I just got back from South-India and thought I would share a few impressions:
So, after all this: I really enjoyed my time in India, the food is unbelievably good, the chaos in the streets north of intolerable (if there was a competition for the Guinness Book of Records as to what percentage of the population would push down on the horn simultaneously, regardless of how congested the roads are, India would win!)
Disclaimer: I have been traveling regularly to India for the last 37 years and as such, my impressions are neither the ones of a total newbie, but still have to be taken with a grain of salt, as per usual! ;-) I am also near certain that some people will tell me that I was the only one to ever have any issues there, possible, but unlikely as many Indians confirmed to me the problem with OTPs, but, hey, who knows??
Some photos taken over the last few weeks, C&C welcome as per usual:
Palolem Beach, Goa
Palolem Cows (same beach!)
Khola Beach
Palolem Beach
Kochi Fort, Kerala
Ice cream cart, Fort Kochi
Fisherman, Fort Kochi
Auto driver, actor, Fort Kochi
Local woman, Fort Kochi. We did a longer photo shoot ;-)
Mysore Palace, Karnataka
So, like in the title: lots of chaos, but also a lot of magic! I will certainly be back ...
Deed
- On ALL (!!!) trips to India, some major and some rather minor things went pear-shaped. On my last trip, some - rather last minute - flight cancellations (not just delays!!) threw a few large spanners into the works. So, as per usual, some alternative planning needed to be done, just in case.
- In the end I took 6 lenses with me, including the never used Tamron 70-300. In hindsight, I should have taken just 3 ... Voigtländer 21/3.5, Sigma 45/2.8 and TT Artisan 75/2 would have been sufficient!
- I still get caught up in the odd fantasy version of what locals tell me, e.g. at the administrative office of the Mysore Palace I was told by 3 women working there how the palace would be lit up in the evening, what time I should come, when the "show" would start, how long it would take and when the palace would for 5 minutes be completely lit, like a gigantic firework. 6:30 was the time I was meant to be there, the show would start at 7:00 ... so I arrived at 6:35pm and was told that the palace closed at 5:30, there was no light show and ... you get the picture? I still now and again fall for those little stories of museums, that have burned down and are not open anymore, hotels that are no longer there, train tickets bought the day before only to be told that the train was out of service for at least another 6 months ;-) I typically take everything with a HUGE grain of salt, never really trust those stories, check them out myself, regardless of what the Auto (google it!) driver says ... but then, I still get caught up. Ah, well ...
- For many applications, bookings, apps and other platforms for bookings, like taxis (NO Uber/Ola in Goa!!) you need the much dreaded OTP. I have an Indian phone number, but I only ever received one OTP in total for the government run taxi service at Dabolim Airport. There is even en office for the taxis, the drivers outside, abd yet, it needs to be booked via an app, cash not allowed! After 45 minutes the staff there gave up trying to help. 2 days later I then received the OTP with a hint that the OTP would only be valid for 10 minutes ... good fun! I tried to rent cars from at least 5 different companies, but they all insisted that I needed to wait for an OTP, which, you guessed it, never came. 3 companies actually rang me on my OTP number (my phone number!) and tried to help, but after a few hours on 3 consecutive days, I gave up. Change of plan?? Sure!
- I also received some lectures about the English language when breakfast at a hotel chain wasn't available, the manager of the restaurant told me that I should have paid more attention to the fine print: it clearly stated on the menu that there were "eggs to order" where it meant that I had to order any kind of breakfast the week before: to order - the operative word!
- Shifting of blame a common occurrence, my hotel in Goa didn't take credit cards, because the credit card reader was still in transit and the courier company had failed to deliver it on time ... accidentally increased rates (in my case +9%!!) were a result of third party charging systems, that had nothing to do with the hotel in question.
- And *drumroll* another oddity I experienced in Bangalore last week: at a micro brewery, I had to order - sitting IN the restaurant, mind you - online! Sure, can be done, I believe there are now quite a few restaurants and cafés that seem to do that. However (you guessed it??) the much dreaded OTP !!!!!! Since there was some interest to actually sell me some food, they then overrode the system by giving me a manually generated OTP. But: what a song and dance??
So, after all this: I really enjoyed my time in India, the food is unbelievably good, the chaos in the streets north of intolerable (if there was a competition for the Guinness Book of Records as to what percentage of the population would push down on the horn simultaneously, regardless of how congested the roads are, India would win!)
Disclaimer: I have been traveling regularly to India for the last 37 years and as such, my impressions are neither the ones of a total newbie, but still have to be taken with a grain of salt, as per usual! ;-) I am also near certain that some people will tell me that I was the only one to ever have any issues there, possible, but unlikely as many Indians confirmed to me the problem with OTPs, but, hey, who knows??
Some photos taken over the last few weeks, C&C welcome as per usual:
Palolem Beach, Goa
Palolem Cows (same beach!)
Khola Beach
Palolem Beach
Kochi Fort, Kerala
Ice cream cart, Fort Kochi
Fisherman, Fort Kochi
Auto driver, actor, Fort Kochi
Local woman, Fort Kochi. We did a longer photo shoot ;-)
Mysore Palace, Karnataka
So, like in the title: lots of chaos, but also a lot of magic! I will certainly be back ...
Deed
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You think that's just for show and unnecessary? I paid RS 895.00/month with unlimited calls and texts, including 1.5GB/day data, that's what, US$ 9/month? I found that reasonable, but accept if this is part of the tourist-pays-10-fold, like at Mysore Palace, game?
