"traveler scene" in India

jobu

I've traveled a bit in India. Now and then you end up in places that are full of like-minded foreigners. Guidebooks describe those places as "traveler scene", "hangouts" or whatever. I kind of like them, but not too often..

i'we been wondering why they happen to be in certain places - sometimes there even isn't much to see or do around, but everybody flocks there.
So: Do you like those "scenes"? Would you go there and why?
Where you think are the strongest "scenes" in India?

Polo

Well the biggest Tourist-pit mustve been Pushkar, wich was packed with tourists and has really nothing to do, besides climbing to a nice temple and walking alonside the southern part of the lake where no tourists 'hang out'...

For the rest only tourist shops, tourist restaurants and lots of tourists.Also some of those 'Travelers' who just stick around some place...forever(?)

BTW it's the only place where I've almost beaten up a tout. The ''respect the lake crew'' Which wants you to trow some flowers into the lake for no charge...

Now I don't mind them asking me, Im very good at refusing, but when they start violently threatening to follow you around till you do... Because you have to respect the lake which means PAY THEM MONEY....

One correction on my rant Sunset cafe is a very nice place to catch up on some reading, and eat the best veg chowmein ever... Although it is a tourists only place.

Other Tourist Trap was Kajuraho, not much to do(you will stone me to death now but I don't think the temples are that great) and lots of tourist, and some restaurant/hotel owners were Tourists who just never left.

Jaisalmer was touristic even in the low season(which left the rest of Rajasthan virtually deserted) but no reall scene, only western style accomodations.
Varanasi was tourist packed, while some people we met there said they had never seen it so tourist-free..., but I didn't see much of a scene.

Karma Queen

i loved places with a bit of a scene, but hate the idea of loving them! i always think that travelling should really be just about that culture and those people, but i rather enjoyed places with a backpacker vibe (varanasi, jaisalmer etc). kind of felt like i was part of a group, an institution etc...

seventies'hippy

PUSHKAR.
Yes it's a shame that It is like it is now & doesn't get the good reviews like it used to.
Pushkar actually is a victim of It's own popularity.
When I first went there over 30 years ago It was like going back in time a couple of hundred years, It was almost biblical, Every aspect of life revolved around the special significance the place had for the Bramins.
There was no touting, There was no tourists, there was no hotels except the Pushkar Palace which has been modernised since then, and the Anand Ashram, And a few people started letting rooms.
There was no guidebooks, you only went there after meeting someone else who had been, people who had been couldn't stop talking about it, It was such a special place.
In the turmoil of India it was an oasis.
The level of the lake varied from year to year, Sometimes It was high other times very very low, It's not all filled from rain in the hills, theres a way of diverting water from the Ajmer side to fill it. When it was really high, like lapping up the ghats & lower temple walls you could look down & see fish perhaps one metre long, they where attracted to any light reflected on the water, loads of them, I think they've all been poached now.
All westerners knew each other, there were so few there, everyone stayed for weeks & months more than days, anyone new arriving just fell into the group, In those days we did all our own cooking so that took a regular part of the day, from buying the vegetables to preparing & eating. Other times you'd be invited up to some temple or other by the priest, theres a very nice Hanuman temple up on a hill the other side of the Marwar bus stand, You can look out over the whole of Pushkar from there,Or maybe there'd be an impromptu music night put on by a few of our local friends,a great night with them making music & singing or we'd go to the Rose gardens which were like a small garden of eden with lots of vegetables, flowers & birds & irrigating water, not forgetting the Gulab jam, or go into the desert early morning over to the foothills & come back at sunset, It was a very special time to be there,,,,,,

Sadly like I said at the top, It's become a victim of It's own popularity, But for me It will always be special,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Shiver me Timbers

Hey Seventies, I always love reading about your time in India back then, you always speak passionately from the heart, and help to inspire young lads like myself to search for similar experiences, though they may never be the same.
Thanks!!!

__________________
Europe to India Overland

Andaman's Tips

Pakistan Tips

jobu

completely agree with Conor about passionate old memories! Thank You, Seventies' Hippy, for sharing it with us! Will you tell us some more?
Do you think it was directly connected with guidebooks (and we are talking LP here) that all those places got real popular, or would it have happened anyway?

about my "scenes" - I was surprised how pointless place is Mamallapuram. Well, there was one good thali restaurant just next to bus station, but other than that - beach, shore temple, "foreigner street" - for me disappointment.

cheers

mindi

I'm pretty sure I'll be alone in this view, but ... I didn't like Hampi! Yes, it was beautiful, had nice deserted buildings etc, but it was so overwhelmed with tourists and touts, I couldn't feel anything special about it (similar to Bali, and the Cotswolds in England). I think the lovely small places in particular , are prone to this problem. I preferred Delhi and Mumbai to Hampi, and I'm not a big fan of cities!

mahascribe

So we have Pushkar, Mamallapuram... Hampi, Anjuna (/Goa), Colaba... anyone?

seventies'hippy

Like Pushkar, Manali is also a victim of It's own popularity, along with places like Manikaren further down the valley. Not so much with touts but just the influx of westerners. Though having the finest charas available growing on the doorstep also plays a huge part.
These places all became popular by word of mouth, before guide books appeared.After they didthese places changed forever, and then the charter holiday companies moved in,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
The only difference these days is that places become touristy much more quickly. Look at Diu, Just wait until It gets discovered by the hoiday companys.
But when you go anywhere for the first time you should enjoy it as it is now, Don't really compare it with the past, The past is history, This is it now,
tomorrow, Today will be gone,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

SHIMLA

What about Agra? Though tourists may not exactly "hang out" there, I feel they visit the place more out of a certain compulsion than anything else ! A case of having to visit rather than really wanting to visit !! What would friends back home say when you tell them you visited India but never saw the "great" Taj?

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

__________________
Whoever said money can't buy happiness didn't know where to shop !

wonderwomanusa

>>What would friends back home say when you tell them you visited India but never saw the "great" Taj?<<

They thought I was nuts! I didn't see the Taj until my third visit to Mom India, and ya know, it was always better in my imagination.

Your mileage may vary.

Like Seventies Hippie, I was in both Pushkar and Manali in the early 70s (both in 1971 for me) -- Goa was "the scene" then, and I was there, too.

I loved Goa at the time, but won't go back; it's too different now, and there will never be times like those "sex and drugs and rock&roll" years again.

Bigzero

i've never seen taj yet.....

liking a place is a very personal thing for me . the problem is that we go by the recommendations in the guidebooks and other people with inflated expectations, and come back disappointed. i have always had more fun in places i had no clue about, and discovered while i was traveling (see a board, take a detour kind of impulse decisions ).

i can list out a number of beaches / hills/ towns i liked which doesnt feature anywhere in the tourist circuits.

the only flip side is that you dont get the same facilities . but it is a choice you have to make.

i've been apalled at the way in which the tourist destinations have been exploited. environmental disasters, most of them. i hope governments dont expose more destinations with "potential" ( all state govts are competing with each other to do that ) to maximize their tourism revenues. result is more hype, more crowding, more disappointment.

some places are best left alone and discovered by the odd tourist who strays off the beaten path...

__________________
miles to go....

Bigzero's Photo Gallery

jobu

Bigzero: "i can list out a number of beaches / hills/ towns i liked which doesnt feature anywhere in the tourist circuits."

But if you do list out- they will feature and people will go.. That's where the problem starts.
If you will write - lets say here in IM - that there is a perfect place somewhere. Next year you can be almost sure that the place isn't the same anymore.
Look what happened to Palolem. Till 95 guidebooks almost didn't mention it. What is happening there now?
People are searching for untouched idyll and sharing your info will most likely change those places.
Maybe in seventies this knowledge was passed only by word of mouth and heared only by those who were already on the road. Now you can sit in internet, read guidebooks and plan your trip to remotest mountain village, where you expect to find that special something.

So question is- to share or to keep quiet?

seventies'hippy

[quote=wonderwomanusa
Like Seventies Hippie, I was in both Pushkar and Manali in the early 70s (both in 1971 for me) -- Goa was "the scene" then, and I was there, too.

I loved Goa at the time, but won't go back; it's too different now, and there will never be times like those "sex and drugs and rock&roll" years again.[/QUOTE]

Yeah I know what you mean wonderwomanusa, I've been back,,,,, It's still ok at times in places, but the freedom of the 70's, has gone with the 70's,,,,,
That wind borne beat of the deep Base throbbing all over anuna calling people to a party, And the trail of people walking along the shoreline in the dark to get there, being there all night then looking around at dawn at all the people huddled in circles on the beach, blankets around shoulders,sipping chai & passing chillums around, and Goa Gills Big Dipper Band still playing Rock n'Roll

rahulmehta

Hi you guys,

apart from the normal tourist hangouts, you guys can check out the following places.
Ganpatiphule - beach
the nilgiris & regions around munnar in kerela.
most of the wildlife sanctuaries, esp sundarbans.. you'll freak your minds out on this place.

try out htese places as they are not availible in the tourist guides etc...

__________________
the road never ends........