Headed to India

I have been to Goa....and India probably 20 plus times for work.

My advice for anyone who travels there

* Only drink bottled water..brush your teeth with bottled water...anything with bottled water
* When asking for ice anywhere make sure it is filtered, if not, you are done
* Never eat fresh veggies unless at a nice hotel as it will be washed with filtered water
* I do not wear cologne but when i go to india, i put on a spot on my shirt that when I am in not so pleasant areas that smell bad i inhale there to survive
* Never give money to beggars, because if you do you will soon be followed by 10s of people

That being said, I really like visiting India

As for Goa, it was Portuguese based so you can get some great beef/curry (Vindaloo) dishes there that you cannot get anywerhe else in the country.

The prawn/shrimp balchoa is terrific. Chicken cafreal is a chicken in a green sauce.

Beaches are weird there as some are beautiful but you will have cows on them. But you can find lots of cheap bars pubs there with cheap cold beer and good food.

Not sure how much money you are spending, but the Grand Hyatt was terrific there.

Is that same as rickshaw run?

There are apparently only two spice levels in India.

After doing "India hot" spice level for a couple days I felt no shame going with "mild" thereafter.

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Anyone been to that area or have any advice

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I've made about 12 trips to India: Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, and Chennai -- have spent probably 5 months there total.

Ok, I'm going to bring the real, real.

+There is a difference in quality between US-style hotels and India style hotels. Cleanliness, food, safety are all very different levels of importance. Research your stays.
+Take a backpack everywhere.
+Keep toilet paper in your backpack.
+Keep a couple of bottles of water in your backpack.
+Take an extra pair of underwear and shorts in your backpack, EVERYWHERE you go.
+Never eat raw veggies/fruits.
+Chilis, KFC, Popeyes and even McD's will be a welcome sight around day 3 or 4. Don't be shy or embarrassed by asking for a break for your stomach and palate. Honestly, not all food you have there will be spicy-HOT, but it will all be HEAVILY-Spiced. Some stomach savers:
-- BabyBack ribs
-- chicken tenders
-- chicken tenders
-- chicken nuggets or Big Mac

+ Be adventurous but never let your guard down.
-- example: I was touring a temple in Chennai when a local came to me and starts asking me friendly questions, seemed genuinely friendly. He eventually asked to take a picture to show his friends the nice American he met at the temple... "I LOVE America!!" I agreed, and he pulls out his phone for a selfie. Puts his arm around me and pulls me close. He moves the phone constantly closer and closer and closer to our faces, I mean, eventually his phone is like 4 inches from my face -- constantly snapping shots. I never felt anything behind me, but I got a very quick glimpse behind me by the reflection in his phone. I immediately reached up with my right hand and locked his arm on to my back, I spin around and catch his hand deep into my backpack. I still have a lock on his arm, I pull him off balance and sweep his legs, he thuds onto his back and releases hold of my backpack. I started yelling loudly, "NO, NO, NO!" because a lot of tourists were in the area. These two catholic nuns (one looked local, the other looked possibly Pinoy) walk up to me and stare -- they had witnessed the entire event. At that point, I start to worry I might be arrested for assaulting this guy. Local nun smiles at me and gives me a thumbs up! The other says "Bravo!!! Bravo!!!" and gives me a little golf clap. I let the guy up and he is constantly saying sorry, "please forgive!" I told him to leave and don't come back. I never saw him again.

That story was only one of 5 or 6 of me almost getting robbed while out and about. Every time, the would-be robbers used the "I love America" line.

Anyway, be adventurous, but never let your guard down. India can be very enjoyable.

But 100%, without any doubt, it WILL overload your senses and at times, your emotions.

I’ve been to India 14 times and unfortunately have spent nearly a year there.

Let me be crystal clear: India is a shite hole. And you can’t trust anyone, mostly due to incompetence.

-People will try to swindle you, ignore them, or tell them to frick off if they get too aggressive
-Bring sleeping pills to deal with the jet lag
-Eat a lot of chicken nuggets from McDonald’s
-You don’t want to interact with the common ppl, you will say screw that shite 5 minutes later. Your trip really needs to be planned out so you can observe everything from a distance but not be in the middle of things.

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India is a shite hole. And you can’t trust anyone, mostly due to incompetence.

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In the last couple of weeks, I heard the overwhelming shitholery of India, can be attributed to the Hindu (largely) belief in karma, (you are living how you are destined to live, and nothing you can do will change it) is wildly different than the Japanese, Chinese, etc. That's why there is trash everywhere, people are resigned to their fates, and treat everyone and everything like trash. Never been to India, but it tracks with what an A380 cabin looks like when it's continuing onto India from Texas via Frankfurt.

Working for an Indian IT company has completely astounded me at their utter ineptitude, and marriage to celebrating the uncles of founders that died 50 years ago, the whole nine yards.

I actually went out of my way to fly up to nyc to get the newly renovated A350 over here. Just landed in Delhi, that plane is much nicer than the other air India planes. Anyways I appreciate everyone’s comments I’m sure it’ll be a very emotional and smell driven trip. Hopefully no big stomach issues

Do people not wipe their asses in India?

also recommend taking some of these bad boys













Sometimes you think you're passing gas but it could be more than you expect

Alright I’m back in the states so I guess I can write a review although it won’t do anything justice good and bad with the trip.

Good: food (be careful but generally ok), people, mountains, prices

Bad: trash, poverty, gotta be careful with raw veggies and stuff, and the traffic


The traffic is one of the most insane no rules just free for all stupid shite I’ve ever seen. Literally everyone just goes wherever, passes and almost has non stop head on collisions all day long. Some stop lights would do great over there. We spent a lot of time in our rickshaw and while it was rough and scary at times, I kinda miss bouncing around in it.

The one thing I have to gush over is the kindness of the people there. Completely different than the Indians who are in the states as I feel they’ve probably been a little disgruntled or discriminated against at some point and are very dismissive and callous at times.
We had people seeing us and running into stores and shops to buy us all sorts of things they thought we would want. Cokes, parts to the tuktuk, gloves and rags, and they would not let us pay them back.

There’s really no place like it, and it’s definitely pungent in places, but I do feel like I’ll go back one day. 17 hour plane ride today doesn’t make me want to get on one for while.