Starting RTW in India

Ritchi

I'm going on a RTW in October, and the plan is to start in India, but one or two people have mentioned that it's not a good place to start, as it's too big a culture shock. Anyone any thoughts on that?

It makes more sense for us to start in India, as we're on to SE Asia and Indonesia after, otherwise we'd be back tracking.

breadmonkey

Meh. I'm starting in India simply because like you my itinerary would be screwed if I didn't. I don't see the harm in throwing yourself in the "deep end".

Glowing

Yeah there's nothing like a bit of culture shock! Go for it!

I'd be extra careful with the food however, as you won't have had a chance to build up your resistance in slightly safter places like S.E Asia ... from what I've heard, just keep away from meat....

Brian Griffin

ok, starting off i think starting in India would be fine, but you sort to have to know a few things.

I've traveled a bit and spent three months in India, spent time in a lot of country's that some people would consider different or difficult. So thats where i'm coming from while writing this.

I'd say that india would be a hard country to go to if its the first country of that kind you've been to and by that i mean, complete different then here. Its very dirty and grimy, getting around and doing things can be a complete headache and the people can be very annoying. Women should be carful traveling here more then any where else i've been.

But on the other had there as a lot to see and do in the country, and you do met people and have fun there as well. Just be prepared for the hassle.

you have to be were of time in the country, lot of stuff to see and its fairly spread out. I'll mention a few places but not the spelling will be wrong.

I very much liked karla, fort cohin is anice place to see, but munnar and the back waters were very cool, also want to the national park south of munnar and that was very cool. Humpy looked amazing. pondi was very nice as well.

gao was not my think but if it beach you want theres plenty here. the tip of the country is not really worth going to.

In the north the taj is worth seeing and pushcar was cool place to get stoned. the jodhpur and udharpur were nice, jaipur was dirty. darjeeling was cool, so was skim.

calcutta is interesting to see but not great, same with delhi.


Nepla was very cool as well, i'd probably recommend it to india if you can. but india is OK. if you have any question i'll try and have an eye out on this site for ya.

maggie-mai

I spent 12 weeks in India and had an amazing time. Like yourself, I was told to be prepared for a big culture shock. I found that as long as you've prepared yourself to witness poverty, and a lot of it, you'll be fine.

If you stay away from street food and drink only bottled water, you shouldn't suffer from the so called Delhi Belly. Eating out in India is really cheap and the food is amazing, including their meat dishes. A lot of Indians are vegetarian so if you were to stay away from meat, you'll have an extensive veggie menu to chose from!

India is a very bureaucratic county and this can become quite frustrating at times but you get use to it and put it all down to the experience

Also, generally speaking, when Indians see tourists coming, they hike up their prices. This is in markets and also when getting tuk tuks so get use to doing a lot of haggling!

The highlights of my trip were:

#1. Kerala. This is the new Goa which has become very touristy. The scenery there is amazing and it's where all the Indians go on their honeymoon! Take a house boat and travel the back waters. Also, I agree with Brian on Munnar. This is famous for it's tea plantation and is up high on a mountain. Really refreshing after spending time in the different cities which can be dirty and smoggy.

#2. Hampi. It's out of the way and we had to take an overnight train to get there but well worth it. It's a religious town so you need to be careful about your clothes - I was sent home by the police as I was deemed indecently dressed in shorts (I should have known better). Rent out mopeds and travel around.

#3. Pondicherry & Mahaballipurum. You can get to both via Chennai and they're really chilled out towns.

You're going to have a great time there!

Spider_Baby

Have you actually looked into whether it is possible to start your trip in India...?
When I booked my RTW ticket in order to get to India I would've had to take 2 flights to get to Hong Kong, and then another flight back to India. It made no sense and was using up 3 of my flights so I had to give India a miss in the end.
This was through TrailFinders. Might be an idea to check it out with them first.

Trapattoni

India is cheap as chips and I am led to believe it is well worth doing - Will be doing it myself shortly

I think its best you fly into bangkok and when you want to do india get a cheap return flight from SEA - that way it wont affect your number of flights on the RTW ticket...

I know it works out cheaper but what fascinates me is the amount of people who confine themselves to the "year" away RTW ticket - What I mean is that your schedule is bound to change over this time and I would much prefer to have the freedom of going where I want when I want aswell as staying on a bit longer than a year.

I plan on buying a flight to bangkok - travelling all around cambodia , vietnam etc overland - Return flight to india (few weeks there) - then travel over land down the islands to singapore/bali before going to work in oz for 6 months ... NZ and SA on the way home afterwards. I havent a clue where I will be at what time but love the thought of this.

To answer your question by the way - Go to India first if it works out cheaper otherwie who cares --- you're going away for a culture shock , the bigger the better:)

Have a great time pal

Trap