NoWindowSeat

Recondite

I wasn't saying that you can't hate India. You're at liberty to hate anywhere.

Just think it is incredibly state "If the capital of Sri Lanka doesn't count as part of India".

NoWindowSeat

intuition

Can't speak how others feels, but I don't feel there is such a sentiment here.

As for the visaless bandits trip, it was one of those running jokes that comes from putting too many silly boys together.
If you sneak out of the house for a quick party, you want to be able to sneak back in in decent shape. And so we started to obsess about getting a stomach bug. In itself a silly prejudice not worthy of repeating, but without it the drinkable salads wouldn't have come to be. And the brilliant "true taste of india" would have been a unfathomable comment about a waterbottle.


I think most of us here do not base our travels on GDP or other statistics, but on how we feel visiting. Some places rubs you the wrong way. Sometimes you know exactly why and sometimes you don't. My place of hate is Bali, so clearly not to do with food/water/pollution/safety.

My worst sick all times is from McDonalds CAN airport and if I was forced to return I'd bring a flame thrower to sanatize it. Just thinking about it makes me want to take Loperamid tablets.

Trav1970

I’ve never had stomach issues in the more suspicious places, probably because I’m always a little more careful when I’m in such places. To the contrary I’ve got sick from food a fe times in “clean” Western countries.

WilcoRoger

Staying long n Burma? I'm up there just before CNY

intuition

Don't you just hate when that happens?!

We all need work that pays well but has great leniency towards us not being there on a monday and accepting "long lunches", ie you can leave by noon and spend the afternoon on a plane!

One trick to deal with this specific situation is to try to postpone the last leg a few days, using the multi-segment booking. Sometimes it is easier to fit in the last flight say coming thursday and do a quick outing to STO or whatever later in the week.



Sometimes a plausible explanation is better than the truth (Sure, OH-LGG would have spent 30 minutes explaining in detail) The escort explanation seems a good one!



Re-reading the report, it is striking (and nice) to hear DEL is very much the same. Some improvement with Boarding passes and transfer screening, but pretty much business as usual.

One thing people should be aware of is that 4h turn-araound is quite risky if you are sleepy. Especially if camping out in 58Ö on the outbound, you hit the lounge just as your body is very insistent it needs some beuty sleep. I did one DEL rotation on my own (coincidentally my first longhaul Y flight, with chatty person next to me - a story in itself) and got no sleep. The lounge hours were the absolute graveyard shift.

ffay005

Thanks for your kind comments everyone! I’m glad so many of you have read my long post and even ejoyed it!

Napapiiri, I strongly recommend a DEL MR if you are short of points.

A very justified question. For me, it’s just India. I’ve only been to Delhi, and only once, some 13 years ago. During a 4-day trip, I got the worst stomach problems I’ve experienced so far, and they lasted days on end even when I was back home. I also got acute laryngitis and completely lost my voice, which has never happened to me before that, or after. I got doctor’s orders not to say a single word for two weeks. I blame the yellow air of Delhi for that. And those rats the size of cats running aroung Connaught Place… When I got home, I threw my otherwise perfectly fine shoes away because they were just so filthy. It sure was an experience, nevertheless, and one that I wouldn’t change for anything else. The masochist in me has even thought about going back for maybe only two nights, staying at a good five-star hotel and eating only local food (as opposed to the one Western place I was stupid enough to visit back in 2005) just to see how it would work out. But so far, the masochist has been silenced.

I’ve travelled to many developing countries on all continents, the poorest of which are probably the handful of West African nations I’ve visited in the last 18 years. Sometimes I’ve had minor stomach problems in countries like Nicaragua or Algeria, even in Miami (!), but oftentimes not and not once in Black Africa. And I have eaten varied meals there, not just chicken yassa day in, day out. While Dakar or Accra surely aren’t the cleanest places on earth, for example, they came nowhere close to the filthiness of Delhi.

Make sure to visit Shwedagon Paya! When I saw the pictures, I thought I was reading a comic. You know, one of those adventures where Uncle $crooge goes treasure hunting to the other side of the world. I just had to see it IRL, so I actually made a daytrip from BKK to RGN just for that. RGN was interesting otherwise, as well.

Care to share any of your friend’s stories on India?

I can understand your frustration, especially if you come from Sri Lanka yourself, but that’s just how people from far away tend to view things. Being a Finn, I do feel a bit annoyed when people mix my country with Sweden and Norway, stating things like ”Oh, you’re from Finland, that’s close to Oslo, right? I really loved Oslo…” but I’m trying not to be too bothered. For me, Sri Lanka is very much India at least demographically, as is Pakistan and Bangladesh, too, and I was not at all thrilled when a friend of mine told me they were going to Sri Lanka for a two-week holiday with their son who was six months old at the time. I told him he’s absolutely insane to do it, but marvelously, they all survived…

And yes, those generalisations can go wrong, too. Many years ago, I was to fly HEL-BUD-TUN with a quick transfer at BUD. Turned out that Tunisair had changed their schedule and I found myself at BUD with some 8 hours at hand. Went to the city, found the people unfriendly, the food not too good and the city dirty and unwelcoming. For years, I ignored all positive comments about PRG, reasoning that it would have to be more or less like BUD, so no reason to go there, until one of those Crazy Days campaign fares finally made me give PRG a try. And how wrong I had been all those years! One of the most beautiful cities in Europe, with friendly people who speak good English, and good food, too!

I've found my long lost brother! I wouldn't go as far as to say I hate Bali, but I didn't experience anything special there, didn't particularly like anything there and was completely underwhelmed by the place. One of those average third world resorts where everyone and their mother tries to sell you something, trick you into something or just bother you for the sake of being white. But I suppose we’re both wrong, after all, isn’t everyone supposed to love Bali?

oliver2002

I lived 20 years of my life in India but the worst stomach bug in my life so far (with 5 KG weight loss) was passed onto me by my niece who got in her sthlm day care.

Horrid comments on India here. Sad to read them. One assumes well travelled people know how to adjust to different places.

intuition

Peace, brother!

Yes, everyone is supposed to love Bali. The carefree life-style, the climate, the diving, the lawns trimmed with nail scissors... What's not to love?
The genuine dis-honesty I met was the reason I put Bali on the black-list.

NoWindowSeat

Huh, scary how similar feelings with you and ffay005 😁..albeit only been to Bali twice, I feel the same...many friends and colleagues often ask me about different places and always when they ask Bali and I say my opinion they look me like am crazy...everyone is suppose to like it, yes...and I have been and stayed around the island, not only Kuta/Nusa Dua..really nothing special for the hype that goes on..

CeruleanBlue

Well I love Bali. It is a personal happy place for me. I love it that I can jump into any car or on the back of any local man’s motorbike and know they will bring me home safely when I am alone, and for the price we agreed. I love the philosophy of the people there: seeking harmony in everything. Obviously I love the yoga and diving and healthy food aspects, too. And I’ve usually found cozy beach huts and reed cottages overlooking rice paddies for 20-40 eur a night which is not bad. No trimmed lawns and Kuta for me, and I don’t need 5-star hotels when I am on holiday, at least not longer than for one night, to get scrubbed up. I spent one night in Seminyak and all I could think of was ”get me out of here!”.

I agree that some places resonate with our character and others do not. But I would never go as far as to say I hate a place or the people there. There’s always something to like, everywhere. And I don't have the energy to hate anything.

intuition

I agree with the sentiment of your post and don't want to steer this off topic, but I just can't help after reading:
I can safely say that no Bali driver has ever taken me to the correct destination and never at the agreed price.

There is always several intermediate stops at a craft shop, a musical/dance performence and/or a brothel.
Most of the time there is also an intermediate stop in no-mans-land in order to "re-negotiate" the price (ie blackmail). If there is a bag in the trunk, it takes some 10 000 to open the hatch.

No balineese I've ever met has stuck to the agreement.

I am glad it works for others, but clearly for me this is a no go.

juhanh

Reading this thread (before the "what country I hate the most discussion") and the original "Delhi-deli" made me think: "Hmm... that looks like a fun thing to do during a weekend, should look into it next time I am in Europe". That, in turn, made me think: "Crap I am screwed ".

AJLondon

Agree entirely. Very disappointing to read.