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Impressions from our three week trip to India February 2013

Impressions from our three week trip to India February 2013

Old Mar 16th, 2013, 11:21 AM
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Elainee - would it be possible to chat off line about costs? My email addy is

eseibertca AT yahoo DOT ca

Thanks!
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Old Mar 16th, 2013, 12:39 PM
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Wonderful trip report!

Loved reading it, though wish I could go back now to go to Anokhi! The only one I made it to was in Udaipur, and didn't find anything that appealed to me.
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Old Mar 16th, 2013, 11:51 PM
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Progol--try Soma in Jaipur if you are ever back there. I too was disappointed with Anoki (the one at Khan Market in New Delhi)
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Old Mar 16th, 2013, 11:52 PM
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Elainee, great report, and i lvoe hte honesty of yoru reviews.
WHERE were you on the mountain roads? between wich towns. I still have seen little of Rajasthan.
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Old Mar 17th, 2013, 07:26 AM
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Never Eating Indian Food in India and Not Getting Sick

I thought my DH would be the only tourist who went to India and never ate Indian food. He just does not like the taste. At our hotels we met lots of other people who did not even consider ordering from the Indian menu. We ate in our hotel restaurants every night except one. We did go to Bukhara Restaurant in Delhi. I made reservations well before we left the USA for India. So many people told me it was their food highlight in India. Not for us. My husband took one bite of the celebrated lamb and said he did not like it. The restaurant was noisy and the seating uncomfortable. I had my cellphone and called our driver to say we were leaving. The restaurant staff packed up our meal and added some extras since they were distressed we were leaving. We gave the large shopping bag to our driver. The dinner with one gin and tonic, one glass of wine, one appetizer, one bread, and one lamb entré cost $160.

The restaurants in the high end hotels had NYC prices. DH ate lamb chops whenever they were on the menu. No NYC restaurant would have the nerve to charge as much as we paid in India. But, it was worth it. DH liked the lamb chops and there was nothing else he would eat. He lost weight in India. A bonus which, unfortunately, did not happen to me since I like Indian food. Even I ordered grilled cheese sandwiches when we stopped for lunch at roadside places (with large gift shops) on long drive days. DH would have a Diet Coke. I did eat from the buffet at our last long drive lunch. No problem!

We did not get sick at all on this trip! Amazing for a three week trip. I cannot think of another trip when we did not take Cipro, a Z pak, go to the local pharmacy for “cold” meds, have a doctor come to our hotel, go to a hospital. I brought a full hospital level medical kit. We started Malarone and Xifaxan before we left the USA. Our travel agent who was with us in Delhi was incredulous when I told him we were taking Malarone. Maybe we should follow CDC rather than Mr. Singh, but we stopped taking the Malarone. And when I saw where we were eating, I stopped the Xifaxn. I did take a few Pepto along the way, but that is not unusual for me.

Everybody we know told us stories about getting sick in India. I think our health was due to the very nice hotels and the lack of stress from the excellent care we were getting. And from the easy pace we set ourselves. And never drinking tap water or using tap water for tooth brushing. And it has been a long time since we ate street food anywhere even in NYC. And not bathing in the Ganges.

In summary, everyone does India his own way. You could go to an ashram, stay in Heritage hotels, trek the mountains, or stay in Oberois. Whatever works for you since going to India will be the trip of a lifetime….and maybe more than once if you are fortunate.
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Old Mar 17th, 2013, 07:35 AM
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Calinurse, the mountains were between Jodphur and Deogarh. Hairpin curves, steep dropoffs, lovely scenery. Troops of monkeys which our driver feed with bananas and peapods.
I think if we had gone directly to Ranakpur we would have been on another route and not gone thru the mountains.

I am really sorry I did not buy high quality road maps and be able to follow just where we were being driven.
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Old Mar 17th, 2013, 09:14 AM
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Wow - all lamb chops all the time! We gave up meat for our trip, but the lamb did look tempting.

The Anokhi I went to was in Khan village - sounds as if you were at the same one.
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Old Mar 17th, 2013, 10:42 AM
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We have found Anokhi to be hit-or-miss. Jeane was disappointed in the one at the Santushti Complex last October.

We actually had the best lamb chops at a place called Corbett's at the Claridge's Hotel back in 2005. I have been able to reproduce the recipe at home. We have generally avoided eating meat in India, though.

We have never been sick in India. Keeping the pace slow and avoiding dips in the Ganges has been the key to our success...
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Old Mar 17th, 2013, 12:27 PM
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We weren't sick, either. We were sooo careful about the water, and even though brushing teeth with bottled water was tedious, we followed this rule religiously. But it paid off, since by the end of the trip, we were fine, and by the middle of the trip, we started eating occasional street food, and we were fine.

We did take the malarone, although we were told that it was overkill, but felt, as first-timers, that we'd rather be safe than sorry.

Already thinking of the next trip!
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Old Mar 17th, 2013, 05:32 PM
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Provolone...we you back I'll give you a shopping list of things I should have bought.
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Old Mar 17th, 2013, 05:48 PM
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And I will add to that list.
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Old Mar 18th, 2013, 02:26 AM
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Elainee/Crosscheck - No problem! It will be the excuse I need to tell my husband, "Honey, it's not for me, but I promised my friends at Fodors...."

Elainee, I see that the autofill is helping you out - "provolone" is what my iPad thinks I'm writing, too!

Provolone, aka Progol, but aka Paule (pronounced Paula)
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Old Mar 28th, 2013, 01:35 PM
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Wow, Elainee I so enjoyed reading your report!

We took a very similar trip 10 years ago except we did not do Varanasi and went to Kolkata instead. After debating a couple of months ago between returning to India or going to Burma in October, we chose India.
My husband had the same reservations about going as yours did and went only because it was my childhood dream to see it.
After our trip he absolutely fell in love with the country and has been wanting to go back ever since.
This time we are having our wonderful guide from Kolkata help us with the itinerary and logistics and are visiting less touristy areas where the accommodations will be quite a bit less luxurious than the Oberois. I feel that had we not done India the way we/you did it on the first trip, there is no way he would have agreed to go back.
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Old Mar 28th, 2013, 02:12 PM
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That was terrific. What is your opinion of Udaipur? Many seem to want us to add that to the trip and take away a day from Jaipur. We are planning on restricting ourselves to Delhi (4 nights, 3.5 days, Agra (2nights 2 days) and Jaipur (3nights 2 days). Reading your report makes me want to add Varanasi.
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Old Mar 28th, 2013, 06:28 PM
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Varanasi is special. Nowhere else in India did we get the feeling of the religious life like Varanasi. Udaipur is ok, but does not have the intensity of V. Jaipur and Udaipur are not that dissimilar. I would not take a day away from Jaipur. Plus you will really be adding a day of driving. You can fly from Delhi to V in an hour. I would go Delhi, V, Agra,Jaipur. If necessary, you can fly to V from Delhi and just spend one night there. Do not fly from V to Agra if our disaster is an example. The drive on the new toll road Delhi to Agra is easy.

Kikiv...yes, the lovely hotels really helped. It made the trip a pleasure.
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Old Mar 28th, 2013, 06:45 PM
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Thank you Elainee. Sounds terrific.
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Old Mar 28th, 2013, 07:20 PM
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I am really enjoying your trip report! Hope to see more soon.
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Old Mar 30th, 2013, 03:29 AM
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Wow, looks like you had a great time in India. Nice! Even I'm planning a visit.. I'll be staying at the lake resorts in Kerala. Super excited about this!
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Old Mar 31st, 2013, 06:08 AM
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Great report. I must be the only non shopper on Fodors! Next time I'll have to reconsider. Like you, we rarely went out at night. We were either too exhausted from the long days, felt there was no where to wander at night, or felt uncomfortable as the lack of woman at night was noticeable. The one place we did enjoy at night though was Varanasi which was crowded with people. What a great city for people watching! I would strongly recommend adding Varanasi to any India itinerary.
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Old Mar 31st, 2013, 06:21 AM
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"I must be the only non-shopper on Fodors"

No, one of two.....
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