India Highs and Lows: What are yours?

[chris]

Was thinking about my experiences in India. This is what I came up with. What were your highs and lows?


*Places
High
Palolem Beach, Goa

Low
Rush hour in Delhi

*Events
High
Dalai Lama’s Birthday celebration

Low
Trying to sit in the lotus position for more than 5 minutes on a 10-day meditation retreat.

*Attitudes
High
Man who rented me Bullet in Delhi

Low
The touts in Srinigar. The kids on the way into the Zanskar valley who all demanded a pen

*Roads
High
Where do I start? Manali to Leh, Spiti Valley, road to Pangong, Nubra

Low
Srinigar to Patankot: traffic jam because army had just shot a militant and they closed the road

*Bikes
High
Nearly new 500cc Bullet with steel luggage

Low
Clapped out sad 350cc Bullet with plastic bags on the back

*Experiences
High
Hindu ceremony at Temple in Hampi, Karnataka

Low
Dealing with rickshaw wallahs in Paharganj in Delhi

Cheers
ChrisB



------------------
TheBrightStuffDotCom

[straightandleft]

Sounds like you had a great trip - i did the south of India, and loved it.

Overall Highs were the roads down south - and the ultimate High was the sunrise in Kanyakumari - simply amazing.

check out the video:
YouTube - straightandleft's Channel

I did the entire East coast in the US as well, and it really didnt compare with India.

Enjoy:
Home (Straight And Left)

[chris]

Words, stills and videos: Indian Himalayas TBSdotCom

cheers
Chris

[CTB]

where/who rented you the bike?

Thanks

[chris]

Soni Motors Royal Enfield Customising Restoring Maintenance Spares - Home in Delhi rented me the 500cc Bullet in 2004. I had no problems with them or the bike. I would recommend them.

Lots of people rave about: lalli singh.com in Delhi. When I was there he didn't have a bike for me at very short notice. He's booked up months in advance.

In 2003 I borrowed a 350cc Bullet in Manali: lots of problems.

Do a search on the HUBB. There's lots of opinions.

Chris Scott's about the Adventure Motorcycling Handbook - Chris Scott book has some info too (written by me )

HTH
Chris (NOT Scott)

[JimmyNorth]

Originally Posted by chris

Soni Motors Royal Enfield Customising Restoring Maintenance Spares - Home in Delhi rented me the 500cc Bullet in 2004. I had no problems with them or the bike. I would recommend them.

In 2003 I borrowed a 350cc Bullet in Manali: lots of problems.

I'm doing a fair bit of investigative work at the moment re a trip to Manali -Leh way sometime next year. A lot of the hire bikes in Manali seem to be very old and a lot are really old cronkers that are well past their best. Others are just downright dangerous. Any one who intends to bus it up from Deli and hire there is well advised to look around to see what you are getting and not book anything from the UK. Not sure what Amritsar is like for bike hire but I don't think there is much at Chandigarh. Standards at Manali apparently vary a great deal.

However, the advantages of hiring further north is that you miss the Deli traffic and the intense heat of the plains........can't win really I was thinking of going from Deli but making a really early start just to get out of the place with some kind of sane level of traffic if there is such a thing in Deli

[chris]

Having had a mate who hired a bike in Manali (we checked every shop there) and also investigate hiring in other parts of India (incl Mumbai and Goa), I can strongly advise to only get a bike in Delhi from a reputable source (see Sonimotors and Lalli Singh) mentioned above. There's a lot of dodgy Bullets and even more dodgy Indian bike dealers in India. It's a false economy in terms of time and money to get a bike somewhere else than Delhi.

I can also recommend Nanna Motors in Delhi.

If heading north, do as Jimmy suggested, leave at 4am to miss the heat and traffic (don't be surprised if you pull up on your loaded bike at a busstop and ask for directions to the Grand Trunk Road that person thinks you want a bus... )


Heading south: put yourself and the bike on the train to Mumbai and head south from there.

cheers
Chris

[mcgiggle]

I left Amritsar a month ago, didn't see any Bullets for hire there. Did Amritsar to Goa in 5 days just to get out of the north, which leads me onto the thread topic nicely
Lows, so far, Coming in from Pakistan the north of India was a massive shock, nobody interested about you or your journey( why should they be I suppose) just how much everything you've got costs, trying to rip you off at every opportunity and the driving is terrible, when you're facing that traffic on a motorcycle it's not a nice place to be, us and others we have met up with have had all types of thefts,ipod,money,camera, petrol.( all in Goa,all by locals)
Highs, so far, Goa beaches every bit as stunning as the guide books say they are
We haven't ventured out of the town where we are due to Caf's broken arm but we've had good reports from others who have so it's looking like south India is going to be a marked change from the north which is good to know

[Caminando]

Highs

The people are very helpful....Maheshwar where I am now relaxing; no bodies in the river (yet). One or two of the Goan beaches, inc. Benaulim. The life in the markets, Rishikesh, some of the ancient carvings and sculptures. Mahabalipuram, Mandu.

Lows

the utter filth everywhere, and the aural, visual and environmental pollution. The driving, of course. The previous tourists who have corrupted many Indians by handing out money for nothing; now they expect it. This has come up on the site in various threads, but even overlanding bikers seem to want to hand out money, pens etc. It makes them feel good, like Mother Teresa.

I'm not including the cheats and fraudsters - that's a given.

[JimmyNorth]

Originally Posted by Caminando

Lows

the utter filth everywhere, and the aural, visual and environmental pollution. The driving, of course. The previous tourists who have corrupted many Indians by handing out money for nothing; now they expect it. This has come up on the site in various threads, but even overlanding bikers seem to want to hand out money, pens etc. It makes them feel good, like Mother Teresa.

I'm not including the cheats and fraudsters - that's a given.

Caminado - Can you enlighten me to a few more lows to try and avoid in India. My philosophy being if I can avoid many of the lows then the highs will take care of themselves. I'll start the ball rolling and it begins as soon as you fly into Deli. Always buy a pre-paid taxi ticket at the desks before U leave the airport and never give the ticket to the driver until you get to your destination. Buying pre-paid avoids getting ripped off by the taxi cheats U will meet outside the airport and keeping the ticket till ones destination avoids him dumping you miles from the correct place. Someone elses turn now .............

[chris]

Originally Posted by JimmyNorth

Caminado - Can you enlighten me to a few more lows to try and avoid in India. My philosophy being if I can avoid many of the lows then the highs will take care of themselves. I'll start the ball rolling and it begins as soon as you fly into Deli. Always buy a pre-paid taxi ticket at the desks before U leave the airport and never give the ticket to the driver until you get to your destination. Buying pre-paid avoids getting ripped off by the taxi cheats U will meet outside the airport and keeping the ticket till ones destination avoids him dumping you miles from the correct place. Someone elses turn now .............

Dodgy taxi drivers can be found all over the world, whether Delhi, Aberdeen, New York, Casablanca, Sydney or anywhere else. Is it possible to give Highs and Lows, rather than just getting into a "slag off India" thread? Just MHO.
cheers
Chris

[JimmyNorth]

Originally Posted by chris

Dodgy taxi drivers can be found all over the world, whether Delhi, Aberdeen, New York, Casablanca, Sydney or anywhere else. Is it possible to give Highs and Lows, rather than just getting into a "slag off India" thread? Just MHO.
cheers
Chris

Aye, your right Chris.............I did'nt think of that. Really good blog you have re your two trips there a few years ago. I enjoyed that. Cheers.

[nico-la-vo]

Highlight; Ladakh, riding around there is mind boggling

Lowlight; feeling like everyone is trying to take your money. Your a walking ATM.

Highlight; realising not everyone is, if you get into trouble there is no better place to be on earth, so many helpful strangers

Highlight; Taj Mahal. It really is as good as its made out to be.

[Caminando]

Originally Posted by JimmyNorth

Caminado - Can you enlighten me to a few more lows to try and avoid in India. My philosophy being if I can avoid many of the lows then the highs will take care of themselves. I'll start the ball rolling and it begins as soon as you fly into Deli. Always buy a pre-paid taxi ticket at the desks before U leave the airport and never give the ticket to the driver until you get to your destination. Buying pre-paid avoids getting ripped off by the taxi cheats U will meet outside the airport and keeping the ticket till ones destination avoids him dumping you miles from the correct place. Someone elses turn now .............

Hi J

India is an experience which is unique, IMO. If people answer a highs and lows thread, please dont confuse those responses with slagging off India. That would be a misreading..

I wouldnt dream of saying to watch out for this and that - its a country where you never really know whats coming at you, and its good to go with the flow. You cant get bored. Though you can get very frustrated. I have criticisms of India, filth and overcrowding being two I share with Gandhi, but it's also my third visit here, so that says something. The people, in general, are brilliant. They have a culture that goes back beyond the time we were dragging our knuckles in Europe. The people here are the country's biggest asset, and if you go with the flow, and let go your expectations, you'll like meeting them. Of course, many who want to talk to you want your money, and its up to you to deal with that. On my first visit, I had a lot of 'unlearning' to do - that is, to drop my conditioned ways.

The only thing I'll say is be prepared for some astonishing driving. You may survive it, but you may not enjoy it. But give it a try and react to India without thought of any of the views given on the thread. As the Buddha said "Work out your own salvation with diligence".

I'm not being unhelpful, quite the opposite actually. Have a great time!

Good luck from Mumbai.

[Misery Goat]

I enjoyed the traffic for the most part. the lack of street signs in Delhi were the biggest challenge for me.

I iron butted from Pathankot to Delhi on my last day and made great time, until I got back into the city and couldn't find my hotel to save my life. Thankfully CJ was close by and dialed me in.

The highlights are most definitely in the Himalayas. Manali-Leh-Srinagar, Rhotang, BaralachaLa, Nakeela, LachulungLa, TaglangLa, KhardungLa, Wari La, Zoji La, it's all good.