HMPS

blueline7 What a fantastic photo diary. You have left me bereft of words !

I am ver impressed that you even saw the movie Gandhi. I recommend it to all who ask me about India.

I have a complaint : I saw this just before dinner and though I have received three great meals everyday for 47 years I had to show this to the wife saying I want a thali like this . Her answer shut me up.....told me to get a note from my doctor !

Now let me ask you , all the horns you heard on the streets , did you figure out who was honking at whom ?
Did you mingle with the local people at all. Us Indians consider guests as next after God, parents, knowledge.
Yours was a seven stars trip all around. I have to go back to at least one Palace and one Taj.

If you have any Qs, do not hesitate to ask, am an expat from India.

Dr. HFH

You should have added yourself to the end of the line!!

blueline7

Many thanks grabamile for reading! Indeed, the Taj Lake Palace looks just incredible! I was not enamoured with Rambagh Palace in Jaipur however. We stopped there for lunch and found it very stuffy and old fashioned. Nothing like Taj Falaknuma.

Many thanks, mkjr! It is not a trip report to me until you read it and leave a comment! Yes, it was my first time in Delhi. We only had limited time there since we had to orchestrate not arriving at the Taj Mahal in Agra when it was closed on a friday, plus we wanted to maximize our time to 3 nights at Amanbagh. Certainly 7 nights in India was not nearly enough, and I would have loved to have spent more time in Delhi. Just arranging the 7 days with domestic travel and various hotels took a lot of time and effort, but was well worth it.


HMPS, thank you so much!! You made me laugh about the food! To us, a Thali was a perfect meal, however my father did have to have a light and cleansing breakfast every morning! We could not get over the flavours of the dishes in the Thalis, and how much food there was. Each of those thali plates was for only one person, plus we had appetizers and a main course and even a dessert!

Although traffic was chaotic, especially with a cow wandering around here and there, we never saw a single car accident! A lot of incredibly close calls, but it seems that everything was organized chaos traffic-wise. We saw many skilled drivers and as a result, they are able to squeeze far more cars onto the road than we would be able to with all of our traffic lights, lanes, and regulations. Yes, the Guest next after God was readily apparent to us everywhere we went. There is no country on earth that treats guests better in my opinion. We didn't get to mingle with Indians aside from the staff and management at our hotels, but in the case of Amanbagh, many of the staff are from the local village so we did get to spend a lot of time with them and learn something of their rich culture and noble traditions. We always enjoyed speaking with the managers and chef at Amanbagh in particular, who were very knowledgeable and even showed us their Indian-made vehicles, which were very impressive.


Hhaha! Indeed!

Bretteee

I would love to go to india and stay at these Palace hotels.

1. What vaccinations were required?
2. I understand that there is nothing much to see in Hyderabad except this fabulous hotel? Is it worthwhile going there?
3. I assume you went in March?

How was the weather.

I think it is better to organise everything before hand with an India specialist.

Thanks for a great report.

RDinJER

Many thanks Blueline for such an interesting and informative report, I can only imagine the work that has gone into so far, I've just lost 30mins reading it

By the sounds of it Jet Airways in Y is fine, I flew BOM-CCU In J in November and it's really nothing (domestically at least) to write home about.

Looking forward to the next instalments.

HMPS

I,know blueline7 will answer these Qs.
In the mean time, there are no REQUIRED vaccinations required..You can use your judgement if you read IF there is Ann outbreak of something in the region you plan to trave.
You can take malaria pills before starting out, there is a regimen of when to start and stop the weekly pill.
You can also buy almost all prescribed drugs ( except CONTROLLED cat. ) You look for not a pharmacy but ask for a Chemist - Druggist ! You can also buy a lot of such drugs as the cost generally lower than deductibles at times. Just buy a known brand and a large reputable shop.
Hydrabad has many things to see, the CharMinar, Nizam Museum ( the mentioned owner of the door stop diamond!) etc. It is also becoming another IT hub in India. Food is fabulous, though rich .

Best times for Westerners is NOV to FEB. Cooler. A little different if you are going to the North or mountains.

yes go ahead and go thru a travel specialist but you can gather much intelligence thru reading and Internet like the OP did.

I encourage you go there. It is an experience unlike any other.

Madone59

What a cool TR, thanks for sharing!

mkjr

You always have good TR's. We can chat offline as to why I don't do TR's anymore...or at least not until some things change around FT.

I really take for granted the work our teams do on the ground in India for my trips. They usually even have a local mobile for me on arrival...7 nights is totally not enough for India....i only had 6 hours of personal time in Delhi - i have a TR up on this report. not nearly as extensive on food since it was hard to take shots during my business dinners.

BTW, i am going back to Japan as long as points co-operate again next March....

roadwarrier

Wow! Many thanks. I have heard of the rail system being somewhat interesting - would love to combine a rail trip (Taj express I think), with some of those hotels.

Thank you for the wonderful photos. Look forward to the rest.

blueline7

1. For where I went, the only vaccination "required" is for gout!

2. One can easily get tired of traditional sightseeing of attractions. In Hyderabad, the sights, sounds, smells, lights, mist, etc. was the most memorable. But as pointed out, there are other attractions there.

3. We went the last week in September, and returned home on October 1, basically. Weather was PERFECT! And it was just before high season, making the rates terrific for nearly high season weather.

Yes, I was very happy with Y. Surprisingly so. I had worried myself that there would be chickens and villagers falling out of their seats, but it was very civilized more so than domestic Y in Canada or the US. The people were all very classy and friendly. And security was more thorough and more efficient than in many western countries.


And thank you for reading! My pleasure!

I actually arranged for an Indian sim card to be mailed to me in Toronto prior to my trip. Was an excellent idea as I had virtually unlimited data and calls for when I was there. I look forward to meeting you and hearing more about your trips!

I do regret not trying out the storied Indian rail system. We could have taken it from Delhi to Agra but it left very early and the highway is far more efficient these days. Also from what I read, it was not that great an experience on this particular route.

HMPS

Train journeys in India are great and fun. It is quite well organized, largest system in the world, most employees in a Govt enterprise.
There is ample food served on board if you have paid for it or will pay. That operation alone is worth watching. There are dining cars too but many may not have it. So around meal times your order will be taken, at station A it will be passed on , transmitted to station B where it will be picked up. Dirty plates will be dropped of at station C ! Food is not five star. But a thali nevertheless.

Fun is many travelers bring their own home made food. You will be offerd as a guest. This self catering happens to save money, make sure it is to their liking, clean etc.

Do look up Palace on Wheels on You Tube or Google. You have never seen anything like it. Pricey. But Royal.

There are classes with the cheapest without any seat numbers. Very cheap in USD.

DanielW

Great TR, blueline7 .

As above, definitely recommend taking the train somewhere if you go back, quite an experience, in a good way of course.

flyalways

I would advise not to accept food from fellow travelers. There have been
numerous cases of drugging you to steal your belonging. I am sure
genuine fellow travelers may be offended but you should politely
decline any packed or home-made food offerings..

F.A.

HMPS

This is true almost anywhere !
But when a family, a couple etc are eating various bread type items from the same pack or pickles too, the risk drops to nothing. Time to time there are thefts too of your luggage. just have to learn to size up the people, situation etc.......

aeroman380

One of the best trip reports on here! Though. I am not too fond of EK.

I think it is totally amazing that you took your dad on an amazing voyage. It seems he is very open to the idea of travelling around the world to off the trail places. You are lucky to have a great father and he is lucky to have you! Keep up the great report and curious about the flight and check-in from DXB to Hyperbad. Did I miss it somewhere?