My good mate Ben has been travelling around India for the last six weeks. Here's his list of the 10 best of India, and top 10 worst of India. Not surprisingly many of these items don't appear in any Lonely Planet book:
Top 10 best-
(1) Cost of living!- where else can you get a hotel room for 45 ruppees($1.50/60p) a night. Sure prison cells might be more salubrious, but what a bargain.
(2) Lassi- yoghurt/curd drink mixed with fruit. Perfect start to any meal. Some places will even whip you up a bhang lassi if your having trouble getting to sleep in your 45 ruppee room.
(3) Varanasi- where else is it normal for a dead body to float down the river. Back home the police would have the whole area locked down, with the media encircled. Here it's just another day!
(4) Temples/forts/monuments- doesn't really need to be said but India's got it all. Everyone's seen the Taj on TV, but don't think it ends there. There are many mind blowing sights.
(5) Chai (Indian for tea)- Like English tea except very milky, extremely sweet, and boiling hot.
(6) Weather- especially here in Goa, guarranteed 30 degrees. Beats the Melbourne winter blues.
(7) Cricket- mention your Aussie and the conversation will insantly turn to cricket. Even better because we won this time.
(8) Seafood in Goa- only $6/2.50pound for a plate of prawns. Been living the good life for the last week. Any weight I lost in the first 6 weeks is rapidly being put back on.
(9) Shopping- everything and anything you could ever want/need can be found here. Even if they don't have it they'll find it for you.
(10) Photo Ops- if my photos don't come out I'll be really pissed off.
Top 10 Worst-
(1) Rickshaws- 3 wheeled golf carts that spew out fumes. The driver usually tries to rip you off blind. For starters he'll try to charge 3 or 4 times to correct fare, and then he'll try to take you to his mate's hotel where he'll get commision. Don't believe anything they say!
(2) Touts- like rickshaw drivers, not to be trusted. Lie through their teeth and wont leave you alone. They too get commision.
(3) Scams- it seems India is the home of scams. If your stupid enough to think you'll make money you probably deserve to lose your money. If it sounds to good to be true, then it probably is.
(4) Indian traffic/driving- no such thing as road rules here. The aim of the game is to use every inch of the road to fit as many vehicles in as possible. They end result is gridlock, at which point they all hold down the horn, deafening you.
(5) Indian plumbing- seems the only thing that moves more slowly than the traffic is the shit. No toilet has been cleaned for years, and most are of the squat variety.
(6) Holy cows- just like in Animal Farm where the pigs ran the show, it seems the cows run things here. No one will touch them for fear of bad karma. Bus drivers would rather crash their bus than hit them.
(7) Indian children- real cute until they learn some English. From then on all they want is 'one pen, one chocolate, one ruppee'. Stupid tourists are to blame for turning the kids here into beggars.
(8) The hard sell- these guys are the masters at getting you to buy shit that you neither want or need. No/Neh doesn't seem to register, even after you repeated it for the tenth time.
(9) Vegetarian diet- OK for about 3 days, at which point another plate of curried or fried vegtables is not so appealing. Even if you manage to track down the only resturant in town that serves Western food, your usually left dissapointed.
(10) Indian cities- Shitholes! Only been to 2 of the big 4, Mumbai and Delhi. This is probably 2 to many. Overcrowded, polluted, smell like urine/rubbish, traffic clogged, full of homless people and beggars. You might all think I'm being a little harsh, but take my word for it their only use is as a transport hub. Best avoided!
Great stuff. Looking forward to catching up when you return Ben!
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