Re: Indian Golden Triangle Tours


"Alan S" <nothere@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:f8huh3l9mfkqkptn3ke8q3j0v98i61uhbr@xxxxxxxxxx
On Wed, 24 Oct 2007 12:23:06 +0100, "William Black"
<william.black@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Be aware that there'll be a crowd of drivers all dressed the same at the
airport door and all will be carrying a small piece of paper with a name
typed on it in ten point type.

So, how do you work it out? I've done it from the other side
years ago as a cabby in Melbourne, but I made sure I wrote
in very large letters.

In India they just print the name on a piece of paper.

However, and this is the clever bit, the hotel drivers get their names on
a piece of hotel notepaper with a printed hotel header on it.

As for the cars. If you enquire at your hotel they'll recommend someone.
Always make sure to ask for a driver who speaks good English. Just about
everyone you'll meet will speak some English, and most will read it better
than they write it, but many Indians are a bit shy about talking to a
'native' English speaker.

You'll be expected to buy your driver lunch if you employ him all day, and
give him a tip at the end of the day.

This is the text of a document I wrote for some friends going on the Golden
Triangle trip last year

=====================================================
Driving Instructions for India



When you get there:



Get a SIM card for your phone and fit it with a 'pay as you go' card from
Reliance or Hutch. Get your driver's mobile number. If he leaves you
somewhere arrange for him to pick you up there when you send him a 'blank'
or 'missed' call. Parking is hard work in India, many roads are VIP routes
and the cops arrest people parking on them for more than a few moments.



Get to a pharmacy. Buy Odomos insect repellent, a small box of talc (for
your sweaty bits. I use Johnson's baby talc) and 'Hit' insect killer in case
you get cockroaches in a room.



In your hotel room there'll be a thing like an electric air freshener
plugged into an electric socket. This is the mosquito killer. Switch it on
if you're in the room and half an hour before you go to bed. Leave it on
all night.



Speaking to people:



Indians lean English in what you'll find is an odd way.



When you speak, speak normally, if all you get is a puzzled smile try
putting a distinct gap between each word. If you listen carefully to
Indians speaking you'll see that this is what they do and it's how they're
taught in school.



Dealing with the authorities:



Indian cops come in a huge variety of types, dozens of them. As a rule they
all wear khaki and the traffic cops have white shirts. Some carry guns,
most carry big sticks called lathais and aren't afraid to use them on
anyone.



Cops are often crooked; I'm told that 50 to 100 rupees will make them go
away for something silly and 300 rupees will solve most problems, but it
should be your driver's problem to sort out the 'rate' ('rate' is the word
used in India when they mean 'price').



Cops wear khaki but soldiers wear 'jungle green'. If you're seeing soldiers
on the street then find somewhere safe and settle down for a couple of hours
because anything the cops can't handle is really bad news.



Food and drink.



About half the restaurants and cafes you will see will be vegetarian.



A bar or 'bar restaurant' is not a place any respectable woman would be
seen. However places marked 'family restaurant' or café are respectable.



Most places where the locals eat are open to the road and have simple
plastic chairs or benches and Formica topped tables. They're usually ok and
serve delicious and cheap food on steel plates. Don't expect china plates
unless you're going somewhere posh.



Indian beer has glycerine in it to make it flow down the side of the glass
nicely but it gives it an odd 'feel' in the mouth. Indian wine is so sweet
that Europeans can find it almost undrinkable. Indian whiskey and other
spirits are ok, I like a brand called 'Black Dog', but stay away from what's
called 'country liquor'.



Tea is usually drunk very strong and very sweet, ask for 'pot tea' or it'll
come with sugar and milk. Coffee is usually instant and drunk with hot milk
like it used to be served in the UK years ago. Decent coffee is called
'filter coffee' or 'pot coffee' Ask for it black with milk served cold and
separately. All coffee in India comes with chicory in it unless you buy
your own, in which case you want 'coffee pure'.



The usual mid-day vegetarian meal just about everywhere is a Thali; this is
a plate of rice usually served with six or seven little steel bowls with a
variety of stuff in them. Usually a raita and a vegetable curry and others.
One little bowl will have pudding of some sort in it :-)



There are regional differences but the word 'Thali' means a rice based
vegetarian dish.



Paneer is Indian cheese, a sort of compressed cottage cheese. It sounds odd
but is used as a meat substitute in many dishes and tastes good as it picks
up the flavour of the sauce.



Try drinking lassi, a sort of milky yoghurt drink that is very refreshing.



Indian 'ice cream' is kulfi which is hard and quite intense flavoured. Get
it from a reputable place though as some people aren't too careful about
their source of water when making it.



When you sit down the waiter will bring you a glass of water each. At a
cheap place wave it away with the words "Nai nai, Bislery water". 'Bislery
water' is the generic term for bottled water; you may not get that brand.
In a posher place ask if it is 'aqua guard' which is water filtered in bulk
for impurities by a small filter. When you buy bottled water try and do so
from a shop or a pharmacy and not from a stall, always check the seal is
intact



Every meal ends with you being presented with a little dish of seeds with
the bill. You take a few and chew them and swallow them to clear the
pallet. Put a tip, usually five or ten rupees, on the table or in the
folder the bill came in.



Your driver will expect his mid-day meal to be paid for. Offer him 50 rupees
and at the end of every day give him a tip of about 75 to 100 rupees if, and
only if, he's been useful to you. He should carry your bags, load the boot
('dicky' in India) and be generally attentive. Check the car and make sure
your stuff is all removed every time you leave it in the evening.



Food usually comes with a choice of rice or chapattis or puris, which are
like small fried chapattis. Aloo paratas are like thick chapattis and eaten
with the various curries rather than chapattis or rice. Chole Bhatura is
chickpeas and served with special flat breads.



Chicken tika is a regional speciality and very unlike the chicken tika you
get here.



Tandorui chicken, chicken ticka, shami kebabs, reshmai kebabs, tangadi
kebabs, harabara kebabs (which is vegetarian) are reasonably safe to eat and
can be eaten from the road side kebab stalls if the environment looks ok.



Try Kashmiri pillau, which is a rice dish, made with meat and fruit



Many meat dishes are served with a choice of rice or chapattis or nan bread
or paratas and a vegetable curry as a side dish.



When visiting temples or private houses you are expected to remove your
shoes on entry. Don't wear valuable jewellery on the street, ladies will be
expected to have their arms and heads covered if they enter as holy place so
carry a dupata (Indian ladies sash).



Don't wear valuable jewellery on the street.



Outside every temple there's usually a small cow, offer the cow's keeper a
rupee coin or two and she'll hand you a wad of grass to feed the cow with as
a form of blessing.



Petha is the sweet to bring back as a present and you should buy it in Agra
and it should be the 'dry' one and not the 'wet' one.



Carry sweets in your bag in case you feel a bit sick and need something to
suck. Buy them locally, UK made boiled sweets go to mush in about four days
unless kept in a fridge..



Stay out of the sun, wear a hat, drink water or soda with lime juice in it
(order 'lime soda, salt, no sugar') and not sweet fizzy drinks.



Have fun


--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.





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