what are the backpackers like (which countries). if u compare backpackin india to SEA (thailand, laos etc). where do u see the biggest difference.
i assume u got a lot of hippie backpackers in india, who dont like to party and prefer smoking some weed.?!?

i read this post and now i realy want to go to india

Hoenstly, just start in Goa, try to see the places I mentioned and I promise you will figure it all out once you get there.

Generally going to Nepal, Sri Lanka, or thailand is how you would get a new visa. getting an official visa extension from inside the country is not possible. However there is a method involving backsheesh and a certain lawyer that gets you a letter from the ministry of interior to stay an aditional 3 months after your visa expires. This method is pretty much only used by Israelis because they can only get visas for 6 months at a time and can not apply for a new visa until 6 months after the previous one expired (as far as i know israelis are the only nationality with this restriction). So your best course of action, in my oppinion is to leave the country and get a new visa. If you really want to go the backsheesh rout then talk to a few Israelis, eventually one will point you in the direction of the lawyer.

I would say its pretty safe. in my opinion 60-65% of the travelers are female and a huge chunk of them are travelling alone. if they can do it i guarantee you can too. however i would say kashmir is not so safe

Overall i would say it was pretty good, India is a former british colony. you will usually find at least one english speaker in the crowd. and if you are white expect a big crowd to form around you.

In kashmir

there were many, ill pick one and write about it later.

winter in the south, summer in the north.


totally depends on season and location

no

my rule was no passangers, but i would have gone 10 for 10 if i wans't such a responsible pu***

Edit: i did bang a couple of the hopefuls

Good question. i would say at least 50% of travelers in india (backpackers) are Israeli, although it could easily be a greater percentage. you will decide pretty quickly if you like them or not. I found that Israelis for the most part seemed to be the most normal. as you would imagine odd ball hippies and spiritual types tend to gravitate to india, but because there are so many israelis, a greater number of them seemed like regular down to earth people to me. as far as partying, outside of goa ande a few spots in kerala there is almost no partying and very little drinking. India has rolling blackouts almost everywhere, and many nighttime restrictions like curfews so running a club or party doesn't work so well. Do not expect a party scene like Thailand, or even laos or vietnam ( i just left those 3 countries so trust me). There is also very little hook up culture in india. the way i explain it is that everyone is just too stoned all the time. Obviously sex goes on, as it inevitably will when you have thousands of travelers in their 20's but it is nothing like south east asia. although i will say that i had dozens of conversations with girls about this and they pretty much all seem to agree that being high makes them extremely horny, but the weed/charas/hash and especially opium kills a mans sex drive. on more than a few occasions i was just too high to **** even though i was almost raped. i guess if you go and be the only sober one in town you may clean up with the women, or you can just get high and then you wont be interested anyway. So good luck

Chabibi, my name is shiningnight and my vice is opium/opiates. I'm at 55 and very close to retiring. I know in your posting you listed your five favorite places which was very informative, also your listing of the most common drugs was very good information. But, with your experience in India and/or Nepal. I was wondering if you could use your expertise and tell me the top three places where opium and opiates can be obtained in the safest manner possible. I'm a quiet unassuming person who wants no trouble with any one. I would be most appreciative if you could share your knowledge with me. Thank you very much.

funny stuff for a 1st post

How reasonable do you think India is as a poker pro destination a la Thailand? Where would be some good combinations of cheap/fun/secure (and preferably with access to some sort of quality cannabis)?

Goa sounds like it could be your scene, nice beaches, parties, drugs can be found pretty easily from what I hear. That part of Goa is rather different than the rest of India though, and its pretty overrun with tourists a lot of the time, gets a lot of Euro partiers.

India in general is a bit less developed than Thailand, but you can live well in the big cities, Bombay, Delhi, Kolkatta, Bangalore. Bombay is a pretty cool city and the clear winner of these in my opinion, surprisingly cosmopolitan once you learn how to navigate around the abject poverty.

Hi, I have a couple of questions in my mind:

What would you do if you had flight to Delhi with a return flight in 2 weeks (in May)? Would you spend some time there and also take a flight to somewhere else in India?

I am traveling with my girlfriend and she is pretty inexperienced traveler. I am thinking about traveling to Kochi (in Kerala) because I have read that it is one of the most civilized parts of India and thus it would be less of a cultural shock.

Sorry for my bad english

Going through some of these post and just want to chime in for any would be India travelers out there.

I'm not going to argue that Delhi doesn't suck, I was expecting congestion and dirtiness and still pretty amazed at what we found there, but there are some cool cultural things to be seen and I think its definitely worth a visit. Theres also a reasonably large international presence and you can find any modern convenience you'd want, but the nightlife seemed to pale in comparison with Bombay. I guess my point is basically that if you want to avoid congested, dirty, loud,smelly cities then you might have a tough time in India

Agra the city is also a crappy little town which is now totally built around the Taj Mahal and there is no reason to stay for more than one day, but if you are going to go to India you should really see it...even with all the hype I found it to be a very impressive experience.

In general though South India is very under appreciated, Kerala is beautiful and a welcome change of pace from the rest of the country.

If you find yourself in the area, check out Kodaikanal. It's basically a resort town on top of some mountains. On a clear(ish) day, you can get some amazing views due to the location.

Also, Pondicherry, an old French town on the coast. Big plus: they have regular garbage collection. And French people. Crazy.

And, if you haven't already backpacked somewhere exotic for an extended period, do it.
Embrace culture shock, it's an amazing thing, especially since it works in reverse upon return.

Did you rent or buy the Enfield? It sounds like you bought it. If so, how do you make it legal if you're there just on a tourist visa? Were you able to get it all legit so you can cross borders on the bike?

Can you talk about Kashmir and mountain areas more, from a rider's perspective? What sort of danger can you encounter in Kashmir? Are tourists targets? I've been to the deep South in Thailand and I didn't sweat it at all because tourists are not targets and army has a big presence everywhere. Even on deserted jungle roads there was a lot of Thai military guarding stuff. (although anything could happen obviously.)

Also, in more touristy Thai cities, there is usually some area with a lot of travel agencies selling standard tours to all the local attractions. I found this a very convenient intro to get started in an area and discover what is available, and what I want to explore more of. In many other countries, there is no such equivalent of these 'tour/tourist streets' and things can be very time consuming and difficult to research and accomplish. How is India in this respect?

I did purchase the enfield, its not exactly legal but if they give you the ownership papers you should be ok. in the worst case scenario a cop just wants a small bribe. aside from crossing in to Nepal, Im not sure which countries you would go too. keep in mind enfields are only used in india, and a few in Nepal. although there is no problem crossing with it in to nepal

In the past, tourists have been targets. in the 90s there were cases of terrorists walking on to house boats and killing all the tourists as well as kidnapping for ransom and execution. there is less of that now, but violence still goes on. like i said a suicide bomber killed 9 or 10 people just after i left

riding in the himilayas is messed up, be prepared to potentially die. the roads are narrow and windy and trucks can take up the entire road. the hiearchy is like this Truck, bus, car, cow, motorbike, person. drive accordingly. also the road from manali to ladahk is the second most dangerous road in the world (second only to La Paz bolivia). I remember crossing a mountain pass from the jammu valley in to the kashmir valley, suddenly there were hundreds of massive military transport trucks the forced you to the side of the road. sometimes with only a foot or two of shoulder seperating you from a 500 foot plumet. The point being enflields in northern india are F***ing dangerous.

also the situation in kashmir is ver diffeerent than thailand. in thailand they are worried about civil unrest. kasmir is a stone throw from places like waziristan and the kyber pass. there is a big difference between the civil unrest in thailand and islamic insurgency.

having said all this, go for it its awsome and you wont regret it

In my post about 5 best things, I listed seeing charas and hashish production (they also make opium) in the Parbati valley,
well, time just published this article

http://time.com/3736616/discover-him...ijuana-fields/

If anyone is going to India, go here in late September early October and you can see this in action.

The village in these pictures is called Malana, but there are other more remote and less well known villages where the same things happen.

Its an awesome experience and well worth making the effort if you are there at the right time

Seasoned SEA traveler, India never appealed but now getting the urge..then i find this thread (TY for OP and bump). Ok, so now I HAVE to go Malana or surrounds, end Sept, early Oct. But, I got 10 days max from LHR

Is that even poss in 10 days? LHR to Delhi (?) to train to shared bus / driver, mule for the last leg? bike not an option though you don't need convince me it is the best way of seeing Asia. Thread needs some pics pls..

Is plain meat (no sauces, spices, coconut or onion), say beef steak or chicken readily available at usual traveler eateries or learn to eat Indian? Wipe ass with hand: noted! No bum guns in India, everyone solid.

Are accommodations in Malana with daily trek or do you camp with locals in the valley?

LHR means london?

If your plan is to see charas made, and make some of your own, it can easily be done in 10 days.
fly to Delhi, and take a connection to kullu (or Buhntar, cant remember which has the airport ), my guess is like $100 if you buy plane ticket internally. once in Kullu/buhntar, take a bus or taxi to kasol in parbati valley, its like maybe 45 min by car. spend the night in kasol and ask either the guest house owner or other travellers about which villages to go, and how to get there. Malana is by far the most popular, and the charas is considered the best, but IMO thats more fame and marketing, a lot of people Know about Malana cream charas etc. from kasol its like a 3 hour walk, all the villages have guest houses, and believe it or not, thats not the most popular season, so availability wont be a huge problem. in Malana or whatever village the guest house owner either has his own crop (I believe they call the fields kutlas, but its been a while) or will arrange for someone to make charas with you. Its free to make your own, as the constraint isn't the weed available but the time and labor to make it, you should still give him some money anyway.

when done, pack some in an envelope and mail to me

Thanks.

If you go to Malana, do not touch any of the villagers or their livestock as that carries a fine, I believe that is the only village with that restriction


By bike, you mean bicycle or motorcycle? if the latter, dont mess with that on a 10 day trip. if you mean bike instead of walk? no chance, these are high mountain paths, more trek than walk, if you aren't altitude acclimatized you might only barely make it on foot as it is.

As far as beef, forget about, while not totally impossible to find, its damn near. Chicken is widely available everywhere, mutton is common too, you might find buffalo here or there, but more in Nepal.

Oh almost forgot, one problem is that harvest and making time varies, some years a little earlier, some a little later. it may be hard to time exactly.

Six months per year as a tourist it is no problem. The basic living costs are half of thailand except in mumbai area where online poker is additionally illegal, though u cant transfer money in nor out of the country to gamble with anywhere in india according to fema law. Drugs is a high violation in india.

Two good spots are kerala and karnataka, and the cities of thiruvananthapuram and mysore are about 1m big, clean and have modern buildings also. The latter is cooler but no sea. Kollam in kerala is .3m city w 1m metro and the beach is some closer than around 10 km like in thiru, but not sure about the quality of internet connection. One needs a fan in these sea places and the other, latter, half of the year is more moist. Springs are hot in all places but in some north india, some places there not safe. Some small city in karnataka is like 20c i think. Goa cities are small, the weather about kerala.

"Yes! There are plenty of options for backpacking in India. If you fly in to Delhi, you can head straight into the Himalayas for a fabulous mountain experience. Both Himachal and Uttarakhand have a lot of backpacker-friendly destinations.

In Himachal, Manali, Kasol, Kheerganga, and McLeodganj are top spots. You'll find cheap hostels, cafes and restaurants that serve meals for as low as 1 or 2 USD, and plenty of peace. The Parvati Valley (the region in which Kasol and Kheerganga lie) is especially beautiful, and you don't need to be an expert trekker to get around. You could also consider Spiti, a stark dry region in Himachal that is very different from the green valleys around it) where you find prehistoric marine fossils on mountain trails, dating back to the birth of the Himalayas.

In Uttarakhand, you should consider Rishikesh (for yoga beside the Ganges, superb rafting, bungee jumping, and a lot of temples to see), easy short treks that take you deep into the mountains to camp in cosy tents and see the Himalayas in the moonlight.

If you're not mountain people, choose from Goa or the more offbeat Gokarna (in Karnataka) for your dose of sun, sand, and surf. Oh and plenty of fresh fish and prawns at backpacker prices!"