First experience of "real" india - not much time!

sachinsoni

Dear all,

Having researched a fair amount i have decided to post with some ideas for my upcoming trip to India in August '08.

Firstly, I will be travelling with a friend and our main objective is to volunteer as dentists at Chitrakoot, as part of the the Deendayal Research Institute's dental department. We will be doing this for ~8days at the beginning of our trip and this is now organised.

From here we have ~7days to travel and then a week later we meet up with some friends in the south, seeing first: Pondicherry then onto Ooty(already arranged), from here we fly back to Delhi and then home.

Having only visited Delhi, Agra and Amritsar I am keen on seeing more of what India has to offer.

In the 7days after our work we are unsure of where to go. Timing in terms of weather is not ideal but we are trying to not let this put us off. Here are our ideas...Varansi, khajuraho(a must), and Uttaranchal.

Trying to fit it all in i doubt will be possible and we realise alot of travelling up and then down will be required, we are trying to make it as least hectic as we can and would prefer to see less to make this happen.

Thankyou for taking the time to read this and any ideas/reccommendations will be most welcome,

Sachin.

steven_ber

Will you be flying south from Delhi? (7 full days after you leave Chitrakoot?)

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Train information.

sachinsoni

Thanks for the reply steven.

I realise my post may have been a bit confusin, to clarify....

Day 1 - Arrive Delhi - train to Chitrakoot
Day 2 - Arrive Chitrakoot
Day 2 - 11 Work in Chitrakoot
Day 11- 17 *UNSURE OF WHERE TO GO??*
Day 18- 24 Pondi, Ooty
Day 25- fly back to UK

Hope that's clearer,
thanks again.

steven_ber

Chitrakoot to Pondi will take the best part of 2 days by train, Varanasi is wonderful, but then so is Chitrakoot, the atmosphere on the river is different to Varanasi, but as your time is short and you want to go to Khajuraho....

So maybe Chitrakoot-Khajurahi-Orchha then a train from Jhansi to Chennai stopping off somewhere along the route to break the journey.

tacita

a bit OT, perhaps, with respect to your inquiry, but i wanted to acknowledge with admiration the volunteer work you'll be doing with the institute--what a great way to begin your trip!

oh, and welcome to indiamike.

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sachinsoni

thankyou tacita.
We will fly south to chennai from delhi so saving some time.

I have now realised we may be able to fit in a day trip from Chitrakoot to Khajuraho during our stay, so this will be covered.

Any suggestions as how to get to uttaranchal from this area(chitrakoot/allahabad)?? Could we fly direct from one of the nearby airports or would it require a stop at delhi and then a train?? we would prefer to fly in order to save time.

thanks again.

tacita

i'm afraid i don't know, but i'm sure someone on the site does--hang tight. meantime, you may wish to check directly with one/some of the domestic airlines. there's a piece in "articles" forum about just that. also, in the rail sub-forum, there's a rail map that might prove useful.

all the best.

steven_ber

I knew that first line would eventually come, even though you didn't answer my question earlier.

I strongly suggest you get a good map and a guide book, you need to work out distances and attractions to visit.

Khajuraho in a day trip from Chitrakoot..... it's maybe 200kms on some of the worst roads in India, so 5 hours in each direction, and I feel sure there's a lot more to see than you can do in a tired 6 hours, do remember that driving after dark is very dangerious, you'll only ever do it once. (unless you're a thrill seeker)

Uttaranchal, you don't mention where in Uttaranchal, so I'm guessing you're looking to get to Haridwar/Rishikesh area.

Using planes to get from Chitrakoot to Rishikesh (flying from Khaj or Allahabad to Delhi then to Dehra Dun) is a waste of time and money, an overnight train from Allahabad (dep 17.35 to Haridwar arr 11.05, 2A, 3A, SL.) would be a better option.

Check http://www.ixigo.com/ for flight options.

There are fast daytime trains from Haridwar to Delhi, and slow overnight trains, I think Air Deccan fly from Dehra Dun to Delhi, maybe one other airline as well.

rrorthop

dont forget to see gupt godavari in chitrakoot- beautiful stalag n stalactites n bats as your company-also there are lot of medication for asthma available on full moon days,ashwagandha an aphrodisiac too is available provided u have the knack of diffrentiating between the original n the fraudulent one- beware of monkeys too

sachinsoni

steven...thanks for the reply, i'm doing my best in terms of working out the distances - my sister recently moved to Pondi from the UK and took our LP guide with her - im waiting for her next visit back to retrieve it!!

looking back on our trip i really dont want it to have been rushed. we want to take our time and if that means seeeing a little bit each time we visit then so be. therefore im now thinkioing of stayin in the khajuraho-chitrakoot-varansi region for the duration of our time and then head down south, leaving uttaranchal out completely.

keen on trekking and nature i wouldnt want to visit such a place and miss out due to time. im looking into orccha too as you suggested, any other suggestions for this region would be appreciated. We want to make sure also that we're not seeing more of the "same thing" each time if you know what i mean.

thanks again.