I'm off to India

there are a few who are of indian extraction. and i think n/a lived in india for a time.

Also not to be missed: Qutb Minar and Humayun's tomb.

I took the train to Agra, which was fine, takes about 4 hours. The food on the train was really good and astoundingly cheap, even by Indian standards. Same goes for the train to and from Chandigarh, which was more like an inflight catering service, in that you had food brought to your seat at no extra cost.

Chandigarh is interesting. It's a new town designed by le Corbusier. The main selling point for me - in fact the only reason I ventured up there - was the Nek Chand rock garden, which is well worth a visit. Check out the swings!!!

Oddly the busride back in the opposite direction was actually rather pleasant, I had a little sleeper compartment.

... and another in Mumbai on 1st March, I meant.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/gizella@sbcglobal.net/album?.dir=/4bd8&.src=ph&.tok=ph_xELEBcmFIxQ0P

(Our favorite city was actually Jaipur - but Goa can't be beat for drunken beach relaxation)

Ooh, lovely pictures. Monkeys!

Here are my photos of Delhi and Agra:

http://www.photobox.co.uk/shared/browse.html?c_album=760270&page=all&group=

I bloody forgot to take my camera to Chandigarh. If you get the chance do go there and visit Nek Chand's rock garden. Wow.

Travelling in India does require some sacrifices in terms of comfort, its true. But its so worth it, really.

Kerala's probably too far south to be practically in reach - travel time can take awhile (unless you're flying, as noted), depending on where yr going... I haven't been to Kolkata. Goa is like a weird little tourist paradise, parts of it are really great, but its definitely unlike a lot of the rest of India. Delhi is nuts, Mumbai is even um nuttsier! Mumbai is just gigantic, sprawling, dense, super-metropolitan city - India's most obvious analog to London or New York. If you want specific recommendations about where to go/people to hook up with I can post some details when I get home and look at my notes. In the meantime, here's some photos:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/gizella@sbcglobal.net/album?.dir=/4bd8&.src=ph&.tok=ph_xELEBcmFIxQ0P

(Our favorite city was actually Jaipur - but Goa can't be beat for drunken beach relaxation)

-- Shakey Mo Collier (audiobo...), January 31st, 2006.

Can someone remove the yahoo photos link please? thx

I'm going to Mumbai for work in 3 weeks. Thinking of taking a few days to travel afterwards. I'm looking for recommendations. I think it makes the most sense to do a Southern India trip, but have no idea where to go.

Looks like me and the husband are going to Delhi for a wedding in November. We were planning to be basic bitches and tour the Golden Triangle, but our pal over there says the air quality in the north is terrible and we might want to go south to Kerala instead. What does ILE say? We have our hearts set on Jaipur and Udaipur.

Been many many years since I did the triangle (there's a post from me way upthread when I did it!) but I'm guessing the bad air quality would mostly be concentrated to Delhi, which I don't recommend spending a lot of time in anyway. Jaipur, Udaipur, etc. have a lot less vehicles and should have cleaner air. They are beautiful places to visit

I also went to Kerala more recently and hugely enjoyed that as well, but we only saw Kochi, Munnar, and the backwaters, a much shorter trip. I'd probably pick based on your time and where the wedding is. Both trips are worth your time, and very different sides of India obv

A little bit of research shows AQI has gotten worse in Rajasthan since my trip so maybe it should depend on your sensitivity. I've spent years living in an extremely polluted city so my perspective is skewed

Thanks, Vinnie. Yeah, I think we're going to risk the air quality and go for Rajasthan. It just makes sense in terms of where we're starting from.

We did tour Rajasthan, and even though the air quality in Delhi was brutal (I woke up with a nosebleed two of the mornings we were there, although that could have been stress, and also standing on a slip road with cars roaring by on a Friday night while we accompanied the groom into the wedding venue with extremely loud Punjabi drums all around us) and it was hazy in Jaipur and Agra, we still had an amazing time. We had booked a pretty high-end package, with a private car and guides and nice hotels, so I couldn't exactly say we got a great flavour of local life anywhere, but we had an amazing time and are now saving up so we can go to a different bit of India next time. Like, Rajasthan obviously has a lot of important historical sites in it, and things worth seeing, but it's quite a poor state, and the countryside in the bits we passed through is mostly not very exciting. Our driver was from Himachal, and he urged us to come there some time to enjoy the mountains and the lovely clean air (and, presumably, terrifying roads).
We also maybe should not have eaten butter chicken for every single meal. We did not feel entirely well when we got home, and I think it's just because we are now 90% ghee.
As a recent convert to the cult of SRK, it is genuinely funny to see his face on so many products, things like steel bars, some kind of chewing tobacco, mobile phones, biscuits, sweets, you name it. All across Rajasthan, film stars are pointing at things on posters that film stars here would never be pointing at. Steel bars, cement (Amitabh Bachchan), scooters (Amitabh Bachchan), low-cost mobile plans (Alia Bhatt), and obviously Pepsi and Thums-Up and so on. Always be earning, I guess.