INDIA 2011 | Backpacking India (Delhi-Chandigarh-Manali-Jaipur-Agra)
INDIA. Some love it, others hate it. It is the country of contrast and many dimensions. The marvels of the Himalayan peaks, steppes, exotic beaches and magical tea plantations blend with over-populated, dirty and far too noisy cities. Still, this huge country is a magnet for hundreds of backpackers. Adventurous travelers will not be disappointed. India is simply fascinating and addictive and also super inexpensive. The country has a great rail service, which is quite inexpensive, but the huge distances between the cities and major attractions make the journeys very long and tiring. There are also plenty of public and private buses that run very frequently. Planes are also an option if you book in advance you can get a good price.
This is 9 days trip 100% arranged by me, from A to Z.What I can tell in overall that I enjoyed very much backpacking in India, their monuments are so many and beautiful, their natures are huge and amazing an their people are friendly and helpful thou sometimes I found some of them make me laugh and some made me cry especially the poor one, their foods..ummppp I don't really like..haha. For adventure seeker like me, if you're bored with sightseeing and shopping only, there's so many extreme activities you can try. Travelers should not worry about all unpleasant things, they should just enjoy and take it easy on the new things they acquaintance. It's not about the destination, the perfect holiday or whatever!!!
29 January 2011 (KL to New Delhi):
Five hours flight to New Delhi from Kuala Lumpur by AirAsiaX seems very short with the very happening friends on board, and I am truly sorry for others for the noise we made..:). Since this is our first time in India, I made an arrangement with our hotel for airport transfer that cost us Rs.500/taxi. Actually, it's only cost about half the price if you just use airport taxi. When we arrived at the New King Hotel, I am quite shocked with the surrounding which unpleasant to see. I just kept in mind, this is just a short stay where we'll check-out the next day early in the morning to catch a train to Chandigarh. The room was very cheap after all (Rs.400/room/night), so no high expectation for the hotel.
After freshened up, and after hotel manager convinced us that it was safe outside, then we decided to walk outside pretty late around 10.45 p.m looking for foods. The homeless people are not a bad guy after all. They just watched us and gave us a welcome smile I guess. We found only 1 restaurant nearby that opens until 11.00 p.m. and decided to give it a try. The unfamiliar vege dinner turn out to be just fine, non-vege is still the best..:)
30 January 2011 (New Delhi to Chandigarh to Manali):
Early check-out today, our train departed at 7.40 a.m. I bought the train ticket on-line through makemytrip website. The price for AC chair was Rs.435 and additional Rs.20 for IRCTC service fee,Rs. 20 for Makemytrip service fee and 1.8% credit card fee. Unbelievable, with just a small fare we get free meal. The journey is short but I always enjoy train ride no matter how long and how short. I can see ordinary people's way of living. There's some disturbing moments if you travel early in the morning. I think their government should take some action regarding their people doing that early morning 'biz' openly. I understand they are the poorest I guess they do not have proper toilet, but that is not a reason you can just throw your 'shit' anywhere you please. Welcome to India!!!hehe..what an experience you can't buy.
Arrived at Chandigarh railway station at 11.05 a.m. and continue our journey to Manali by renting a car with driver for the next 4 days and 3 nights. The cost for Innova after divided by six of us was only Rs.2000/person. I found this website, Chandigarh Taxi Service offered the cheapest rates where others charging Rs.17k to Rs.20k. The driver's name is Sukindran, we called him Suki. He's the nicest, the best driver compared to others while in India. Highly recommended. The 11 hours journey is very long I can say but it's convenient because we can stop wherever we want. Forgot to take vomit pills, some of us were having a hard time including me 3 times vomiting..:(..Arrived at Shartak Resort, Manali at 10.30 pm. We get the best rate from hostelworld at Rs.880/room/night. Since it's already dark outside, what I can just say about Manali was...SO DAMN ICY COLD!!!! and there's snow!!!
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| at Shartak Resort |
Wake up and open the curtain...wow!!! what a marvelous view!!!seriously amazing view. I bet most of my friends are envying me right now
Hadimba Temple at the back
Next plan - to learn skiing at Solang Valley. On the way, we rented a proper snow suits, gloves and boots together with 1 ski board and 1 guide (Rs.600/person) for 1 day. This area the snow is thicker but with a generous amount of sunshine that day, the coldness is hardly feelable. I am so prepare for the sunburn!!! We spent our remaining day here. Other than skiing, we did paragliding (Rs.850), horse riding (Rs.100), tube sledding (Rs.100) and snow fighting (free).
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| The scariest Tube sledding |
1 February 2011 (Manali)
Went to art gallery/house owned by Russian family whose son married to Indian woman. If you want to know more about this family read HERE. I wish someday I owned a house with a magnificent mountainous view like Mr. Nicholas Roerich's house.
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| Taken from Roerich art gallery/house |
Later, went to Tibetan monastery. The place is so 'National Geographic'. I used to watch this kind of place on TV, many documentaries on them being shown to the world. I think this school could win 'school with the most beautiful scenery', if there is such award.
Then, unprepared we decided to do 7 km water rafting (Rs.850/person) at icy cold Beas River. The water level was low and it was a low season for water rafting but it was still full of excitement and new rafting experience in cold weather wearing thin inner clothing. Just imagine we had water fighting on raft. It was fun!!! Because we did not bring swimming attire, we had to dry our clothes in the sun while having lunch by the beas river.
After lunch, went to local factory shop selling woolen clothes, yak, pashmina, angora items. I bought the super smooth angora shawl, socks and cap and also the woolen knitting long cardigan. If you don't have cash, no worries credit card accepted (off budget spending because of this..blame credit card)
At night, walk around Manali town. I think my jacket is not suitable for this super duper cold weather, I hardly enjoy shopping not like usual, shopping is like my second job. I can do shop for others for free. This place was too cold beyond my imagination. That's why I end up buying woolen gloves and socks again, not thinking that those things are useless in my country:) We bought fried trout fish (sick of vege foods) and eat them with plain rice and enjoy it with local fruits...Yummy!!!
2 February 2011 (Manali/Kullu/Chandigarh)
Today we had to go back to Chandigarh and our next train was at 9.05pm. Start journey on empty stomach, just after the sunrise and had breakfast on the way at Kullu (restaurant by the Beas river). Nice view here and we managed to captured some Samsung NX100 moments.
Above: Beas River
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| Five of us at Beas River, Kullu |
View driving from Manali to Chandigarh
At Railway station and inside train (3AC Class) from Chandigarh to Jaipur
3 February 2011 (Jaipur)
4 February 2011 (Jaipur-Agra)
5 February 2011 (Agra-New Delhi)
6 February 2011 (New Delhi-KL, Malaysia)
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Car Rental in Chandigarh