India & where to spend Christmas in SE Asia

Brentmeister

Hi, Myself and my girlfriend are heading off in Oct on a rtw trip.

First stop is India, flying into Delhi. Can anyone recommend a good place to stay, and any travel tips for the place, like costs & how much to budget for the three weeks.

After India we fly into Singapore and pretty much have an open book until we fly out of Hong Kong on Feb 2.

We could pretty much stay anywhere in SE Asia for Christmas but its tough to find info on what each country or area customs are over Christmas.

Anyone any ideas? Thanks

Garthicus

Hi, is it your first time doing a major trip like that and also have you been to a third world country before? Delhi is a serious culture shock city so prepare yourself, there is loads to see and do, first things first, most first time visitors fall for 'Lost taxi driver syndrome', when you arrive in Delhi you must prepay for your taxi journey at a booth, in return DO NOT give the driver the receipt you received until you reach your exact hotel as they will pretenfd to get lost and take you to a hotel which will cost 20 times as much as usual (they get a cut from the hotel from doing this)

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/1065256593041022729KhqWIi?vhost=travel this is the hotel I stayed in, and here is the shower http://travel.webshots.com/photo/1065254285041022729zkBJeI?vhost=travel you can fairly much assume that is as good as you will get on a budget, unless you aim to stay in holiday inns etc which are few and far between, that particular hotel is clean and cheap and cheerful and close to Connaught Place and the train station too, rent a driver for however many days you are staying (find a good English speaking autorickshaw driver and work out a price)

Let me know if you want any more info on Delhi and India in general

Brentmeister

Hi Garthicus, thanks for the info.

ya its a first time trip, its seems we're going in at the deep end a fair bit!

do you have the name of that hotel as i cant open the photos due to internet policy at work.

We have three weeks in India so want to go to Varanasai along with Golden Triangle, if you have any advice on this.

Thanks again

Garthicus

Howya,

Yeah no worries, it's called the Anoop hotel, you must get the Lonely Planet guide to India, that will see you right although, don't stick to it religiously after all, it is only a guide book, you must find the adventures yourself!

Varanasi is fantastic, however be warned it is *very* polluted, but it is a must see, the river Ganges runs through it and it is a very holy place. I had quite a hairy experience there; We (my pal and I) decided that instead of doing a guided boat tour at tourist prices, we would bargain with a fisherman to bring us out on his boat for an hour or two. Anyhow, we wanted to pay him $5 for the hour and he wanted $10 (even $5 was too much) so after a lot of bartering he settled at $5, so off we went on his boat, the Captain, my pal and I. A few hundred meters out I began to notice what looked like potato sacks lying around the boat....

Suddenly the Captain said something and the bags all began to move and before we knew it, we were surrounded by men, some with sticks and knives. the Captain turned to me and very calmly asked for $10. With the choices being a) Fighting or b) Jumping overboard into a filthy river where bodies were being burned, raw sewage floating and people washing (and drinking) I had no option but to give him the $10. I told him to immediately bring us back to land but he was having none of it and wanted to continue the tour. Thus a very uncomfortable hour was spent onboard.

I laugh about it now! Oh, you can't take pictures of the cremations in Varanasai (if you do make sure you do it very secretly) as you could cause a lot of upset and families of the deceased may ask you for money and I mean hundreds of dollars.

Do your best to see as much as you can, to feel the real India you must travel by rail. Ensure you get every shot under the sun. When I was getting my shots the Doctor in Dublin asked me if I would be near any farm animals, I told him no, that I didn't think so, which looking back was hilarious as there is no such thing as not coming in contact with farm animals in India (As you will see)

Make sure to see Goa if you can, it is superb. The whole country is just an amazing place and barely a day goes by where I don't think of the place and smile, I really can't wait to go back and get stuck in again.

Get the Lonely Planet book, study it before you go, I will post more here as I think!

Brentmeister

I might want to avoid fishermen on the ganges after hearing that!
Although things like that might be part of the experience, as you say you can laugh at it now.

I've been reading the rough guide to India, which is good, but theres nothing like the personal advice of someone whos been there.

Joeyjoejoe43

Have you cast any light on where youll spend xmas?? Im in Oz at the minute and I'm thinking off doing xmas somewhere in Asia, was thinking somewhere in Vietnam could be good and very different..

chiangmai

Vietnam can be pretty cold at that time of the year. Living in Thailand, I may be a bit biased, but this will be my eighth Christmas her and each and every one has been great. Have spent Christmas in Koh Samui, Ayutthaya, Bangkok and now live in Chiangmai. I would give Ayutthayaa miss, but the rest have been good.

Gaz

India is a fantastic place but be prepared for a major shock to the senses , ive travelled over 40 countries and its still the one that shocked me most .... but that passes and you get into the rhythm of it soon enough.

I spent 3 months travelling around India and i would say the highlights for me where ...
Agra for the Taj
Varanasi for the Ganges at sunset (this is where you will most likely be shocked, seeing dogs fight over the remains of a dead baby will haunt me forever)
Calcutta ... just for how different it is
Darjeeling ... probably my favourite, very friendly people , nice food and amazing views of the himalayes
Kerala ... very cool river cruises (prob a tad on the long side thouugh)
And of course as Garthicus says Goa , in particular Palolam beach (stay away from anjuna, its a dump)
Christmas day on Palolam , sitting by a fire on the beach !!! Class !!!

Have a great trip man !

Brentmeister

Joeyjoejoe43 wrote:

was thinking somewhere in Vietnam could be good and very different..

thats along the lines i'm thinking, i'd like somewhere different. Vietnam/Cambodia/China preferably, but its hard to get info on what Christmas would be like there, if they have Christmas at all.

Darth Homer, I'm expecting the shock alright, but as someone said reading about it is like learning to swim from a book. Should be fun anyway!

chiangmai; in Thailand is Christmas anything like an Irish Christmas.. do they put up decorations etc

Thanks guys