bon voyage!
We are grown six months old, trying to help visitors coming to India.
We got nearly 750 visitors. [Earlier we thought, it was 1500; a friend has corrected us by informing that 1500 page views do not mean 1500 visitors.] This is a small number [and perhaps 2-3 hundred of hits/visits out of this come due to link-exchange.]
We are still a very small blog and we are happy to be so. After all, there are so so many sites, blogs and service-providers on the net that a website like this can hardly be a hit.
What we can claim as our achievement during this period is that we have been genuine in our advice. One of our main aim has been to caution our visitors about what they might face in India if they do not take due precautions. Half of our FAQs, in fact, deal with visitor safety. [By the way, this is not special to India; foreigners do face problems in a strange lands almost everywhere in the world.] We feel vindicated as four of you have emailed us that you avoided getting a rough treatment from cab drivers and travel agents, thanks to our comprehensive do’s and don’t’s.
Some of our visitors also sought a second opinion on their tour plans, and we learnt that our advice helped them plan their itineraries better.
In these months we made many changes in the way we interact with you. Starting with a blog to give advice on travel, tours and gifts, we shifted to making the blog into an information goldmine: directly and through links to good sites. In a small way, we started ranking websites, giving alerts, and linking latest news-items and articles of relevance. Once we found that there are very active forums [fora] for open exchange of information and advice, we stopped comments on the blog and started seeking/giving advice on email [kp.nd.2008@gmail.com], and removed old comments. This has perhaps gone against getting ‘hits’ for the blog, but we are happy that whosoever seeks advice in confidence gets it without our having to be seen promoting or denigrating somebody’s business interest.
On an advice from a visitor, we tried some link exchanges, but we doubt if that helps our type of blog. We have also put some ad-sense ads on the blog. We seriously intend to review it all after another six months; if we find these activities inconsistent with our aim to help people visiting India, we might discard these exchange links. Though we need to be slightly popular to be able to help more people, we do not want hits just to look popular or to earn profits.
HOW CAN I HELP YOU ?
This blog is for all travelers, but since our foreigner friends need more detailed information, and from their perspective, many segments are tailormade specially for them.
It is not a travel agency blog, nor a forum. But I assure you very correct information and a most genuine opinion on issues bothering you about travel to / in India.
I have tried to give links to other useful sites and have in some cases very broadly ranked them too.
I used to receive queries on the blog through 'comments' but I was not able to handle them, and some of them were so specific, we did not want to share opinions publicly. So, kindly seek opinions at this email, referring to this blog: kp.nd.2008@gmail.com.
Best wishes.
Questions in your mind about visit to India, problems that travelers might face,...
Formalities on arrival?............
How to obtain visa?.................How, why medical tour to India?
Visit restrictions?.....................Dealing with taxi-operators?
Best season?.............................Etiquette to follow?
Lady travelers safe?................Monsoon precautions?
Dependable operators? ..........Ayurveda treatment, where?
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Seen these sites?
I am giving links to some webpages giving information of direct use or that analysing travel and tour matters relating to India. These are in the form of personal impressions. Please do not forget to click on the link provided in the right column which takes you to many current news items and features.
India is incredible!
India is not for a whimsical trip
[will add as I find nice [favorable or not, doesn't matter] comments.]
Travel in times of global fin crisis
These are god-sent times for travelers, provided they themselves are not badly affected by the global financial crisis. [I am not talking about good discounts and other monetary benefits; these are generic and apply to all parts of the world. I am talking of India-specific advantages of undertaking a visit now.]
Let me repeat this fact about travel to India: India is one of the cheapest tourist destinations.
What makes India more tempting now [in money terms] is that because of global financial problems, there are fewer travellers to/within India and tourism operators are giving good discounts. In that much money, only in India can you have nature/eco-tourism [a large number of wildlife sanctuaries and forests], beach tourism [India offers a lot of natural beauty but less of what beaches in Italy et al offer in terms of comfort, glamour, etc], culture tourism [lots of hues of human existence, lots of history and heritage, large number of fairs and festivals], and so on.
Besides, the rush is less. As the tourist destinations in India are generally crowded and poorly managed, this is the right time to visit them. There is no need to hurry though. The financial problems are not going to be over any time soon [but the weather beyong April may not be very salubrious, and you may like to hurry on that count]. So, with international economic sentiment down and in turn fewer peopleare visiting India, you can get more quality out of your buck.
Kausani: so enchanting a place!
This article is a shorter version of an article written by Palas for an Indian newspaper one year back. Many thanks indeed, Palas.
Kausani: enchanting mountains!
When we visited Kausani this summer, we didn’t know how profound an impact this small hill station will have on us. So, without waiting to tell what all you can see there, let me give an advice to you, if you love nature and hills, is to visit Kausani as early as you can.
Frankly, our journey from Kolkata to Delhi and up to Kathgodam (the last railway station this side) was not much to write about. In fact, we had quite a few irritants including an unfriendly encounter with fellow passengers before alighting the first train at Nizamuddin railway station in Delhi. We took another train from Delhi to Kathgodam, which was a further mistake and it added long hours to our journey. (Mind it, we are frequent travelers and not rich, so we can’t afford air journey.)
If you don’t know anything about Kausani, read this: It is a hill station about 1900 metre above sea level in Uttarakhand. It is about 140 km from Kathgodam, the nearest railway terminal. From there, you can book a taxi or take a bus to Kausani (Better is to get off at Haldwani, 7 km before Kathgodam, and book taxi or bus from there because more options are available, Haldwani being the bigger of the twin towns.) If you are coming from Lucknow, you have to get down at Lal Kuan, 10 km further away from Haldwani and take a taxi to Haldwani. Road journey in the hills can be tiring and nauseating, so be cautioned: take proper food, take a vomit preventing medicine beforehand, break journey often.
You can see a range of snow covered peaks, about 300 km in length. You can watch these peaks and the low ranges in between change hues through the day. Nanda Devi, Trishul and Panchchuli are among the tall Himalayan peaks you can see from high points at Kausani.
Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation, spent 12 days in 1929 at Kausani and wrote commentary on Gita. Renowned Hindi poet, Sumitra Nandan Pant belonged to Kausaini.
Kausani is pleasantly cool to very cold, and summer months [April-June] are the best; however you need to book hotel in advance. There are a good number of hotels in Kausani, and they cater to all pockets.
Let me now tell a bit about my impression of the place.
This place is a small hill resort, unlike unmanageable hill towns. Its air is always fresh, cool, filling the lungs with divine freshness and peace. If it rains, you can watch play of clouds around you and in far-off hills. We stayed there for four days and came back greatly satisfied with the natural beauty that we soaked in our mind and body. It rained on the day of departure, and so we were able to enjoy that too, but it suddenly became very cold. One of our friends suggested that we start our journey in rain so that we do not get late for Binsar, an enchanting hill-site and sanctuary. We stopped some three miles from Kausani towards Someshwar, next to a tea shop.
The hill people, I have noticed everywhere, are very simple folks. Probably the small businessmen among them, such as the tea shop owner, try to act smart at times and that makes them funny. We asked the tea shop guy to get us five cups of tea and five biscuits [we had taken breakfast early but had been delayed due to rains]. He charged us thrice the going rate just because we had asked for freshly made tea! No arguments, he said, I know my job better than you. We laughed behind him, not to annoy him, and walked on the slope. Small herbs were still smarting from rain drops falling from pine trees above, though the rain had stopped. Springs were oozing water every few feet. We went further away from the tea shop and drank water flowing out from under a tree, hesitatingly, but found that we had never tasted such sweet water.
We came back after seeing many other places in Kumaon region, where Kausani is located and some places were as beautiful, but no place gave as much peace and oneness with nature as Kausani. It is superb!
Nice one on why Americans are visiting India
This is a nice newsitem on why Americans are lovin to visit India [coutesy: Ohio.com].
Seen this on Uttarakhand?
Look at this link for two write-ups on travel to Uttarakhand - one is a personal experience and the other an advice for visiting Himalayan tourist destinations.
Why must one travel to India at all?
Here, I am giving some reasons that I have collected from other sources why you should visit India. [I intend to keep adding to this list as I get them.]
- India has improved and is further improving its accommodation capacity by allowing people to rent out their space capacity for 'bed and breakfast'.
- A new type of visa, medical visa, has been introduced for foreign tourists coming to India for medical treatment.
- India has a unique system of medicine, called ayurveda, that heals the entire system; guidelines have recently been formulated to register ayurveda and panchkarma [a segment of natural healing system] centres.
- India is promoting rural tourism in a big way in association with UNDP. International tourists havereported that the liked their experience very much.
- Conde Nast Traveller, a leading global travel and tourism journal has ranked India as number one travel destination in the world.
- India was adjudged Asia's leading destination at the regional World Travel Awards.
- Taj Mahal is one of the seven new wonders of the world.
- India heads the UN World Tourism Orgnisation, the highest policy making world tourism body representing 150 nations, showing the importance of India as a tourist destination.
The enchanting andamans
Our friend Koyal sent her personal experience of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, as comments. We thought, it deserves an independent posting. Before that, lel us remind you that we have given links to governement websites [because they are highly dependable on information, and without a vested interest] in the left column of this blog. The Andaman Island website is full of information and nice photos.
Here goes Koyal's post:
We visited Andaman & Nicobar Islands last winters – the best months to visit the islands. [You need more time and a special permit to visit the Nicobar part.]
It is a heaven for those seeking to spend holidays amidst un-spoilt nature.
In a ten day tour, you can station for four days at Port Blair: one day for local sight seeing and three days for day long visits to different islands. Keep 2-3 days for Havelock Islands. They are the best in the archipelago. The sprawling beaches of Havelock are not crowded and are lined with thick equatorial forests. The Radhanagar beach is the best of them all. Its sands are unusually white and there are tourist huts right on the best face of the beach [but they are to be booked in advance]. Other resorts are on other beaches. Keep the rest of your time for longish trips to far off islands.
The best attraction of Port Blair is the Cellular Jail, which was used by the British to put hardened criminals and freedom fighters. In the evenings, they have [a rather mediocre] light and sound show depicting those cruel times.[Book tickets in advance so that you do not have to stand in very long queue.]
Besides beaches, the Cellular Jail and marine museums, you have plenty to experience on different islands: snorkel and watch corals in shallow waters of Coral Island; trek to a limestone cave; see a live mud-volcano throwing mud and water out of its small hole; watch very primitive Jarawah tribals in thick forests; cross a tunnel made of mangrove tree roots.
The choice of how you want to enjoy Andamans is yours. If you want to mingle with the Indians [generally a cross section of Indians from different parts of the mainland], go for ordinary tours run by the tourism department or private tour operators. But if you want exclusive trips [comfortable, enjoyable in your own group but without local touch], it is better to book them in advance through you hotel / tour operator.
Markets are rather dull compared to the crowded markets of India’s mainland. If you are buying souvenirs, be careful about their weight; the coral and shell artefacts tend to weigh a ton.
We stayed in a tourist department guest house, on local trips we always carried a lot of stuff from a good bakery in Port Blair, drank gallons of coconut water from freshly cut coconuts, avoided eating local food except in the guest house, and didn’t get sick at all. We mingled with the locals in ships, ferries, buses and SUVs. We also had exclusive motorboat visits to nearby islands. At Havelock Islands, we stayed in a rather expensive resort for two days as others were booked long back for Christmas season.
We are of Indian origin but settled for two generations in Britain. Our children had an exciting experience of this part of the world they thought existed only in geography books. It all didn’t cost us [a family of two adults and two kids] more than Rs. 55,000 [GBP 700]. [It, of course, does not include air fare from/to Chennai.]
Andaman & Nicobar Islands send you back rejuvenated and marveling at nature’s bounty.
Seen this on Mumbai?
NY Times has a nice article, 36 hours in Mumbai. Though the hours have been packed a bit too tightly, it gives a glimpse of variety that Indian citiy life presents.
Bhimbetka: human autobiography on stone
Bhimbetka: mammoth rock-skyscrapers on hill-tops, standing the weather for ages. Where man took shelter under rocks and – as if in return – gave the rocks the bold existence they deserve.
Bhimbetka is a village forty-five kilometers from Bhopal. As the
road leaves the plains and starts meandering in the hills, the huge rocks start inviting the eager visitor.
Located in the thick forests on the northern fringe of the Vindhya range, Bhimbetka must have appeared to the stone age man a choice location for settlement. If the caves and rock shelters gave him protection against wild animals and enemies, they gave him relief from bad weather and chilly winters too. In his leisure time, he tried to make sketches on the enormous inners walls of the rock shelters. He used paints made out of the available colouring material like ground read-stone. In red and green, he [more likely, she] drew wild animals like tiger and bison, the most awe-inspiring subjects for him.
As time passed, the prehistoric cave artist showed interest in many more subjects like barbed spears, bows, arrows and pointed sticks (the weapons used by him); musical instruments and dances and other social activities of his pristine civilization. Later on, this site was inhabited by the historic man who used the same rocks – sometimes the same canvas – for depicting his life-style and surrounding. He added while and yellow to the hitherto used range of colours. Swords and shields, pets, horse-riders in procession, hunting scenes and religious symbols are among the more conspicuous recent themes.
These paintings together weave a vivid story of the ancient man. An autobiography in pictures, indeed. For an inquisitive mind they are a gold mine of information and for a casual tourist, a glimpse of the remote human past: for both a treat for the eyes.
[This article has been adopted from IFR, an India-centred magazine, with author's permission. Photographs have been added later.]
Details about the place:
* How to reach Bhimbetka?
By air: The nearest airport is Bhopal (connected with Delhi, Jabalpur, Indore, Gwalior and Mumbai).
By rail: The nearest railhead is Bhopal on Delhi-Chennai and Delhi Mumbai routes.
By road: Regular bus trips from Bhopal.
* Open: sunrise to sunset
* Paintings in Bhimbetka caves have been divided into 7 periods: PERIOD 1 – Upper Paleolithic: linear representations in dark and red color. The major drawings are of animals such as bison, tigers and rhinoceroses. PERIOD 2 – Mesolithic: smaller drawings. Animals as well as human figures, hunting scenes with weapons like barbed spears, pointed sticks, bow and arrows. The scenes of communal dances, birds, musical instruments, mother and child, pregnant women, men carrying dead animals, drinking and burials appear in rhythmic movement. PERIOD 3 – Chaleolithic: these paintings reveal the close connections of the cave dwellers with the agricultural communities of the nearby plains. PERIOD 4 and 5 – Earlier History: mainly in red, white and yellow, the figures have a decorative style and have religious symbols, dresses, and scripts of various periods
. PERIOD 6 and 7 – Medieval: crude in their artistic style, but schematic. In all there are 700 rock shelters, 400 of which have paintings. Auditorium Rock Shelter, Zoo Rock and Boar Rock are of special attraction.
[Bhopal is almost in the middle of India and is the capital of Madhya Pradesh state of India.]
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