I took the plunge...

luminous_universe

After weeks of "stalking" IM and reading post after post till my eyes hurt, I decided to actually join up and make a post of my own
I'm headed out of the US and into India for the first time in September and I couldn't be more excited/apprehensive. I have 5 weeks to spend in the country and after short stay in Delhi (where our flight comes in) we plan on heading north to Himichal Pradesh and Kashmir, then back down to Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, hopefully making it as far as Bihar before looping back around to Delhi. Nothing is set in stone of course, I'm planning on just letting the India experience take me wherever it takes me... I do have one hotel booked up for our stay in Delhi. Hoping to avoid some noise and pollution, I have chosen Wongdhen House in Majnu-ka-Tilla.
Anyway, this is long enough for my first post, but any advise on my excursion would be appreciated. Thanks

mazha

Bihar?

Ignite

hello luminous, welcome to India Mike, and good luck with your travels!

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luminous_universe

Yes, Bihar... Do you know something I do not? I thought Bihar (and Jharkhand) was the state to the east of Uttar Pradesh. The Mahabodhi Temple and Nalanda ruins are in Bihar, unless I am mistaken.

dzibead

The problem is that Bihar currently has the reputation of being sort of the armpit of India, and actually dangerous to travel in (because of bandits!). I recall hearing a joke along the line of: a guy in hell is making phone calls to various relatives in different places all over India - Delhi, Chennai, etc - and he's getting big long-distance charges on his bill. But when he makes a call to someplace in Bihar, the bill is really small, and when he asks why, the devil explains that in Hell, a call to Bihar is considered a local call.

batistuta

Good one, Dzi.

Skarzan

Welcome. It sounds like you've got the right idea. As for Bihar, perhaps there is some good reason you hoped to get there? As far as I'm concerned, if one wants to go somewhere because they've heard something interesting, then going to experience it is living the way the deity expected! It could be a sky, a temple, a village, a storyteller, a shop, a restaurant, a park, a river, a whatever. Hearing enough to make me want to go has driven every trip I've ever made. KEEP ON TRUCK'N

luminous_universe

Well, this thread has made me re-contemplate Bihar. I realized that the only reason I was really going there was to stop and see the temple in Bodhgaya on my way towards Darjeeling. However, I don't think I'll make it to Darjeeling as I have found too much I want to experience in the other states I am visiting first. Plus that's just a long journey to take by road...

wonderwomanusa

So long as you take your street smarts with you, it's not such a problem to travel to Bodh Gaya. Please use the search box and look up this area and then decide if you want to go.

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capt_mahajan

Welcome to indiamike

Agree with wonderwomanusa, don't knock off somewhere you want to go just because it is in Bihar.

dzibead

Consider going by train. Doing a long train journey is a classic Indian travel experience anyway and really shouldn't be missed. So if you want to go to Bodh Gaya, I think that would be the preferable way to travel. The railway station is at Gaya, and Bodh is obviously only a short distance away. (And for that matter, I think there's an airport at Gaya, too (?), so you might check out possible connecting cities and airfares from some other places you plan to go anyway, if air travel fits in your budget.)

If you're going to be in Varanasi (it sounds as if you might be interested in Buddhism and Sarnath near Varanasi is an important site), then there are lots of trains between Varanasi and Gaya, the trip takes only about 4 or 5 hours depending on the train, and the fares are about 500 rupees or less. You can get a train either from Varanasi Junction or Mughal Sarai, which is only about 15 km from the main part of Varanasi. This would be an easy trip to do by train. Here's the Indian Railways website. You can look up "trains between important stations" to check various schedules. http://www.indianrail.gov.in/

Scandojazzbuff

Dzi, Bandits have feelings, too! And, if you need work, the pay is not bad, sometimes.

Can't imagine Bodh Gaya being too dangerous to visit. I know further into the villages, there has been a lot of problems not only with bandits but the dreaded Communists (naxalites?) Sounds like a disease or one of the lost tribes of Israel.

dzibead

or a geological formation ... drifting OT ...

wonderwomanusa

The warning I recall for travelling to Bodh Gaya would be to NOY take a ricksha from Gaya in the dark, so a train that arrives in Gaya around mid-day would be preferable. You'll have plenty of time to get to Bodh Gaya before nightfall.

luminous_universe

Thanks everyone for the welcome and the advise. I was already planning on taking the train as much as possible, so I'm definitely going to look into taking it to Bihar (if I make it that far). 5 weeks just isn't enough to see what I want to see! I guess that's why people who love India keep going back...