India. Greasy tea. Beggars. What else?
Discussion
Boozy said:
Don't eat any food if it's not from a hotel or drink any water if it's not bottled.
Seriously.
On the bottle water front only buy bottle water where you can see the seal is intact, an unsealed bottle could still be a bottle off the street filled with tap water cap put on and the seller breaks the "seal" for you before handing it on.Seriously.
Goa? <nudge nudge, wink wink> say no more...
I believe Micky Flannigan, the stand up comedian, gives the best description of Delhi belly, I'm sure it'll be on YouTube.
Whatever you do don't hire a car or attempt to drive. I made this mistake and had to hire a boy to take the car back to the rental place for me, seriously, don't even think about it.
I believe Micky Flannigan, the stand up comedian, gives the best description of Delhi belly, I'm sure it'll be on YouTube.
Whatever you do don't hire a car or attempt to drive. I made this mistake and had to hire a boy to take the car back to the rental place for me, seriously, don't even think about it.
I spent quite a bit of time in Jaipur and Kota. A few observations:
- If you looks like you have money you will have children begging non-stop. If you give one of them money, if they can they will swap clothes, follow you and keep on hassling you for more money.
- Get the injection done in good time.
- Despite what people tell you, you WILL get Delhi-belly. Try to drink, and ask for, SEALED bottles of water only. Often the waiter will bring an open bottle to your table. Refuse it and ask for a sealed bottle.
- Don't kick the cows.
- Don't leave any money in your room. It will disappear.
- Don't let the taxi drivers mug you off.
- If you are staying in a hotel, make sure the taxi driver doesn't insist on taking you to his friends hotel. On every occasion i've been to India this has been the case.
Just be respectful of the different cultures and ways of doing things and you'll have a great time. It's a fabulous place and the people, on the whole, are welcoming and friendly.
.....and the food, WOW, don't start me on the food!
- If you looks like you have money you will have children begging non-stop. If you give one of them money, if they can they will swap clothes, follow you and keep on hassling you for more money.
- Get the injection done in good time.
- Despite what people tell you, you WILL get Delhi-belly. Try to drink, and ask for, SEALED bottles of water only. Often the waiter will bring an open bottle to your table. Refuse it and ask for a sealed bottle.
- Don't kick the cows.
- Don't leave any money in your room. It will disappear.
- Don't let the taxi drivers mug you off.
- If you are staying in a hotel, make sure the taxi driver doesn't insist on taking you to his friends hotel. On every occasion i've been to India this has been the case.
Just be respectful of the different cultures and ways of doing things and you'll have a great time. It's a fabulous place and the people, on the whole, are welcoming and friendly.
.....and the food, WOW, don't start me on the food!
The home of diarroeha. Everyone I know who has been has had hellish arse evacuations while there, and some for a period after getting home. Fun fun fun! Good advice above about only taking sealed bottled water, I can quite imagine some places just selling the tap water in reused bottles!
ikarl said:
...
The country does smell funny (especially when warm) but I couldn't recommend it high enough! Amazing things to see and do
Even in an air-conditioned bus, we didn't need telling that we'd reached the outskirts of Agra. I think every one of the 20 or so in our group had the trots at some time that week but that didn't stop us appreciating the cities, palaces, forts etc. Probably wouldn't go again, though.The country does smell funny (especially when warm) but I couldn't recommend it high enough! Amazing things to see and do
jas xjr said:
Do not be surprised if they manage to put a new seal on the bottle 
Been there, done that. A seal is no guarantee. Bought some water from a shop in Jaisalmer and it didn't taste quite right but I persevered, stupidly. Luckily I vomited the lot up within half an hour before it hit my gut proper. That was the only trouble I had in three weeks on trains cross-country.
Use the hand sanitizer with a frequency unsurpassed by OCD sufferers. This is my top tip and it does work.
We've been to Kerala twice in 2004 and 2005 but even then, the pace of change was alarming. We flew into Trivandrum and stayed at Kovalam Beach. The country is stunning, albeit poor, the scenery spectacular, the people extremely friendly. You can hire the tuk-tuk drivers for local trips to some amazing beaches or to see working elephants.
We arranged a local tour but the roads are not something you want to spend any great amount of time on. We went overnight on a rice boat and got bitten alive and suspect we got a "cheap version". We also travelled inland to Periyar Wildlife Park which simply wasn't worth it given the distance the animals were - a safari park offers more.
Still a great country to visit though.
We arranged a local tour but the roads are not something you want to spend any great amount of time on. We went overnight on a rice boat and got bitten alive and suspect we got a "cheap version". We also travelled inland to Periyar Wildlife Park which simply wasn't worth it given the distance the animals were - a safari park offers more.
Still a great country to visit though.
Spent a couple of weeks in Bangalore working back in July/August:
Take probiotic capsules for a month before you go.
Get a prescription for some Azithromycin (arguably better than Ciprofloaxin for southern Asia - DYOR though) in case of the s
ts out there.
Don't drink the tap water at all. Don't use tap water for brushing teeth and try to avoid ingesting it when showering.
Consider going veggie. I did it for a week before I got bored and went back to meat. The food was good and I didn't have a problem, even eating in a couple of rather suspect places.
Be prepared for a lot of traffic and long journey times.
Take probiotic capsules for a month before you go.
Get a prescription for some Azithromycin (arguably better than Ciprofloaxin for southern Asia - DYOR though) in case of the s
ts out there. Don't drink the tap water at all. Don't use tap water for brushing teeth and try to avoid ingesting it when showering.
Consider going veggie. I did it for a week before I got bored and went back to meat. The food was good and I didn't have a problem, even eating in a couple of rather suspect places.
Be prepared for a lot of traffic and long journey times.
On our way from the airport, we were travelling at around 50mph in our bus, being overtaken by another bus which was also being overtaken by a lorry, both on the wrong side of the road with a bus coming in the other direction being overtaken by another lorry.
Somehow they all managed to avoid eachother.
Add to this, everything being done by ten times as many people as would realistically be required to complete any task, sights around some corners that will totally shock you to your boots, feeling like you have travelled back in time to the 1950's and being saturated with a intoxicating charm that you will never rid yourself of no matter what and you have India in a nutshell.
Don't trust the fking ear cleaners though.
Somehow they all managed to avoid eachother.
Add to this, everything being done by ten times as many people as would realistically be required to complete any task, sights around some corners that will totally shock you to your boots, feeling like you have travelled back in time to the 1950's and being saturated with a intoxicating charm that you will never rid yourself of no matter what and you have India in a nutshell.
Don't trust the f
king ear cleaners though.Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff