India / Thailand travel planning
Comments
-
wishuponastar wrote: »Thanks for the suggestions and for checking the flights. If you have been, how did you travel between the places in India? Did you train or fly or were short journeys 'tuk tuks'? How did you find costs for travelling whilst there?
It all depends on the distance involved. Train journeys are okay for a few hours (eg Agra to Delhi) and it's very cheap. If you do get trains then I found it more interesting to sit in third class with the locals. First class is bland. You wouldn't want to do Mumbai to Delhi though as that would probably take a day and flying is pretty cheap nowadays.
When I was last in India, for example, I had the choice of an 8 hour train or a flight of less than an hour to get from Kolkata to Bagdogra. I can't remember the price of the flight but we thought that the time saved made it worthwhile. Bearing in mind we then needed to get a jeep for a few hours to get us to Darjeeling it really was a no-brainer.
The places that I mentioned previously are all great but simply suggestions. There are so many interesting places which are all a bit different. Sikkim state, for instance, has locals that look more Nepalese, Bhutanese or Chinese than Indian.
I haven't been any further south than Mysore (fantastic when they light the palace once a week) so can't offer any suggestions there. I think that my next Indian trip could well be to the south. I've long since wanted to visit Pondicherry.
Tuk-tuks are generally called rickshaws (or Ricky's) in India and are fine for journeys across town. There are different designs depending on the state but they're all quite noisy. Some places have cycle rickshaws and in Kolkata they even have some that are pulled by the driver.
Overall, travel costs aren't a worry. You constantly need to haggle with rickshaw drivers and taxis (something that I get fed up with after a short while I'm afraid). I didn't get a single ricky on my last trip and I can't remember back to the previous one but I'd guess that a 30 minute journey would cost perhaps R60-100. Sorry for the wide variance but it's been quite a few years.
Although I haven't used it, Delhi now has an underground system. I did use one in Kolkata and it was a few pence per journey.I hate verisimilitude.0 -
Further to the Air Asia comment above, Thai Air Asia offer direct flights from India to Bangkok (DMK).
Jet Airways and Air India would do you flights to Bangkok (BKK) from Heathrow via one of their bases in Delhi or Mumbai. Book it with a long stopover to do your time in India.0 -
India uses the 3 round pin electrical socket and plug that the UK ditched many moons ago - easy to find an adaptor online.
No idea about Thailand.0 -
Thailand power sockets are two-pin flat/round combo, so European or American plugs will fit. An adaptor for UK plug cost me Bt20/46p yesterday.Evolution, not revolution0
-
The Thai equivalent of Poundland ?0
-
PompeyPete wrote: »You really need to decide on what parts of the country you want to visit first.
My favourite area is Kanchanaburi Province, which only a couple of hours from Bangkok by train, and is an easy place to visit without having to think about joining a tour. Here's a good link about that area, and what places there are to see...
https://www.seat61.com/Bridge-on-the-River-Kwai.htm
That link has just about everything you need to know. But if it tickles your fancy I can pull up a couple of my trip reports.
My other favourite are Nong Khai, which is a provincial border town in Isaan in the North East......easy to reach by overnight train. Nong Khai is sat right on the Mekong River on the Border into Laos. It's often overlooked by people rushing around on their quest of box ticking. Alovely inexpensive place to stay and chill is The Mutmee Guest House...
http://www.mutmee.com/
You're spoilt for choice really, it all depends where you fancy going. There's plenty of all threads you can search through.
Thank you for the advice and info, yes definitely spoilt for choice and lots of things to choose from.
I think what might be best is to do Thailand and India in separate trips. As some have correctly said (and I agree) 4 weeks wouldn't really be enough time to do both as well as possibly Malaysia. So i'll still be researching the information and planning both now and then decide on which order later.0 -
Voyager2002 wrote: »India is vast, so a journey between nearby attractions could easily take eight hours or more -- too long to sit in an auto (what Indians call a tuk-tuk). Train is the obvious: most long journeys will be overnight in a sleeping car, saving the cost of a hotel and also meaning that travel time does not come out of your holiday. The downside is that the process of getting hold of a ticket (more precisely, a reservation for a bed) is complicated and time-consuming. Air tickets for domestic flights are easy to buy, and cost about as much as a first-class train ticket, in other words not enough money to be worth worrying about. There are also long-distance buses, some of which are air-conditioned and arranged for sleeping. Again, getting a ticket is easy, but I have never tried them.
Thanks for the mentioning about the car thing, I didn't realise that was an option, I thought I was just limited to trains, planes or buses for longer journeys.0 -
It all depends on the distance involved. Train journeys are okay for a few hours (eg Agra to Delhi) and it's very cheap. If you do get trains then I found it more interesting to sit in third class with the locals. First class is bland. You wouldn't want to do Mumbai to Delhi though as that would probably take a day and flying is pretty cheap nowadays.
When I was last in India, for example, I had the choice of an 8 hour train or a flight of less than an hour to get from Kolkata to Bagdogra. I can't remember the price of the flight but we thought that the time saved made it worthwhile. Bearing in mind we then needed to get a jeep for a few hours to get us to Darjeeling it really was a no-brainer.
The places that I mentioned previously are all great but simply suggestions. There are so many interesting places which are all a bit different. Sikkim state, for instance, has locals that look more Nepalese, Bhutanese or Chinese than Indian.
I haven't been any further south than Mysore (fantastic when they light the palace once a week) so can't offer any suggestions there. I think that my next Indian trip could well be to the south. I've long since wanted to visit Pondicherry.
Tuk-tuks are generally called rickshaws (or Ricky's) in India and are fine for journeys across town. There are different designs depending on the state but they're all quite noisy. Some places have cycle rickshaws and in Kolkata they even have some that are pulled by the driver.
Overall, travel costs aren't a worry. You constantly need to haggle with rickshaw drivers and taxis (something that I get fed up with after a short while I'm afraid). I didn't get a single ricky on my last trip and I can't remember back to the previous one but I'd guess that a 30 minute journey would cost perhaps R60-100. Sorry for the wide variance but it's been quite a few years.
Although I haven't used it, Delhi now has an underground system. I did use one in Kolkata and it was a few pence per journey.
Lots of places and things to choose from. I agree with you I'd also choose a less than an hour flight over a day travelling on a train or bus etc.
Thank you for all the good tips.0 -
Further to the Air Asia comment above, Thai Air Asia offer direct flights from India to Bangkok (DMK).
Jet Airways and Air India would do you flights to Bangkok (BKK) from Heathrow via one of their bases in Delhi or Mumbai. Book it with a long stopover to do your time in India.
Thanks for the tip, I didn't know that or even think to do anything along those lines so it's good advice. I'll check it out.0 -
wishuponastar wrote: »Thanks for the mentioning about the car thing, I didn't realise that was an option, I thought I was just limited to trains, planes or buses for longer journeys.
Well, I mentioned a sleeping car which is a carriage on a train that has beds. Of course, it is always possible (and affordable) to hire a car and driver.0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 343.2K Banking & Borrowing
- 250.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 449.7K Spending & Discounts
- 235.2K Work, Benefits & Business
- 608K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 173K Life & Family
- 247.9K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 15.9K Discuss & Feedback
- 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards