Well considering I am jobless not I've been considering ****ing off for a few weeks and going to India. For some reason I have always had an interest in going there. Anyone been? Have any tips or must see places? Is it really that cheap?

I'm leaving for a long trip next week and I plan on spending 1-2 months in India. I haven't been there before but I have friends who have and they all say it's great (gives you a new perspective of life) and it really seems pretty cool. I don't have a list of things to see or do but I will most likely start in the southern parts of India and travel to the north. I'm sure that will be quite an adventure itself. From what I've heard from many people it's sick cheap most of the things. I spoke with a dude who spent 6 months in Bombay just hanging around, eating out at cheap places, he had ****ty appartment he rented for 6 months and he spent his days just chilling in the city. Meeting people and all that kind of stuff that doesn't cost much. I think he spent $1500-$2000 overall, with that said, it's probably funnier if you got some money to spend. But it seems it's a really cool place even if you don't have that much money.

I spent about 3 months there last summer, it absolutely can be really cheap if you want it to be, but there are also opportunities to spend money if you go looking for them.

I was staying in a mid sized town for the most part, here are some random prices...

Lunch: Huge plate of rice and vegetable curries, $.50
Dinner at decent restaurant: $2-4
Bus ride: $.08
Rickshaw ride: $1
Pair of cotton pants at department store: $8
Tailored dress shirt: $12
Movie in big city theater, $2-4.
Overnight train in AC sleeper class: $15
Cheap (but very passable) hotel: $10

As I'm sure you are aware its a huge, diverse country, with 14 official languages and many more cultures. Its made even bigger by the poor infrastructure and the time it takes to get anywhere, if you haven't traveled third world before and want to be thrifty in India you could be in for some culture shock.

On the other hand, if you want to live well you can isolate yourself pretty easily and have most standard western comforts, particularly in Bomaby, Delhi and Bangalore...but you'll find yourself paying much closer to western prices.

Alcohol is also one notable exception to the cheapness, you can generally track down some reasonably price beers if you just want to drink one, but in any sort of "nice" bar setting you'll be paying $3 minimum, and prices go up quickly after that. For example I went to a chic lounge in Bombay with some relatively well-off local friends, cocktails were $15-18, and we saw some clubs with as much as $20 covers. There's a huge wealth disparity over there, and it becomes apparent pretty quickly.

A few must see places:
Taj Mahal - ldo
Bombay - very cool cosmopolitan yet Indian city
Kerala - South India has a very different culture (and food) than the north which is different what we usually get more of in the west. Take a houseboat ride on the Kerala backwaters, its expensive but worth it...popular destination for north Indian honeymooners.
Goa - Didn't go but I've heard great things
North Mountains - Also didn't go but really want to

Was not that impressed with Jaipur, but its probably still worth a visit.
Udaipur has a very picturesque lake palace, just time it so the lake is full.

Could probably address more specific questions if you have them.

I live in Chennai, which is in southern India, and is one of the big cities of India. Let me know if you're ever there, and we can go out for a drink. Also, feel free to ask me whatever questions you have

Too bad I didn't do one of these before my trip, I was working at the CMC in Vellore, came to Chennai a few times...pretty hectic city, would have been nice to have someone to show me around.

Making my first trip in a couple months. Will be there for a couple months.
Cannot wait. Tagging this thread because I will have lots of questions soon.

Objectives:

Meet with my IT guys and get lots of work done
Make teh sexy with hot Indian broads
Buy a killer set of Tablas
Learn the basics of playing the Tablas
See a dude charm a cobra
Perhaps have some clothes custom tailored (I hear this is inexpensive there?)
Ship home a bunch of ethnographically oriented antiquities.
Attend a religious festival of some kind where people do bizarre "India Stuff".

I've always been intrigued by a mountain outside of Vadodara called Pavagadh. It essentially rises right out of the plains, and has an ancient temple and several lakes on top of the mountain, which are thought to be spiritually significant.

Tabla is one of the coolest instruments to learn. It is a tad hard initially but easy to improve over time.

How easy is it to hook up with Indian women?

hard

Yeah this is not going to be particularly easy, a good chunk of the population will essentially be completely out of the picture. In the big cities you'll find a decent nightlife scene with a young crowd that is fairly westernized, but from what I've seen, even the hi-society party crowd is pretty conservative in their approach to guys. Indian relationships generally place a huge importance on culture and a uniting of the two families. Some families are going to be much open about this than others, and there will probably be girls who go against their family's wishes or are exceptions to the rule, but you won't get the white foreigner girl-magnet thing that you may find in other asian countries.

On the positive side, Indian girls can be really hot, and there's like 600 million of them over there...so at least you have that going for you.

What would be a good city to sort of make home base out of if you were planning on going for 4-5 months, renting an apartment somewhere, and planing on doing a decent amount of traveling to other places as well?

Is there reliable high speed internet?

Can you play poker?

Thanks

It really depends on what you're looking for, if you're interested in something resembling western lifestyle then your best options are probably Bombay, Delhi or Bangalore. Other big cities, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata to name a few will also have their share of western comforts, but these first three probably have the largest Western influence. For me living in India would probably begin and end with Bombay. Its still a totally crazy overpopulated, dirty, loud, Indian city, but its remarkably cosmopolitan in parts, good restaurants, and nightlife. Reliable internet and poker shouldn't be a big problem.

If you want something more chill and relaxing there are lots of little hill stations where you can enjoy some quiet serenity, or you can go to Goa which is a world in itself, beaches, partying and lots of Euros.

As far as traveling goes, India is huge and very diverse. You can train around if you're patient and enjoy the actual process of getting from place to place. Or you can take cheap flights, any major hub will have good flight options but Bombay and Delhi are probably the best.

I honestly would not live in India for an extended period of time. Unless you know an "in" crowd, Indian cities can be remarkably frustrating to get around. Of course, India is alright if you want to do the whole travel around the country and see the sights thing, but I would not consider it a a great place to lounge and play online poker and then go out on the town every once in awhile. Goa, of course is a different story but it's really a western city and I would not consider it as any kind of representation of India at all if that is what you are looking for.

Yeah it should be pointed out that even in the best of worlds, India isn't a really place where you can just wander down to a strip of bars and clubs and have a night out. The good spots are usually spread out, hard to find, in hotels or hidden in office buildings, you really have to know some people to figure out what's going on.

Its an amazing place culturally, but I'm not sure I would commit to living there for a long period without visiting first and getting some idea of what you're getting into.

is there a problem with being ripped off by indians over there? i know indian-americans have a reputation of.. not being the best to do business with. is it the same deal over there ?

Well the short answer is probably yes, but it sorta depends on what you mean by being ripped off. You run into the biggest problems at markets and with taxis or rickshaw drivers.

The thing with markets is that bargaining is inherent even in transactions with locals, but locals generally have some idea the 'true' price is and can bargain accordingly. Its taken to the next level with westerners, especially in touristy areas, the prices you are quoted could be like 4 or 5 times the fair Indian price. So what generally happens is the savvy feeling white man bargains down to 50% of the price and feels like he gets a steal when hes actually paying twice what he could have. But it depends a lot on what you're buying and where you're buying it. What it comes down to, is that stuff is often so cheap that you may technically be getting ripped off but its not really that big of a deal and not worth the hassle to spend 5 minutes hardballing the guy to save 50 cents.

The rickshaws can be very aggravating, asking for a price in advance doesn't work because everyone will quote too high and you'll never get a ride. The best bet is to get a pretty quick feel for what a fair price is and just pay the driver that regardless of what he asks for at the end. I got in a few sticky situations with this, generally it worked, but if the driver gets out and follows you then you probably know you shorted him a bit. Its also also key to always have change handy. Again were talking about small change here, rickshaw rides are probably about $1 for any reasonable distance. But if you spend a a long time there and get used to Indian prices you sorta start to take it personally when they charge you 50% too much...or at least I did, maybe it would have been better to just let it slide

Bombay is awesome because the cabs not only have roofs and doors, but also meters and pretty much all of the ones we took didn't try to pull anything.

went snowboarding in the himalayas which was epic.
india is a love/hate country. loved the country and mountains. hated the people and culture. expect to be on tilt 95% of the time due to culture differences.

I'm considering going to India after the new year. I heard that I can easily live there with 500$/month alone and ~800$/month with my gf. Is that true?
I wanna go there for several months(at least 3 months bu could be up to 6). We want to live in a city where there are some interesting places to visit and some nightlife. At the same time I want it to be a place where I can go to some local market and buy some food there etc.
So - modern city that isn't a cosmopolitan
What are my options?

Pffft, it can be cheap for sure and I have only been there as a tourist. But to live on that you will probably have to stay in some **** places. The basic problem being is to reach our min standards of cleanliness you have to pay a bit more. Think the least I paid for a room that was acceptable was $15 a night. I stayed in a couple of ****holes for less than $10, but fk that for a barrel of laughs.

As for trying to scrimp on food there well, I for sure would want to be paying to eat somewhere I know is clean which once again probably means paying more. Being sick in India is not fun, I only had a moderate dose of gut rot and I wouldn't wish it on anyone...........

hey bobstal !!
i am frm new delhi, india..any questions just shoot em up .
quick facts

1.if u want high standard of living or luxuries of west i would recommend delhi,mumbai and bangalore!

2. if u wanna play poker ,then dere are floating casinos in goa ,2$ 4$ games
high stakes would be 10$ - 20$....thats it

3. goa is also famous for its beaches, hippy culture,and some rave parties

4. if u want peace in mountains den try going to rishikesh, kasol, manali,tosh etc

5 kasol is place which is basically filled up with israelis,russians,dutch!!
its a smokers paradise !! if u are a pot head..

--peace--

I don't recommend planning to move to an Indian city without visiting first. An Indian city is not the same as moving to Europe or anywhere else in Asia sight unseen. It's not Bangkok or Jakarta. India is its own world

India can be extremely cheap. Depends how you want to travel. I spent 2 1/2 months there and spent well under $20/day. Most backpackers are under $20/day, $25 tops. If you are not a budget traveler it is going to cost you more. It is the cheapest place I have been along with Egypt. I would never pay more than $10 for a room in India, Vucking Vish wont stay in one for less. Can do it however you want

Love it or hate it Varanasi is a must see place in India.

Here is a trip report on Varanasi. Can find the rest of India on there too. I only went to the North
http://drinkhumanmilk.blogspot.com/2...asi-india.html

100% agree on Varanasi, top place.....

I'm currently traveling through India. I'm going North of Delhi to Kashmir regions. Maybe my impressions do not apply to the rest of India. That said;

Is it cheap? Hmmm. If the same crap was actually available in the US, it would probably cost just as little. Let me explain,

For food, outside of Delhi I have yet to see a legitimately nice restaurant. Most of them look like war zones. Absolutely filthy. Roaches and all sorts of bugs everywhere. At best, they look like they haven't been taken care of at all for a few years. (hotel ones) Vegetarian dishes are cheap, and meat dishes are more expensive. For a meat dish, you will pay about 120-240 rupies which is $3-6 and that doesn't come with any sides and it's in a pretty filthy restaurant. In the US, you can go to downtown DC Thai restaurant and get some sort of lunch meat dish with some sides for $10 total. Which is better value? IMO, USA Thai restaurant - hands down. Sure, you can live on dal and bread from the stalls and spend $2/day and eat your meals from metal plates that get only minimal of washing in cold water between uses, but you can also survive on beans and rice in the US just as cheaply.

Other goods are mostly a lot more expensive than in the US. (electronics, any western brand stuff, etc). Clothing and such can be cheap, but almost always the quality reflects it and you could probably get the same stuff even cheaper in the US at dollar stores/Kmarts/Wallmarts and US stuff would be better quality.

Where are all these nice hotels for $10? I can tell you they are probably not North of Delhi. In any city that has some significance and tourist attraction, even the $30-$50 hotels have bugs, stained sheets, stained walls, and don't always have a proper shower or hot water. Someone post some pics or video of these great $10 rooms so we can see what you think is a great room. Yesterday I had to spend the night in a $8 hotel room and it was a dungeon with no hot water and tons of roaches and the biggest spider roaming around I have ever seen in my life. The genuinely well-meaning Indians did not seem to mind this at all. Most of them live in sustained poverty and they are used to these conditions. I've seen some cheap rooms in nontoristy areas and bad locations and some where acceptable but nothing to write home about.

For good value, Thailand wins hands down and it's not even close. Prices are higher in Thailand, but you actually get something for your money, whereas in India it's just lowest of the low quality and standard - with filth and dirt at no extra charge.

Also, the pollution is really, really bad here. Even outside of the cities, it is a problem IMO. And a lot of potentially pretty areas are spoiled by Indians who trash up the place. They go to some nice waterfall, and just throw the trash down on the ground not thinking about why that place looks nice in the first place.

I actually came here with a friend and he left after about 10 days. He couldn't take the absolute filth everywhere.

That said, I'm into photography and India is full of the 3rd world imagery. It's ridiculous how backwards things are here and how poor people seem to be. (I never really got the same feeling while traveling in Africa.)

Also, Indian girls are legitimately hot. That is a fact.

Unfortunately, they seem to get married young and not get involved with anyone anyways. Sometimes I see them sneak a peak when they see me, but I think it's mostly just curiously rather than interest.

No idea how to hit on girls here. That would really break up my downtime. If there are clubs or bars in medium and small cities, they are well hidden. Most 20+ year olds here - guys and girls - are on a tight leash from parents... as if they were still 14... having to get home before dark, etc.

And most girls walking down the street seem to be either with mom/dad/grandparents or bf/husband.