I've read all the stories and seen all the vids about this place but I just didn't listen. I thought I'd be prepared since I've been to other notoriously shitty countries to travel like Egypt and Morocco but this place is just next level in terms of the dirt, the garbage, the pollution, the poverty, the incessant and aggressive touts and attempts at begging and scamming, the sensory overload, the unbelievably dense crowds of cars and people, and of course the honking...Jesus Christ the honking is not a meme at all. My plan was to spend a month travelling through India/Nepal starting out in Kathmandu (which is basically India in terms of insanity imho) and I'm supposed to be 12 more days here but I think I might just cut my losses and leave a little earlier. I'm currently sitting in my hotel room in Jaipur and don't plan to do anything today besides getting food because I'm trying to recover from a shitty ass cold I picked up probably due to this countries abysmal public health standards (or lack thereof).Granted it hasn't been all bad by any means. I still wouldn't say its my least favorite country I've been to but I just don't know how much more of this place I can take.
Larp
>>2843928everyone I ever talked to who went to india cut their trip short, except for the hippy couple who went there deliberately to live in a commune (white people in the middle nowhere) its a nasty place, with nasty people, hell on earth with no redeeming features of any kind to make it worthwhile
>>2843928What reason do I have to larp faggot? India is a notoriously shitty place that’s difficult for most people from developed countries to travel. I’m far from the first person to come here and reach their breaking point
>>2843938You are a troll, cant even post a picture you took there
>>2843939Try reverse image searching that pic you just replied to. You won't find it. If you're a jeet whos mad about seeing more anti Indian threads then you can help stop it by trying to fix your absolutely fucked up country.
>>2843928Obvious troll is obvious.
>>2843923>I still wouldn't say its my least favorite countrywhat's your least favorite country? and your favorite country?
>>2843962Least favorite is Morocco. Had a lot of similar problems to India but less intense but really wasn't super interested in it to begin with. Offers nothing that you can't find in more interesting MENA countries and the food was mostly shit. India/South Asia at least has some truly unique sights and the food has been pretty good so far. Favorite is either Greece or Japan all things considered
>>2843964you are retarded Morocco is amazingTangier Marrakech Essaouira Chefchahouhen probably my most fav country and the women all have natural fat asses
I just can't see why anybody would go there
>>2843982Stay buttmad Abdul. Morocco sucks ass and there's a reason so many of them run away to Europe
>>2843938>sideways creepshot at the local watering holedon't tell me you spent hundreds of dollars for flights and this is what you got out of it>>2843988It's one of the last few countries where you can get a genuinely unique travel experience. You can stay there for like 2 weeks and have a lifetime of insane stories to tell. There's a reason why all the youtubers keep going back there for content.
Four more nights with family in America, then I will be flying to India. Let's do this!>>2844013Five year tourist visa means you can go back again and again and again for a mere $83 USD. >>2843923OP made the mistake of starting his explorations in the teeming anthill cities of the deeply impoverished north. Nearly everyone who does so reaches their breaking point with the lack of natural beauty and overwhelming number of poor people fouling up their surroundings. You never see vlogs about how utterly intolerable the rainforest mountain villages of Tamil Nadu are, for example.
>>2844013>local watering holeThat's Varanasi dumbfuck. It seems to me that the only westerners who can really enjoy India are low grade sociopaths who have no threshold for chaos or dirty smelly hippies who don't mind all the garbage because they already smell like shit.
Is there anywhere in India that is not a total shithole? Where you can walk around and not be molested by scammers and vermin?
>>2844019I looked at the countryside on Google Maps and it seems like it wouldn't be pure urban filth there. But that means no tourist infrastructure, and probably no toilets.
where the fuck on earth did u find the reason to go to the 3rd circle of hell on earth?
>>2844017Good to know, I'll keep this in mind for when I visit again next year. Try to post some pictures once you get there if you have the chance. >>2844018Yeah because I'm supposed to know the exact fucking GPS coordinates of some blurry sideways photo with no visible landmarks. Anyway, you're a pussy who got filtered. See you in 6 months when you make a thread complaining about how someone whispered too loudly on the Shinkansen.
>>2843923Stay strong, Anon. I believe in you. I've survived over a month in the shithole belt of India and so can you. Granted, I did feel like kissing the ground upon landing of the departure flight. I've no idea what the supposedly better Southern India or the Seven Sisters are like, but the Indo-Gangetic Plain indeed is a shithole unlike any other. How's the smog situation right now?>>2844019>Where you can walk around and not be molested by scammers and vermin?Scammers disappear once you reach a place where no wypipo are to be found. Even autorikshaws will start giving you the actual price. What you won't get rid of though is "one selfie sir" faggots.
>>2844017>You never see vlogs about how utterly intolerable the rainforest mountain villages of Tamil Nadu are, for example.Listen to this poster, if you want your India trip to be tolerable you must go where there are zero Indians>>2844019>Is there anywhere in India that is not a total shithole? Where you can walk around and not be molested by scammers and vermin?Maybe in the absolute richest neighborhoods of Mumbai far from anything historic or interesting, maybe
>>2844028Nice to know you enjoy living in literal garbage.>>2844029>How's the smog situation right now?When my flight touched down in Delhi you could barely see the ground until we were maybe a few hundred feet off it. Im amazed there aren't daily crashes at that place with how little visibility there is but at least I didn't stay inn Delhi (thank god). In Varanasi you could just barely see across the river by mid day.
>>2843923I have spent 3 consecutive months travelling India. No flights, only 2. class sleeper trains and 12 hour busses. 1 week of that was spent shitting my guts out in Goa. I am mentally stronger than 99% of this board and it made deeply appreciate my lot in life for having simply luxuries like clean and quiet streets. It also made me really hate the country before it was mainstream. The North East is alright though.
>>2844028that's a really really misleading photo of Varanasi. Makes it almost look pleasant lmao.
>>2844021There might be less people in the countryside but as far as I can tell not any less garbage
>>2844048Litter on the street is merely an eyesore. It doesn't affect my quality of life. The homestays in Kochi have many good reviews, and the streets of the city look clean and presentable (by India standards). To put it simply, the irredeemable shitholes don't deserve my presence. I will only stay in and contribute to places where people make a semblance of an effort at improving their surroundings.
>>2843923>you will never be a PM of India and come up with this one simple trick>go to the religious leaders of every major religion and say>dude, just preach cleanliness is how you get to Nirvana
>>2844022For many of us, India is the Holy Land. We go there for pilgrimage to the Buddha's place of enlightenment and his tomb. It is a very beautiful and deep spiritual experience.
>>2843923>I've been to other notoriously shitty countries to travel like Egypt and MoroccoAnon, those countries are practically resorts designed to cater to tourists.
>>2844134If youre going on a tour group maybe. If you go solo then you still have to deal with some shit.
>>2844013>You can stay there for like 2 weeks and have a lifetime of insane stories to tell.Admittedly true, but on the other hand they will all concern public hygiene or sexual assault
Everyone who posts this seems to just talk about the cow belt - never see people shitting on other parts like Kerala or the 7 sisters.
>>2843923>I still wouldn't say its my least favorite country I've been tolaos is a lot worse than india so that's not surprising to hear
>>2844048Yeah, rural areas are fucking filthy too. The only place you won't see garbage is in a gated entry national park like a big tiger reserve.Go to Orchha. Best place in India and not too far from Agra, which you're probably going to next.>>2844132Bodh Gaya and Sarnath are both incredible places to visit.
>>2844582I'm actually in Jaipur now was in Agra before, then Varanasi before that and headed to Jodhpur tomorrow. I was gonna go to Aurungabad for a couple days after that then end in Mumbai but decided to cut out Aurungabad and just do Mumbai to make things a little easier. I know obviously the crazy won't get any better there but I do really want to see the Elephanta Caves at least. I figure if I can get there and see that I can just stay holed up in my hotel room until its time to leave if I can't handle it anymore. The City Palace and Amber Fort were beautiful though and definitely felt like the idealized image that people who know nothing about India have in there head. Im also not in crash out mode so much now that I feel like I'm getting over my cold. But I don't know, I feel like every day here I go back and forth a dozen times between thinking "This place is so fascinating. Really glad I came here" and "Fuck this whole shithole and everyone in it"
>>2844595Elephanta Caves wasn't that cool honestly. Have you seen Gaitore Ki Chhatriyan in Jaipur yet? That was honestly the highlight of the whole place for me.
>>2843923This did not happen
>>2844595In my opinion, the fort in Jodhpur is much better than Jaipur. Feels more intricately designed, plus that view of it from the city is incredible. Particularly if you walk from the west side and go up the hill a bit. The fort towers over the whole city in a way that feels like some unreal world in a game.
>>2844706How much does it cost to do this trip?
>>2843935>except for the hippy couple who went there deliberately to live in a communeI had a buddy who travelled to India and I could not understand why. He is the hippy type who does a shit ton of psychedelics. I guess something about it attracts them.
>>2844767india is a very spiritual place. it's where they have the world's leading gurus. you can learn yoga and for women especially it's a very good place to stretch their yoni
>>2844757That depends all on what you want to do and how long you're there.
>>2844040I have a high tolerance for discomfort and will gladly stay in places a lot worse than India if it means that I won't have to deal with my j*b. You should've at least spent a night in Paharganj to get the true backpacker experience. >>2844045I mean, it's the main tourist road leading to the waterfront. Anyone who knows of Varanasi is aware of what the city is known for. Trust me, I took a lot of pictures in India that look borderline post-apocalyptic by comparison, some of which probably couldn't even be posted on blue boards.
>>2844767>He is the hippy type who does a shit ton of psychedelics. I guess something about it attracts them.It's the origin of almost all eastern religions and general "spirituality" and it's also like living in The Jungle Book with the animals everywhere. Since nothing works right you have to have a very adventurous, spontaneous, go with the flow personality to enjoy the place.
>>2843923>Jesus Christ the honking is not a meme at allRead this comment somewhere: "It's like they are blind and navigating with echo-location"
>>2844802They worship a whole bunch of very strange beings
>>2845065Not many people know that Christianity basically started in India.
>>2845065they just go for the food. it's the best in the world. tandoori, vindaloo, you can't go wrong
>>2845138>best in the worldUtterly mogged by Chinese, desu. Indian food is a one trick pony.
>>2844881>some of which probably couldn't even be posted on blue boards.Post them faggot
>>2845218you would have to ask bald, he's an expert in that area. even learned the language to do it better
>>2843923Thanks for sharing your pics, OP.How did the Mughals/Timurids turn these people into part of the #1 or #2 superpower on Earth?
>>2843923Does the tourism from being next to the Taj Mahal seriously not permeate out enough to make that place not look like that.Like jesus it's almost baffling. Get a job as a tour guide making 30k a year and you should be able to afford to spruce up that bulding that looks like a smelly pile of bricks.
Sitting in CDG airport waiting for my flight to Mumbai right now. It's mostly Indians, but there are some white people as well, including a 45 year old hippy-ish solo female traveler type.>>2845324How does the Taj Mahal impact anyone's lives around it for the better? Besides offering a steady stream of tourists for street scammers to prey on, of course. >>2845218Some of them are cute, but most Indian women are quite homely. They have lots of blemishes on their faces, I've noticed. >>2845142Cheap Chinese food skimps on flavor. It's nothing but refined carbs, chili and onions sauce. Whereas a 60 cent Indian breakfast pancake has five different flours in it, plus spices and toppings.
>>2845335>How does the Taj Mahal impact anyone's lives around it for the betterAgra is currently building a metro line and the parts that are open are clean and efficient. God knows how long it will stay like that though.Good luck tho. Hope you can handle the filth more than I can
>>2845324Agra is a vile, irredeemable shithole. It is a generic Northern Indian city in that way, which happens to have the Taj Mahal in it, which in turn exists in absolute isolation and can't really even be seen in the skyline because of all the smog.>Get a job as a tour guide making 30k a year 30k what lol, rupees? Besides, Indians don't care and neither would you if nobody around you had ever cared, the government included. It's an eternal self-reinforcing loop of all-permeating shittiness that affects everything in India.
Just walked out of the surprisingly clean and orderly Mumbai airport and checked into a cheap 1083 rupee (Agoda discount) windowless room on a quiet back street near the metro about a mile's walk from Terminal 2. It's kinda dirty and smelling of cigarette smoke, but I've stayed in worse/smaller rooms. My Schwab card was declined at the airport ATMs, so I have no rupees on hand, and less than 1 L of clean water. Luckily I did bring along literal pounds of snacks. The 19 hour flight wasn't too much of an ordeal. The Indian adventure commences...
This part of India seems more generic Third World than anything. Hardly different from what you get for $13/night in Malaysia...
>>2845145I'd rather not. Go there and see for yourself.>>2845270There's multiple people posting pictures, check the filenames. OP posted 1 stock photo and the photos for >>2843938 & >>2844706.>>2845370>exists in absolute isolationAgra Fort, Red Taj, Itmad-ud-Daula, Tomb of Akbar, etc. >can't really even be seen in the skyline because of all the smog.From what vantage point? Most of the hostels in the tourist area market themselves as having a rooftop view of the Taj Mahal. Even if there's thick smog, it's generally always visible unless you picked some random hotel on the outskirts of town.>>2845473For what it's worth, Mumbai and Bangalore came across to me as the most modern and westernized Indian cities. Do you at least have cash with you to exchange for rupees? If you don't, 7/11s usually accept international cards without issue regardless of where you are if you need water.
>>2845470living like this is a choice and you don't have to do it
>>2845489Schwab said it was an "account unspecified" decline, meaning the airport ATMs forgot to ask me to choose between checking or savings. Went to a bank with four lobby ATMs and got one of them to work. Many people here balk at making change for a crisp 500 rupee note. The street vendors doing brisk lunch business with the wagie crowd look delicious and should have plenty of change, but my appetite is sluggish.The local reference number requirement to purchase a SIM card is the next hurdle to surmount...of course I can just go without cell service.Might hop on the metro to Versova Beach in a little bit. Weather is quite pleasant, 30 C or so, and the AQI 160 smog doesn't bother me (because it effectively numbs my sense of smell).>>2845604Keep on moving, that's my rule. Tomorrow I go to Thane or Panvel.
First impressions of India are definitely positive. Mumbai folks are unexpectedly dignified and proper in their behavior, though there was some pushing on the metro thanks to people posting up by the doors instead of moving into the middle of the car. The only disrespectful incident was when some fruity old Muslim man walked up to me muttering dirty talk and tried to poke me, but only brushed my arm with his fingertip. I turned around like "huh?" but he got suddenly shy. Some of the dark teen girls on Madh Island had love at first sight in their eyes. One said "hello" while locking eyes with me, but I just smirked and said "hi" back without breaking my pace. 12 km of walking on the 4½ hour outing, plus a metro ride and a ferry ride. The barber guy in the slum was a bro, did a top-notch cut shave and trim. Scammers in vlogs are overbearingly bold and heedless of social boundaries, but I did not encounter any of them, and they do not represent the real nature of Indians. Anyways, harassment or rudeness is definitely not part of their culture here in Mumbai. Cute girls walk alone on the street unbothered. Kids never yell at me like they do in the Philippines. The tambays and other lowlifes that infest Philippine slums are curiously absent here. People aren't glued to their phones in public either.
Versova's fishing slum was filthy and the drying fish stunk enough to draw swarms of flies, but my nose is much worse offended by the average homeless negro in America desu. Poo smells are a meme. Rotting food waste is the most pungent nose-wrinkling odor here. Surprisingly, teams of volunteers were out cleaning up Versova Beach. Also surprisingly, the Mumbai metro stations provide free bathrooms and a drinking water dispenser.
>>2845618>The local reference number requirement to purchase a SIM card is the next hurdle to surmountCould have got one at the airport, probably still can at a shop in the tourist zone, they'll just use the number of one of the extra 3 dudes around every shop to receive the verification code, you just have to find a shop that's familiar with going through the process with foreigners>of course I can just go without cell servicecan always get an e-sim for normal shit, it just wont work for India based services than need a phone number like food delivery
>>2843923Epic thread. I'm enojying the ride, thanks.
>>2845666A 1 GB per day plan with Vi (Vodafone) is 249 rupees for 28 days. The 2 GB per day plan is ₹289. That's $3.25 USD. Guarantee the airport charges at least 5x more. Some rich dude in a car (following his GPS like a dumbass) tried to go down a narrow road during evening rush hour. He created a big jam and had to reverse and go the other way, as people started yelling at him. There are pockets of privilege everywhere in Mumbai, luxury condos dotting the slums, but the streets belong to the commoners 100%. I would feel so imprisoned as a richfag here, confined by walls and gates and guards and car doors. As a poorfag on foot, the whole country feels open to me. And with 41% of road traffic in India being pedestrians, we have power in numbers. We cannot be ignored or run down with impunity, like in other countries where motorbikes rule.
>>2845687Airtel at Delhi airport charged INR 500 for more or less the same plan IIRC.
>>2845718I'm going there to travel you dumb faggot, already built an itinerary that will keep me busy from the morning till the night for two weeks. I'm doing New Delhi (5 Days) -> Agra (1 Day) -> Jaipur (2 Days) -> Mumbai (3 Days) -> Goa (3 Days)But when you come back to the hotel at night you want to eat something, have a beer, and get your beak wet.
>>2845687>That's $3.25 USD. Guarantee the airport charges at least 5x more.Ok. Means absolutely nothing if you can't actually buy it though.>And with 41% of road traffic in India being pedestrians, we have power in numbers. We cannot be ignored or run down with impunity100% pure delusion
>>2845658>First impressions of India are definitely positiveSaid no one ever you do you but India is literal nightmare fuel
>>2845719The fuck is in New Delhi that you want to spend five days there? Go somewhere nice for godsakes. I just booked a $13.50/night 8.1/10 rated farmstay in the hills near a train station 60 km from Mumbai. Yes it has air-con.>>2845724Nigga I've walked around in many countries, it's the truth. Anyone who recklessly hits a pedestrian here is gonna get pulled out of their car and slapped around. Drivers and riders are much more careful than in Thailand, where there are very few peds.>>2845726Nothing I've seen yet has bothered me at all. People living their lives and making the best of whatever resources are available to them. "I love my India", that's what the barber bro told me.
The air, rivers and land in India are literal poison.
>>2845658Mumbai is a secret to the outside world and I kind of hope it stays that way. India filters normies, but Mumbai is a great place. Feels like the good parts of SE Asia with a little bit of extra chaos but all very manageable. And it's better than SE Asia because it has an actual public transport system. I'm planning to visit again because it's definitely one of my favorite places on earth.
>>2845793>Drivers and riders are much more careful than in Thailand, where there are very few peds.Lol no. Traffic in Thailand has Japan levels of organization compared to the pure chaos that is Indian streets
>>2845822I feel like most would agree that being filtered by Mumbai puts you in a better category of personPutting up with extreme filth and serial abuse by the local population just makes you a dumbass, why willingly subject yourself to that
>>2845842There's a new breed of traveler that wants to turn traveling into some kind of retarded pissing contest over who can withstand the shittiest conditions. I assume they have brain damage.
>>2845822>Mumbai is a great place. Feels like the good parts of SE Asia with a little bit of extra chaos but all very manageableOk, yeah, I guess Mumbai is better than most of the rest of India. Still don't really want to be there, but other people could like it>it's better than SE Asia because it has an actual public transport systemwat? Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur both have much better public transit with more lines and stops in more convenient places. Singapore too obviously.
New Panvel is quite pleasant with its quiet pedestrian alleys. Sadly I was refused a room on account of being a foreigner. ₹982 for an A/C room was, in fact, too good to be true. Without cell service, I had no choice but to walk into a different hotel on the other side of the tracks and pay ₹1500 for a fan-cooled room. They gave me a choice between hot water and big windows facing a moderately busy street, or cold water and a little window facing the quiet backside of the bus station. I chose the latter.
>>2845842People sweep the sidewalks on a daily basis in most of Mumbai. The filthiest areas are either impoverished slums or the designated trash dumps, as disposal services are laughably inadequate for the quantity of trash generated by the city. You can't even get a fucking garbage truck down most of the narrow slum streets. IDK what you mean by "serial abuse". Mumbai is a courteous city, and you can get an amazing variety of food there (including upscale Western-style indoor restaurants that would fit right in on a Denver downtown street). The weather is also very pleasant this time of year. My room has no A/C, yet the thermometer reads 79 F and 60% humidity at 3 PM. A large tree outside definitely helps in keeping the building cool. Yeah, I probably got overcharged, but it was the only hotel showing up on my offline map. Lesson learned. Screenshot the hotel selection around the train station before showing up without cell service.
>>2845793>The fuck is in New Delhi that you want to spend five days there?Idk I just searched for all the things you could do in New Delhi and it literally filled four and a half days. On the fifth day I've got some forts and temples to check out at South Delhi and then I'm taking a taxi to Agra. Also GB Road, I've been told there's a lot of talent in that place.
Old Panvel has two pleasant lake parks with pedestrian promenades. The fashion district is brightly lit by stylish shops, but the street infrastructure is typical India. Covered in dirt, beat to shit and falling apart as fast as it is being built. Yes, India is making great strides with its public improvement projects, but how the hell do you overcome the social inertia of a billion people who think everything is fine the way it is? Short of brute-forcing the population into submissively serving the state like their neighbors to the north. Apart from a scooter wreck (immediately surrounded by 100 guys) and two mean dogs coming at me from a shanty doorstep (one of which now has a bruise on his ass), it was an uneventful evening in Panvel. Nobody really bothers me here, and most people look away when they notice that I notice that they are looking at me. Worries about future denials of stay top my list of concerns. A ₹283 mutton biryani at a fancy alcohol-serving restaurant full of sulky men was less food than expected, but seemed to be very high quality. The days of pigging out on cheap food are over for me. Eat less, eat better, avoid all the discomfort of gluttony.>>2845934By talent you mean, ahem, ladies of the night?
>>2845954yes, thatI want to have an adventure in India and a lot of.. that
>>2843923>scammingI like India, but you have to watch your banking communications. I was warned about this from a co-worker who got his bank account drained via hotel employees. I thought it was an exaggeration until I heard something outside of my hotel room, looked through the peephole and saw an employee with a laptop and antenna.
>>2845793>"I love my India"I wish more of them thought that way instead of coming to my country and others to fuck them up.
India really is a photographer's dream. Nobody wants a picture with me tho...Khopoli is a hidden gem of a city, and last night I discovered Matheran on the map, a hill station that looks even more amazing in terms of nature. The railway going up to the city is incredible, beating even the mountainside railway that soars across a viaduct high over Khopoli (yes I found the trail and hiked up to it, but sadly the waterfalls nearby are all dry this time of year). Yes, there will continue to be the frustration of budget hotels refusing me for being a foreigner, the challenge of navigating an environment with no English signage and no cell service for my translator app. Getting menaced by an angry temple cow (after sneaking around the perimeter fence on a little path), getting approached by a cobra in the wild...it's just another day of exploring India.
Daredevil bridge across the roaring Pahalganga river fed by a hydroelectric plant. Hippies evidently hung out and tripped on shrooms here in the past, based on their tree carvings. Much of the plant grounds are open to the pedestrian public for quiet nature recreation. But yes...go three km downstream and the beautiful river looks more like a sewer/landfill combo. I've yet to see any organized trash disposal in Khopoli. My room at the Chandra Vilas Lodge was very nice for ₹1000 per night, but had no WiFi and no wastebasket. Tucked away on a back street, the extremely formal owner took about half an hour to check me in. Better than being refused again! Current tally for 6 days of accomodation here is 4 acceptances and 4 refusals. The owner arranged laundry service for me as well, with my small load of clothes delivered to my door 12 hours later for a rather steep ₹400 charge.
I explored part of a vast abandoned housing complex for the defunct India Steel factory in Khopoli before being shooed out by the security guard. It was sad to see such an excellent company village, located in a beautiful area and sufficient for thousands of residents, being smashed up by vandals and left to decay.
Neither of us were afraid of the other. The cobra is a very wise snake and not given to reckless provocation. He froze and regarded me watchfully, but once he heard my voice vibrations and realized that I meant him no harm, he continued calmly about his slithery day, even coming within 1.5 meters of me after entering a walled enclosure by mistake and then retracing his, uhh, steps with me standing right outside the gate.
>>2845971From what I've seen here, you'd actually have the best luck with middle class city girls who are more feminist and liberated (easy to spot by their modern clothing styles). Or alternatively, Christian girls because they believe in forgiveness of sins. Indian women are picky about looks in a looks-obsessed country, so ugly or sloppy guys are SOL.The poorer women protect themselves with a chaste reputation, dressing modestly and traditionally, behaving coyly around guys they are interested in and responding angrily to advances from guys they aren't interested in. Be aware that Indian women are very, very talkative with their lovers. Couples of other races go to the hotel, and from the next room you mainly hear moans and groans, some mumbled conversation. Indian couples go to the hotel room and talk non-stop for hours on end. A period of relative quiet, when we can assume the act is taking place, then the talking resumes (except this time the guy is silent and she's doing all the talking). Unlike white women, pajeetas don't expect their guys to have genius-level emotional IQ and intuitively know everything they are feeling, but they expect full engagement, which is a big challenge if you're a 4chan autist who just wants a little fun. And lastly, there is no such thing as privacy for a foreigner in India. Everyone in the hotel will know your name, passport number, date of birth, residential address, phone number, and other particulars. Indian national security requirement, yada yada. The sight of a white man with a woman in India draws a lot of stares and attention, and Indians love to gossip. Not a problem for you, as you can pack up and leave tomorrow, but overcoming her reluctance would be a challenge. The detached, non-judgmental nature of Buddhist Thais when it comes to such matters is a world away from the Hindu culture.
>>2843935Yeah, I was meant to go for 2 weeks but bailed after 6 days. I've travelled extensively and never cut a trip short before.India is something else. It's a country that festers like maggots in a rotting corpse and has no redeeming (heh) features
>>2846789Imagine admitting to being such a pussy that you can't handle a typical third world country.
>>2846924Meanwhile I'm "forced" to stay at a $19/night all-inclusive resort in a beautiful mountaintop rainforest village where petrol vehicles are completely banned. Access is by one of the world's most remarkable mountain-climbing railways. India sux, amirite? Skill issue, /trv/ bros. I found this place all by myself, by poring over a map. Nobody told me about it. >file upload ban for this IP rangeFuck you jannies
>>2846976I think India's IP reputations are more to blame than the jannies, kek. Shame you can't upload though ;( I often get this with mobile posting, fwiw.
>>2846977Previous Indian WiFis uploaded pics no problem, to my surprise. Still haven't got a SIM card. I should mention that ₹1750/night is the barebones package with a special weekday cash discount for stays of two or more days. Basic bitch A/C room, pool access, but no meal plan drinks or activities included. The premium stuff in India is never dirt-cheap, and the cheap stuff is not even close to premium. My butter chicken dinner was incredibly rich and filling, but the bill was a steep ₹420 ($4.60 USD) including three chapati and basmati rice side. The train ticket here was also upcharged 3.5x as the second-class seats were sold out. I got a seat on a hard sofa in a coupe car shared with two middle-class couples.Fuck it. India finally kicked my slum habit. Here I'm developing a taste for the finer things, despite picking up clear signs of disdain from the populace. Being white doesn't grant you any favors in proud, stratified, buttoned-up Maharashtra. But that's what I want, to be treated like any other Rajesh. My presence here doesn't change anyone's behavior. They are helpful to me, but they are likewise helpful to each other when help is courteously requested.
>>2846760Well thanks for the background anon but I can't really be with a woman unless I pay for it first, so all of this isn't relevant for me.
>>2846924Travelling is not a video game you fucking retard. Either you can tolerate staying in 3rd world conditions or you can't. Doesn't mean you have a higher level than someone who would prefer to just sit on a beach in Spain or something.
>>2846924It's not that I couldn't handle it, it's more that I didn't feel like the country deserved another rupee from meAlmost every taxi and hotel tried to scam me, even though I used uber and booking.com. I couldn't move for little skinny fat fucks bothering me to go to 'tourist centres' or get in their rickshawI got spat on, pushed in front of, stared at. Pollution and littering was terribleJust an all-round shit country with shit people
>>2847048>Almost every taxi and hotel tried to scam me, even though I used uber and booking.comHow the fuck can a hotel scam you if you paid in advance through booking? Also do you have any advice about handling those taxi drivers? I'm going next month and I don't intend on using any trains or buses because then I'll have to come in close proximity with these filthy animals, so I'm thinking cabs.
>>2847050Nta but I just left India and ime regular taxi drivers and tuktuks were more reliable/trustworthy than ubers. So long as we agreed on a price before I got in the car they would honor it. By contrast whenever I tried to get an uber for anything other than an airport pickup they would either text me immediately unashamedly asking 3 or 4x ubers price or just sit in one spot for 5 minutes before cancelling
>>2847048>Almost every taxi and hotel tried to scam me, even though I used uber and booking.comI was in India 2 months. I only used Uber and booking.com. Never got scammed once with them. How is it even possible? Explain the mechanics of it.
>>2847055>text me immediately unashamedly asking 3 or 4x ubers priceYeah they do that in places with hardly any Ubers, like in Pushkar. But if you're in a big city it's normal
>>2847048Just man up. That's all it takes. Laugh at the little scammers desperately trying to squeeze an extra 10 cents out of you. Know that it's all a rounding error to you, ignore them, and move on to the next big thing.
>>2847055Ran into this same shit in Cairo. So tiresome.
>>2847056>>2846981Actually hotels not looking like the listing, fake reviews so it looks legit. Dirty. Happened in both the hotels I stayed in so I just stayed in zostels after thatUber I got scammed twice - first time the guy said I had to pay in cash and wouldn't let me get out until I paid. I said usually you pay on the app but he said it works differently here. This was on the way from the airport so I didn't have a sim yet and couldn't google. The other the guy drove under a bridge and stopped, and started try to extort money from me, he was like half my height so I didn't feel physically threatened. I reported both these guys on uber and they got banned lol. Guessing they just make a new account
>>2847060You ignore them, they follow you for a few mins then fuck off. Then another comes straight after. All greasy skinny fat men that look like shitNaughty little chocolate men wears you down after a few days.
>>2847062It happened to me in Cairo too but I was able to connect with a reliable driver right after cancelling with the scammer every time. In India the drivers would pull that shit 3 or 4 times in a row before I said fuck it and got a tuktuk.
>>2847119Where were you in India? Lemme guess, the northern plains. Damned if I know why tourists always gravitate to that hellish part of the country.A few tuktuk drivers outside Mumbai airport tried to get me to ride with them, but I kept walking and they didn't follow. Since then, nobody here in Maharashtra state has tried to solicit or pressure me for anything. In fact, they often ignore me completely until I speak, then provide brisk service bordering on curtness. One exception was this hotel I'm staying at, which sent a staffer to collect me from a different property and offer me a discount for a multi-day stay. (Otherwise I would've been stuck going door to door like an unwanted beggar, asking for a room and getting turned away time and again.) Not being a sucker, I logged into WiFi to look up the price online and the online "deal" was ₹2430. He was offering ₹1750, so yes, it was legit and I paid for two nights.
>>2847048Littering is truly inescapable. Even the upper class vacationers visiting the hill stations throw trash everywhere. And by everywhere, I mean literally fucking EVERYWHERE. Yet I haven't found the Indian's personal hygiene to be any worse than other Asian countries. Most of the guys are barbered and dress presentably, and the women likewise take pains to appear respectable. I saw more filthy reeking bums in Colombia or Los Angeles than I do in the slums of Maharashtra. The open sewers that were once creeks definitely reek of dirty washwater and rotting trash, but the only poo smells are from cowshit (and horseshit up here in Matheran). Surprisingly, numerous herons and egrets fish for little critters in the filthiest of creeks. Queue jumping by desperately impatient people does happen now and then, but you have to assert yourself and say "excuse me" loudly and they fall back in line. Three people were in line to buy train tickets 30 minutes before departure; 10 minutes out, there were 25 people in line. Always give yourself plenty of time buffer here.
>>2844028> even the sky is brown
>>2847150>Yet I haven't found the Indian's personal hygiene to be any worse than other Asian countries. I've noticed that in a lot of filthy ass countries, people tend to be pretty sanitary regarding their own bodies. I see lots of proper hand washing throughout places like India, Vietnam, etc. Probably because it's drilled into their minds that dirty hands will make them sick, and being sick when you're poor can mean death. Unfortunately, they don't make the connection that littering and shitting in a river is the reason that there's infectious agents everywhere and that's what's making them sick.And for an opposite example, I almost never see Japanese men wash their hands. Over 99% wet the tips of their fingernails with water and water alone, then rub their fingers through their hair. Even guys taking the most massive shits imaginable.Before some American comes in and says>but japan has bidets!!!!!!You still wipe your ass after using a bidet. You don't walk out with a dripping wet ass and shit water running down your legs.
OP here. Just left Mumbai yesterday and I'm currently spending a few days in Singapore before heading home. I thought I should put together my final thoughts now that everythings said and done. I did end up spending about a month there still between India and Nepal but cut it short by just a couple days. Anyway I'll start off with the bad:Everything I said in my initial post still stands. In every city except Mumbai (which was still pretty dirty in some places) the garbage situation was so bad that you can't walk more than 5 steps without trying not to step in some pile of garbage, literal shit, or some unidentifiable sludge. Thr fsct that a lot of the roads arent properly paved adds onto this and I have multiple stories illustrating how the garbage problem is largely due to the mentality of the Indian people but Im not gonna list them here.Speaking of the people they're definitely some of the rudest, pushiest, scammy people in the world. Plus, regardless of how they behave, theres simply to many of them. I think a lot of Indias problems could be fixed if they instituted a 1-2 child policy like China did. On top of this so often you find things simply dont work the way theyre supposed to. Restaurants being out of half the menu, hotel phones broken, shower water getting luke warm at best, etc.
>>2847198The good:I'll start with the food. I hadnt been exposed too much to Indian food before this because there wasnt a big pajeet community in my city until recently but overall I think the food was pretty damn good, though a bit repetitive. Definitely wouldnt put it in the same tier as east Asia but can see why some people would. Mostly at at my guesthouses or nice restaurants and still ate for around $10 usd or less most days.Some of the sights are also incredible and as other anons mentioned its probably the country Ive most felt like being on an actual adventure while traveling through. I do have tons of cool stories to tell people back home and even despite all the disgusting garbage and massive crowds there were some moments where I did feel like I was having a spiritual experience.And while yes, much of the populace is shitty, I also met a number of incredibly friendly, hospitable people that helped keep me from going full /pol/tard. I know plenty of people there do recognize all the problems India has and I genuinely hope they can solve them.
>>2847199My itinerary was Varanasi>Agra>Jaipur>Jodhpur>Mumbai. Was gonna go to Aurungabad to see the Ellora Caves but cut it to make things easier on myself. I did see the Elephanta Caves in Mumbai though which were really cool. Took trains from Varanasi through Jodhpur then flew to Mumbai. I booked train tickets on 12go. They arent super clean or up to date trains but they work well enough and came in roughly on schedule.I know everyone says India is a love it or hate it place but ultimately I have mixed feelings. There are a few places in the south that look beautiful that I might want to go back to visit some day but India would have to make some serious progress in development before I really consider it.Also, I seriously overestimated the level of english among most of the population. You can get by okay with it of course but I had a lot of problems a d learning a little Hindi beforehand wouldve helped a lot.
>>2847116>Actually hotels not looking like the listing, fake reviews so it looks legit.Ok. Fair enough. I remember this problem. You have to study the reviews and only book if they have a decent number of foreign reviews. Can't trust Indian reviews at all.
>>2847201For reference, pictures are:1. 17th century temple down the hill from Amber Fort2. Step well in the old city of Jodhpur3. Ganga Aarti in Varanasi
>>2847201>I know everyone says India is a love it or hate it place but ultimately I have mixed feelingsMe too. It's ok. I don't love it. There are amazing things there but the constant vigilance you have to maintain with the shitty people just drains away the pleasure. Imagine India with people as friendly as SEA. Would be a paradise, especially if as clean as Thailand too.I'm definitely not a pro-racial extinctionist but you can't ignore the positive impact no Indians in India would have on India
>>2847201If you didn’t outright hate it, those good memories will grow in the back of your mind and you’ll ultimately want to go back. You’ll be better prepared for the shitty aspects next time, and more able to enjoy the good parts. It’s how every traveler feels when going there.
>>2847146>Lemme guess, the northern plains. Damned if I know why tourists always gravitate to that hellish part of the country.I wonder if it has anything to do with how 90% of all of India's world famous sites are in the Nothern Plain. Hmmmm. Most curious indeed.
>>2847211>If you didn't hate it you'll go backThere's like 200 countries out there bud.
Spent a year there, only saw half the continent. Harassment, squalor, human feceas and abject poverty are what's written on the box, if that's not what you want, don't go to India.
>>2847170>You don't walk out with a dripping wet ass and shit water running down your legs.In India, you do. I always wipe before I wash because I have a wrinkly white-person asshole, but I can't afford to waste precious tissue on wiping afterwards.>>2847198In Thailand, the pavement extends to the concrete pad at the front of the shop or residence, so there is no dirt along the roadside. In India, there is always a gap between the shopfront and the road surface that is unpaved and usually filthy. Also, they never scrape up the mud after the monsoon season flooding ends, so it turns to dust and coats everything near the road. Of course, trash-clogged drains are the reason why the streets always flood during monsoon. >>2847199The good Indian meals aren't cheap, but my gut can only process one of these spicy greasy meals a day (even with many km of walking). This has kept my daily food expenditures in India the lowest of any country.>>2847202The bad reviews can be just as dishonest as the good ones. Customers get offended by rude service, so they post a 1 star review of the "worst place ever" even though the property is decent by Indian standards.>>2847204I've had multiple local women warn me about the risk of robbery in India. Farm laborers with their machetes ganging up on me while I'm traipsing through the hills or something like that. But so far, everyone in India seems to regard me as an utter brokefag who can't even afford a proper travel backpack. Service at businesses is usually rude or indifferent, so it bewilders me why everyone is always talking about how Indians are so pushy.
My first week in India cost me $140 USD equivalent or $20 per day, of which $14.62 per night average went toward lodging. Food expenditures were skewed downward thanks to almost 2 kg of high-calorie snacks brought from America as part of my diet acclimation routine; only $25.60 USD equivalent was spent on food for the whole week. Eating some Indian sweets and overripe custard apples has definitely gotten local bacteria introduced into my gut, but so far, my body has been able to process their waste products effectively and keep their numbers more or less in check.
>>2847331Damn what were you doing there for that long? Just traveling? Work? Family?
