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  India, India
Monday, January 1, 2007

India summary

We thought we'd give you a round-up of our experience and views of India following our 2 months there.

Worst meals in descending order (i.e. worst first)
Hotel in Chakki Bank where we were sure we were going to die from the food. (We never actually got round to putting this in the blog so just to explain briefly, we went from McLeod Ganj to Chakki Bank station, near Pathankot, to get our train to Agra and wanted some food. It was a real one-horse town and no restaurants of any kind were obvious. Eventually, after wandering up and down and getting more depressed by the minute, we asked a man in a sweet shop if there was anywhere to eat. He ordered his son to show us somewhere, and we were taken to the most horrible, dank, dingy, dirty hotel we have yet seen. Needless to say we were the only people in the restaurant and were very frightened about what effect the food would have on us. Nevertheless, food was brought, and it was OK and we ate it and survived. It still counts as the worst meal though.)
Swad restaurant in Ram Nagar, New Delhi. (The lime pickle came in a packet. Need we say more?)
Uncooked fish in Kochi. (Even after we sent it back the first time because it wasn't cooked. The second time we didn't have the energy)
Ranakpur hotel restaurant. Paneer butter masala that was actually more like rubber covered in a whole jar of sun dried tomatoes and gallons of oil
Cold thali in a very locals joint in Jaisalmer, where a fight broke out just as we were ordering our after-lunch chai (presumably about how bad the food was)

Best meals
Whole Red Snapper cooked in the tandoor at Anthy's restaurant on Benaulim beach. We were groaning with pleasure. Nuff said.
Lobster and wine, again at Anthy's in Benaulim. A really special evening.
Lunch and dinner on the houseboat on the backwaters of Kerala. Amazing home-style cooking.
First meal in Delhi, of idly sambar and masala dosa. Not at all the best food or surroundings, but really good because it was our first meal in India.

Worst toilet
Jodhpur bus stand. An out and out winner and too disgusting for me to even describe to you. Oh OK then I'll try. Two cubicles of sorts, but no doors so whatever you did in there could be seen by anyone. Piles of poo, and I mean piles, sitting at the hole where things would normally go down, flies everywhere and all sorts of disgusting brown stuff splattered on the walls. I only went because I was about to embark on a 4-hour bus journey and didn't know when my next opportunity would be. I wish I'd waited.

Best toilet
In the Fateh Prakash Palace Hotel in Udaipur where we had afternoon tea. We could have lived in them and we even have a photo to show you - see above. Unfortunately we don't have a photo of the worst one (there are plenty of semi-legal websites for that sort of thing).

Buses
General advice would be if there is a train going from where you are to where you want to be, take it. Buses are distinctly inferior. More bumpy, more noisy, more people per square inch and more uncertainty as to whether the bus will still be there after you return from going for a pee. The only advantage is cost. Buses seemed to be slightly cheaper overall but once you go beyond about 3 or 4 hours the lack of comfort means the saving is a phyric victory.

Trains
Here spending more really does make a difference. The majority of the journeys we took were in 2nd class sleeper carriages. During the day this is usually fine - it's not too crowded and the open windows provide a breeze, a view on what's going on, and a way of getting food and drinks from the vendors on the platform when you pull into a station. At night the carriages can get very stuffy and/or cold and the lack of bedding and constant snoring make sleeping difficult. Upgrading to 3AC or better seemed to make everything more comfortable (but it's not necessarily worth spending twice as much again for 2AC). We had some success with the Indian Railways website as a way of bypassing the hefty commission travel agents often charged. The downside was that for large periods of each day (roughly 9-5) the site was logjammed.

Best experiences
It's tempting to just reproduce the top 5 meals section above but, since you ask (in no particular order):
Houseboat in Kerala
Dawn at Taj Mahal
Climbing to the snow-line at Triund
Rafting on the Ganges
First taste of Goan prawns on Benaulim beach in Goa

Worst experiences
Arriving at Delhi airport and finding that our bags hadn't made it
Getting ill with a mysterious nauseating bug and losing our appetites
Our hotel manager/guide getting lost on the 'guided' walk in Rishikesh
And we can't think of any more than that which I think says something about what a good time we're generally having.

Hottest
35 degrees C on a bus from Panjim to Goa Airport - all limbs slick and dripping (nice!)

Coldest
Cold evenings and nights in McLeod Ganj - the story loses something because unfortunately we don't actually know the temperature, but it was cold, alright.

Luxury budget items
2 nights at Devi Bhawan hotel in Jodhpur - absolutely blissful comfort for 20 pounds a night. Swimming pool, peanuts free with drinks on our private terrace and peaceful garden restaurant.
Lobster and wine at Anthy's in Benaulim - 30 pounds
Dinner at Brunton Boatyard in Fort Cochin - 28 pounds
1 night on a houseboat in Kerala - 85 pounds

Budget
Excluding luxury items above, we spent 1,435 pounds altogether over 61 days, an average of 23 pounds and 52 pence per day. What does this buy?
All nights (bar one) in rooms with attached bathroom, with the exception of overnight train journeys - about 5 or 6. Most rooms were OK, although basic and not as clean as we would have liked. We were spending on average about 5-6 pounds per night on accommodation. Once we got to the equivalent of 10 pounds a night, quality significantly increased. We had set ourselves an approximate budget of 25 pounds per day and found it fairly easy to stick with this.
At least two decent meals out a day with breakfast or lunch sometimes being a roadside snack
Most journeys by train as opposed to bus and with rickshaws at either end
Sightseeing - all the main sites in each place.

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