Jennifer

Hi. My name is Jennifer and I am a 32 y.o. female who is planning to travel to India in the next 6 to 12 months. I have many ideas as to where to go and what to do and would appreciate anyone's experiences/suggestions/warnings etc. Although there are many areas of India which I would be interested in seeing - Trivandrum, Madras, Varanasi, Goa, Delhi, Karnataka, Rajastan, Agra, Tamil Nadu, Madya Pradesh, Cochin, Uttar Pradesh, Kashmir and Ladakh (I wish), I am leaning toward travelling south for my first trip. I am most interested in dance, jewelery-making, health, beautiful buildings and nature, .... I have never been to Idia and will most likely be traveling alone, unless I meet fellow travelers en route. I have noticed that no one has mentionned any advatage to learning a bit of hindi. Any comments? <BR>

Rahul

<BR>You didn't mention how long will ur stay be. If u r going to the southern part Hindi will not help much. India has 350 <BR>languages/dialects and hindi is predominantly spoken in north.

Jennifer

Assumed length of stay = 1 month. <BR>

Bill

Jennifer <BR> <BR>Further down the page I put a few notes on where to travel in South India. You might like to have a look. If you have any specific questions I lived there for a year and you have my email. <BR> <BR>Cheers <BR>

Irene

OK - so it's hot, drink bottled water, brush teeth w/ bottled water, use sunscreen, take Pepto or Immodium just in case ...Thank you all for the advise! <BR> <BR>What about clothing? Are shorts (mid-thigh or knee length) acceptable for women? Or should we stick with cotton slacks, skirts? Plan on going end of October. <BR>

ddayal

Hiya, Jenny. Well i have been in all parts of South-India for the whole of my life. Iam currently staying in Bangalore for the past couple of years. Well, this part of India is very different from the rest of India, keeping up with the diversities of India and its people. Each city in Southern India has its own feature..like Bangalore's speciality is its people and the new pep culture (the discos, pubs and bars and ofcourse hoards of computer access points and net-mania.) Dress code in Bangalore, Madras, Bombay, Cochin...etc are cool, shorts are fine , cotton- slacks even better. Food has a great variety down here and this part of the country is much cleaner and hygeinic surely. Laungauge should not be a problem as English is more easily spoken than Hindi in this region, u can count on that. Nature lovers must visit Kerala, my mom hails from there.. For more specific info, my email is there..feel free to mail me.

Wangchuk

For Ladakh the flight is 01 hour 15 min from Delhi and it would cost US$112 for one way flight. But if you have the time the road journey via Manali is exciting and adventurous. Ladakh remains closed overland during the winters. The road from Manali opens somewhere in May till October. Delhi to Manali (01 Day) about 12 hrs. journey. Manali to Sarchu another one day drive about 10 hours. Sarchu is the midway where no population is there. During the season tented camps are there. From Sarchu to Leh its another one day driving over the high pass of taglangla (The worlds second highest motorable road) 5602 mts. Leh is the capital town of Ladakh where you will find moderate accommodation starting from Rs.100 to Rs. 2000 per night. <BR>Usually people drive in and fly out if time constraint.<BR>You will meet ample of fellow travellers for this region during July and Agust. Most of the people do understand Hindi here.<BR><BR>Good Luck!