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My wife and I will be taking doxy while we are there. It's probably overkill but it has a very tiny side-effect profile (especially for men) and it's covered by our insurance. We figured, why not? Looking for recommendations for anything awesome to do between Mumbai and Goa. We're debating whether we do Mumbai -> Nashik -> Aurangabad and then head to Goa, or find something interesting between Mumbai and Goa and go there.
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Dec 28, 2013 23:11
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Hello everyone, I'm going to be passing through southern India in a month's time and wondered if anyone had any advice about procuring plane tickets. My eventual destination is further east (presumably Bangkok but I'm not certain yet) but I'm stopping off in Kannur to visit a relative of mine. I'm flying into Calicut on the 19th of January and after heading up to Kannur I'm only going to be sticking around for a week or so. I was thinking then that my best bet would probably be to head over to Bangalore and fly from there. What I am curious about, specifically, is whether I should get a plane ticket online in advance or just pick one up in the airport when I arrive. Which way tends to be cheaper in India?
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Dec 29, 2013 11:15
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In advance, always. But it probably won't get a whole lot more expensive if you wait. (It might fill up, though. Most Indian transit stuff runs at capacity, and if you wait too long there might not be seats left for you.)
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Dec 29, 2013 20:21
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duralict posted:The argument against the malaria meds is that even in areas with malaria presence, you're unlikely to get it unless you're spending significant amounts of time in swampy outdoor areas, and all antimalarials are some combination of high cost, difficult to manage (at least one of them needs to be refrigerated), inconvenient (multiple times a day) and/or with significant side effects (they're not kidding about "vivid dreams"). Basically unless you're out there doing Habitat for Humanity or something you're taking expensive, annoying crazy pills to avoid something you're unlikely to come into contact with either way. That said, malaria is unbelievably awful, and it might be worth it to you anyway just to have that protection. Especially since I think the region you're looking at it mostly swampy outdoor areas. The three main prophylactic drugs for malaria in India are: -Malarone (Atovaquone/Proguanil). It's very expensive. You take it once a day. It usually has no side effects. -Doxycycline. Cheap. You take it once a day. It can cause upset stomach and often makes people's skin more sensitive to sunlight. It's an antibiotic, so you get some advantages and disadvantages from that as well. You have to take it for a month after you get home. -Mefloquine. Fairly cheap. You take it once per week. It can cause psychological or neurological effects, some of them serious (ranging from vivid dreams to permanent PTSD-like effects). You have to start it before you leave and keep taking it for a month when you get back. None of them require any special handling (refrigeration or whatever). Here's a table of info from the CDC showing the drugs' info and another one showing info about India: http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/travelers/drugs.html http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/travelers/country_table/i.html Note that you can only take the three drugs above, due to resistant parasites. I personally would avoid Mefloquine due to the side effects. The FDA put a boxed warning on the drug this summer about them. If it was a short trip, I'd go for Malarone. If it was a long trip, Doxy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mefloquine#Adverse_effects http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-remington-nevin/mefloquine-the-militarys-_b_3989034.html duralict posted:Very few long-term travelers (or expats for that matter) bother with them. It's generally a lot better to just avoid getting bit in the first place (use DEET, burn mosquito coils near your feet when you're eating meals, put on socks and long pants around dusk, that kind of thing). I definitely agree that avoiding bites is key. I would recommend a treated mosquito net if there's any reason to suspect mosquitoes being around indoors (ie, open windows, not airtight room, etc). The medications aren't 100% effective and you can still get malaria if you're unlucky and/or infected often enough. Most people travelling for a long time will stop taking the pills, if only because of the ongoing cost. I don't know if it's necessarily a wise decision. Malaria is definitely treatable, but it is very uncomfortable and is sometimes very serious.
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Jan 1, 2014 18:42
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duralict posted:In advance, always. But it probably won't get a whole lot more expensive if you wait. (It might fill up, though. Most Indian transit stuff runs at capacity, and if you wait too long there might not be seats left for you.) Seconding this. In my experience, trains are often booked up a few days before departure, especially on popular routes or near festival time. I've never had a problem getting a seat on a bus within a day or two of departing, though. edit - whoops, just realized this was about flights. I would definitely recommend booking in advance for flights. That said, I've never had problems booking a flight, even within a couple days of departure. I wouldn't risk getting to the airport and being unlucky though! Also, now that I think about it, you can't go into some airports without a booked ticket. Chernori fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Jan 1, 2014 |
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Jan 1, 2014 18:49
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Sub Par posted:Looking for recommendations for anything awesome to do between Mumbai and Goa. We're debating whether we do Mumbai -> Nashik -> Aurangabad and then head to Goa, or find something interesting between Mumbai and Goa and go there. I was just in Aurangabad last month. I didn't have a lot of time, so I only saw the Ellora caves while I was there. The caves are incredible: the amount of rock excavated from the hillside to create the temples and chambers is mind-boggling. And all done with hand-tools! I would recommend making the trip to see the area, if you can.
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Jan 1, 2014 18:59
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As a follow-up to my previous post: I'm flying into Calicut on the morning of the 19th but the people I'm meeting in Kannur aren't going to be there until the 21st. Does anyone have any advice about things to see in either city? Otherwise I will just have a stroll around when I arrive and see what I find!
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Jan 3, 2014 01:35
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Hey guys, I'm heading out to Goa next month. Any tips or suggestions on what to do and see? I prefer non-hippy kind of stuff (not interested in parties / raves etc), love good Indian food (everything from pani puri to curries to spicy seafood from the south).
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Jan 4, 2014 15:23
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The Capitulator posted:Hey guys, I'm heading out to Goa next month. Any tips or suggestions on what to do and see? I prefer non-hippy kind of stuff (not interested in parties / raves etc), love good Indian food (everything from pani puri to curries to spicy seafood from the south). I've been at Mandrem beach for about a month and it's quite nice here. The levels of hippies/partiers/questers is low for Goa and there aren't many packs of roving young guys on the beach either. Most of the clients here keep to themselves and they're older: 30s to retirees. A lot of Russians with kids here for the holidays. Arambol is about 45 minutes up the beach on foot, if you decide you want to go fire-poi and get stared at by young guys. Most of the restaurants here have decent Western food, but I had better traditional food when I was travelling in different provinces. That said, I've a had a couple good Goan dishes here and a lot of so-so ones. Also, restaurants tend to sell sea food for high prices (like $20+/plate), despite the fact that the ocean is right there. This area is pretty solidly aimed at a Western tourist audience. The beach here really is pretty and uncrowded, with lots of beach huts available and a few nice restaurants facing out onto the beach. I've been staying here: http://www.dunesgoa.com/ at the small minidunes village and I've been really happy. It's definitely more expensive than most places I've stayed in India and there are some cheaper places in the area. Anyway, if you want to relax on a beach for a bit, Mandrem's not a bad place to do it.
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Jan 5, 2014 08:26
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I spent the last 2 weeks in Agonda in southern goa, above Palolem that was pure heaven in terms of just chilling out. The food was good all along the beach with a few others on the single dirt road that runs behind the beach and because its a turtle habitat there not allowed to party hard there.
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Jan 5, 2014 10:40
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Wanted to thank the thread for the mobile phone advice. We arrived in Mumbai yesterday and today went and bought a crappy little phone for rs1100 and got a prepaid SIM from Vodafone for rs1950 which includes rs250 of talk/text, a hardware USB dongle, and 1GB of data. Everything went pretty smoothly. Tip for anyone looking to do the same: you'll need a spare passport picture and you need to bring your passport or a copy of the ID page and a copy of your visa.
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Jan 10, 2014 08:23
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1950 is kinda high. Probably because of the USB dongle. You could have just used your mobile as wifi hotspot instead.
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Jan 10, 2014 10:02
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The Capitulator posted:Hey guys, I'm heading out to Goa next month. Any tips or suggestions on what to do and see? I prefer non-hippy kind of stuff (not interested in parties / raves etc), love good Indian food (everything from pani puri to curries to spicy seafood from the south). Look at Gokarna. It's pretty close to a nirvana. We paid 300rs for a beach hut with hammocks, and there are no parties, just people chilling, eating and swimming on the almost deserted beach. And you can swim/get a rickshaw to Paradise Beach, which is super secluded beach where you can sling up a hammock and sleep under the stars (for free!) and late at night swim in the sea with plankton that look like electricity as you swim. Amazing. Or try Arambol and stay at the Laughing Buddha, run by a camp English chap, very reasonable rates of 500rs and great food. Rent a scooter and explore!
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Jan 10, 2014 11:46
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Anarkii posted:1950 is kinda high. Probably because of the USB dongle. You could have just used your mobile as wifi hotspot instead. We bought the worlds crappiest dumbphone, I don't think it will work as a hotspot. Doesn't matter, we were pretty tired and not in a mood to negotiate, so coming in around $30 was fine with me.
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Jan 10, 2014 16:41
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Alan_Shore posted:Look at Gokarna. It's pretty close to a nirvana. We paid 300rs for a beach hut with hammocks, and there are no parties, just people chilling, eating and swimming on the almost deserted beach. And you can swim/get a rickshaw to Paradise Beach, which is super secluded beach where you can sling up a hammock and sleep under the stars (for free!) and late at night swim in the sea with plankton that look like electricity as you swim. Amazing. I second Gokarna. We were at the Om Shree Ganesh Restaurant and Resort. The beach is right in front of it and there is a small restaurant nearby.
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Jan 11, 2014 13:02
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If you fancy feeling like you're on the moon, go to Leh in the summer. Flights are cheap from Delhi. I also highly recommend doing a short homestay at Pangong Tso. Ladakhi people are so friendly!
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Jan 12, 2014 00:54
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Ladakh + kashmir valley is pretty much the greatest trip of a lifetime.
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Jan 12, 2014 01:56
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What about in February? Too cold? Can you even get there?
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Jan 12, 2014 04:11
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What are some good choices for places to be on Holi? edit: Nevermind, looks like Mathura is the place to go. sleepy gary fucked around with this message at 23:11 on Jan 13, 2014 |
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Jan 13, 2014 18:17
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Plane tickets booked! I'll have roughly three weeks in India, including hopefully a side-trip to either Sri Lanka or Nepal (suggestions welcome). I have no itinerary or plan other than I want to be somewhere that goes nuts on Holi (Mathura, it seems).
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Jan 14, 2014 21:18
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DNova posted:Plane tickets booked! I'll have roughly three weeks in India, including hopefully a side-trip to either Sri Lanka or Nepal (suggestions welcome). Nepal is awesome, but you need at least 2-3 weeks to do anything significant trekking. Kathmandu and Pokhara is worth seeing, but it can be a bear to take an overland trip there. Consider it if you are flying.
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Jan 21, 2014 00:14
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Cheesemaster200 posted:Nepal is awesome, but you need at least 2-3 weeks to do anything significant trekking. Kathmandu and Pokhara is worth seeing, but it can be a bear to take an overland trip there. Consider it if you are flying. I won't be equipped for significant trekking. I'm leaning towards Sri Lanka for this trip.
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Jan 21, 2014 00:21
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meowmix posted:If you fancy feeling like you're on the moon, go to Leh in the summer. Flights are cheap from Delhi. I also highly recommend doing a short homestay at Pangong Tso. Ladakhi people are so friendly! Leh is pretty amazing and it has a lot of starkly beautiful landscapes. Just hiring a car to get to Pangong Tso was exciting. I was there in September for about two weeks. I found that it was a nice time to be there: there weren't that many tourists around, but it was still warm during the day and pleasantly chilly at night. A few stores and restaurants had closed down for the season, though. Alan_Shore posted:What about in February? Too cold? Can you even get there? You can fly there year-round, though flights can get cancelled due to the mountain weather. From the people I spoke to who live there, Leh is basically a ghost-town in the winter. Its bitterly cold and almost everything is closed (restaurants, guest houses, etc). The weather today was high of -3 and low of -29 (celsius). I'm pretty sure most of the plumbing freezes too. You could still go, but it would be a very very different experience from the summer. If you want to get there overland (which is a great trip, by the way), the road is open from like April to October. Once it starts snowing, the passes are closed for the winter. The roads tend to be better later in the year (August instead of May, for example), once the BRO has had time to fix up all the damage from winter.
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Jan 24, 2014 19:50
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DNova posted:Plane tickets booked! I'll have roughly three weeks in India, including hopefully a side-trip to either Sri Lanka or Nepal (suggestions welcome). When are you going to be in Sri Lanka? I'm flying there on Feb 12, so I can let you know my thoughts once I get there. That said, Nepal is pretty amazing. I really liked Pokhara a lot (relaxing lakeside town with mountains nearby) and Kathmandu is a cool city to wander around as well: little temples and ancient pagoda-type buildings everywhere. There's a popular short trek from Nayapul-Ghorepani-Ghandruk-Nayapul. The start is only about 1.5 hours from Pokhara. The trek itself takes 5 or 6 days: it's on a popular, well-marked path so you can't really get lost, and it passes through several well-stocked villages with plenty of guesthouses. I'm not sure what you meant by not equipped for trekking though: you don't really need anything special to do it. You're basically just walking for a few days (that being said, there are a lot of stairs to traverse on that trek).
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Jan 24, 2014 19:57
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Chernori posted:When are you going to be in Sri Lanka? I'm flying there on Feb 12, so I can let you know my thoughts once I get there. That would be cool if I had more time, but I don't. I will be on the subcontinent for 3 weeks in March. I have no idea if/when I will be in either Sri Lanka or Nepal. So far I have no real itinerary and I will probably keep it that way.
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Jan 24, 2014 20:50
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Regarding the overland route to Leh check exact opening dates for Rohtang Pass when you go. We went in 2012 and the pass didn't open till the end of May.
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Jan 25, 2014 01:30
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It looks like Leh is far too cold then. I'm in Jaipur now, and it's goddamn freezing! Bit of a change from the South! Also be careful in Sri Lanka, and don't use the public minibuses. Had my bag stolen there last week :-(
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Jan 25, 2014 04:21
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i have to get to London from Hyderabad for a job interview. On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being only minor flesh wounds and 10 being certain death moments into takeoff, how bad is Air India?
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Jan 25, 2014 14:04
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DNova posted:I won't be equipped for significant trekking. I'm leaning towards Sri Lanka for this trip. Thamel in Kathmandu is the cheap knockoff adventure gear capital of the world. You could show up naked with $100 and be fully equipped for a three week trek in like an hour.
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Jan 25, 2014 15:54
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FizFashizzle posted:i have to get to London from Hyderabad for a job interview. I flew with them in October, no problems at all! Spicejet was terrifying though, it was a little plane with propellers like from Tail Spin.
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Jan 25, 2014 17:44
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FizFashizzle posted:i have to get to London from Hyderabad for a job interview. I was on an Air India plane to Delhi from Kolkata on my flight back. It was the nicest, newest, cleanest plane I've ever been on. Staff was meticulously groomed and attentive. On the flight to India from Mumbai to Kolkata I was on Jet Airways, it was like the Southwest Airlines of India but much less orderly. Someone died on my flight and the passengers wouldn't wait for medical assistance before barging off the plane.
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Jan 25, 2014 19:33
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Hello everyone, I'm going to be heading up to Goa on Thursday - is anyone here there at the moment? Staying somewhere in Palolem for at least the first couple of nights but no fixed plans beyond that. Spent the last week at a beach just outside Kannur in Kerala and quite eager to spend more time in the sea!
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Jan 28, 2014 14:54
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Should I rely on my European debit card (chip + pin, Maestro/Quick) to get cash in India? What are the local ATM fees and exchange rates like? My bank will charge me 1.82 euros plus 0.75% for cash withdrawals. For cash that I bring, am I best going to banks for exchange?
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Jan 30, 2014 01:02
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Euro exchange rates are decent enough at banks. 1 euro is 85 rs right now and banks should give you 83. Major bank atms should have zero /minimal fee for withdrawals beyond what your own bank charges. But you shouldn't need too much cash to carry around. Almost everyone accepts plastic these days unless you're going to some remote pave. The grocer who delivers vegetables in the morning, the mailman with a cash on delivery order or the radio taxi you booked for the airport.
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Jan 30, 2014 03:53
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So I've been in Thanjavur for about two weeks now, and it has been an amazing experience from day one - apart from one thing: Where do I buy cigarettes? I haven't seen any in supermarkets or any other shops I've been to. Are they a controlled substance in India, only sold in pharmacies, or have I just had really bad luck? My stash just ran out, and I've still a week to go before I leave 
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Jan 30, 2014 10:53
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They shouldn't be. I saw Tobacco stands all over the place. Golden Flake was a brand I saw a lot. My corner merchants would also normally have them for sale. Sounds like bad luck to me. Indians smoke like crazy, find a local neighborhood and walk around a bit.
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Jan 30, 2014 11:04
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I've actually only seen one or two people smoking in the entire time I've been here. Anyway, I asked for Golden Flake in a stand just outside the Big Temple, and they had some stashed away in the back, so I was finally able to get some. Thanks for supporting my filthy vice 
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Jan 30, 2014 14:16
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cadenza posted:Hello everyone, I'm going to be heading up to Goa on Thursday - is anyone here there at the moment? Staying somewhere in Palolem for at least the first couple of nights but no fixed plans beyond that. Spent the last week at a beach just outside Kannur in Kerala and quite eager to spend more time in the sea! My wife and I are here now, we'll be here until the 10th. We're in Agonda, it's pretty chill and awesome. If you swing by, PM me or something.
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Jan 30, 2014 18:13
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Sub Par posted:My wife and I are here now, we'll be here until the 10th. We're in Agonda, it's pretty chill and awesome. If you swing by, PM me or something. Spent Crimbo and new years in Agonda at white sands, say hi to sonny if u see him hes pretty awesome.
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Jan 31, 2014 12:50
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Fiz you still running crossfit gym in hyderabad? I just came here for a week for work. The weather and traffic here is better than I remembered.
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Jan 31, 2014 15:47
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