Trip summary...

... or How to survive India without diarrhea

Number of Kingfishers (indian, 650 ml bottles of, beer): 2 a day, at least
Number of naan or chapati, well, really Roti: Many many many
Amount of hand desinfection used: 1.5 bottle... which really is a lot. 10-15 times per person per day
Number of blackouts: generally two per city, so, approx. 10, NOT counting Varanasi which had constant black outs.

Cricket, cricket, cricket, cricket

No whisky :(

Best hostel: Shahi Palace in Jaisalmer, which also was the nicest city

Best service was by far the people at Taj Plaza in Agra, who helped us with everything when the train had collided. Especially a really nice man with a bulletproof beard... the manages cousin. And the manager was awesome as well, getting us a cheap cab ride to Varanasi. The cab ride cost almost the same as a return trip to Arlanda from central Stockholm... thats pretty cheap considering it took 11 hours.

"Worst" hostel was the one in Delhi, Bajaj Indian Home stay. Not bad, but not very good. Decent.

Worst service was definitely the hotel in Ranthambore... abysmal service, despite the new years hug Joakim got upon leaving.

We have not been ripped of or fleeced, and we have not gotten sick. Yay!

Really, really sick of Indian food... I mean it, really. Fruit, vegetables, fibres... ah... surely missed. Even Joakim agrees...

Scariest moment (for Sophie) was the cobras... the very docile, slow, almost sleeping cobras... in buckets... Joakim is sure the cobras had been given "knockout drops", taken to some backyard, and robbed for all their belongings (maybe even RB'd, who knows the depravity involved), and later enslaved. He doesnt even think the cobras get to see the money "they" get :( Save the cobras! 1-800-COBRA for your donation!

Animals sighted, in cities, often seemingly not belonging to anyone:

• Cows (naturally)
• Donkeys
• Horses
• Pigs/Boars
• Camels
• Dogs
• Chickens/Roosters/Hens
• Cats
• Goats
• Monkeys
• A goose

Recommended trip: Desert Safari and Jaisalmer... and Amber fort outside of Jaipur
Not recommended: Ranthambore National Park, and spend as little time as possible in Delhi... its really not very nice at all.

What we liked about India:

• Masala Chai (best in the desert, worst in Varanasi)
• The people we met, very nice, warm, people
• The Christmas present we got in Jaisalmer
• The food, of course, although we are quite sick of it by now
• Strolling around the ghats in Varanasi
• Moustaches! Yes, its true, there are moustaches in Sweden too, but not as numerous and nowhere near as amazing as here. The Indian moustache is in a league of its
• Humayuns Tomb in Delhi

What was not so good about India:

• The filth
• The dirt
  Remember, that which is white upon entering India, like a scarf for instance, is bound to not be so white upon leaving. If you like your white things to be brown/grey/beige, here is the natural place for a free coloration! If not, leave it
• The noise
• The poop
• The dust
• The sheer intensity of it takes a lot of time getting used to

All in all, it has been a very interesting experience, that makes you appreciate a lot of simple things back home. Some places we passed on the way from Agra to Varanasi by car, literally looked like a bombed out stone house, and inside people lived and burned fire on the floor of it. Some places really looked like a war zone.

So many things are still lacking in so many places here, and in order to build some of those things, like electricity, roads, water, sewage system and so on, you really have to know where to start... it really seems and impossible task. One wonders how it looked 50 years ago, and how much it has progressed since.

That being said, the place to stay if you are forced to live here is definitely the country side... there, at least, it is quiet, and quite beautiful, green and lush in places.

It was also interesting to see how much they do by hand, and how good they are, as in Jaipur.

The suprise of the trip was that it was a bit more expensive than expected, since if you do not want to get sick you are more or less forced to eat at the hotel restaurants, and a lot of money is spent giving to people for various reasons (Bakshish). Still not at all expensive, but more than expected.

We would like to end with reiterating what Filip Hammar said, in På Spåret, about his trip to India:
"Indien ses fördelaktligen helst från ett limousinfönster"

And, well, yes, we are inclined to agree, as long as it is a limo that can handle rough terrain :)