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Tony_Balony
Joined: 12 Apr 2007
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 Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 7:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Can I have $2? I need to feed my children. Please. |
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luvnpeas
Joined: 03 Aug 2006
Location: somewhere i have never travelled
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| Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 8:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Tiger Beer wrote: |
| Varanasi would be interesting.. yet outside of the Ganges River.. what would be the other large attractions to draw someone there? |
Not much, but that's like asking what would draw you to Cairo other than the pyramids.
It's the holiest place in India.
It's also somewhat on the way to Calcutta. |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 7:04 am Post subject: |
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| ella wrote: |
| Lived in Delhi. Loved it: food, clothes, people, language, history. |
So Delhi is good? Any specifics on it? Did you go to other cities as well?
| stealth_fighter wrote: |
| Agra and Jaipur or Kerala and the south. |
What's in Agra?
| Tony_Balony wrote: |
| I had laser eye surgery in Mumbai. I hated the place and left as quickly as possible. |
What didn't you like about Mumbai? That is one of the more interesting cities it seems (without having been there yet).
| desultude wrote: |
Rajasthan rocks, but every gap-year kid and french person knows it (I heard that about 65% of the travelers in Rajasthan are French). Next time I want to go someplace a little off the tourist trail.
Punjab has less stellar attractions, but it also has way less tourists. The Sikh's Golden Temple in Amritsar and the border crossing ceremony at the Pakistan border make the trip north worthwhile. |
Wonder of Rajastan is the Ko Sahn Road of India? Or is that Goa?
| luvnpeas wrote: |
| Tiger Beer wrote: |
| Varanasi would be interesting.. yet outside of the Ganges River.. what would be the other large attractions to draw someone there? |
Not much, but that's like asking what would draw you to Cairo other than the pyramids.
It's the holiest place in India.
It's also somewhat on the way to Calcutta. |
Varanasi might be a miss.
Calcutta seems interesting, but was thinking of it coming from Southeast Asia. Then probly fly to other destinations from there.
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Anyone have some specifics on Calcutta and Mumbai? Goa as well? |
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ella
Joined: 17 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 10:22 am Post subject: |
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Um... the Taj. |
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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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| Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 2:40 pm Post subject: |
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| desultude wrote: |
Rajasthan rocks, but every gap-year kid and french person knows it (I heard that about 65% of the travelers in Rajasthan are French). Next time I want to go someplace a little off the tourist trail.
Punjab has less stellar attractions, but it also has way less tourists. The Sikh's Golden Temple in Amritsar and the border crossing ceremony at the Pakistan border make the trip north worthwhile. |
| Quote: |
| Wonder of Rajastan is the Ko Sahn Road of India? Or is that Goa? |
It would be really unfair to call Rajasthan the "Ko Sahn Road of India". There are too many tourists, to be sure, and Pushkar is certainly a candidate for the Ko Sahn Road title, but not all of Rajasthan. Rajasthan is a huge state with an amazing variety of cultures. Even Pushkar (a holy city in the east center of Rajasthan) is well worth the trip. The biggest problem in Rajasthan is the touts and the beggars. Both can be managed, but over time the selling and begging wears on you.
Yes, the Taj Mahal is in Agra. My feeling was and still is that it is worth a miss. I went because it was on the way to someplace I wanted to go to. The city of Agra is, well, not lovely. The Taj has become such a over represented icon that seeing the real thing feels like a bit of an afterthought. The simulacra has eclipsed the real thing, and you feel like a Disney tourist by being there. I may catch heat for saying that, but I have seen much more glorious things in India than the Taj. |
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jaganath69
Joined: 17 Jul 2003
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| Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 3:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Calcutta (now Kolkata) is fantastic, been there numerous times. If you want to experience the pomp that was Victorian era colonial India, it's there you can do it. Want to see the seething mass of humanity that is India? Do it there, walk across the Hoogly Bridge to Howra Station and rub shoulders with 10 million or so people. Play cricket on the Maidan, the massive park in the centre of the city, or catch a game at Eden Gardens. Sip a G&T at the Tollygunge club or enjoy the granduer of the Oberoi. Take a trip to Salt Lake to see the booming Indian middle classes live and play, or walk through the Anand Nagar and see those who didn't make it. Take a human-pulled rickshaw to a Communist Party (CPI) rally and enjoy the irony. Go to Kalighat and watch a goat get its head lopped off in honour of a religion that promotes vegetarianism. Watch a Bengali art house flick or see a soap opera being filmed. Enjoy it, live it, love it, lap it up. Kolkata is India at its best, or at least I think so. |
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luvnpeas
Joined: 03 Aug 2006
Location: somewhere i have never travelled
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| Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 1:22 am Post subject: |
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Sikandra, on the outskirts of Agra, is worth visiting.
There is more than one kind of tourism. If you want to see monuments, the Taj Mahal is...the Taj Mahal. Nothing replaces being there. If you are in the area, and you are interested in the wonders of the world that are monuments, the Taj is a must-see.
The real reason to go to India is the "lifestyle" tourism. Walk around the neighborhoods and market streets and pick up a feel, the intangibles that make it a different world. For that, the monuments are pretty irrelevant. (Varanasi is very good for it.) |
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ella
Joined: 17 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 4:44 am Post subject: |
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I think the time and day you visit can have an impact on your experience at the Taj. I went at the crack of dawn on a weekday morning. There was no one in the entire complex except for me and a small group of Chinese tourists. When they exited the Taj, I was alone (except for the guard with the machine gun standing right outside). Alone with the hazy morning sunlight streaming in. And silence.
I went back in later in the day when it was packed with noisy tourists. In all the marble sound echoes and bounces all over the place, it was unbelievably loud with the "tour guides" barking at people and chatty conversations going on all the time. Wasn't the same experience at all. I'll be forever grateful for that morning I spent alone there. It was something else.
I sat outside for hours and watched the sun rise, turning the marble from gray to cream to a blinding white. The sunlight catches the inlaid stone and moves like a live thing across its surface. I found it hypnotizing.
desultude makes a point, everyone has different experiences and reactions. I would never advise skipping if you're in that part of the world - go see for yourself. Mystical experiences aside, it's a breathtaking work of art in terms of architecture, if nothing else. Don't pass it up. |
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Jizzo T. Clown
Joined: 27 Mar 2006
Location: at my wit's end
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| Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 11:21 pm Post subject: |
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| What would a trip to India (Agra or Calcutta)from Seoul cost over a few days? |
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aditya
Joined: 22 May 2007
Location: Inha University, Incheon
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| Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 6:00 pm Post subject: |
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dude
u cant go to india and miss the himalayas can u?
Go to the following places:
North himalaya: Kashmir, Leh, Ladakh, Pangong lake, I bet you'd never see something as beautiful again ever!
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/65/187252574_d2d1f80d04.jpg
have a look at this pic PLEEEEASE
also go to
North North Easter himalaya: Garhwal Ranges: Nainital, Nandadevi
Go to Eastern Himalaya: Sikkim, Kanchenjunga
Go to Rajasthan's desert, in West India
Go to Kerela's back waters in South India
Go to Munnar Tea hills in south India
Go to Bombay, Calcutta and New Delhi!!
Go to all these places and you will love India! |
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K-in-C
Joined: 27 Mar 2003
Location: Heading somewhere
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| Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 11:38 pm Post subject: I Want to Know Too |
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| Jizzo T. Clown wrote: |
| What would a trip to India (Agra or Calcutta)from Seoul cost over a few days? |
'
Bump |
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Rteacher
Joined: 23 May 2005
Location: Western MA, USA
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sojourner1
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Location: Where meggi swim and 2 wheeled tractors go sput put chug alugg pug pug
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| Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 3:57 am Post subject: |
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| India is so exotic, I want to go. I wonder what kind of costs you would be looking at to go to India from SE Asia for a couple weeks, before flying home? |
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SuperFly
Joined: 09 Jul 2003
Location: In the doghouse
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| Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 4:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Ladakh is the number 1 place I'd like to visit if I ever get a chance to go to India. |
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philogirl81
Joined: 06 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 3:59 am Post subject: |
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I'm actually in India at this moment. I left Seoul yesterday morning. It has been a bit of a culture shock. I forgot that no one outside of Korea can speak any Korean. This morning when I ordered coffee, I asked for it in Korean. "Coffee Juseyo" is just not a universal request. It was perhaps the dumbest thing I have done in a while!
I was in Delhi today doing the tourist thing. It reminds me of Mexico City for the level of dirt and poverty. Not the best city, but not the worst either.
Onwards to other places.  |
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