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I write this "warning" with a smile on my face............It was really more amusing than annoying, but I will give a brief description of what happened. We were walking along the promanade at Colaba, Mumbai, and these 2 sweet, tiny little girls, about 15 yrs old, came up to us. They grabbed my hand, put a flower in it, and begged for RICE. No......they said, they did not want money...just rice. We smiled, and kept on walking.
That night, Richard felt REALLY guilty, and bad that he had not given them the rice that they has asked for, to feed their starving families.Next day, they find us again. So they eagerly led their latest benafactor to a little shop, where he proceeded to buy not just rice., but sugar, milk , biscuits and various other foodstuffs. A veritable feast.They were delighted, Richard felt good,and we were given more flowers.
Later that day, we saw them , busy withother tourists. We should have guessed.
Our hotel manager had a good laugh when we told him about our philanthropy.
"Ah.......the rice girls!!" Apparently. they get tourists to buy, then hand the goods back to the shop-owner, who gives them only a few rupees back. Clever, no?
So this is not really a "danger or warning" just a "don't be a sucker!!" Leave a Comment
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the only small problems we ever encountered was that sometimes taxi drivers take the LONG way to somewhere.especially if they think one is new to India.... and touts can be a bother too. The best way is to deal firmly, but politely with them.Most of all, KEEP YOUR SENSE OF HUMOUR. It takes away all the stress!!!
Auto-rickshaws are a good way to go, if the distance is not too great....fix a fare before you leave. And always mention to taxi drivers & touts that you have been to India before....then they know that you are aware of there tricks. SMILE. Leave a Comment
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 New Delhi Railway Station by into-thin-air
I already knew about this scam (It is mentioned in Lonely Planet) But even armed with hat knowledge, I Still found it Incredibly Difficult as well as Incredibly Time Consuming to actually book these train tickets.
My Advice is to Persevere – The Tourist Booking Office is upstairs in the Main Building, The entrance to this is about 30 metres to the left of the main entrance to the platforms.
Once you have located the office, the rest of the booking is straight forwards, First you need to fill out a form for Each Journey (More than one person can be on one form but only one actual journey) putting in the departure point, the arrival point, The train number and the date and time of the journey, Then take this (these) forms(s) to one of the booking desks and as long as there is a berth available on the train you will be issued with your ticket there and then
The guy we had was incredibly helpful and where there wasn’t availability he either found us an alternative rout or an alternative date, one day either side of our original date.
We booked up 11 train journeys all at once, This for us was convenient as all we then had to do was turn up on the right day at the right station and away we were. But it did take away a bit of flexibility. But not all cities have access to the tourist booking quota (This is a special quote of train tickets put to one side specifically for tourists on popular routes)
Good Luck Leave a Comment
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 Travellers Waiting - Jodphur.
Pic: Aaron Irving by Hmmmm
Tundlar Station is a small town 50km south of Agra. Mughal Serai is a small town 10km south of the Ganges from Varanasi's Kashi Train Station.
We went this way because getting a seat on a Train from Varanasi to Agra (two huge destinations in India) can take weeks. I met many tourists who had been trying for days. The staff won't help you set your route. Not at all. They require you to fill out a reservation form, and queue up and present it to the clerk. If that reservation is not available then you have to try and make another one for another day or time and get back in queue. To the busy tourist thisis preposterous!
What should you do?
Consult your 'Trains at a Glance' think laterally, and fill out a number of reservation forms. Starting of course with your preferred train first, your second choice reservation and so on. Remarkably the Indian rail clerks didn't mind this. In fact I think they respected our use of their system. It worked well. We always got a seat. Even if our journey waqsn't as direct as it could have been. Taxi's are cheap aren't they in India.
www.indianrail.gov.in/ Leave a Comment
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 Taj Mahal Entrance up
Close and Oblique.
Morning by Hmmmm
The Taj Mahal was built by Shah Jahan to enshrine the body of his wife, Arjumand Bann Begum (Mumtaz Mahal) after she died in 1630 at Burhanpur in South India. The construction started in 1632 and was completed in 1653. The workforce of some 20,000 included craftsmen from Italy, Persia and Turkey. It is built by the bank of the Yamuna river not very far from the Agra Fort.
However the Taj is Popular, so popular. And at 750 (~$20)rupees, people usually go once. If you go in the afternoon or the evening its going to be crawling with people, which is normal its a tourist attraction.
But to insure you get the most for your money go EARLY in the morning for two reasons. (1) to get good pictures with few people in them and time to set up. and (2) so that you have time to see the other sites listed on your Taj Mahal ticket.
With the 750 rupees you are entitled to see Agra Fort, Fatepur Sikri, and Akbar's Mausuleum and others. So going to see the best first ensures you have time to travel about Agra for the others.
Yes The Taj is a bit of a tourist trap, but there is no alternative for the Taj. It is a must see. Leave a Comment
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 Bathers in the Holy
Ganga. Pic: Aaron Irving by Hmmmm
Why? Well it is believed that the Ganges Comes Down To Earth from Heaven. A legend from the Ramayana speaks of King Bhagirath who once meditated before Lord Brahma for a thousand years for the salvation of the souls of his ancestors. Pleased with his devotion Brahma granted him a wish. He requested the Lord to send the river Ganges down to earth from heaven so that she could flow over his ancestors' ashes and wash their curse away and allow them to go to heaven. Brahma granted his wish but asked him to pray to Shiva, for he alone could support the weight of her descent. Accordingly he prayed to Shiva and he allowed the Ganges to descend on his head, and after meandering through his thick matted locks, the holy river reached the earth. This story is re-enacted by bathing the linga.
Don't put any of this water near your mouth, it is EXTREMELY rife with Microbial life, pollutants and other nasties. Everything goes into this river. Injestion is an express ticket to Hospital. Be Careful
Take a Shower in your hotel. Even if the water is cold. Leave a Comment
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 Avoid the hassle of banks! by lachydragon
Cashing travellers cheques was a bit of a hassle at banks - I tried it only once at the Punjab National Bank in Dehradun and spent an hour in the bank. We had gone to the foreign exchange counter and signed and counter signed our travellers cheques and assorted paper work about 6 times and were then given a slip to take to the cashier for claim. It seemed the cashier held his high position in a booth where he was in control of matters and would only help customers (regardless of how far they had pushed to the counter) if it suited him. His decisionmaking was influenced by how much money you slipped through the bars surreptitiously to the man on the other side!!
Since my friend and I weren't going to buy into this practice....we basically were made to wait. I was pretty shocked to see this kind of thing at a bank!
Anyway, later in the trip we started exchanging travellers cheques at booking offices and travel agents and found the rates may have been a little bit worse than banks but for perhaps as little as 50 rupees difference per exchange it was well worth the time savings as we could convert the cheques in 5 minutes flat!! So my advice with travellers cheques is to do it at the reputable looking offices and not the banks but just make sure you keep the encashment certificate just in case you need it later on. Leave a Comment
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 some things to buy in Agra by TomorrowsAngel
To change money back into USD or GBP when you leave, you need to provide the receipt you received when you first changed the $$$ into rupees. Leave a Comment
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A STORY FROM VARANASI
As we passed by the burning Ghat and headed through the wood store, we were approached by a young boy who was dressed very smartly all in white. The boy who looked like an alter boy serving in a church was standing next to a very old lady who was resting on a pile of logs. The boy explained to us that the old lady had travelled from the countryside to Varanasi in the hope she might be cremated at the holy waters.
He also explained that he worked in the local hospice where the old and sick were fed and sheltered until their passing away. Then he told us that this particular old woman was very close to her death and had come to the Ghat in the hope of begging some money so as that she could afford to pay for the wood that would be used on her pyre. And would we care to give anything towards helping her achieve this. Furthermore he then went on to say if we did help out this old lady, we would surely receive good Karma for the good we had shown in our hearts.
In all honesty this old lady looked as though she was ready to die at any moment, and a bit of good karma would not go amiss on us two, that was for sure. Nick and I looked at each other knowing that this would be a good thing to do. We gave her 250 rupees, which would at least buy her a few kilos of wood for her fire.
The Boy and old women were very convincing and we felt that they were genuine!
We then read a poster in a restaraunt that warned tourists of this very ploy. Advising them that this was indeed a scam.
But what i say is this. : Yes we were conned and yes this practice is immoral and in very bad taste, but the truth is these people were trying to make some money to keep themselves alive, rather than pay for their death. So in this respect i don't feel too bad about the whole situation. Leave a Comment
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 The Sri Meenakshi Temple by Vintom
He asked us if we would like to view the Temple complex from above, "yeah sure" we said, knowing exactly what was coming next.
We had read about this scam to get people into an emporium in the Guidebook, but we wanted to see the aerial view and did not mind this man getting his commission for taking us there.
The Emporium was just across the road from the Temple entrance, and we were shown into the lift to take us to the roof. Once on the roof there was another short flight of steps that took us to the viewing platform, where we took a few pictures, but it really needed to be a lot higher to get a good overall view of the Temple complex.
Now this is where the scam kicks in, because you can't use the lift to return to the ground floor, instead you are obliged to use the stairs which just happen to take you through four floors of carpets, silks, furniture, Indian handicrafts, e.t.c. It's the price you pay for a free Ariel view of the Temple.
They would be better off charging people to use this facility, as they certainly got nothing from us in the way of sales, but we would probably have paid for the elevated views.
We had our usual complimentary cup of tea as we looked around for twenty minutes or so trying to look interested, without being over interested, then said our thanks before getting out sharpish.
I don't mind looking around shops sometimes and know that most shopkeepers are only trying to make a living. S o what I suggest is that you are polite and understanding of these little tricks they employ to get you into the shop. If you really are not interested in their goods, then say so in the good mannered way that all travellers should adopt. Leave a Comment
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