north india travelling, recomendations?

idanp

hello there. my name is Idan, i'm from
Israel, 22 years old, travelling to India for the first time, did most of my travelling in Israel so far.
im arriving to mumbay at 26.6, and planning to arrive to leh
on the bus from manali to leh, since i heard how beautiful the road is. (although not for the faint of hearted, which im not)
gonna start my journey there, travelling the ladakh and himachal pradesh areas, for 4 months. I'm intrested in both trekking & rafting, cultural centers, meditation centers, other interesting courses, and beautiful villages.
my budget is about 500$ a month, flexible.
could you give me general recomendations and tips, about your favourite trekks, favourite places, your own must see things in these areas????
* Where is the best place to learn & practise meditation ? (daramsala?)
* cooking courses??
* most beautiful trekks??
* best raftings (most beautiful? most challnging?)
* villages
* others?

i realize that asked about 14 quetions in this meassage,
and will really appreciate your detailed response, thanks!

singsub

shalom and welcome to IM.

i am afraid you have to be a bit more specific about some of your questions. also the answers to some questions may fall outside your intended area of travel (for eg some of the best white water rafting you can do in india is in sikkim - where you are not going. similarly to see a typical indian village, ladakh isnt probably the right place). your budget is fine. best place to learn meditation.... probably varanasi, again outside your trip plan. dont forget to pitch camp in a place called kasol in himachacl pradesh. israelis outnumber locals there and most of the signboards are in hebrew, many eateries serve israeli food.

idanp

that ironicly, a lot of israelis is generally not considered
a good thing by some israelis, like myself.
first of all thanks for the reply.
im very flexible about my itinerary, and although i forgot to mention, i am planning to arrive to varanasi.
as to specific areas to travel, i dont think i'll get northen
than ladakh, southen than delhi western than delhi, and easten than varansi.
afet all, 4 months is absolutly not enough to see all india.
but again, if there is a place within these boundaries
that you think i should see, i'll appreciate any tip.
10X

singsub

hmmm tough question. what sort of places do you want to see. now that you have thrown varanasi in the mix, it adds a lot of options. would you like places like mathura - a temple town?? agra?? how about khajuraho and orcha?? none of these are "hill stations" btw. there are about 20 popular hill stations between ladakh and nainital. i particularly recommend mcleodganj, manali and mussourie. oh and you may find it difficult to avoid israelis in some of these places.

idanp

mm... what about treks? there are so many, i'd like
some recomendations about better ones

idanp

btw, would you recommend flighing to leh?
Is the manali-leh bus too exhausing to ride twice?

Penultimate Buddha

When in Leh, do not miss the magnetic mountain..its amazingly wierd lol.
Some place to visit in India
Delhi for historical monuments, handicrafts
Rajasthan for forts and palaces, fabrics, handicrafts
Agra for ofcourse the TAj Mahal
Leh and the surroundings for mountain travel
Rishikesh for white water rafting
Himachal/ Utranchal for mountain treks and hill stations
Varanasi, badrinath for spiritualism/ meditation
Goa for beaches
Kanah, Bandhavgarh, Ranthambore, Corbett, Bharatpur for wildlife
Kerela for back waters and ancient spa treatments
the list is endless...it really depends on what you want to see.
Please do not take this list as exhaustive as there are a lot of places apart from the ones i mentioned for each area of interest and the ones mentioned might/ might not be the best.

idanp

what about a tent?
will i need a tent in most treks, or most treks
have resting places at night?
and if so, should i bring a tent with me or just rent?
i of course prefer renting if the price is good. is it?

Ishai

hi Idan, how are you ?

my name is Ishai and I am from Kiryat Ono...

it seems like we have the same state of mind regarding the type of trip we want, I too want to avoid (at least some of the time) the "Israeliyada". I also want to trek some.

so, I will be arriving in delhi on tne 29th of june. my flight from israel takes off on the 28th. if you want to contact me while we are both still in israel, my phone number is 052-2538171.

cheers and happy trails,

Ishai

idanp

busy as hell today,
but definately expect my call in few days.