Yeah that is true about Thailand for sure. I used to visit a guy in prison in Bangkok. When I did that I used to wander around the area after the prison where no foreigners ever seemed to go.
We(me, my boyfriend and daughter) are going to Delhi next December. I am going to do exactly what u suggest Ralf. One(or more) of our days there we will take a bus to some random place that isnt on the tourist trail. Would u or anyone have any suggestions for places? It would be nice if I could get the names of some villages so I can ask somebody to translate them into the local language so I can look sure of myself when all those people at the bus station start arguing that there is nothing there and I should go to Agra. :D If not I will just go to the bus station and get on the next bus going somewhere. :D
Reply to this Cosmic Treehouse ==> I'm going back to India, there is still a lot to see there, but it will probably be the last time for a while that I visit India, after that Sri Lanka, The Maldives (for a week, as it seems to be rather expensive, though I have discovered there are ways to do it cheaply...), Nepal and onwards... The plan is to eventualy hit Australia, in 2,3,4 or 5 years from now, depending on how long I dabble in each country...
Mell ==> Take a bus to any place in Haryana, that is the state between Punjab and Delhi, nobody ever seems to go to Haryana... Or go towards Barreily in Uttar Pradesh, that region of Uttar Pradesh also sees no foreigners... The best way to go about it is, look in the LP and see which parts of India they don't tell about, than go there...
Reply to this LOL Yes that is what I will do. We will take our map to the bus station and ask them to take us to someplace in those regions u mentioned. :D
Unfortunately we are only in India for 2.5 weeks because my boyfriend works and my daughter goes to school but we should be able to hit at least one of those out of the way places and hang out for a week or more.
Will there be hotels off the beaten track or do we knock on peoples doors and ask if we can pay something to sleep in their house of what?
Mel
Reply to this I'm sure there will be somewhere to stay in most places, but in the real small villages you might indeed end up in someones house, most likely the house of the most important man in the village... And you will have to get used to be stared at 24/7... If you stay in a village that has never seen a tourist, you WILL be stared at all the time, forget privacy... You might get a room to sleep in, but people will pile up outside the door or at the windows staring at you... When you wake up in the morning don't be surprised if there is a crowd of kids standing around your bed (because if you are invited to stay in somebodies house, most likely there will either be no door, or you won't be able to lock it)... Still interested?
I would suggest since you are travelling with your daughter too, that you base yourself in a bigger town where there are hotels, but which is not on the tourist track and make some daytrips from there...
For instance go to Kurukshetra (in Haryana), which is where Hindu's believe Brahma created the universe, thus it will have lots of hotels for pelgrims... It is I think not on the tourist trail, though I am sure a few might be around. From there make daytrips to the villages around...
Reply to this Cool!! Thanks Ralf. 😊 Kurukshetra it is. To much attention is too much attention. I would like some privacy. Although my daughter would probably love having all those kids around. Mmmm!! I dont actually remember getting any privacy even when I was in the middle of the city in Mumbai but at least my hotel room door locked even if the hotel staff sat outside it all the time and kept phoning me. If I could not at least lock myself away from people for a while in India it would drive me nuts. :D
How long would it take me to get to Kurukshetra from Delhi? Is bus or train the best way?
Reply to this I think it is both on the main train line up to Amritsar and on the National Highway 1, so you could do both... I think it would take maybe 3 or 4 hours to get there from Delhi...
From Afghanistan to India... Now they will have to move this discussion again... Ha, ha, ha...
Reply to this Your comments about privacy are so funny! But so true. I remember a time in a tiny Buddhist village in India when I was talking to a young monk (he had never seen a westerner before) and in the middle of our conversation he just stepped behind a bush to ease himself (#2) while continuing with the conversation. Privacy certainly wasn't an issue for him :-)
Reply to this Sri Lanka, good for you Ralf. I love that country so much I could easily stay there for years. Are you planning on going up North (Jaffna area)?
Reply to this Yeah I will go up North too... Jaffna and all that... See if I can bring peace about...
Sri Lanka is nice indeed, I will be returning after an absence of... Eehh.. Let me think... 29 years or so... I lived there for one and a half year when I was a very tiny boy... My first memories are from Sri Lanka... So I am very much looking forward to it...
Reply to this But lets not get started about Sri Lanka or we will be moved to yet another discussion forum... Ha, ha, ha...
Reply to this Yeah they keeping moving us from forum to forum :-D .. well, once they've officially moved us to the Sri Lankan discussion group, I'd love to hear your story about how you ended up there as a baby...
I didn't go up to Jaffna yet but I'd love to.
Reply to this well... the stork kind of must have flown of course I guess.... Oh no... that wasn't it...
Short story, my father worked abroad a lot... Born in Thailand, lived in Sri Lanka... That sort of stuff... very boring... But when my sister was 11 or so, my mother moved to Holland with us because my parents wanted us to have a place we could call home... My father kept working abroad... But perhaps that is not really a thing for a discussion group...
Reply to this LOL cosmicTreehouse. :D
We branch the threads when they go off topic so people can continue talking about what interests them while being considerate of those who want to talk about the original topic. 😊
Thanks for the Info about India Ralf. I know I am going to have an even more interesting time there now. 😊
Reply to this Hope you do... India is always fun... Where ever you go... But the hassles are less outside the tourist areas... You should be able to taste a bit of the real India and it's incredible hospitality... Many people complain (and I admit I am one of them at times...) about India a lot, about the hassles and the touts, but really it isn't so... You can't judge a country of 1.1 billion on the acts of a few hundred touts that you meet in Varanasi or Agra... It's like judging the Dutch on the guy's who try to scam you in Amsterdam...
So get of that tourist train and enjoy a cup of tea while talking to some interesting shop keeper or sadhu!
Reply to this I guess you can take the child out of Asia but can't take Asia out of the child, Ralf.
Reply to this I certainly will Ralf. I am already planning exactly how we will do it. I want to be in Delhi for Christmas Day and New Years Eve so we can go to nice restaurants. This leaves us with around 5 nights in Kurukshetra. We have a few days before we go to Kurukshetra and a few days after in Delhi. We will go to the Taj Mahal and the Ganges with the before and after bits. I wish we had more time in India but this will be fun too. 😊
I loved India the last time I was there and have been promising myself I will go back even since. And I have been telling my boyfriend that I want to go there with him since we got together. And I have been promising my daughter that I will take her there when she is 7(wanted to wait until she is at the age when she is not so suseptable to gettting sick). She is 7 this year.
Mel
Reply to this Cosmic Treehouse ==> Asia will always be my home, more so than Holland ever will be... I feel comfortable in Asia, not so in Europe or the west as a whole... So I guess you are right...
Mell ==> Wow, you are an early planner! I'm sure you will all have a great time...
Reply to this Mel, you certainly have it planned! I'm sure it will be a load of fun. I am not a good planner and then I change my plans n the ground anyway...
Ralf, I hear you, I do :-) I love Asia too.
Reply to this Sometimes I just have loose plans CosmicTreehouse. Sometimes I change the plans if something better comes up but usually I have some idea about what I want to do. 😊 And I do neverending travel research for the trips I am going on or possibilities to go on in future. When somebody like Ralf comes along I take the opportunity to add to my future travel plans. 😊
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