Your Experience regarding India Tour

[sushilonline]

Hey..
all those dai and didi and dr. saab haru..

we, the 5th semester students, have come up with an idea of an india tour during our winter vacation. We've got 30 days and it will be a good time to visit india this time. Our seniors have done that.
But, we don't know much about the tour.
I am sure our lots of dai and didi have visited India and enjoyed so much. So, please share your experience regarding the tour such as tour expenditure, places to visit and procedure to follow. Please post any helpful advise. It will help us lot in making decision..
Thanks and keep rocking KMC..

[RAAZ]

Sushil, its the right time and don't miss it. We had the best time at the India tour but for us it was more of a Goa tour. Goa was the only place that I will never forget from my tour part and I will make sure to be there again after my finals.

So, from my expression you can imagine the fun you would have at that place. In our 23 days trip we spent whole of a week at Goa only.

Ok, about the process, we had not much of experienced travellers to India in our group so we went to a Agency. It make your trip comfortable though not much of adventurous. We went to Organic travel and tours. If you dare to take some trouble and have an adventurous trip then go on by yourself but if you wish to have a planned and comfortable trip then agencies are best though some extra budget (not much) will have to be spent for it.

Agencies will arrange your tickets. Don't plan to be there on new year coz that will only make your trip expensive but not much of fun. We made that mistake so am warning you. You won't believe, we planned to visit Club Cubana at Goa on New Year eve and hired a vehicle, reached there but had to return dropped face coz they had entries only for couples. Beaches aren't that fun as you imagine on new year. It all as usual but only expensive.

Plan your schedule properly with the agencies and arrange good hotels. You won't want to spend cold nights in roughbeds after hours of tiresome train ride.

About having fun, its upto you. Even in very rough times you can enjoy your trip if you know to. carry a good rook sack, a chain to tie your bag in the train, a sleeping bag and warm clothes. You will need them in all the places except Goa. A cool half pant, a sando and beach slippers for goa. Don't miss a camera and load full of memory cards coz you will regret later. Don't plan for cell phones and all. They are just useless expence.


Its good to remember God at times during your trip. Thank him for this wonderful time you are having. Its more of a chance to have a picture taken infront of the beautiful sculpture of Gods.

Spend less in luxury and costly foods but more in fun. Don't miss Water world. I enjoyed it more than essel world. Follow the rules, and keep your hanky panky friends under control if there are any coz they are the ones who can get all of you in trouble. Its not your place so learn to be a silent listener at times. I carried a swiss knife with me and my friends made fun of me. Moreover, I didn't have a chance to use it (thank god) except to open beer & wine bottles but you will not know when they can come handy. This one is my personal view and many may not agree with it.

Get your arms pumped up before your trip. The temporary tattoos will look great on pumped arms.


In Goa, Banana ride with your friends (as much fun as it sounds to be), parachute flight, Dolphin ride and water bike. They are the best.


We got over excited and jumped in the sea with our life jackets on during our Dolphin ride and late were nerve jammed to hear that there can be sharks in places where dolphins are seen. So, be careful!!!


Spend your days in the beach and yah, spend a lot in food at Goa instead. Have as many varities of fish as you can. I dont remember the names today but I can tell their tastes. Don't miss it. Port wine, bring some back home for your mates, they will thank you a lot.


Me and Dwight enjoying our prt wine at a restaurant in the beautiful Palalam beach.


Also spend as much of beautiful moments at the beach. You will miss them later. Have fun, play beach volleyball and football, sleep under sand blankets like we did as you can see below.



Many more to tell. If I go on writing, you will be tired of reading so you can ask your queries and I will more than gald to answer you.

[Bhaskar]

We didn't go in the third year which is the best time for such tour but when we were entering 7th semester after returning from India Tour we had to prepare for Final Minors exams.

We discussed a lot but finally we were just 70% of us went out of them 2 left the tour from Goa returned back to Nepal. So, obviously its not a piece of cake.

Don't take Girls in the tour, you can take them if you planned to spend money lavishly on the hotel lodging food and transportation cause you need to be secure all the time above all there have been incident of fighting in the local train for Girl (Indian boys tease your team girl and you can sit ideally you try to retaliate but you forget you are not in your country so you get punch instead, I heard this happened to BPKIHS guys year before we went).

Preparation: Angel, CM and I and other batch mates were really interested and planned it for 4-5 month before the tour. We conducted a raffle program during Dashain collected around 40,000 I can't remember the exact fig. then wrote and application letter and got signed from Principal sir and submitted our request letter to the Indian Embassy (at least minimum 15 member, one team leader has to be defined to get the discount in train fair).

We took that letter and went to Gorakhpur Train GM office got his signed and went to ticket counter finalized the route and got 70-80% discount in train fair and then bought the ticket 1.5 month ago our scheduled tour.

It cost IC 800/person for whole train fair. If we wouldn't have done so IC 800 is just a train fair from Gorakhpur to Delhi . You have to book the ticket 1.5-2 month before your tour otherwise you can't get the train ticket.

Our Routes were

1. Kathmandu
2. Gorakhpur
3. Agra
4. Delhi
5. Mumbai
6. Goa
7. Banglore (Puttaparthy - Sai Baba)
8. Mayshoore
9. Ooty
10. Chennai (went to Tirumla Tirupati Tepmle)
11. Calcutta
12. New Jalpaigudi (NJP) then Kathmandu


Travel: We always took train in Night reached try to reach the city in the morning so that we could and take train in the evening from that city. Night travel - Day in city

1. Kathmandu to Bhairahawa (Night Bus) then in the morning took bus to Gorakhpur
2. Gorakhpur to Agra (We had Gorakhpur to Delhi train so we got down in Tunda and hired Sumo to Agra) reached in the morning saw Taj Mahal)
3. Agra to Delhi in Local train reached in the night
4. Delhi took train in the evening and got down in Mumbai next morning in CST (Chatrapati Shivaji Terminal)
5. Mumbai took train in the evening and reached Goa next morning
6. Goa took train in the evening and reached Banglore next morning
7. Banglore - one day for Puttavarthy - Sai baba on bus and day bus journey to Myshore and Ooti and returned back same day.
8. Banglore took train in the evening and reached Chenai next day
9. Chennai ( One day to Tirumla Tirupati temple on bus and another day just roamed around and took train in the evening and reached Calcutta next day)
10. Calcutta after two day stay in Calcutta took train in the evening and got down NJP nexd day
11. New Jalpaigudi (Silgudhi) took bus to Kathmandu

Imprtant: If you are thinking to get the discount the way we did then don't forget to get the TT's sign on the ticket when you reached the place and leave it. We didn't do it until we reached myshoore, we had a problem when TT saw our unsighne ticket obviously we had to settle it out with bribe.


Our Stay
1. Kathmandu
2. Gorakhpur
3. Agra (one day)
4. Delhi (2 day)
5. Mumbai (3 day)
6. Goa (4 day)
7. Banglore (2 day - one day for Puttavarthy - Sai baba on bus)
8. Mayshoore - Ooty and then returned to Banlore (1 day)
9. Chennai (2 day - One day to Tirumla Tirupati temple on bus)
10. Calcutta (2 day)
11. New Jalpaigudi (Silgudhi) then Kathandu


Contact person: It is wise to have contact person non-medico friend at every places they turned out to be a great help.
1. Kathmandu
2. Gorakhpur
3. Agra
4. Delhi (Friends)
5. Mumbai (Stayed in friends apartment was a great help)
6. Goa (Friends were with us, helped us to roam around)
7. Banglore
8. Mayshoore
10. Ooty
10. Chennai
11. Calcutta (Friends)
12. New Jalpaigudi

Places to Visit: Usually you can get a small tour guide book in each place one of you can buy and get the idea about the place of interest. That is the best way.
1. Kathmandu
2. Gorakhpur
3. Agra - Taj Mahal nothing else
4. Delhi - Lots of places Red Fort to Kutub Minar, historical places, lots of buy tour guide book
5. Mumbai don't mis Essel World - have complete one day, Tara Mandal, Juhu Beach, many more again Tour guide book
6. Goa - all the famous beaches, historical places, take a bike on hire and roam around, you should have Nepali License
7. Banglore - you can go to Puttaparthy from here, some of us did took bus and returned back in the evening.
8. Mayshoore - Tipu Sultan, Maharaja's Place, Brinda van Garden
9. Ooty - most of shooting spots
10. Chennai - you can go to Tirupati Temple, longest beach, historical places
11. Calcutta - historical places, zoo again tour guide would be helpful
12. New Jalpaigudi


Suggestions: If you are taking this route then don't mis bold places. Other route and place will be the same

1. Kathmandu
2. Gorakhpur
3. Agra
4. Delhi
5. Mumbai (You can add one more day)
6. Goa (take few extra days in Goa, we thought 4 days were not enough)
7. Banglore
8. Mayshoore
9. Ooty
10. Chennai (Go to Pondichery its like Goa)
11. Calcutta
12. New Jalpaigudi (Silgudhi) (you can go to Darjeeling just few hours journey)

• Don't take girls if you are following our route, its very hectic two of our batch mates abandoned it from Goa.
• Define your Travel Schedule how many days in train, in places etc
• You can get ATM which is can be used in India I think Himalayan Bank has such provision
• Save money see many places, don't waste in luxuries hotel and good food, your motto is to visit the place
• Its good to have some extra money with someone we had Angel that boost up your morale and confidence in unknown places
• Try to search for your friend at all the places they can guide you much more than you can expect
• Be polite, gentle and down to earth this is the wisest thing
• Another important things.. don't forget to visit Medical Colleges and Hospital like AIMS, Maulana Azaad Medical College, Lady Harding in Delhi, similary other place like Mumbai, Chennai, Calcutta now Kolkata.
• Maintain a Diary it becomes an asset in the later part of your life

Expenditure: It depends up on you and your way of living. Usually we all had on average 8-10,000 IC beside the raffle fund. At the end of the Tour most of us out of our finance just for food for your tour we had to spent ~5000 IC and rest you can decide like bust fair when roaming around in the place bus, sometime taxi, auto, sumo and miscellaneous.

Lodging: Usually we tried to look for average hotel, we didn't go for luxurious obviously to save the money.

Food: Hotel, Dhaba make sure you eat hygienic food if you get sick on the way that is another disaster, its ok with north India but as you move towards south food becomes a problem, we died to have north Indian food.

Conclusion: Whatever it may be just go for this tour not for a week but at least for a month it becomes a cherished moment and an experience of many things for life.


All the best.

[sushilonline]

Thanks Bhaskar dai and Raaz dai for your wonderful information...
We are all planning and its the right time to start planning otherwise it will be late.
We will work our best to have fun this winter..
thanx for the info..if I have any query I will contact you..I hope you won't mind..
once again...thanks!!!

[sushilonline]

Originally Posted by Bhaskar

We didn't go in the third year which is the best time for such tour but when we were entering 7th semester after returning from India Tour we had to prepare for Final Minors exams.

We discussed a lot but finally we were just 70% of us went out of them 2 left the tour from Goa returned back to Nepal. So, obviously its not a piece of cake.

Don't take Girls in the tour, you can take them if you planned to spend money lavishly on the hotel lodging food and transportation cause you need to be secure all the time above all there have been incident of fighting in the local train for Girl (Indian boys tease your team girl and you can sit ideally you try to retaliate but you forget you are not in your country so you get punch instead, I heard this happened to BPKIHS guys year before we went).

Preparation: Angel, CM and I and other batch mates were really interested and planned it for 4-5 month before the tour. We conducted a raffle program during Dashain collected around 40,000 I can't remember the exact fig. then wrote and application letter and got signed from Principal sir and submitted our request letter to the Indian Embassy (at least minimum 15 member, one team leader has to be defined to get the discount in train fair).

We took that letter and went to Gorakhpur Train GM office got his signed and went to ticket counter finalized the route and got 70-80% discount in train fair and then bought the ticket 1.5 month ago our scheduled tour.

It cost IC 800/person for whole train fair. If we wouldn't have done so IC 800 is just a train fair from Gorakhpur to Delhi . You have to book the ticket 1.5-2 month before your tour otherwise you can't get the train ticket.

Our Routes were

1. Kathmandu
2. Gorakhpur
3. Agra
4. Delhi
5. Mumbai
6. Goa
7. Banglore (Puttaparthy - Sai Baba)
8. Mayshoore
9. Ooty
10. Chennai (went to Tirumla Tirupati Tepmle)
11. Calcutta
12. New Jalpaigudi (NJP) then Kathmandu


Travel: We always took train in Night reached try to reach the city in the morning so that we could and take train in the evening from that city. Night travel - Day in city

1. Kathmandu to Bhairahawa (Night Bus) then in the morning took bus to Gorakhpur
2. Gorakhpur to Agra (We had Gorakhpur to Delhi train so we got down in Tunda and hired Sumo to Agra) reached in the morning saw Taj Mahal)
3. Agra to Delhi in Local train reached in the night
4. Delhi took train in the evening and got down in Mumbai next morning in CST (Chatrapati Shivaji Terminal)
5. Mumbai took train in the evening and reached Goa next morning
6. Goa took train in the evening and reached Banglore next morning
7. Banglore - one day for Puttavarthy - Sai baba on bus and day bus journey to Myshore and Ooti and returned back same day.
8. Banglore took train in the evening and reached Chenai next day
9. Chennai ( One day to Tirumla Tirupati temple on bus and another day just roamed around and took train in the evening and reached Calcutta next day)
10. Calcutta after two day stay in Calcutta took train in the evening and got down NJP nexd day
11. New Jalpaigudi (Silgudhi) took bus to Kathmandu

Imprtant: If you are thinking to get the discount the way we did then don't forget to get the TT's sign on the ticket when you reached the place and leave it. We didn't do it until we reached myshoore, we had a problem when TT saw our unsighne ticket obviously we had to settle it out with bribe.


Our Stay
1. Kathmandu
2. Gorakhpur
3. Agra (one day)
4. Delhi (2 day)
5. Mumbai (3 day)
6. Goa (4 day)
7. Banglore (2 day - one day for Puttavarthy - Sai baba on bus)
8. Mayshoore - Ooty and then returned to Banlore (1 day)
9. Chennai (2 day - One day to Tirumla Tirupati temple on bus)
10. Calcutta (2 day)
11. New Jalpaigudi (Silgudhi) then Kathandu


Contact person: It is wise to have contact person non-medico friend at every places they turned out to be a great help.
1. Kathmandu
2. Gorakhpur
3. Agra
4. Delhi (Friends)
5. Mumbai (Stayed in friends apartment was a great help)
6. Goa (Friends were with us, helped us to roam around)
7. Banglore
8. Mayshoore
10. Ooty
10. Chennai
11. Calcutta (Friends)
12. New Jalpaigudi

Places to Visit: Usually you can get a small tour guide book in each place one of you can buy and get the idea about the place of interest. That is the best way.
1. Kathmandu
2. Gorakhpur
3. Agra - Taj Mahal nothing else
4. Delhi - Lots of places Red Fort to Kutub Minar, historical places, lots of buy tour guide book
5. Mumbai don't mis Essel World - have complete one day, Tara Mandal, Juhu Beach, many more again Tour guide book
6. Goa - all the famous beaches, historical places, take a bike on hire and roam around, you should have Nepali License
7. Banglore - you can go to Puttaparthy from here, some of us did took bus and returned back in the evening.
8. Mayshoore - Tipu Sultan, Maharaja's Place, Brinda van Garden
9. Ooty - most of shooting spots
10. Chennai - you can go to Tirupati Temple, longest beach, historical places
11. Calcutta - historical places, zoo again tour guide would be helpful
12. New Jalpaigudi


Suggestions: If you are taking this route then don't mis bold places. Other route and place will be the same

1. Kathmandu
2. Gorakhpur
3. Agra
4. Delhi
5. Mumbai (You can add one more day)
6. Goa (take few extra days in Goa, we thought 4 days were not enough)
7. Banglore
8. Mayshoore
9. Ooty
10. Chennai (Go to Pondichery its like Goa)
11. Calcutta
12. New Jalpaigudi (Silgudhi) (you can go to Darjeeling just few hours journey)

• Don't take girls if you are following our route, its very hectic two of our batch mates abandoned it from Goa.
• Define your Travel Schedule how many days in train, in places etc
• You can get ATM which is can be used in India I think Himalayan Bank has such provision
• Save money see many places, don't waste in luxuries hotel and good food, your motto is to visit the place
• Its good to have some extra money with someone we had Angel that boost up your morale and confidence in unknown places
• Try to search for your friend at all the places they can guide you much more than you can expect
• Be polite, gentle and down to earth this is the wisest thing
• Another important things.. don't forget to visit Medical Colleges and Hospital like AIMS, Maulana Azaad Medical College, Lady Harding in Delhi, similary other place like Mumbai, Chennai, Calcutta now Kolkata.
• Maintain a Diary it becomes an asset in the later part of your life

Expenditure: It depends up on you and your way of living. Usually we all had on average 8-10,000 IC beside the raffle fund. At the end of the Tour most of us out of our finance just for food for your tour we had to spent ~5000 IC and rest you can decide like bust fair when roaming around in the place bus, sometime taxi, auto, sumo and miscellaneous.

Lodging: Usually we tried to look for average hotel, we didn't go for luxurious obviously to save the money.

Food: Hotel, Dhaba make sure you eat hygienic food if you get sick on the way that is another disaster, its ok with north India but as you move towards south food becomes a problem, we died to have north Indian food.

Conclusion: Whatever it may be just go for this tour not for a week but at least for a month it becomes a cherished moment and an experience of many things for life.


All the best.

thanx for your organized effort. it helped me a lot..

[Bhaskar]

Yh, sure Sushil we will share our experience.

Planned well and make it a grand tour, it reminds me my days at KMC hostel and ward all the time talking about the tour. It was really a wonderful moments for us.

You have to concentrate on

• Places - confined place like Delhi, Mumbai, Goa or the tour like we did making a whole circle of India.
• Days - Min. two weeks to four week
• Expeneses - Transportation (mainly train, local buses), Hotel, Food, daily expenses
• Group - more than 15 becomes chaos

You can contact travel and tours companies at thamel areas they may charge you but they can take care of transportation, lodging, fooding and site seing.

But if you chose the way we did you will have lots of fun, excitement, apprehension, experience and much more - real bag packers.

[RAAZ]

Well, I confess one thing that we had been really lazy to work so hard as Bhaskar dai & Agel dai did. We totally depended on the agency on everything and that is where I think we were wrong. We could have saved a lot of budget if we had worked on our own.