7 weeks, 13 cities, 3252 miles travelled by trains and only about 10 bottles of beer later; its time to leave India. It has been lots of fun for the most part. It has also been quite expensive and at the moment we are still over budget for India, but it has been worth it. I feel that I have experienced some of the best and worst of India. In Delhi we were treated by our friend Hitanshu to some of the best places in Delhi, most notably Set'z bar which is the best bar I have ever been to. It even had an automatic toilet, which I accidentally got a jet wash from when I was messing about with the buttons! That was refreshing to say the least.
We have also experienced some pretty bad situations as well such as the smell of some of the 'sewage systems' which are pretty much large ponds of filth. The train stations are probably the worst places I've had to spend time. They are always packed with people sitting and sleeping all over the floor, the platforms reek of stale urine as everybody urinates on the track and the toilets on the trains are just holes in the floor. Also many large rats sniff around the track looking for food.
We were told about an acronym for INDIA that is common among travellers: I'll Never Do It Again. When I first heard this I agreed with it. But having spent more time here, I realised that it is a good place to experience. I think that I will definitely return one day, but only when I have less of a worry over money and can afford to stay in the nicer hotels that have heard of cleanliness. Which is more than can be said for some of the places we've stayed. But for less than £3 per night, you can't complain too much.
The food in India is very different than that of the UK. Breakfast (or Break your fast) as it is written in some menus is definitely the weakest part of the Indian cuisine. Choice is limited to a few local dishes that are not very nice.
The curries are very different to that which you find in an Indian restaurant at home. There are very nice curries here but they lack the amount of flavour that we get in the UK. We have been told by locals that the food we call Indian in the UK is actually Bangladeshi food not Indian.
It is also cheap for food and you can find snack places everywhere. We found one place in Kerala that was and all you can eat Thali (which is a full meal of rice, chapati and 1-2 curries) for 24rupees which is about 35pence!
Getting around India is easy and cheap enough. The trains system is impressive. The trains are huge and stretch as far as the eye can see when they pull into the station. We spent most of our journeys in the non a/c sleepers which are the cheapest option above second class, which is definitely not appealing to tourists.
Getting around the city is fun. Rickshaws or Tuk-Tuks are the main way and are relatively cheap, but only after bargaining. The majority have meters that we are always told are 'broken' so we can't use them and have to take a price that the driver makes up off the top of his head. This is usually 2x the real price due to the 'skin tax' (the term Indians use when justifying the higher price we pay) being added on.
Another popular way amongst tourists to get around is by renting scooters. They are around £2.50 to rent for a day and a very good way to get around the sights for cheap. We rented them on a few occasions in the quiet tourist areas such as Goa and Pondicherry. One of the best days I've had so far was when 7 of us rented them in Goa. We set off on a road trip north to find the isolated beaches. It took us 2 hours to do 20km as some of the riders were new and a little shakey. The beach was very nice and quiet. Later 5 of us rode up to a nearby beach bar that was showing Chelsea's Champions League match. On the way back I ran out of petrol! It was 3.30 in the morning and nothing was open. There was now 5 of us and only 2 working scooters. This meant that 3 of us had to squash onto one scooter, bearing in mind that we were all guys, it was cosy to say the least! Definitely an event I'm not going to forget quickly!
Accommodation in India is hard to find for a low price. Hostels are hard to find, we have stayed in only 2 hostels, the rest of the places we've stayed have been grotty guesthouses. The rooms tend to be a small box room which is just big enough to hold two beds and a plug socket with a bathroom sometimes attached. Hot water is a luxury as well. I think in the 7 weeks I have had maybe 10 hot showers, the rest a cold trickle of water that I'm sure isn't worth using.
That's all for India, it may appear that I have been complaining about India but I am not. I am just highlighting my experiences which I will look back on with happy memories.
We now move onto Thailand and the rest of southeast Asia for the next 3 months, and I can't wait!
