As the rain surprised us in Kalkutta I have some time to recap our experiences made in India in a brief (not gonna go into the touristic parts)
so
o "For me coming from you friend is a four letter word" - dedicated to all those little street selling buggers who do not know the meaning of words like no NO or any alike (neither in German, English, Russian, Swedish or Spanish)
o Tourist taxes are mandatory per law, always applicable and need to represent at least 100% of the "native" price
o 4 weeks are just not enough
o In case it can be avoided, do not travel in March/ April to (south) India - the heat's just killing you
o the Taj Mahal is overrated and a tourist rip off (although it's kinda a must see...)
o India is THE country with the highest bureaucrazy known to mankind (ok - at least to me) - they e.g. require the same information in at least 2 forms and in addition make at least 3 carbon copies...bloody English!!!
o Little kids often ask for pens instead of rupies or foreign coins (--> they are either very eager to learn or they were taught some words wrongly...)
o Some kids are already more or less fluent in many different languages dependent upon which tourists are easiest to convince to buy something (e.g. Russian in Varkala or German in Mandawa) but they do lack a lot of generic geographic knowledge (thumbs up for the language skills although they are used to "support the dark side of power")
o Public transport is a very cheap and reasonable and quick way to get around and get to know locals (mostly via their kids) but they are not a synonym for cleanness in any kind
o Every cow is sacred, every cow is good. If a cow is tasted, god gets quite irate
nota bene: list might not yet be completed and is to be regarded as work in progress until this comment is removed :)
All the above sounds very negative (realized that when re-reading it) - thus some corrections need to be made as India was a great experience (although also very stressful to some extent). Looking back it is really amazing to see all the cities with their differences (rich vs poor,...) as well a bureaucracy in action that would drive europeans nuts - but the people accept it and follow it very calmly.
so
o "For me coming from you friend is a four letter word" - dedicated to all those little street selling buggers who do not know the meaning of words like no NO or any alike (neither in German, English, Russian, Swedish or Spanish)
o Tourist taxes are mandatory per law, always applicable and need to represent at least 100% of the "native" price
o 4 weeks are just not enough
o In case it can be avoided, do not travel in March/ April to (south) India - the heat's just killing you
o the Taj Mahal is overrated and a tourist rip off (although it's kinda a must see...)
o India is THE country with the highest bureaucrazy known to mankind (ok - at least to me) - they e.g. require the same information in at least 2 forms and in addition make at least 3 carbon copies...bloody English!!!
o Little kids often ask for pens instead of rupies or foreign coins (--> they are either very eager to learn or they were taught some words wrongly...)
o Some kids are already more or less fluent in many different languages dependent upon which tourists are easiest to convince to buy something (e.g. Russian in Varkala or German in Mandawa) but they do lack a lot of generic geographic knowledge (thumbs up for the language skills although they are used to "support the dark side of power")
o Public transport is a very cheap and reasonable and quick way to get around and get to know locals (mostly via their kids) but they are not a synonym for cleanness in any kind
o Every cow is sacred, every cow is good. If a cow is tasted, god gets quite irate
nota bene: list might not yet be completed and is to be regarded as work in progress until this comment is removed :)
All the above sounds very negative (realized that when re-reading it) - thus some corrections need to be made as India was a great experience (although also very stressful to some extent). Looking back it is really amazing to see all the cities with their differences (rich vs poor,...) as well a bureaucracy in action that would drive europeans nuts - but the people accept it and follow it very calmly.
hey, have fun in thailand! winke-winke.
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