Travel Advisory to a US based friend travelling to India

Hi Friends I am back - but with an incomplete post this time.

I learnt today that one of my friends was planning to visit India some time in the next couple of months - for the very first time and had purchased lots of travel guides which was indeed a great job - but there are tons and tons of things which the books sometimes forget to mention - the subtle differences in India from here in US. I thought of jotting those differences myself (I am sounding a little pessimistic here, but bear with me for a couple of days - and I will come up with the positive side too )

1. To randomly start with - for instance when you reach the airport, you wont see many informational pamphlets or instructions around you - the best way to get info would be to talk to people. You would be surprised to see for yourself - people in India love to talk, to help others and specially when it comes to foreigners :) - but to get correct info - it would be advisable to ask at least two person - for a confirmation of what was said by the first person :) - no one likes to say - I don't know the answer of what you just asked me :)))

2. As soon as you leave the airport - suddenly there would tens of people surrounding you - trying to grab your suitcase off your hands and trolley - to make you take a ride on their auto-rickshaw or taxi(cab) - be careful to take a prepaid auto, or other wise an auto-driver sensing you as some one new to the place - can make you travel all over the city and drop you at the same place from where you started - plus change you Rs100 for it :)) - if don't believe me - ask any one :( . However for the first few times taking a taxi would be advisable.

3. Do NOT even think - and yes even THINK of driving in India - no one follows traffic rules, especially from the point of view of someone - who has been born and brought up in US !!! Always use public transport, or hire a taxi, auto-rickshaw or anything, pool with someone, walk down or worst comes don't leave your place - or else only God can save you!

4. Bargaining in non-branded shops is not un-fashionable. A Rs.2000 male kurta might just be worth from anything between Rs 500 - Rs.1500 at a non-branded shop! and there are tons of them in India,

5. Be aware of pick-pocketing. Don't depend on police. I only depend on my friends, relatives and the public - yes absolutely - mostly the public is your best bet.

6. Be prepared for no electricity for hours, no internet, for free bumpy rides to office and back home, for traffic jams and delays up to 2 hours, for no freeways and long drives, for muddy clothes and black colored shirt collars; BUT at the same time - for the land full of loving people and friends - where the holy cow shares the same road with you - and the buffalo is given all the time in the world to cross before you on the road :) and also the place where there is God in everything you see and touch and smell and feel - where spirituality is not just a word but a way of living - rather a part of your life - where there is no restriction on what time you feel like going and chatting to your God in the temple - where you can walk in any direction - the way you like - the way you want - at your own pace - freedom in its purest form - where people are happy for no known reason - where life goes on, no matter what happens - it always goes on...

Oh by the way - am I scaring you too much. Oh gosh, I had not even started yet :( ... okay let me just shut up for now or else I would late for my 9:00 meeting tommorow - just say "Namestey" - you are bound to make plenty of friends who will share the brighter side with you. :)

India - a land of more than a 500 dialects
So it that true - oh yes, it is very much true. I am quoting my husband here - he say after every 10 kos of distance traveled in India - the dialect changes. India is a country with so much of variety of languages - including dialects that you can't even keep a count of them.

I do not when am I going to complete this one ... but check this website in the mean time... http://ileher.com/


~ Deepti :)

Our North Cascade Mountain Range Loop

Sep 14 to Sep 16 - 2007

Hey by the way - this particular blog was written by me here - due to lack of imagination on where to store my personal dairy ...

This was another unplanned trip - but with loads of fun. This is the track we took

I5 North -> 530 -> Arlington -> Arlington Darlington Road -> Darlington -> Whitman Rd -> SAuk Valley Road and then took 20 West to start on the North Cascade Highways and continued on the same road for a long time -> stopped several times at the side of the scenic Skagit River -> Then we enter the Cascade National Park @ the Visitor Center -> This center had trails called Newhalem Area Trails (did not get a chance to walk in any of the trails that time) -> -> climbed up to view the Gorge High Dam built over the Gorge river -> -> followed by strong and windy place where the directions of trees had all turned to one side and where we felt as if we would be blown away with the winds, yes this was the Diablo Road on the same Gorge River -> then we saw the Dialo Dam over built over the Diablo River -> Then we reached at a very point from where we could see the Diablo river kind of meeting from two different directions - with us standing in between them. The water was so very green due to dust from the adjoining rocks and there was lot a hostory behind how the senator works hard to give Cascades the status of the National Park . There were 8-9 different types of cascade rocks found there with a sample of each pf them. This was the last stop before we finally reached our resort where we were to spend the rest of the night - the Freestone Inn in the city of Mazama. That night we had dinner at their personal inn. It was quite an experience for me and Abhinav to stay all alone in the jungle which had no network connectivity, had no body staying adjascent enough to reach by a voice call and with this half baked info that even bears come to pay a causal visit to you sometimes !!! -> but I guess we had one of the best sleeps that night and got up real early next morning to be able to hit the road by 7:30 in the morning -> The first thing en-route was the small Chewuch River -> this was in the small 19th style maintained Winthrop town -> as we saw enjoyed walking on the wooden pavements, a town with no street lights and sign boards painted using chalk and piants raw on the building itself, I was reminded of old Mussoorie. -> The shops were all still closed as we drove towards Twisp, to see a hot air balloon full of people rising high in the air. -> Crossing Carlton & then Methow Valley via the 153 -> we stopped at Alta Lake. This was such a beautiful place where squirels were loud enough to be clearly heard in the busheisis and the water was so pure, clean and inviting. Abhinav was waiting up in the car and enjoying breakfast and I could not resist dipping my feet into the water. However Abhinav had other plans and we quickly moved towards Lake Chelan from there. -> Lake Chelan; was I must say; I must go place. The river water such seriously very refreshing and so transparent that you could clearly see the bed below you. The park at Chelan was one with swings and rides a perfect place in the lap of mountains to relax and unwind yourself. -> We were almost done with Lake Chelan when Abhinav spotted the visitor center before finally deciding to leave the place. Right there in the fresh vegetable market some one suggsted the Blueberry Hills. Oh what a restaraunt was it. The scene was such a beauty from the outside. And it you get a chance to visit it, do not forget to buy a bottle of their homemade blueberry jam.

We planned to next visit the next point in the Cascade Loop and planned to go to Wenatchee point. But reaching the visitor center at the huge and big Rocky Beach Dam we learnt that the river would have dried ahead from that point, since the dam's water would be opened by 9:00 pm.

We finally planned to leave for Leavenworth, when one wrong turn lands us up seeing beautiful man-made Ohme Gardens. a $7 ticket per head, but the money was worth being paid, in the pavement laid gardens.

Next was Leavenworth. -> Stay at night there at the Bed & Breakfast - Tumwater Mountain. -> Have dinner at Viscotis' an Italian Restaraunt -> have b/fast at the B&B -> roam and shop in the shops at Leavenworth and move towards Steven's Pass. There we by chance take a turn for the Tye river and end up being at the Cascade Highway - in the middle of a different type of jungle. -> This opened up in the Goat Trails , where we read about the North Railway system. However since it had already started raining, we foregoed the trail.

At the Doolittle Park, we got a chance to see the Muesum at Index - a muesum which opens just 6 hours a week. From there we moved to the adventure of adventures - the Reptile Zoo. This was virtually the last point.