Wrapping Up the Indian Experience

Well this is it, my final 24 hours in India. After 2 months in this country there's definitely no lack of words for it. There is, however, one word to describe it: crazy! This country was a huge eye opener, socially and personally. For one, I found patience in myself that I never knew I had. Seeing all the poverty and corruption here definitely makes you appreciate everything we Westerner's have, even the simple things like running water or a piece of bread, because there are a lot of people here without the means for those simple things.

What I liked: The people. Despite the bad things I will mention in the next paragraph, the people here can be extremely friendly. You can be taking a walk down the street, and some random guy on a bike will give you a friendly hello and a big smile. I found Goan's to be the friendliest people I came across in India, especially the bar staff at the Opinal Beach Shack. I thoroughly enjoyed the diversity of India, every region holds a new type of architecture and a new type of mentality among the people. While it's always India, every place feels so different. The amount of colour here is staggering, my camera has never been put to work like it has here. The roads here are always a good laugh. Imagine a two lane road (what's a lane in India?) jam packed with trucks, buses, cycle rickshaws, auto rickshaws, cows, push carts, cars, people, and the occasional street dog and you'll have a view of the roads in India. Or seeing three people on a little motorbike, carrying sheets of plywood or whatever, always made me laugh. I never had a bad experience with the trains, so I must note this as the way to go in India. I'll also make mention of the food. The curries and samosas here are amazing, but I do have to say after two months of it I'm done for a while. The weather was great here, I enjoyed sunny skies and warm/hot weather %90 of the time. Definitely in my highlight list are the Camel Safar in Jaislamer, eating in the mess hall of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the views of Udaipur from Sunset Point, chilling on the beach in Goa.

What I didn't like: The buses! BURN IN HELL, INDIAN BUSES! The pollution. It seemed like every street was lined with every kind of garbage imaginable, and whatever wasn't lying around was being burnt, plastics included. The air pollution gave me a cough that never left me the whole two months, save for a few days in Goa. The amount of shit and piss everywhere (not an understatement). The touts here are a pain in the ass, they can be incredibly persistent, and almost always try to rip you off. I'll die a happy man if I never have to hear a car horn again in my life. Or a guy trying to sell me hash! Seeing the diseased and disfigured people was never fun for me, I don't particularly enjoy seeing Human suffering, especially in that form. The efficiency of everything here is appalling. I'll use a restaurant as an example: for a ten table restaurant, there will be literally six people serving them. While I might say this is a bad thing, maybe it's good, because their laziness and ineptitude keeps everyone employed. Getting food poisoning and the shits sucked too, and the latter is not an uncommon problem.

Despite all the bad things I've mentioned, I did enjoy my time in this country and do not regret it one bit. Will I come back? It's a question I'm not sure if I can answer yet. Definitely not North India, I feel I've experienced that enough. While it's not high on my priority list at the moment, I would like to check out South India in the future. After two months here enduring everything that India can throw at me, I am ready to leave. Next stop is Thailand. I'm glad to be returning to a country with some hint of order, but leaving here I can confidently say traveling in India has left me a grizzled veteran traveler, ready to take on anything Southeast Asia can throw at me.

Days spent in India: 60
Money spent (minus gifts, books, etc.): Roughly $1465
Daily Budget: Roughly $24 per day

I could have done India cheaper. I was traveling alone for most of the time so that doesn't help things, and I never really cheaped out on accommodation. Food in Mumbai and drinking in Goa are what really blew my budget apart. A budget of $20 a day is very doable if you're willing to sacrifice a little bit of comfort.