Anyone here who has been to India? What would you recommend? I've booked a month-long stay at a yoga retreat in Pune. Haven't planned anything else. My wife and my dad are also coming. No kids. My dad is pretty active for his age.
>>2918212Pune is a traffic-ridden shithole with a few nice parks. I saw more whites there than anywhere else I visited in India. It feels pretty safe, though an uptick in street gang behavior including machete robberies has many locals worried. Be aware that scams are prevalent in Pune, and most friendliness is fake. Avoid paying for anything sight unseen if you can help it. You can get around the city on foot and with local buses, but it is stressful. Conductors come up to you after you board and ask the name of your stop, then tell you the fare amount. The metro OTOH is total cleanliness and serenity. Don't crumple the stupid QR code receipt in your sweaty pocket, you need it to exit.
>>2918212>I've booked a month-long stay at a yoga retreat in Pune. Haven't planned anything else. My wife and my dad are also coming. No kids. My dad is pretty active for his age.You'll be in the foreigner containment zone. It's not real India. It's Disney.
>>2918219>foreigner containment zoneNo such thing in Maharashtra.>>2918212Google says the retreat in picrel is located in Lonavala, not Pune. Lonavla (as it's pronounced) is a lovely tourist town with lots of trees and lakhs of chikki shops. It's pretty clean for India. No A/C is required in the cooler months. Prices can be a little high, but the quality should be top-notch as the town attracts wealthy weekenders from both major cities. You can walk the highway to town from your retreat, it is wide but unpleasant. Some of the rich kids drive like real assholes on the back roads, deliberately passing close by or shouting out their window. There is soooo much to explore in the area if you like trekking daytrips. Maratha forts are astonishing, and the locals adore any foreigner who shows their respect for the great Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj who built an empire of mountaintop fortresses.
One note of caution to OP: religious people are some of the biggest scammers in India, and religious people are the easiest to scam. There is no need whatsoever to pull out your wallet for any local friends you make in Maharashtra. The Marathi people consider it highly degrading to beg for money from their guests; in all my time traveling the state, not one of the friends I made asked me for money, and they always refused when I offered compensation. However, there are always unscrupulous elements who will take advantage of a foreigner's ignorance of Marathi culture. Scammers frequently operate at temples. The Marathi people are friendly; feel free to talk to anyone who approaches you speaking English, but set boundaries. Speak plainly when necessary.>"Do you want payment for taking us on this outing?" >"How much do you want?">"No, I can't give you anything" when somebody does something without your consent and then asks for moneyIf you want to help hungry beggars - yes, there are whole communities of filthy beggar tribes living on the street in Lonavala - give them snacks not coins.
>>2918212You're not concerned your dad will get food poisoning and die? He most certainly will get food poisoning btw. That's not up for debate.>>2918240Disgusting behaviour.
>>2918277Drink bottled Bisleri water to be safe; don't trust filturd water dispensers. Food in Lonavala is good. You shouldn't get food pizzening.
>>2918277if you're a fat boomer retard who watches tiktok all day you'll get food poisoning. if you have any degree of street smarts you can easily avoid it. i stayed there 3 months and didnt get food poisoning.
>>2918212I would recommend not to. All the gross shit you see on the Internet and reels doesn’t put into perspective how bad it really is.Imagine 1.5 billion 67 IQ retards. 95% of people look at you like your God if you’re white and the other 5% look at you like they want to kill you.My friend got kidnapped by some Muslims. They demanded $5000. We got him back for $300.
>>2918380>you see on the Internet and reelspropaganda brain, you don't even travel or think for yourself, you just believe what (((influencers))) tell you to believe. My India thread: https://archive.4plebs.org/trv/thread/2847685/#2849831
