Saudi Arabian looted in Mumbai; gang targeted 44 Arabs

[friendly_troll96]

Lmao why don't you guys post your own pics to prove your point and let the mirror on the wall decide who's the fairest of you all? If you ain't got enough meat in your pants to play the evil queen just shut the fucck up and save the internet for cat memes.

 

[Nilgiri]

if you hate dirty places/people.. you will have really hard time in India.... you will hate it to your guts, you wont wait when you can fly out.. I would suggest you make up your mind.. india is dirty/filthy.

If he sticks to the south, he won't have to face the worst parts of it.

People dont poop in the open so much, there is actually something regarding sewage infra and treatment....the roads are decent....people are not out there begging in massive numbers and harrassing you all the time.

Its why TN is receiving the most foreign tourists than any other state in India these years and is growing faster than others too (along with our southern neighbours)...because of the repeat travellers that find the conditions acceptable and want to explore more.

 

[livingdead]

I am not afraid of visiting Northern India and people cannot possibly be more aggressive than Arabs of all people! I have been to Yemen during unrest/unstable times. I simply have to start somewhere and South India looks more accessible. It looks as an interesting destination to visit. Besides most Indians that I know and who are my friends are from Southern India.

Let Westerners do what they want to do. We Arabs do our business differently when we travel, lol. I am not saying anything about me or Arabs being targeted I am simply asking questions.

I believe that quite a few Arabs could pass as Northern Indians rather easily but tourists can be spotted from miles away. As soon as they open their mouths if not much earlier. Locals know how to spot tourists normally whether they are fellow Indians/Arabs/or whatever or foreigners. That is my experience wherever I have been.

Besides I would like to interact with some locals and not "hide myself".

I always try to be respectful of the local culture and customs. As for beggars I try to give them a few cents if they insist and if I can see that they are in a miserable condition but if you say that this should be avoided in India, I will have that in mind.

How common is it for Indians to invite foreigners (tourists) into their homes for some lunch or during a overnight stay? For instance in many Arab and Middle Eastern countries, especially in the countryside, this is quite common. Or at least used to be. I mean such a thing would be what I call an authentic experience.

Also if I were to be traveling with females (I have 3 sisters) should I be particular cautious? I mean you hear about all those rapes. Sorry for bringing it up but how common is it for tourists, that venture out of their resort, tourists hotspots etc. to experience something like that? For example if I walked from a tourist attraction to a nearby restaurant?

Anyway thank you for your recommendations. However if I go to India, I will probably visit South India. But I will have your recommendations in mind.

well the dynamics change a bit if your got 3 sisters... although the rape thing is overblown, India is sexually repressed country.. you will find hordes of men being 'interested' in your sisters.. that will be annoying.
One member posted yesterday that girls in his group was hassled in kerala(@abba dabba jabba ?)...

I dont want to give you wrong information and say its going to be all good, it wont be... fair skin female will stick out in the crowd. You need to be much more careful. Its not rape rather inappropriate touching(in crowded place) or staring or cat calls they might face. Full veil burqa might help but that will ruin the party for them...

About staying with some indian family for authentic experience, thats going to be hard, unless you got friends who will do it. People dont like to invite strangers to their houses.
As a general rule, north indians are more welcoming extroverted people, south Indians are more peaceful/introverted. The arabic culture of entertaining your guest you talk about, you will find it more in pakistan, and to less extent north India.

 

[lastofthepatriots]

Lmao why don't you guys post your own pics to prove your point and let the mirror on the wall decide who's the fairest of you all? If you ain't got enough meat in your pants to play the evil queen just shut the fucck up and save the internet for cat memes.

 

[Nilgiri]

As a general rule, north indians are more welcoming extroverted people

That is highly variable. Plenty of crap minded northies too. He is better off doing this southern trip first to get India lite and possibly visit Sri Lanka as well at some point.

At least these areas are generally clean and people aren't so stupid and ignorant about basic common sense things.

Then he can try the whole delhi-agra-jaipur northern thing at some point down the road if he fancies it.

 

[nair]

@nair would be the right person to contact, as he has a good knowledge of different tourist places across Kerala.

@Nilgiri Provide me few more info like, what are all the interests, how long the stay gonna be, and mod of transport, I can help you further

 

[livingdead]

That is highly variable. Plenty of crap minded northies too. He is better off doing this southern trip first to get India lite and possibly visit Sri Lanka as well at some point.

At least these areas are generally clean and people aren't so stupid and ignorant about basic common sense things.

Then he can try the whole delhi-agra-jaipur northern thing at some point down the road if he fancies it.

I was just saying what to expect.. I was not suggesting him to go to north india / pakistan .. he already said he is not interested to travel to north in this trip...

 

[Sargon of Akkad]

Ok great....now I get what you are more into.

Yes a Kerala - Goa west coast theme sounds really good. Be sure to stop by Mangalore on the way between Kerala and Goa at some point.

Of the major cities you suggest in south....each one has pros and cons...but I think for your format of travel...Bangalore would probably be the easiest to visit since its closest to the west coast region you are already touring and you can easily take a train or bus to it from say calicut in northern kerala (kozhikode as its called now). You can even stop by the historic city of Mysore (the famed Tipu Sultan's capital) in a circuit back to the west coast. Let me give you a map of what I mean:

So you can do your thing in Kerala....very well developed boat based and cultural tourism in many areas.

@Levina can give you some input on what is best for there in say a week of spending time.

Then if you swing through Coimbatore (my hometown) (en route to Bangalore)...you can check out the Nilgiri hills for a cpl days or so which is a mountainous scenic area (with lots of old british houses and such) with its own special heritage railway steam train:

After which you can proceed on to Bangalore (Bengaluru these days) which I can give some details about later (after you have a more firm overall plan in mind after reading this)

From Bangalore you can then go to Mysore (Mysuru) which has plenty of cultural things to see (Mysore palace, tipus summer palace, lots of temples and historic buildings and various parks and gardens etc etc)

Then you can swing back to west coast to Mangalore and proceed on to Goa and finish your time there.

This second leg of the journey I think can cover one whole week...and can extend it to two if you want a bit more leisure unrushed travel etc.

For strict 2 week travel I might suggest skipping the internal detour and just keep it a west coast affair for simplicity sake so you are not rushed in finding more places to stay while you are touring etc (i.e just connect to mangalore directly from calicut and skip out the bangalore thing)....you can add just mysore to it as a semi-compromise since its actually quite a nice cultural place.

A fantastically detailed post. It is much appreciated that you took your time to write such a valuable post.

May I ask you another question, since you know what you are talking about (quite clearly) and you are a native of Southern India? I wondered, since Kerala/Goa is more famous/visited how is the East Coast (Bay of Bengal coast) of South India in comparison with the more exposed West? I mean the coastline from Chennai in North to Thoothukudi in the South? More or less that stretch of the coast and nearby interior areas?

@Sargon of Akkad there is little or nothing to see in hyderabad, bangalore, chennai. or mumbai.. these are big urban centers... people will hate me for saying this and will list you things to see there. but you got 3 weeks not 3 months..
why not pick things that you like, places of natural beauty or places of history...

Really? I do not believe that. What about old Hyderabad, the Yemeni quarter, the legacy of the Nizam, the mosques, historical buildings etc.? Also surely a one-day visit to Hyderabad would make sense just for the biryani! People in KSA love that biryani.

 

[Nilgiri]

@Nilgiri Provide me few more info like, what are all the interests, how long the stay gonna be, and mod of transport, I can help you further

Yup I think @Sargon of Akkad can ask you some questions since he is the one dropping by.

I normally only visit my hometown and Bangalore and maybe Chennai when I visit India....I dont do the tourism thing in Kerala much other than visit guruvayoor etc at certain times. I need to do sabarimala pilgrimage with my folks at some point too down the road.

 

[Sargon of Akkad]

If he sticks to the south, he won't have to face the worst parts of it.

People dont poop in the open so much, there is actually something regarding sewage infra and treatment....the roads are decent....people are not out there begging in massive numbers and harrassing you all the time.

Its why TN is receiving the most foreign tourists than any other state in India these years and is growing faster than others too (along with our southern neighbours)...because of the repeat travellers that find the conditions acceptable and want to explore more.

When it comes to somewhat crowded places, chaotic traffic (in particular) I am no stranger to that. As for questionable cleanness this is also an issue in many areas of the Arab world that I have visited (Egypt in particular) unfortunately so I can survive this as well as long as it is not extreme. However you talking about people pooping in the open is not something that I have witnessed yet, luckily, lol. Anyway in a worst case scenario I will be able to adapt/accept the realities as long as such incidents will only form a small part of the overall trip. I mean small incidents that annoy you happen on every holiday but as long as those annoyances are small you will survive.

well the dynamics change a bit if your got 3 sisters... although the rape thing is overblown, India is sexually repressed country.. you will find hordes of men being 'interested' in your sisters.. that will be annoying.
One member posted yesterday that girls in his group was hassled in kerala(@abba dabba jabba ?)...

I dont want to give you wrong information and say its going to be all good, it wont be... fair skin female will stick out in the crowd. You need to be much more careful. Its not rape rather inappropriate touching(in crowded place) or staring or cat calls they might face. Full veil burqa might help but that will ruin the party for them...

About staying with some indian family for authentic experience, thats going to be hard, unless you got friends who will do it. People dont like to invite strangers to their houses.
As a general rule, north indians are more welcoming extroverted people, south Indians are more peaceful/introverted. The arabic culture of entertaining your guest you talk about, you will find it more in pakistan, and to less extent north India.

Me thinking about visiting South Asia (Southern India as a first trip) is mostly my own project and I could share that experience with family (parents, brothers and sisters, cousins etc.) or friends. Either way females might be involved so I just asked what I should be aware of it that occurs. Anyway I guess that you will come a long way by behaving as normal as possible and not sticking too much out by your behavior. Niqab is not an issue as it is never relevant for my family let alone when going abroad. Hijab is what is preferred.

About being welcomed, staying at strangers house, that is a shame. I thought, do not know why, that this was somehow common in Southern India. What if I befriend an local who helps me with something and I politely ask if I/we could visit his house or village if he lives in such a thing?

I guess in our culture it is very common/normal for us to invite guests at our home and make feasts for them, even strangers, if they come by. Going out to restaurants is more a recent thing and more popular among the younger generation. Usually the older generation will invite you to their home for a feast and social activities. Not always a feast, lol, but usually a meal or two and some coffee/tea.

 

[Nilgiri]

A fantastically detailed post. It is much appreciated that you took your time to write such a valuable post.

May I ask you another question, since you know what you are talking about (quite clearly) and you are a native of Southern India? I wondered, since Kerala/Goa is more famous/visited how is the East Coast (Bay of Bengal coast) of South India in comparison with the more exposed West? I mean the coastline from Chennai in North to Thoothukudi in the South? More or less that stretch of the coast and nearby interior areas?

You are most welcome, it got me thinking about doing the same thing down the road as well...I haven't really done the west coast of India tourism wise.

As for TN coast that you are describing...it is not so "touristy" as much as the west coast in kerala and goa which has much longer history of tourism and infra there (resorts, lodges, cultural tours and groups etc). It is more off the beaten path and probably not ideal for a first time visitor.

That said more and more people are visiting this area too from abroad as they get bored of the first trip to the well known places.

Starting at southern tip and working your way eastwards...description wise its basically a lot of very long sandy beaches (compared to backwaters and coves of Kerala)....not so many coconut trees and lushness as Kerala....but lots more of sea side temples (many very old but still the hub of the coastal towns) and spread out fisherman communities and villages (and these folk are generally quite interested in foreigners visiting them). When you go upwards the coast a bit you will hit the Cauvery delta area which is a beautiful place with many ancient temples, coconut groves and rice fields. This was the cultural and economic hub of Tamil country since antiquity....and has many old canals and irrigation networks dating hundreds even thousand years old.

Then you will finally hit Chennai with its long city beach, marinas, cultural items and cosmopolitan feel...a smaller version of say Bombay but with Tamil as the main culture (mixed in with many others).

The other great cultural routes in TN are more interior which include Madurai (arguably the greatest and most famous of the south indian temples) and also Trichy/Thanjavur on the Kaveri river which has one of the other greatest temples built by the Chola dynasty (when Tamil power hit its peak in India and South East Asia) under the great rajaraja (king of kings) chola...whom my friend @Rajaraja Chola names himself after on this forum.

Tamil Nadu in brief:

One of the more famous sea side temples I am talking about:

This is repeated a lot across the coastline in general.

 

[livingdead]

A fantastically detailed post. It is much appreciated that you took your time to write such a valuable post.

May I ask you another question, since you know what you are talking about (quite clearly) and you are a native of Southern India? I wondered, since Kerala/Goa is more famous/visited how is the East Coast (Bay of Bengal coast) of South India in comparison with the more exposed West? I mean the coastline from Chennai in North to Thoothukudi in the South? More or less that stretch of the coast and nearby interior areas?



Really? I do not believe that. What about old Hyderabad, the Yemeni quarter, the legacy of the Nizam, the mosques, historical buildings etc.? Also surely a one-day visit to Hyderabad would make sense just for the biryani! People in KSA love that biryani.

yes, 1 day is okey... if you have specific interest then sure, any place is good.
the mosque is okey/average, charminar is underwhelming... i liked the qutub shahi tumbs..
you can get biryani in many places in india, hyderabad is not that special but if you go there then sure you should go to bawarchi(even hyderabad house is good).. do drink the irani chai there though.
hyderabad is quite far from places you are travelling... you need to fly in probably not to waste your time.

your idea of going solo first time is good... this will free you a lot and allow you to make mistakes, take small risks, make impromptu travel plans.. basically be a backpacker.

 

[Nilgiri]

About being welcomed, staying at strangers house, that is a shame. I thought, do not know why, that this was somehow common in Southern India. What if I befriend an local who helps me with something and I politely ask if I/we could visit his house or village if he lives in such a thing?

I guess in our culture it is very common/normal for us to invite guests at our home and make feasts for them, even strangers, if they come by. Going out to restaurants is more a recent thing and more popular among the younger generation. Usually the older generation will invite you to their home for a feast and social activities.

Your best bet is to ask @nair . I have heard about homestay programs but I am unsure what it involves.

@Joe Shearer can fill you in about Hyderabad's do's and dont's.

When it comes to somewhat crowded places, chaotic traffic (in particular) I am no stranger to that. As for questionable cleanness this is also an issue in many areas of the Arab world that I have visited (Egypt in particular) unfortunately so I can survive this as well as long as it is not extreme. However you talking about people pooping in the open is not something that I have witnessed yet, luckily, lol. Anyway in a worst case scenario I will be able to adapt/accept the realities as long as such incidents will only form a small part of the overall trip. I mean small incidents that annoy you happen on every holiday but as long as those annoyances are small you will survive.

In the south its rare...Kerala pretty much 0%....well educated, clean and hygiene is respected. North India is whole different story when you hit the rural areas.

Anywhere urban you go or touristy you go, it really shouldnt be a problem....since the state govts have taken much effort to develop these areas to get the tourist flow coming in steadily.

 

[livingdead]

@Sargon of Akkad you can always try to get invited, i dont think people will take offense..
I met a dude and his wife(?) on train, when I was travelling in north India, they are not rich people, middle class like me, and when they heard I will get down in their town to change train, they insisted that i go to their house for at least a cup of tea..
i had 4 hours, was younger/foolish so thought why not...
Nothing happened to me but years later I realized I could have been big trouble by trusting people on train.. I still trust my instinct though.. it has not failed me yet..

 

[Nilgiri]

I guess in our culture it is very common/normal for us to invite guests at our home and make feasts for them, even strangers, if they come by. Going out to restaurants is more a recent thing and more popular among the younger generation. Usually the older generation will invite you to their home for a feast and social activities. Not always a feast, lol, but usually a meal or two and some coffee/tea.

Very traditional (1000's of year old) Hindu culture had this phenomenon a long time ago....that a guest was revered as the 4th manifestation of the divine in the hierarchy (which went: mother, father, teacher, guest)....i.e to serve a guest was to serve god himself.

Those days are long gone after we suffered terrible invasions from outsiders which have ingrained into our psyche somewhat (along with our own prejudices for various reasons)....but elements are still there and relatively active. Sometimes it all depends where you are to be honest...and the right people chancing by you.....but with population pressure these days and the relative poverty that is still there....and the politics inserted to all of it.....that old culture has faded away mostly in this aspect. I hope one day it will return with full vigour....but it seems Indians are more interested in copying the rat race of every other modern society before thinking of anything else