08.08.96 - 31.08.96 Gorakhpur-Lucknow-Delhi 920 Km 18.11.96 - 14.04.97 Delhi-Calcutta-Nagpur-Jaisalmer-Delhi-Chandigarrh 5900 Km Visa
You can get a six month visa. It counts from the date of issue, not from the date of entry. The bordercrossing from Nepal is easy the one to Pakistan very complicated.
Money
1 U$ = 35 Rupees. You can't get U$ in India, you only get rupees. You can use creditcards but outside the big cities it can be very complicated, stock up with many in the cities.
Roads
Not too good. Big roads are large and generally o.k. Small roads are really small, just one lane.
Traffic
A lot of trucks. If they see a cyclist they horn and expect him to leave the road. If you want to be on the safe side that's what you have to do.
Accomodation
Camping is almost impossible. Even in Rajasthan there are too many people around. There are basically three possibilities: Hotels, but there aren't hotels everywhere, Government Guest houses, it depends on the state in some there are many and they take you easily, in others it's more difficult and finally on big roads you usually can sleep for free in the roadside restaurants.
Food
I think everybody knows indian food. The problem is that it's usually much spicier than we know it. The indian sweets are quit good. Usually it's no problem to find bottled soft drinks.
People
The Indians are very curious, so each time I stopped in a village, immedately there were 20 or more people around me. The maximum was 120 people. After a while it get's a bit too much. From Calcutta we were 3, one of us a girl. She had some problems. People trying to come in her room at night and so on. So my impressions weren't the best.
Language
English is enough.
Prices
Exept for the hotels everything is very cheap. Outside the tourist centers usually there was no need for bargaining.
Bicycle parts
There are a lot of bicycles in India as well, but again it's hard to find something useful.
Dangers
Once again the traffic.
28.2.98/chs - pictures by Christoph Sauser
