Time visited: July 2019
Alright, I’m back from India, away from the dusty roads, chaotic traffic, warm and friendly people. [side note: started this post in August 2019, but only finished writing in April 2020]
Let’s be honest, India doesn’t have a very good reputation internationally, especially in its treatment of girls. Before the trip, my family and friends were all warning me about how dangerous India was. It really didn’t help that I had watched “Delhi Crime” on Netflix earlier in the year, and the fact that I was a young woman.
Thankfully, I had a college friend who warmly offered to bring us around her country. She was extremely proud of her country and always described it in a positive light. It prompted me to suggest a visit to India with her as our guide.
Preparations
My biggest concern going to India, besides safety, was food and water cleanliness. Although I knew that my stomach is stronger than the average Singaporean, having been to China, Cambodia, Vietnam and some other developing countries and survived, I still wasn’t sure if India was on another level. It really didn’t help that my family was telling tales of how their so and so would get a diarrhoea every time they went to India.
So I really made loads of preparations. I went to the pharmacy and bought bandages, first aid stuff (living up to the stereotype of a first aid trained person), and even this water-purifying tablet called Aquatab. To be honest, this is the first time I ever brought a first aid kit with me on a trip. I carried all the first aid stuff and medication in my day pack, which turned out to be really useful LOL.
Day 1: Singapore – Chennai – Hampi
Despite her patriotism, the first text we received from my Indian friend upon landing in Chennai Airport read, “Hi guys, have y’all landed in the third world yet?”, to which we had to remind her to have more faith in her country, and more faith in our abilities to adapt to a new environment.
Notwithstanding our optimism, that wasn’t easy. The first challenge that went our way was clearing customs. We were initially glad that there were so few people at customs as that would signify speedy clearance. Instead, we were held there for half an hour while the officials took turns to grill us about our education, family background, itinerary etc. Sure, they were doing their job properly…But it was ironic that despite holding onto the most powerful passport in the world, we still needed a visa to enter India, and that meant being stopped for a lengthy period of time at customs wasn’t something we were used to.
Eventually, we cleared customs and proceeded to meet our friend. The most refreshing thing about this trip was that we didn’t have a full, detailed plan about where we were going and what we were going to do. Everything, including our next destination, bus tickets, itinerary and accommodation were planned on the spot. We hadn’t even decided on whether we were going to visit Hampi, our next destination, three hours before the bus was due to leave Chennai. But the impromptuness was fun. We could change plans as and when we liked, according to our schedule. There was no need to rush.
We took an overnight bus from Chennai to Hampi, Karnataka. For those interested in pinpointing the location, Chennai is in the state of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India where people mostly speak Tamil, which is also one of the four official languages of Singapore. However, Hampi is located in a totally different state called Karnataka, where people speak a completely different language with a different written script. The languages in India are extremely diverse. My Indian friend S tells me she can speak four to five different languages, including Hindi, English, Punjabi and something else.
Back to our trip. It was my first time taking an overnight bus, and the ride was much more comfortable than I had expected. The bus was fully air-conditioned with beds for us to sleep in and blankets to cover us, complete with racks for our bags, curtains for privacy, and charging sockets to charge our phones.
Before I visited India, I scoured the internet for tips to visit India, and one of the most common advice was bring a pair of ear plugs and eye mask. This is the most important advice for anyone wishing to have a good night’s sleep in India.
Thankfully, I followed that advice and brought a pair of ear plugs. I couldn’t find eye masks in my house, so I improvised by using my jacket to cover my eyes, before settling in to sleep. Sleep was periodical. The roads were bumpy and the bus was honking incessantly at other road users, but I managed to catch a bit of sleep here and there.
Day 2: Hampi, Karnataka state
We were supposed to arrive at our destination at 7am the next day, but due to some delay, we only arrived at around 9 or 10am. When we alighted, we realised that we were still not at Hampi yet, but at a neighbouring town called Hospeck. Thus, with bleary eyes, unkempt hair and stinky breaths, we boarded an auto rickshaw that would take us to Hampi, around 12 km away. We were finally experiencing the “third-world”, as my Indian friend put it.
After a drive through paddy views where we took in the scenic countryside, we arrived at our guesthouse. The day before, my friend had asked our opinion before she booked our accommodation, as she was worried that we wouldn’t be able to get used to “shoddy rooms”, being more accustomed to “first-world pleasures”…We were nonchalant and told her that as long as the rooms had running water and beds to sleep on, we were fine.
In my mind, rooms with “running water and beds to sleep on” couldn’t be too bad, but when we arrived, we saw that the place was a shack. The smell of cow dung was strong, and there were bits and pieces of animal waste even in the rooms. There were flies everywhere and the floor was muddy.
But all that simply took a little bit of getting used to. Sure, it’s not as comfortable as the hotels or hostels I’ve been to, but it was liveable.
After settling down and freshening up, we decided to head out to explore the area.
We made the splendid decision of getting around on scooters. None of us had ridden scooters before but we were all keen to try. My Singaporean friends B, T and myself all managed to get the hang of riding it within 10 minutes or so….well B crashed into a wall and damaged the headlights, but let’s not dwell on that. Unfortunately, my Indian friend S wasn’t confident about riding a scooter on her own so the kind owner of our guesthouse offered to take her on his scooter and guide us around.
I was really nervous at first, afraid that I would cause an accident or something, but as I got more confident, I started enjoying myself. The scenery was breathtaking, and the experience exhilarating.
As the saying goes, “When in Rome, do as the Romes do”, so I started making full use of the bike horns as a way of communicating with other bike riders. The roads were rather empty so riding was a breeze.
Our first stop was a lake, where we got onto a round sampan that took us on a ride on the waters. As we climbed onto the sampan, rain started pouring on us and all of us got drenched but before we were able to pull on our raingear, the rain suddenly stopped.
We headed to a waterfall of an unknown name (unknown not because it’s unnamed, but because I don’t know). There, my friends B and T tried their hand at cliff jumping into the water and swam in the river. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my swimsuit, so bathing in the river wasn’t an option for me.
Then, T did something hilarious and mind-boggling. He jumped into the river with his glasses on and as a result, lost his glasses…
We could only sigh and shake our heads at his stupidity.
We headed back to our guesthouse for dinner and after dinner, played cards with fellow residents at the guesthouse. It was really fun as we taught our new friends how to play Dai Di and other poker games. The real eye-opener for me was seeing how they were openly smoking weed at the living room area (word of caution: any Singaporean found to have consumed drugs in Singapore or even outside of Singapore can be punished under the Misuse of Drugs Act). It was my first time witnessing people smoking joints first-hand. I found out that joints weren’t as foul-smelling as cigarettes, which I really can’t stand. There were also people doing shisha (smoking from a pot filled with water through a long tube). It was peculiar to the uninformed me and I only found out what it was after I queried my friends. All in all, the culture there was very liberal and people could do whatever the heck they wanted in that part of the country. Unfortunately, the smoke from the cigarettes, joints and whatnot, as well as my number one enemy — mosquitoes, became too unbearable for me. I decided to leave the party early to take a shower. Fell asleep at around 1am.
Day 3: Hampi — Bangalore
Rise and shine happened at 10am. It was a genuine mistake on my part alright. I didn’t plan to wake up this late. Plus, I’m usually a light-sleeper who wakes up at the slightest sound but because I was wearing ear plugs, I couldn’t hear a thing until my roommate woke me up by shouting at our friends next door that she couldn’t wake me up.
So it was the start of another slow paced day. I was adapting very well to how slow-paced this trip has been. We ordered breakfast, slowly freshened up, and waited for awhile before an auto rickshaw driver came to pick us up for a trip to the cultural sites in Hampi.
There we were at the site of the Hampi Bazaar and Hindu Virupaksha Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site. We arrived at the entrance and had to take a seven-minute walk into the temple, which we didn’t mind as it allowed us to explore the Bazaar site. What was really bizarre to us was how the site, despite being a UNESCO World Heritage site, was completely open to all visitors with no fencing. That meant that we could step on the stone ruins and grass patches, touch the fragile stone columns as we liked. S however, offered a rather satisfactory explanation for this, “We have so many of these sites that it would take too much money and effort to fence all of these up.” Alright alright, abundance of heritage sites, so many countries would love to have some of them, including Singapore.
We wanted to visit the temple. Ok we did visit the temple. But we almost didn’t because we realised that there was a huge price difference between the entrance fees for Indian nationals and foreigners. Don’t get me wrong, I totally support giving cheaper or even free entry to locals for any places of interest, so that they can understand their own heritage. But I’ve never seen such an exorbitant price differences — 40 rupees for Indians and 600 rupees for foreigners. Alright, we still paid the 600 rupees and went in with three foreign and one Indian national tickets. At the gate, the guard asked, “Who’s the Indian?”, and we burst out laughing. Please understand the context — B, T and I are all ethnic Chinese and we don’t look any bit like ethnic Indians at all, so the moment was really hilarious for us. Well, to be even more certain, the guard even asked my friend S questions in Hindi.
So we took a tour around the temple with a local guide, who explained to us all the interesting designs on the wall and what they meant in Indian mythology. It was really fascinating, as Indian mythology was something novel for me. I had never studied it before.
I also realised that most of these tour guides are disabled in some way. Ours needed a crutch to walk around. I guess it’s really fortunate that they get employment through such a cultural site despite their disability.
After the Hampi tour, we got back to our guesthouse, had some late lunch, and we decided we wanted to scoot around on bikes again. On the way back, S stopped our autorickshaw as she had seen a bull cart and wanted to ask if we could try and get on them. Well B, T and I grew up in a city, so we’ve never rode on or even seen a bull cart. Unfortunately, the cart had a tyre puncture, so we couldn’t ride on it.
Anyways, we rented the bikes and headed out on a ride around Hampi. We were enjoying the ride too much that things happened. So you remember T lost his spectacles right? This set off a chain of mishaps. Because he wasn’t wearing his glasses, he didn’t see a hump in his way. So, he hit the hump at 40 km/h and fell sideways…Ouch!!!
Thankfully, he only suffered some minor bruises and cuts. No fractures or concussions. When he got up, I thought he was perfectly find and he seemed ready to resume the ride, until I saw that he was bleeding from his cuts and abrasions. I quickly got out my first aid kit and helped him disinfect and cover his wounds.
As I said, it turned out to be really useful. I don’t know why I had an intuition that they would come in handy, as we were doing quite a lot of hiking and sightseeing outdoors. Somehow something prompted me to buy some bandages and bring them along. Thankfully I did and they came in useful. So helpful tip, bring a first aid kit along whenever you travel and put it in your day pack, not your suitcase!!
After the ride, we got back and had to quickly pack up and take our dinner, as our overnight bus to Bangalore was at 9.30pm.
We had to get to Bangalore (a major city in Karnataka) as T had to get new prescription lenses or contact lenses to tide him through the next few days.
Day 4 Bangalore — Kodaikanal
We got to Bangalore really early in the morning at around 7am. Again, we got off the overnight bus bleary eyed with our hair in a mess. We urgently needed a place to wash up and get clean.
With no plans, we simply asked the autorickshaw drivers who had gathered around us where we should go. He told us he knew a cheap place which offered rooms at 600 rupees for two and 1700 rupees for four.
So we took the autorickshaw to that place, which was called the “Prestige Residency”.
SCAM ALERT
At the reception, we told them we only wanted one room for the four of us, because we merely wanted to shower and wash up. We did not intend to sleep in the room.
T and B went to check out the room first, while S and I stayed on the autorickshaw with our luggage in case the room was unsuitable. The hotel staff showed them a big room which looked somewhat like this, with the exception that both beds were queen sized beds.
T asked him if this room was 600 rupees and he nodded his head, so T and S came and called both of us in.
We transported our bags into the room and started washing up. However, S then got into an argument with the reception counter when settling the payment, because the staff then insisted that we paid 1700 rupees.
Here’s a clarification: 1700 rupees for such a big room was indeed the market rate, which was not what we were disputing. What my friends were really angry about was the fact that they had showed us their best room (when we only wanted a room to shower and change), misled us into thinking this was extremely cheap (only 600 rupees), and only after we settled in did they demand to charge us 1700 rupees for that room. When we tried to defend ourselves, they wanted to chase us out of the room. S ended up paying 1200 rupees for two small rooms and we decided not to take the matter up with the police as we did not want to cause any delays to our travel.
Travel tip: Don’t believe anything that sounds too good to be true. Always double check the prices before any transaction.
Let me just say that the rooms weren’t really clean. When I came back to Singapore, I watched a video of a few Singaporean Youtubers checking out a one-star hotel in Singapore and squirming at everything they touched. I just wanted to say that the room that we got was more unsanitary than that “one-star” hotel, just to give some context. The 600 rupees room had no shower and there wasn’t even space in the toilet for you to sit facing forward. One had to sit on the toilet facing sideways. But as I’ve said, it’s India and if you are willing to compromise with the living conditions and lower your expectations from what you are used to, then these minor discomforts won’t bother you too much. In fact, I actually enjoy showering with a bucket.
We washed up and headed out for breakfast at this really famous vegetarian restaurant that sold South Indian food.
Anyways, if you don’t think this looks palatable, it’s because I was so hungry that I didn’t take photos of the other dishes that came onto the table after this.
To be brutally honest, Indian food takes some getting used to for me, because I’m not a great fan of spices, but I came to enjoy it after awhile.
After breakfast, we rested and then went out for a walk around the city. We played Escape Room (but sucked so much that the Escape Room staff had to keep coming in to give us all sorts of hints).
We had a lunch of steak and really great mocktails.
Then we went to a mall, past time there looking around and in the evening, we took an overnight bus to Kodaikanal.
Day 5-6 Kodaikanal
Kodaikanal is probably the highlight of this trip. The place is a hilly area, temperature was about 16 degrees, really soothing and scenic. We stayed at a really comfortable AirBNB at this place, and I finally got to wash my hair in a decently clean toilet.
When we arrived, the AirBNB owner was really friendly to us. The cook brought us breakfast, and then he started introducing us to the sights at Kodaikanal.
After breakfast, we decided to go on a guided tour of the place. Our driver met us at around 11am and we started going around the touristy places of Kodaikanal, focusing on the area around Kodai Lake. After awhile, we got a bit bored so we told our driver to take us to somewhere less touristy…
That’s when things got exciting LOL. Our driver took us to an area that was fenced off but had been broken off by trespassers. Instead of fixing the fence, there was a sign placed in front of the entrance (presumably by the local government) stating in big font that “trespassers will be prosecuted”.
The driver brought us around the signboard and through the fence /shudders/. I would never have dared to do this in Singapore.
After hiking through sheer wilderness (there was really no path), we arrived at a cliff which was really really scenic.
Afterwards, we hiked around the lake some more. There were horseriding activities, and pedal-boat activities. B and I got separated from the other two because we wanted to cycle and the other two didn’t. I think T had PTSD from the scooter accident, seriously. So B and I went to rent a bicycle, cycled around the lake one round, and then afterwards we failed to contact them so we went horse-riding as well as pedal-boating, until sunset.
Day 6-7 Pondicherry
We loved Kodaikanal a lot but we really had to get to our next destination, so we took an overnight bus the to Pondicherry. It was a huge contrast, going from a hilly region and then ending up at the beach.
We arrived at Pondicherry at like 5am in the morning when the sun was just rising.
Let’s just say that at this point in the trip, T was a little bit, as my Indian friend put it, he was so”done with India”. He got quite glum during these two days.
But of course, B and I hadn’t gotten enough of riding scooters. It took us awhile to find our guesthouse, and when we finally did, we found out that we could rent scooters there! B and I were overjoyed LOL, but T wasn’t enthusiastic at all. I tried taking him on the back of my scooter, but realised that I couldn’t balance with two people behind me, and B had to take S with him on his scooter, so T had no choice but to ride alone.
Riding scooters in Pondicherry was way scarier than in Hampi, because there was real traffic there. We road on the main road to a petrol station, and there were scooters and cars honking at me everywhere. In the end, I realised there I had to keep my thumb on the honk button, and if anyone tried to cut in front of me because I was too slow (seriously riding at 40 km/h on a scooter is really the maximum speed I am willing to go at), I would just honk at him and he would usually give way to me. I guess I contributed to the noise pollution huh..
We rode scooters everywhere in Pondicherry, to restaurants, to the surfing place, everywhere.
We went to an adventure park-like place where there were facilities for high ropes, flying fox, archery, shooting and there like. The greatest thing was that we were the only customers in the facility at that time. We could play as many times as we wanted.
Day 8 Pondicherry–Chennai
The highlight of Pondicherry was what we did before we left for Chennai on the last day of the trip. S, B and I all decided to try surfing, so we signed up for a one-hour course at the surf school.
It was really difficult to stay on the surfing board. I could only body-surf but couldn’t stand up on the surfboard cos I would just fall into the water. But the coach was really patient.
OK but the downside to surfing was getting stung by a jellyfish twice. I didn’t know it was a jellyfish until after the whole lesson ended, and I felt pain on both my left hand right hand. Super duper painful. I was so worried about the pain all the way from Pondicherry, to Chennai, to back home.
But despite that, I had a really good time surfing, though I probably wouldn’t try it again cos I realised falling into the sea repeatedly isn’t my thing.
Anyway, we finished surfing and caught a tuktuk to the bus terminal for bus ride to Chennai. From there, we then caught a tuktuk to the airport, and boarded a flight home.
India Afterthoughts
Honestly, my impression of India really changed after going to India.
Safety
Initially, I was so worried about my safety that I even considered buying a pepper spray or a knife there. Fortunately, when I was in India, never once did I ever feel unsafe or even feel disrespected as a female. In fact, when I walking on the streets and said “excuse me” to two Indian men who were chatting and blocking my way, they turned around and asked me, “yes ma’am?”. They thought I wanted to ask them for help, when I just wanted them to move away. At that point, I felt like they were treating me as some noblewoman just because I look foreign…
Yes, rapes and other violent crimes do happen in India. Unfortunately, it happens every 20 minutes, according to news I just read today. But let’s not forget that India is the second-most populous country in the world with an extremely diverse culture an very significant rich-poor divide. Not every Indian is a rapist or criminal.
Sometimes, I also think that our extremely negative view of India can be attributed to the fact that we only ever hear negative news about India which the media feeds us with. Positive headlines wouldn’t grab as much attention as “India girl gets raped and burnt to death” [don’t get me wrong, not saying that such news shouldn’t be reported]. But that’s not what India is all about — rape. The country is so much more than that and anyone who is adventurous enough should visit it at least once in their lifetime, which brings me to my next point.
Cleanliness
Like I said, I was worried about India’s food and water cleanliness, so much so that I was prepared to get a diarrhoea when I got back home. I even planned for the trip to end one week before school started so that I had time to recover if I fell sick.
But it turned out that water safety really wasn’t an issue. There were special taps for drinking water at most tourist attractions. They would really label it as “potable water” very clearly, and the water there is perfectly safe for the Singaporean stomach. Moreover, we could easily get water at restaurants, either by pouring the water offered on the tables into our bottles (some may think this is slightly unethical), or asking for a refill. If all else fails, bottled water is always available for purchase (just make sure to check that the cap is sealed), but I didn’t find it unnecessary. Really though, you wouldn’t have any problem finding drinking water.
As for food, it turned out that I didn’t have a single episode of diarrhoea throughout the trip and after the trip. I brought a whole load of charcoal pills but didn’t consume a single one. So it seems like not everyone gets diarrhoea after going to India…
Unfortunately, what isn’t really clean is the environment, which I totally expected. The cheap hotels we stayed it were mostly extremely dirty, and wouldn’t even get a one-star rating on most review websites, which brings me to my next point.
Comfort
If you’re thinking of going to India, note this — India isn’t the most comfortable place to visit in terms comfort and hygiene. If you are a person who can’t go one day without showering (like some members of my family), need a clean toilet to survive, or can’t stand dust and grime on your face (like my family too), then you probably wouldn’t enjoy India. But if you’re chill about these and ready for an adventure, go ahead.
Let’s just say that I didn’t get to shower every day, and on most days, if there was dust and grime on my face the moment I headed outdoors. For that sole reason, I was really glad to be back in Singapore.
Head-nodding
Ok, everyone knows Indians have different body language when it comes to the head, compared to the rest of us. But I didn’t really bother about it until I actually went to India. There was once in a restaurant when I asked the waiter whether I could refill my bottle with water. He bobbed his head to the side, and I thought he was saying no to me so I withdrew my hand. Then my Indian friend S was like, “Give your bottle to him!” I was really confused cos I thought he had refused. Turns out the head bobbing thing actually means “anything” or “I don’t mind”.
So yup, if you ever go to India, take note.
I’m really glad I made this trip to India to satisfy my adventurous self. It was my first leisure trip that I had taken without any itinerary planned beforehand, any decisions made on the go.
I would go to India again if I could, but given the COVID-19 situation, travelling is out of the option in the near future.
Oven Thoughts 