Random notes on India
Some random notes i scribbled down in my little paper notepad, on my trip from Bangalore to Goa, this weekend:
- Saw 10 people inside a car that could normally only hold 5;
- Took me 2 hours to drive 17Km inside Bangalore;
- Saw a movie theater that was only showing Indian movies;
- Products usually have a date of manufacture, as opposed to expiry date;
- You don’t see many foreigners on the streets (i was pretty much the only one everywhere i went);
- There are drinking water trucks distributing on the streets;
- From times to times there are cows roaming between the cars, especially on smaller roads;
- Indians are very humble and seem not to get pissed off easily (if you see the traffic here, you’ll understand why stress cannot possibly affect them);
- Highways are a place of gathering; There are people walking, you can go in reverse, get into the opposite lanes;
- People get into and out of buses while it’s still moving, usually taking the times when it’s turning or slowing down for other cars to pass;
- Our bus – at some point during the night – had to reverse in the highway, because the driver overshot the place where we were supposed to stop for a break;
- At some point there was this really thick fog (you could not see 5 meters in front of the bus), but the driver still kept going at the same (insane) speed
- The second stop was in some remote place that had nothing but a road and a farm. Peaceful;
- Food at the hotel in Goa (Marigold – Panaji) is around 3 Euro per meal; Some dishes are even cheaper (around 1.5 Euro);
- One single bed room there was around 2000 Rupees for 1 night (40 euro);
- On the way there, more hardware stores could be seen than places with food;
- In Goa is also rare to find foreigners on the streets;
- From Panaji to Calangute (beaches) is about 30 minutes by scooter;
- Aguada fort is great
- Cricket is the national sport; You can find a lot of people watching the games on TV shops’ stands;
- Domino’s pizza in Goa: found a pizza that is not spicy;
- Correction, after pouring the so-called Oregano condiments, it is a bit spicy. Turns out the “Oregano” also contained white and black pepper;
- A lot of the tourism is internal. Which makes sense, considering the size of the country;
- 60 cl of Cola = 30 rupees = 60 euro cents; 1 cent = 1 cl
- It’s very funny that there is a guard at the church door, keeping people from entering the “house of the lord” after the service has started.
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Categorised as: notes, observations
Fiquei com a ideia que nas grandes cidades o alojamento é mais caro. Eu estava num hotel equivalente a serviço de um IBIS, e paguei cerca de 80 €/noite (independente de sermos um casal). Em Portugal seria cerca de 40-50 €.
Para o pessoal mais pobre, ha sitios onde alugam beliches em quartos comuns por 10-20 €.
Em termos de Monumentos, em quantidade, Delhi é o sitio que tem mais coisas para ver.
No punjabe há o templo dourado (toda a gente diz que é lindissimo) e em jaipur o taj mahal, mas ficam muito longe para ir de carro (para ver o Taj mahal, é um dia inteiro de carro ida e volta).
A comida é muito barata, mas é dificil encontrar carne de borrego, quanto mais de vaca. Ha maior parte das pessoas é pois vegetariana.
É delhi a segurança, principalmente no Aeroporto e nos monumentos é muito apertada, havendo sentinelas espalhadas por todo lado.
Claramente tenho de lá voltar, especialmente para ver o norte. Bangalore é o Silicon Valley lá do sítio, logo é muito empresarial. Tenho curiosidade em ver sítios mais normais
As estradas são pessimas, pelo menos fora das grandes cidades e a maior parte das pessoas usa biclicletas ou tuk-tuks (scooters cobertas de 3 lugares); não vi autocarros especificamente. Em Delhi ha metro desde o ano passado, mas ainda não está concluido.
Bollywood é 90% do cinema que passa na India e cricket e o hoquei em campo são desportos nacionais. Alias, no hotel tinha um PPV de cricket (tipo sporttv de cricket).
Em Delhi ves bastantes estrangeiros. Provavelmente em Mumbai e Jaipur tambem.
Não vi camiões de distribuição de agua; tambem porque provavelmente ha supermercados, centros comerciais e fast food vegetariana por toda a parte.
Os indianos são uma mescla de culturas, castas e linguas (em delhi falam essencialmente hindi e punjabi). Achei que a maioria dos Sikhs, vivem do razoavel ao bem, existindo alguns muculmanos tambem. Ao contrario da imagem que passa no ocidente, as pessoas dao-se muito bem e os conflitos são causados por causas externas.