Bihar historical tour

Hi guys

I want to do a tour of northern Bihar in search of material for a historical novel that I am planning to write. This has been a project that I had for a long time, but never got the time & courage to implement it. The reasons are as follows.

1) I am from the south and I suck at speaking in Hindi. I can barely manage, but this would immediately give away that I am a foreigner to the region. That would make me a good candidate for bakseesh wherever I go.

2) I want to travel alone because I need to do a lot of exploration, and that would bore anybody to death. So I can't ask my friends (who speak fluent Hindi) to accompany me.

3) The impression of Bihar as a crazy and violent land doesn't help much.

But I don't want to give up. So I would like to ask you guys for advice. People who have already been to this region, please try help me plan my tour. I want information on the places (hotels) to stay, the transportation to take, and how to behave myself in the hinterland.

The places I want to visit, in no particular order, are

BIHAR :

Vaishali
Nalanda
Rajgir
Patna
Mahisi
Madhubani

NEPAL :

Lumbini
Bharatpur
Janakpur
Biratnagar


The reason for this plan is to explore archeological sites related to an ancient tribe called Licchavi who functioned as a republic known as Vrijji (Vajji in Pali). This republic was one of the oldest and the largest in the world, and its capital was the city of Vaishali.

I can plan for a trip of 15-30 days to do this fieldwork. Do you think it is possible to get it done without getting shot, kidnapped or handicapped in the process ?

Yes, it is! Read through the other Bihar threads. I have made posts in most of them. And BTW, Hindi is also a foreign language for Biharis. In one of these threads I described how people from the Hindi heartland commit social solecisms in Bihar. My ancestral home is quite close to the site of ancient Vaishali. That is the only part of rural Bihar I have recent experience of and it is perfectly safe.

standard Lucknow /Delhi Hindi is not well understood by Bhojpuri speakers, it is just my experience.I found Sasaram to be safe.

well it depends where are you going , some people do not understand hindi at all , specially in remote rural area ,
it's just not bhojpuri by the way , it's also magahi , mathili and other languages , those who understand hindi will understand all dialect of hindi .

enjoy , these days bihar is very safe . unless you purposely poked a bihari no one will even care .

well
mode of transportation >
train
buses
and last but not the lease private vehicles .

Pakistan is now more iffy for safety than Bihar and I plan to return to both in 2013.