Well gentlenmen, I recently stumbled across this corner of the Internet and have been reading most of the content on the forum for the past 2-3 days. Not so much interested in the ‘red pill’ stuff as much as I am about the travel guides and where to meet local women which has been helpful. There has also been some info on alternate careers which was a little interesting. Anyway, unfortunately most of the views about India tend to be orientalist and myopic and most of the Indians here tend to be Indians from the diaspora who unfortunately more often than not miss India’s contradictions and subtlety.
This one will be purely from a tourist point of view and maybe I’ll do one on where to get local women and one more to do with how the economy is gathering pace.
I will be starting from the North and heading South.
India is historical and it is impossible to view India without a bit of sentiment so if this annoys you, you should probably get away now.
Golden rule of India – Fly into New Delhi or Bangalore. India is fast, hard, and for a westerner incredibly disorienting. Mumbai is a city which is basically India packed into one square mile and since most people cannot handle India, Mumbai would be a bad choice.
New Delhi is everything modern India aspires to become and Bangalore is a more liberal metropolitan city.
Starting from the North
Kashmir – This is the land that the Chinese, Indians and Pakistanis have fought over. India controls the bulk and now that the wars are more or less over the reigon is open to tourism again. I can safely say that even the Swiss mountains simply do not compare. The rugged beauty of the Himalayas will simply tale your breath away.
Pahalgam and Gulmarg are in the western areas of the state and have ski slopes that are worth a vist. The main 2 places are in the eastern parts known as Leh and Ladakh. Commercial tourism is coming fast though the remoteness and altitudes are still a deterrent. It is basically a desert landscape more than 10,000 ft above sea level. Google the pictures because the less said about this place the better. It was home to the exiled Tibetian population before they fled south to Himachal Pradesh.
Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand etc – States in the north where the main attraction is of course the majestic Himalayas. Himachal is home to the Dalai Lama and India providing sanctuary to him is one of the last friction points between India and China as we see greater interaction between these nations now.
Himachal has two destinations known as Manali and Kasol where you get the finest hashish in the world (Yes, better than Lebanese) and the toy trains are worth a day or two.
Punjab – Home to the Sikhs and requires a different page on it’s own.
Rajasthan – A desert, this place has a distinct brand of music known as Rajasthani folk which one must give a listen. Heavy sufi tendencies and a lot of ‘soul’. Udaipur is home to some gorgeous palaces and it is a symbol of India’s long lost wealth especially the floating palace.
Hauz Kaz Village – This is basically India’s young urban art landscape in New Delhi. If you wish to see how fast India is changing this is the place.
Goa- Swerve, fking shithole that has been annexed by the Russians and Brits and most Indians woth their salt now avoid and if you want beaches there are better places.
The South has temples, it is from a lot of these temples that the engravings were converted into the Kama Sutra so if you are interested in that it would be worth a visit.
Use Bangalore as your base in the south.
The better beaches are in Kerela, Karnataka, Pondicherry (which is a French enclave) and last but not the least the best are in the Andaman and Nicobar islands and Lakshwadeep islands which are home to the the most uncommercial (for now) and some of the best scuba diving spots in the world.
I have left out some places like the hill stations of the East (Darjelling), places like Kodaikanal (best natural setting for magic mushrooms which are grown locally) in the South and the entire North East section of the country like Arunachal which is home to the 40 million Indians of East Asian descent. It is a completely different part of the country and I’m tired of typing now.
If you wish I can give a detailed report on where / how to get laid and why India is the real deal as the 21’st century unravels. If not, no issues.
I’ll just leave Mark Twain’s fabulous extract from his book following the equator and if it does not resonate with you then India is perhaps not your country
This is indeed India! the land of dreams and romance, of fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty, of splendor and rags, of palaces and hovels, of famine and pestilence, of genii and giants and Aladdin lamps, of tigers and elephants, the cobra and the jungle, the country of a hundred nations and a hundred tongues, of a thousand religions and two million gods, cradle of the human race, birthplace of human speech, mother of history, grandmother of legend, great-grandmother of tradition, whose yesterdays bear date with the mouldering antiquities of the rest of the nations — the one sole country under the sun that is endowed with an imperishable interest for alien prince and alien peasant, for lettered and ignorant, wise and fool, rich and poor, bond and free, the one land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of all the rest of the globe combined. Even now, after the lapse of a year, the delirium of those days in Bombay has not left me, and I hope never will.
It is impossible not to be astonished by India. Nowhere on Earth does humanity present itself in such a dizzying, creative burst of cultures and religions, races and tongues. Enriched by successive waves of migration and marauders from distant lands, every one of them left an indelible imprint which was absorbed into the Indian way of life. Every aspect of the country presents itself on a massive, exaggerated scale, worthy in comparison only to the superlative mountains that overshadow it. It is this variety which provides a breathtaking ensemble for experiences that is uniquely Indian. Perhaps the only thing more difficult than to be indifferent to India would be to describe or understand India completely. There are perhaps very few nations in the world with the enormous variety that India has to offer. Modern day India represents the largest democracy in the world with a seamless picture of unity in diversity unparalleled anywhere else.
Finally India’s colonial legacy is literally nothing compared to it’s Mughal legacy. After all, India’s greatest monument was built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaaz.
India is changing at lightening pace gentlemen and as the old collides with you there is a poetic sense of satisfaction in experiencing a country that has defied all the odds to survive as a modern democracy. Keep your eyes open and she will astound you as things are being torn down and built faster than you can breathe.
Btw, if any of you find yourself in these parts of the world go to Sri Lanka. The war is over and Colombo is going wild. A wise man once told me ‘ When people live in constant fear they learn how to enjoy the present, then the danger goes away and the parties just get bigger’. It must be why the Lebanese party like crazy.
Good luck.
This one will be purely from a tourist point of view and maybe I’ll do one on where to get local women and one more to do with how the economy is gathering pace.
I will be starting from the North and heading South.
India is historical and it is impossible to view India without a bit of sentiment so if this annoys you, you should probably get away now.
Golden rule of India – Fly into New Delhi or Bangalore. India is fast, hard, and for a westerner incredibly disorienting. Mumbai is a city which is basically India packed into one square mile and since most people cannot handle India, Mumbai would be a bad choice.
New Delhi is everything modern India aspires to become and Bangalore is a more liberal metropolitan city.
Starting from the North
Kashmir – This is the land that the Chinese, Indians and Pakistanis have fought over. India controls the bulk and now that the wars are more or less over the reigon is open to tourism again. I can safely say that even the Swiss mountains simply do not compare. The rugged beauty of the Himalayas will simply tale your breath away.
Pahalgam and Gulmarg are in the western areas of the state and have ski slopes that are worth a vist. The main 2 places are in the eastern parts known as Leh and Ladakh. Commercial tourism is coming fast though the remoteness and altitudes are still a deterrent. It is basically a desert landscape more than 10,000 ft above sea level. Google the pictures because the less said about this place the better. It was home to the exiled Tibetian population before they fled south to Himachal Pradesh.
Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand etc – States in the north where the main attraction is of course the majestic Himalayas. Himachal is home to the Dalai Lama and India providing sanctuary to him is one of the last friction points between India and China as we see greater interaction between these nations now.
Himachal has two destinations known as Manali and Kasol where you get the finest hashish in the world (Yes, better than Lebanese) and the toy trains are worth a day or two.
Punjab – Home to the Sikhs and requires a different page on it’s own.
Rajasthan – A desert, this place has a distinct brand of music known as Rajasthani folk which one must give a listen. Heavy sufi tendencies and a lot of ‘soul’. Udaipur is home to some gorgeous palaces and it is a symbol of India’s long lost wealth especially the floating palace.
Hauz Kaz Village – This is basically India’s young urban art landscape in New Delhi. If you wish to see how fast India is changing this is the place.
Goa- Swerve, fking shithole that has been annexed by the Russians and Brits and most Indians woth their salt now avoid and if you want beaches there are better places.
The South has temples, it is from a lot of these temples that the engravings were converted into the Kama Sutra so if you are interested in that it would be worth a visit.
Use Bangalore as your base in the south.
The better beaches are in Kerela, Karnataka, Pondicherry (which is a French enclave) and last but not the least the best are in the Andaman and Nicobar islands and Lakshwadeep islands which are home to the the most uncommercial (for now) and some of the best scuba diving spots in the world.
I have left out some places like the hill stations of the East (Darjelling), places like Kodaikanal (best natural setting for magic mushrooms which are grown locally) in the South and the entire North East section of the country like Arunachal which is home to the 40 million Indians of East Asian descent. It is a completely different part of the country and I’m tired of typing now.
If you wish I can give a detailed report on where / how to get laid and why India is the real deal as the 21’st century unravels. If not, no issues.
I’ll just leave Mark Twain’s fabulous extract from his book following the equator and if it does not resonate with you then India is perhaps not your country
This is indeed India! the land of dreams and romance, of fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty, of splendor and rags, of palaces and hovels, of famine and pestilence, of genii and giants and Aladdin lamps, of tigers and elephants, the cobra and the jungle, the country of a hundred nations and a hundred tongues, of a thousand religions and two million gods, cradle of the human race, birthplace of human speech, mother of history, grandmother of legend, great-grandmother of tradition, whose yesterdays bear date with the mouldering antiquities of the rest of the nations — the one sole country under the sun that is endowed with an imperishable interest for alien prince and alien peasant, for lettered and ignorant, wise and fool, rich and poor, bond and free, the one land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of all the rest of the globe combined. Even now, after the lapse of a year, the delirium of those days in Bombay has not left me, and I hope never will.
It is impossible not to be astonished by India. Nowhere on Earth does humanity present itself in such a dizzying, creative burst of cultures and religions, races and tongues. Enriched by successive waves of migration and marauders from distant lands, every one of them left an indelible imprint which was absorbed into the Indian way of life. Every aspect of the country presents itself on a massive, exaggerated scale, worthy in comparison only to the superlative mountains that overshadow it. It is this variety which provides a breathtaking ensemble for experiences that is uniquely Indian. Perhaps the only thing more difficult than to be indifferent to India would be to describe or understand India completely. There are perhaps very few nations in the world with the enormous variety that India has to offer. Modern day India represents the largest democracy in the world with a seamless picture of unity in diversity unparalleled anywhere else.
Finally India’s colonial legacy is literally nothing compared to it’s Mughal legacy. After all, India’s greatest monument was built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaaz.
India is changing at lightening pace gentlemen and as the old collides with you there is a poetic sense of satisfaction in experiencing a country that has defied all the odds to survive as a modern democracy. Keep your eyes open and she will astound you as things are being torn down and built faster than you can breathe.
Btw, if any of you find yourself in these parts of the world go to Sri Lanka. The war is over and Colombo is going wild. A wise man once told me ‘ When people live in constant fear they learn how to enjoy the present, then the danger goes away and the parties just get bigger’. It must be why the Lebanese party like crazy.
Good luck.
![[Image: 18.jpg]](http://hastenteufel.name/pix/2011/india/18.jpg)