First time arrival experiences.

namaste_cat

Boston123 brings up an important point - the heat alone is enough to do one in. You didn't say which city you are in, but if you post in that city's forum, people can give you some more ideas as to where to go & what to see/do to make it less overwhelming for you.

Indianoob - find a cool place even something like the Cottage Emporium in New Delhi and just enjoy the beautiful things there w/ no touts or hassle. Or Fab India or some place like that. Will give you a calm place where you won't feel like you're just cooped up in your room (not that there's anything wrong with that either, if that's what one needs!).

As Nick said, maybe India's not for you, and that's ok too. But right now you've just arrived, still getting over jet lag, and getting used to the heat, noise, etc

I too have trouble every time I go back to visit, so can't even imagine a newbie's reaction. Hang in there. It does get better, a lot better at least for most of us. I'm almost in tears when I'm back in my seat on the return flight, and as soon as I land, I want to go back. Never mind that I was cranky through most of my visit!

Haylo

I wish you'd said where you were. Presumably you're stuck in a city, waiting for your girlfriend to arrive.

If you're in Delhi, get up very early tomorrow morning, and get a cab to take you to Lodhi Gardens. It is where Indians go to take early morning strolls, and do yoga - it is such a peaceful place, with ancient architecture to discover, and it's full of wonderful birds and small mammals. Plus, I've never been approached by a single tout there.

I promise, it will feel as if you're in a different country, and give you a taste of what India is like once you've left the cities.

The heat... Well, that's a problem, you've chosen a very challenging time for a first visit. Perhaps when your girlfriend arrives you could join everyone else who can manage it and head to the mountains?

__________________
The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful - E.E. Cummings, poet (1894-1962)

Indianoob

Thanks guy feeling heaps better off to Mt Abu tommorrow, i did writye a longer post but it got swallowed up, thanks again, beggining to relax

nigelg

Our first trip to India was in 1988. However, we flew to Dabolim, a military airfield that doubles up as Goa's small international airport. There were not many people in arrivals, a small queue at passport control and customs, the inspector completely uninterested in any of our documents carefully itemising how much money we had. An easy experience, quite unlike many others in this thread flying to India for the first time and landing in Delhi or Bombay or Madras. We were met just outside and taken to a waiting minibus to take us to our hotel on Vagator beach.

We had an uneventful journey until it was time to cross the river at Panjim. At that time the crossing was by ferry, next to a ruined bridge, or a partially built one, it was hard to tell. The crossing may still be by ferry as far as I know. The incoming ferry arrived, people, bikes, motorcycles, cars, and then chaos. Everybody waiting to get on (except our minibus) tried to board the ferry before any of those on the ferry had got off! The jam meant that it took at least twice as long to turn the ferry round.

Other first-times:

The whole Indian Railways experience:
Seeing your name on a reservation chart.
The huge numbers of people at the station and on a platform.
The sheer length of an Indian train - 24 coaches!
The spontaneous warmth and friendliness of Indian fellow-travellers

An auto-rickshaw ride in a big city - ours was in Bangalore
A leper pursuing us through the street on a trolley for alms - this was in Madurai
The sheer wow-factor of nearly everywhere - everything in India is writ large.

chinois

I know the one Nigel! The ferry was still in use when i was there in october 08 and sounds like it hasn't changed a bit! Me and a friend were part of the moped group! Having never ridden before we got confident after riding around anjuna and decided to give the capital a go. Having to maintain acceleration enough so i didnt slip down the boarding ramp whilst avoiding the crowd of people and vehicles coming from both directions was pretty nerve-racking!
It was out of the frying pan and into the fire as the road we disembarked on was a dual carriageway (all-be-it small in indian standards). We shared the road with lorries in unspecific lanes, experienced our first major roundabout (again with no lanes) and ignored a police stop before heading back to the ferry to dump the bikes. A little too much for us non-drivers!