Quote:
Originally Posted by blkgsr
what sites did you see?
where did you stay? (price?)
how did you get around?
any info would be appreciated
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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.