is a major hangout for Europeans heavily into yoga. Try to get a room facing the Ganges, more expensive, but Varanasi is cheap compared to other Indian cities. Telephone: 0091-542-312340 The rooftop restaurant at the Hotel Temple on The Ganges is an excellent place to hangout for an extended lunch during the blistering midday sun of Varanasi, with great views of the Holy Ganges. It's definitely worth it to take several morning tours to watch the locals bathe in the Ganges, once you get over the, "I'm such a voyeur to be watching people bathe!" phase. In fact, using the boat taxis is an excellent way to get around Varanasi, and cuts out having to negotiate the chaos of the city streets. Spend some time in Goudalia, the 'old city', considered by some to be the oldest city in the world. It is hot, narrow, and smells something awful, but it is a very fascinating place, to see a cityscape that existed long before any modern form of technology (including sewage treatment!). Another worthwhile destination is the Manikarnika (or 'Burning') Ghat, where many people are cremated on the shores of the Ganges, considered extremely auspicious by Hindus. Look, but have respect. If you have the time, I recommend a taxi drive to Sarnath, the birthplace of Buddhism. You will get a sense of the multi-cultural nature of Buddhism in contrast to the marriage of Hinduism and Indian culture.