One mild incident of diarrhea at Jodhpur. Not serious, brought medication along. I think "filtered water" and maybe even food from my budget hotel. They said the filtered water was fit for foreign tourist consumation, maybe not. Got mildly sick. No biggie.
I knew of the stray dogs and cow in India. I did not expect to see wild boar and a dozen of piglets eating trash as I entered Agra. Fascinated to see Cheel, black kite, a big black predator bird like an eagle in Oval Maidan, Mumbai, Agra Fort, New Delhi, etc… many places. Saw a troop of Hanuman gray langurs at Jaigarh Fort. Adult male can be very big and strong. Saw macaque monkies savanging at Agra cantonment railway station. Saw alot of squirrels everywhere lol.
I took Air India domestic flight to Jaisalmer. Ride a camel during sunset in Thar desert. I took an older train from Jaisalmer to Jodphur. I took Vande Bharat high speed train from Udaipur to Jaipur. I took the Delhi metro. Hire a tuktuk for a day in Jaipur. I took a sedan from Jaipur to Agra and made two quick stops at Chand Baori and Fatehpur Skri. I took a bus from Kempegowda airport to Bengaluru city. Bengaluru airport is very far from the city. I think food is very important to Indians, even if its a short flight, you will get a full meal. For Vande Bharat you get like 7 course meals including manchow soup, chai, snacks, roti with curry, cupcakes, curd, etc… food keep coming. I mostly just eat two meals a day, cant eat three meals a day, too much eating.
Saw a Baarat on a street in Jaipur, a wedding procession, the groom was on a white horse. They encouraged me to join their wedding procession, lots of dancing. And later I got invited to the Wedding dinner party which I attended. And got invited to the Wedding reception (two days later), which I could not attend. Lots of food, gold, bling, rich vibrant colors, lots of music (they had a full band, with trumpets, drums etc..), lots of dancing (they had professional dancers as well), most are family having a good time. Five professional photographers. 2,000 guests. Four rows of counters of food (buffet style). The main food is at the center, desserts. Indians love sweets. And you see Lord Ganesh at the dessert counter. There were 10-15 people just baking rotis. Made to order roti. The women will be seated and kneading the dough. The men will put the dough in the oven. The kid will dap your roti with ghee. There is a specific oven and team just to make chapati. Another team just to make Nan. Another team to paratha. etc… there is no such thing as too much gold. Every women had so much gold, precious stones, diamonds on them I feel so underdressed. It doesnt matter you dont speak hindi. You will be very welcomed and honored. You get on stage, you meet the wedding couple and their immediate family. Kids will be very keen to talk to you and they will tell you, you are the first foreigner they spoken to. Many kids at the party spoke English. Everyone has 20+ cousins. Everyone wants a photo with you. Very intrigue by you. The host will introduce you to all their family.
Fatehpur Sikri was a bit rough. I had to say NO thirty times. After a while, I finally managed to get my bearing and find the right ticket booth and hired an official guide for Fatehpur (the palace section at published rates). I realized all the real guides are quite old, retirees, my guide was probably close to 70 years old. Those guides aged 20-30s constantly houding tourists are probably fake with fake IDs.
Taj Mahal is truly beautiful, makes my entire trip so worth it. Meet up with people in my homestay, went in the eaely morning, missed the sunrise, a long queue at the East Gate. But it was still beautiful, the first view of the Taj Mahal in the early morning with a slightly misty background give it a magical feel. The building appeared out of the mist. It was a clear morning, not foggy. Lots of photos.
On my second day in Mumbai, I had to book for another accomodation. I took Aqualine metro (underground) to Marol Naka, change line… upperground…I saw so much trash at the station, I was overwhelmrd. I said No, quickly got back on the Aqualine metro and checked into Taj Santa Cruz hotel. Had a wonderful night at Taj. Soundproof windows. Not a single honk or plane could be heard. Sometimes you can pay some money to make your travel in India more pleasant, more enjoyable.
Sometimes Indian tourists can also get scammed by other Indians. Dont assume Indian tourists from other states always get it right. Meetup with an India friend for lunch in Jodhpur who was from other state, the tuktuk driver gave a recommendation to another restaurant (they were speaking in Hindi, I just went along). Once we arrived, only saw white foreign tourists. Expensive. Small portion. Not nice food. Tourist trap. She also recommended me to go Baba Emporium for shopping, she bought some clothes there, she said was cheap, good quality. She said was fixed price (but no price tag). Well, only Indian tourists and Foreign tourists shop at Baba Emporium, local Jodhporis never shop in Baba, the locals shop at National Handloom Coop fixed price with price tags, 50%-400% cheaper. Rely on your host, homestay, local insider knowledge, not instagram or online reviews (many fake reviews)
Late January had a hour transit in New Delhi, the air pollution is terrible, throat irritation (coughing), you can smell burning, you cant see the blue sky, just fog/haze, very unpleasant. Couldnt wait to fly out of Delhi to get some fresh air in Jaisalmer. When I get back to Delhi in February, I decided to stay far far away from Delhi at the very end of Delhi metro line, in a satellite city in a neighboring state. Luckily air quality wasnt that bad, can still see blue sky when I was in Delhi for two nights in February.
I went to the PVR Gold cinema to watch a O'Romeo in hindi language in Bengaluru, everyone else were also reading the English subtitles. Most people in Bengaluru arent fluent in Hindi. Big seats. Raised legs. You get pillows. Saw people pressed a button to call a staff member to order food. I was told by someone to watch an India movie at the cinema… I was expecting the audience to sing along, or do something, anything… but they were pretty normal at PVR Gold, no noise, nobody talking loudly, everyone were respectful.
My tip would be to do add one southern city to your travel itineary if you planning to visit the northern India and the Golden Triangle, southern India is quite different, cleaner, more people can speak English, different cuisine, just less overwhelming, giving you a better overall picture of India. India is alot more than just the Golden Triangle.
by BleuPrince