Tourist Information to Incredible India
When you are in India, you can experience the cultural exuberance, diversity of terrain and in search of that special something, an extra punch that only India promises and delivers. India is where people live with variety, thrive on diversity and are too familiar with largeness to let it boggle them. In a country where topography varies wildly, climatic conditions are only bound to vary wildly too. In most of India summer is hot. It begins in April and continues till the beginning of October. The heat peaks in June with temperatures in the northern plains and the west soaring above 46�° C.
India is a reasonably safe travel destination. However, political disruption is usually localised and everyone’s aware of there being potential trouble days ahead. Areas that may be avoided are Jammu & Kashmir and parts of the Northeast, which in any case have restricted tourist activity. Cases of mugging, theft and worse aren’t completely unheard of but by and large serious crimes against travelers are few. On a safer side, the advice is not to trust anybody in tourist destinations. All visitors are required to carry a passport valid at least for the next six months.
Indian currency is Rupees (Rs). Presently $1 = 47 Rs (one dollar is equivalent to forty-seven rupees. The Indian rupee is available in denominations of Re1, Rs2, Rs5, Rs10, Rs20, Rs50, Rs100, Rs500 and Rs 1000. If you are planning to stay in five star luxurious hotels, the cost of the hotel pay itself can go up to $100-$150. But if you are planning to stay in decent clean hotels with air conditioned, internet, room service etc., the cost can be maximum of $50. Lesser than this, $35 a day will see you sleep in decent clean beds and wake up to an attached bathroom for morning ablutions. It’ll fetch you three decent meals, a spot of shopping and some auto-rickshaw rides. This estimate has been made keeping in mind urban India. Rates and prices vary from region to region. In the south it is easy to find great mid-range accommodation at low range prices even in the cities. Mumbai (Bombay), Bangalore and Delhi are quite expensive compared to other cities in India. The dollar goes a long way in India (the pound sterling and Euro even longer). Make sure you bring enough for souvenirs though. There is variety of items in every part of India which is hard to find elsewhere. The same items if you need to pay in a store in your homeland, it will be costing 5 times higher price. If you have craze for buying sandalwood items, wall hangings, antique pieces, designer embroider cloths to just name a few are available in small shops in urban cities and in recognized government stores .
Changing money in India can be a tedious process so change substantial amounts at a time. Not all banks accept travelers’ cheques or currency other than dollars or pound sterling and if you find one that services your needs take advantage of it. Moneychangers are open 24 hours at the airports (but these are invariably far from town) and in hotels. International foreign exchange providers have several branches in the larger cities. Smaller towns however, are likely to only have minor banks. Save up all exchange receipts (encashment certificates); these are required for visa extensions and other formalities, and when you want to convert rupees at the end of your trip. Government banking hours usually are 10 AM to 2 PM Monday to Friday and 10 AM to 12-noon on Saturdays. Private Banks operate more number of hours say up to 4 pm for visitor transactions. Bank holidays vary from region to region. Major festivals are holidays though it is unlikely that a bank will be closed for longer than 2 days in a row. Major international credit cards are widely accepted in the cities.
The major risks to your health from the armies of mosquitoes are malaria, encephalitis, kala azar and dengue. Cover your arms and legs; be liberal with the repellent and in problem areas sleep under a mosquito net. Slightly more serious is the risk of contacting AIDS, Hepatitis B and other sexually transmitted diseases if you are not having safe sex practice. Also carry sunscreen with minimum SPF 20 to escape sunburn.
The quality of health services is not consistent. Urban centers, particularly metros, have good hospitals, well stocked late night/all night chemists, highly competent doctors and top of the line medical services. Conversely, rural and semi-rural areas have very limited facilities. Stick to the larger cities if you are anticipating trouble. Medicines are fairly cheap in India. Though chemist shops in the cities are well stocked, it is always a good idea to take along prescription drugs.
220volts/ 50 hertz is the frequency at which electricity is available. Power cuts and ‘load shedding’ is a regular feature all over India. Another reason for visiting in the colder months would be that not only do power cuts become fewer but you’ll also feel the pain of them less! If your electric razor has flat-pin plug then carry a combination plug that will feed into a round-pin socket: across the sub continent plug point sockets are round rather than flat. “Cyber cafes” are an increasingly common fixture in India’s urban landscape, in major cities and even in smaller towns. At a fixed rate that varies from city to city, locality-to-locality, you can check your mail and surf the net. Most of the airports have the facilities of wireless networking. In every busy market all over India, you can come across telephone booths. So there is no problem with calling to your home country. Now mobiles with many features and calling cards have added to the system to make things easier to call from any part of India.
India uses the metric system where 100cm=1meter; 1000meters=1 kilometer, liquids are measured in liters and solids in kilograms.
No matter where you are in India it is never going to be difficult to find an English language newspaper. Many different newspaper and magazines are present. Least but not the last, cable TV either in hotel or residence with the connection can easily see 115 channels. Even you can watch BBC, CNN, AXN and many more American and European entertainment channels. Even small town in India has a skyline that blooms with electronic blossoms of dish antennas and these are only going to proliferate further.
Major metro cities offer a great variety of dining out options to the visitor. Apart from specialty and multi-cuisine restaurants in all major deluxe and standard hotels, the cities has no dearth of independent eateries which range from drive-in restaurants, fast foods, and more traditional restaurants offering thalis.
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