"Tampa_Shawn in India" a India Travel Page by tampa_shawn

Yes it is true….India is dirty, smelly, noisy, polluted and crowded. Cows and their droppings are everywhere. The poverty is unprecedented. You’ll be continually pestered by beggars and touts. No matter how worldly and well traveled you are, you will be scammed. India has hands down more scams then any other place I’ve ever been.

Even the revered Lonely Planet, the bible of the hard core traveler warns people of the hardships to expect when traveling in India, saying that India is a country you will love and hate in the same day.

With this all this said, India is well worth visiting. In fact, it is the most fascinating country I’ve every visited. It’s colorful, exciting and totally addictive.

India is unique. There is no other country like it. It stands alone and in spite of everything I absolutely loved being there. I will go again and soon.

Hopefully in these pages I’ll be able to share with you the magic that is India…
and share some of the tricks and advice that will make your trip to India immeasurably easier.

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Pictured above....Me standing beside an oversized pile of cow dung paddies.

I’m 5’9’’ so this was one big pile of cow dung!

This is my favorite picture of me in India. I was coming back from a wedding I was invited to in a remote community, not knowing how long rural Indian weddings take (5 + days)

I hadn’t packed a bag and spent several days living and sleeping in my Salwar Kameez (the bright yellow Indian outfit I am wearing).

The rural area stacked their cow dung paddies into these huge pyramids for storage.

Cow dung paddies are used for fuel which is a very good thing given the number of cows walking around the country.

The Hindu religion is fascinating and since it is a very large part of Indian culture it’s a good idea to learn about the religion. I picked up several books and videos from my library here in the US of A and found them VERY hard to get through. However, once I got to India I was able to find a variety of paperback books on the religion that were quite fun to read. They were pretty economical there too.

Buying and reading books on the Hindu religion in India has an added bonus since when you open them up at night it really explains what you saw and either didn’t notice or didn’t understand during the day.

I had a hard time finding a good primer of the various Gods in India so if you find a paperback primer on Hindu Gods in the US I would recommend buying it. It will be quite helpful once you get to India. I had some trouble keeping the Gods and their stories straight and some previous understanding will immeasurably add to your enjoyment.

The people of India are the real gem - especially the women. The women in women are absolutely amazing so warm, so strong, so wonderful.

They have a strength and a sense of peace that few women have. My theory is that the strength comes from the conditions and the role of women in India and the peace comes from the all encompassing Hindu religion that affects every part of the culture and their lives. Amazing, just amazing.

If you are a woman like me who often travels alone - if you ever need anything just seek out another women for advise and help.