Stego's FAQ on India travel (Transportation 2/3)

Subject: Flying to and from Goa: make reservations on advance?

Date: 22 May 95

From: MUKESH THAKKAR <[email protected]>

......

As for reservations it is always prudent to make them in advance. but you have made valid points against it so I agree with you. Plus I get the impression that you are not averse to roughing it out if the need arises. So going without reservations is a better idea. My personal experience is that we had problems getting air tickets to Goa. But now with the advent of private airlines this is no problem. So I don't think reservations from here are important. In India anything is possible with a judicious tip. Well I will talk to you soon.

Subject: Bad experiences with Air India.

Date: 8 Jul 95

Air India service has increased tremendously in terms of quality. NO problems have been encountered in the recent past.

Sanjeev

Subject: Air India services.

Date: 8 Jul 95

From: [email protected] (Ishan Bhattacharya)

... ...

I have flown AI many times, as well as Delta, KLM, Lufthansa, BA, etc to India. The problem with AI is that their inflight service is of variable quality. However, their planes are new (747-400), and generally well-maintained. If you can get a better price on AI than on the other carriers, I don't think it'll be a problem.

Ishan

From: [email protected] (Sanjoy Majumder)

Date: 24 Oct 95

>I'm travelling to Delhi next week to start a 6 month tour of India

>(my first attempt at independent travel). I would appreciate it if

>anyone has got any tips on what to do on arrival at 1am. For example,

>is it possible to look for a cheap hotel at this time or is it better

>to crash in the airport until the morning.

It is not a good idea to go hotel hunting at 3am in the morning. (Customs and immigration formalities can take anything from 35mins to 2 hours depending on how many flights land along with yours). One option is to pre-book a room at the YMCA in central Delhi. If you tell then when you expect to be in, the doorman will let you in. Otherwise spend the night at the airport. Delhi airport used to have "retiring rooms" to spend the night in. These are cheap and fairly comfortable rooms with a fan (some might be air-conditioned).

You can leave the airport by 6am. Either take a taxi at the pre-paid taxi counter, or else use one of several bus options. Local Delhi buses for as little as 2 rupees (oh I don't know, about 10 cents U.S.), or airport city coaches for 10-30 rupees (approx US$1).

I am not sure it is a good idea to land up in Delhi without a hotel reservation, especially if you don't know the city too well. You might end up being "led" to a hotel by your taxi driver (who usually gets a cut in this case), which is not always a good thing. And I don't know if you want to traipse around Delhi looking for a hotel room when you've just made a long flight. Still, get hold of a Lonely Planet's India: A Travel Survival Kit if you can. Two areas to look around for cheap hotel rooms in are Connaught Place and Paharganj near New Delhi Railway Station.

Sanjoy

From: [email protected] (Sanjoy Majumder)

Date: 29 Oct 95

> >Related questions:

> >1)Are Youth Fares of 25% off (ages 12-30) still available?

>2)How hard is it to get internal flights? how many days in-advance must I

>buy a ticket?

>3) Have fares gone up (relative to those quoted in LP Guide)?

1) Yes. The discount is on the dollar fare which is higher than the Rupee fare.

2) It depends on what routes you are flying. Trunk routes (Bombay - Delhi) have upto 15 daily flights so you can actually buy a ticket at the airport before you board. But certain peak tourist routes such as those to Goa and Aurangabad and Ladakh are much much harder and you should book these as soon as you can.

3) Indian Airlines hiked their fares by 20% this month. (And since the latest LP I know of is 1993, I'd say the fares are significantly higher.

Check with the Air India offices in Canada. They should have the domestic fare information. Atleast that is where I got my information, from their office in Chicago. Infact, if you can actually go to their office, they have a handy guide called "The Travel Hour" which has updated info on all scheduled domestic flights, fares, discounts and even major train services.

Air India offices in Canada:

Toronto 416-865-1030

Montreal 514-288-4660

Vancouver 604-873-9923

Sanjoy

Date: 25 Oct 95

>Me and my wife are planning a trip to India for four weeks, from mid-january

>to mid-february.

*parts deleted*

>My main concern is travelling during what is probably the height of the

>tourist season (Unfortunately this is the only time we can go). We really

>don't want to have to plan our entire itinary ahead of time, since this

>would take half the fun out of travelling. I would like to get a sense

>from people who have been there before, on how booked up everything will

>be. Can we reasonably expect to show up at a town by train, and find

>accomodation? Do we have to reserve train travel weeks in advance, or can

>we just show up at the station? Does having a rail pass really make it easier

>to get reservations?

Well it *is* a popular time to be travelling. However, if you can get yourself

an Indrail pass ahead of time (or even at the counter at Delhi airport) you will be assured of reservations. Even if you avoid doing this, you have priority under a tourist quota where you can get train tickets a day before you wish to travel by paying in foreign exchange. My suggestion is to plan most of your trip once you get to Delhi (atleast teh major train travel bit).

The computerised railway reservation system is fairly efficient, if a bit bewildering at first, and it will be easier for you to handle things here than in a small town in Rajasthan.

Accomodation is usually tougher but you can usually find something in Rajasthan. Also mid Jan-Feb is not quite as bad as October (the height of the festival season) or Dec-Jan (winter holidays). So you should be ok.

You need to get hold of a good guide book, like the Lonely Planet's guide to India. There are also guide books which deal specifically with Delhi-Agra-Rajasthan.

>Finally, if anyone has any suggestions on places to visit, or could pass on

>any memorable experiences, that would be really appreciated.

Try the WWW site on India. If you can do net search, search under India and go to India Related Links, maintained by Srinivas. There is a special section on Travel to India as well as a lot of other interesting links. And read this newsgroup :-)

Best, Sanjoy

Date: 17 Jan 96

>I'm considering going to the Taj Mahal as part of a round-the-world trip in

>early March. I'm looking for any tips or suggestions as far as the following:

> >1) Getting there (I'd be flying into Delhi). Can I fly to Agra, if so

>which carriers are more reliable. Once in Agra, how can I get to the Taj

>Mahal?

You can fly Delhi-Agra, but I don't think it's worth: probably it's more expensive and it'll took the same time or even more than the train named "Shatab... Express" (sorry, I'm not sure of the correct spelling). That "luxury" train leaves Delhi very early in the morning (something like 6am) and at the return it passes Agra at late afternoon/early evening. It takes 2 hours and meals are included. Don't be impressed by the "luxury"! The seats are really small, the general look is quite decadent, but at least it has air conditioned and it's quick. Try to book your tickets in advance. You can do it in an agency. In Delhi we did like we were told, to be at the station 1 or 1 adn half hour before, and we had no problems, although a tout tried to convince us that the train was sold out and we'd better go to his agency to get a ticket. On the return we paied 10% comission (Rs 50) to the agency in our hotel, just to save us some trouble.

I only used the services of two internal flights companies: Sahara and Jet Airways, and I have no complaints.

To get to Taj Mahal, you can take a taxi or a 3 wheels rikshaw (motorised or not). As anywhere in India, but specially in Agra, allways bargain the prices. I don't remember the exact prices I've paied, but some tens of rupees will be enough to 1 to 3 hours of auto-rikshaw (stops and waitings included).

Be prepared to be hassled to take extra rides. They'll allways try to wait for you and convince you to go to other places after your original destination. Allways insist in fixing a price, a common method to get more money from you is to say "after the job you'll pay me what you think it's fair, more if you are satisfied, less if you're not". The fact is that in the end they'll allways find your payment very low, even if you give them 50% more than the amount you tried to negociate in the beginning.

>2) Lodging in Delhi and possibly Agra.

I can't help you much on that one, we had all the hotels booked in Goa by a friend who heads a big travel agency there. In Delhi we staied at the Park Hotel, in Agra at the Clarks Shiraz, both are normal 4 or 5 stars hotels, very good but probably expensive for indian standards. I think the normal fare for a double is about USD $70-$90 in Clarks Shiraz and some $20 to $40 more in Park. I don't remember very well, but I think we paied about $300 for 2 nights in Delhi and 2 in Agra.

Clarks Shiraz is in the "colonial" area of Agra, a zone with much parks and not many buildings, 45 m walking or 10 m and about Rs 20-30 auto-rikshawing from the Taj, the Agra Fort and the center. You can see the rooftops of Taj from the top floors and from the main restaurant.

Park is in Conaugh area of New Delhi.

>3) How long to spend there. Since I'll be going to many destinations, I'm

>not planning to spend much time in India, possibly as little as a day or two

>to see the Taj Mahal. Preliminary planning is to arrive Delhi, stay in

>Delhi the first night, then either flying or taking a bus or train if I can

>to Agra, seeing the Taj Mahal in the afternoon, then either returning to

>Delhi or staying in Agra until the next day.

>4) Any recommendations on what else I should see in Delhi or Agra.

If you really feel you want to spend the minimum time in Agra, you can take that "luxury" train at Delhi in the morning, see the Taj, the Fort and eventually other places in Agra (like the "Baby Taj", any of the markets or a temple of a religion whih name I don't remember now) and then go back to Delhi in the evening. That way you'll miss one of the most interesting places I know in India: Fatephur Sikri (sp?), the capital of the 16th century moghul emperor Akbar. It's 40 Km away from Agra, so I don't think you'll have the time to go there if you are back in Delhi the same day. It's really worth, it was built from scratch to be the capital of the enlightened Akbar, the greatest of indian emperors, at least after Ashoka. In its time it was some times bigger than London. It was abandoned some years after it was completed, so it's like the time froze there. Consider sleeping at least one night in Agra, that'll give you more time to enjoy it. We had hotel booked in Jaipur and we decided to stay in Agra the whole time and we aren't repented. We would like a lot to see Jaipur, for what I heard and read, it's really worth, but we prefered to see Agra more relaxedly to be rushing from a place to another.

We had very little time in Delhi, so we only saw a little of Old Delhi, the Red Fort, the big mosque (Jami Masjid [?]) from outside and wandered a little bit in the Conaugh area of New Delhi. It's interesting, but it's a much big and modern town (the major part of it, Old Delhi it's not new), with too much crowded, polluted and noisy. The Red Fort and the big mosque are great, as all the moghul monuments seem to be, although the fort isn't as beautiful as the Agra one. Try to see it before you go to Agra, I think you'll enjoy it better that way.

>5) Where to exchange money. Are there ATMs linked to Visa, Master Card,

>Cirrus, or AMEX?

Although I've heard that there are some (very rare) ATM machines in India, I didn't see any. I'd say it's safer to carry some traveller's checks or US cash with you, they're an easier way to get cash because they're widelly accepted. You can also pay things with Visa in lots of places, but when I wanted to get cash with it in Agra I had a little trouble finding a bank to do it. It turned out to be very simple after I found the "Baroda bank", I had my rupees in less than 10 m. I don't know about other credit cards, but I heard Amex has excelent services in India, at least for travelers checks. I don't know if their cards are well accepted outside their own offices.

I hope you have fun in India, we loved it.

I'll be glad trying to help you in what I can, so if you have other questions, don't hesitate.

I've collected many info on Internet during the preparation of my trip, so if you want I can send you lots of readings. Some of them are compiled in Ms WinWord v.2, if you're interested, let me know in advance if you prefer it in that format or in plain text. I have plans to make them available in my web pages the next few days, so you are wellcome to visit my "cyber cave". You'll also find there a lot of india related links.

Regards :-)

From: [email protected] (J. Mario Pires)

Date: 29 Jan 96

>I will be visiting India (not sure what part yet) to help

>install a rolling mill next month. What is it like driving in India?,

>is it on the left hand side of the road? I've driven in Australia before

>without much of a problem. What kind of cars are available to rent? Good

>roads? Crazy drivers?

I wouldn't recomend anyone to drive in India, and I don't know anyone who would. It's a real chaos for our western eyes. Bikes, rikshaws, (both motorised and non motorised), people, animals of all kinds (cows, pigs, dogs, donkeys), everything moves on the roads and streets aparently in a random fashion. I think that, as we rely on rules to let traffic run, they rely on a kind of "group intuition". The fact is that I didn't see any acident, but I had the feeling that I wouldn't be able to drive for more than 100 mts without hiting anything, even paying 10 times the attention I usually pay in situations of heavy traffic. That in spite of coming from a country with the worst of reputations in terms of driving (some posts in rec.travel.europe and soc.culture.portuguese quote our traffic and drivers as the craziest thing you may imagine). Clearly, those persons who say those things about us haven't ever been to India!

I have heard also that foreigners are not allowed to drive in India, but I don't trust that.

The common advice (not only mine) to anyone planning to use car in India is to rent the car with driver. The price is almost the same, that not to mention that everyone says it's very difficult to find places where they rent you the car without the respective driver.

Regards, have fun in India, it's a fascinating country. :-)

From: [email protected] (Shyamal Prasad)

Date: 31 Jan 96

>> Hi' I will be visiting India (not sure what part yet) to help

>> install a rolling mill next month. What is it like driving in

>> India?, is it on the left hand side of the road? I've driven in

>> Australia before without much of a problem. What kind of cars

>> are available to rent? Good roads? Crazy drivers?

J.Mario> I wouldn't recomend anyone to drive in India, and I don't

J.Mario> know anyone who would. It's a real chaos for our western

J.Mario> eyes.

Yeah, there is no doubt about that. Also keep in mind the fatality

rate, it is higher than that in countries like the UK (which has marginally fewer vehicles than India) and comparable to the US (which has zillions more).

J.Mario> I have heard also that foreigners are not allowed to

J.Mario> drive in India, but I don't trust that.

They are allowed to drive. You need an International driving permit and liability insurance. I've personally known visitors who rented a car and drove (though I'm not sure they would do it again :-).

J.Mario> The common advice (not only mine) to anyone planning to

J.Mario> use car in India is to rent the car with driver.

That is the surely the easiest thing to do, and for most people the best.

However driving has its own advantages if you can handle it. I'm not talking about driving *inside* cities (take a cab or what ever), I'm talking about driving *between* cities. This allows you to move whenever you want, and if you like driving you will not regret it.

Driving is on the left (mostly). Bigger vehicles always expect right of way :-) Use your horn to signal your intention to turn, stop, go, speed up, slow down or any other move you make. In some cities traffic lights are decorative, in some you need to follow them - watch the locals. In Jaipur my friend just drives through red lights, she says "Before 10 in the morning you don't really need to stop"! Whatever else you do, don't hit pedestrians, animals or other vehicles smaller than you.

Driving in India is completely unlike driving in the western world. It's *not* about speed or following the law, it's about complete control over your car, down the last few inches. Don't knock it until you try it! It needs more skill then speeding down an autobahn in some ways, less skill in others. For one thing, speed *differentials* on Indian highways are about the same as on a good German autobahn. Y'know, the bullock cart is going 5 kmh, you're going 90 kmh :-). In Germany you'd be going 200, and the truck in the right lane would be going a 100. Okay,...I'm just kidding ;-) There are no freeways in India (yet?). Outside built up areas there is no enforced speed limit (but I believe it is set to be 100 km/h unless otherwise posted). Roads vary between decent to downright disgusting. In fact the closest I've seen to *good* Indian road in Europe has been on some of Ireland's less important highways (though Irish drivers are a few thousand times more disciplined, and they don't have half as many sheep as we have cows in India).

Also, do wear your seatbelt (if your car has one). There is no emegency dispatch service (911,999 or what have you). Emergency care is, well, absent. Believe me, my family was in a very bad car accident about 20 years ago outside Bangalore, I know all about it. Indian people do not wear seatbelts even when they have them (and in this case I think we are quite simply ignorant), but don't fall for it.

I've seen most of India by driving places in beat up old Indian cars (I still think it has something to do with the fact that my father went to school in the USA). It's a fun way to do it, and you will see India much better when you have the flexibility to go where you want when you want.

After reading all this if you still want to drive there, go for it!

J.Mario> Regards, have fun in India, it's a fascinating

J.Mario> country. :-)

Glad you liked it. I've been reading your preparatory posts here for some months now and was wondering when you'd actually go ;-)

Cheers

Shyamal

-- "Washing and Bathing in the crocodile infested river is prohibited.

Survivors will be prosecuted." - Sign in the Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, Tamil Nadu, India.

I speak for me, only me, and just me......

From: [email protected] (mark willis)

Date: 2 Feb 96

> I will be visiting India (not sure what part yet) to help

>install a rolling mill next month. What is it like driving in India?,

>is it on the left hand side of the road? I've driven in Australia before

>without much of a problem. What kind of cars are available to rent? Good

>roads? Crazy drivers?

Forget it. Read on.

Rules Of The Road, Indian Style

--------------------------------

Traveling on Indian Roads is an almost hallucinatory potion of sound, spectacle and experience. It is frequently heart-rending, sometimes hilarious, mostly exhilarating, always unforgettable -- and, when you are on the roads, extremely dangerous.

Most Indian road users observe a version of the Highway Code based on a Sanskrit text. These 12 rules of the Indian road are published for the first time in English:

ARTICLE I:

The assumption of immortality is required of all road users.

ARTICLE II:

Indian traffic, like Indian society,is structured on a strict caste system. The following precedence must be accorded at all times. In descending order, give way to:

Cows, elephants, heavy trucks, buses, official cars, camels, light trucks, buffalo, jeeps, ox-carts, private cars, motorcycles, scooters, auto-rickshaws, pigs, pedal rickshaws, goats, bicycles (goods-carrying), handcarts, bicycles (passenger-carrying), dogs, pedestrians.

ARTICLE III:

All wheeled vehicles shall be driven in accordance with the maxim:

to slow is to falter, to brake is to fail, to stop is defeat.

This is the Indian drivers' mantra.

ARTICLE IV:

Use of horn (also known as the sonic fender or aural amulet):

Cars (IV,1,a-c):

Short blasts (urgent) indicate supremacy, IE in clearing dogs, rickshaws and pedestrians from path.

Long blasts (desperate) denote supplication, IE to oncoming truck: "I am going too fast to stop, so unless you slow down we shall both die". In extreme cases this may be accompanied by flashing of headlights (frantic).

Single blast (casual) means: "I have seen someone out of India's 870 million whom I recognise", "There is a bird in the road (which at this speed could go through my windscreen)" or "I have not blown my horn for several minutes." Trucks and buses (IV,2,a):

All horn signals have the same meaning, viz: "I have an all-up weight of approximately 12.5 tons and have no intention of stopping, even if I could." This signal may be emphasised by the use of headlamps.

Article IV remains subject to the provision of Order of Precedence in Article II above.

ARTICLE V:

All manoeuvres, use of horn and evasive action shall be left until the last possible moment.

ARTICLE VI:

In the absence of seat belts (which there is), car occupants shall wear garlands of marigolds. These should be kept fastened at all times.

ARTICLE VII:

Rights of way: Traffic entering a road from the left has priority.

So has traffic from the right, and also traffic in the middle.

Lane discipline (VII,1): All Indian traffic at all times and irrespective of direction of travel shall occupy the centre of the road.

ARTICLE VIII:

Roundabouts: India has no roundabouts. Apparent traffic islands in the middle of crossroads have no traffic management function.

Any other impression should be ignored.

ARTICLE IX:

Overtaking is mandatory. Every moving vehicle is required to overtake every other moving vehicle, irrespective of whether it has just overtaken you. Overtaking should only be undertaken in suitable conditions, such as in the face of oncoming traffic, on blind bends, at junctions and in the middle of villages/city centres. No more than two inches should be allowed between your vehicle and the one you are passing -- and one inch in the case of bicycles or pedestrians.

ARTICLE X:

Nirvana may be obtained through the head-on crash.

ARTICLE XI:

Reversing: no longer applicable since no vehicle in India has reverse gear.

Mark Willis

Singapore

From: "S."

Date: 17 Feb 96

Hello there' Yeah, India was a _different_ place to visit.......

They were amazingly crazy drivers, they pass each other in the insides and outsides of bends, when they can't see or have any idea if another car or one of the super fast 40 kph trucks(?!) is round the corner.

I think the horn is connected their eyelids.

Those roundabouts in the centre of Bombay were unbelievable!! They didn't even all go round it the same way.

Even though I wasn't driving I never took my eyes off the road, I didn't like sitting on the right hand side back seat behind the driver, I could see everything he could see..agh!, he was crazy, they all were.

Those little black and yellow _bees_ were another thing..

Quite an experience was had....

See ya'

James

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