INDIA beckons - One big-assed river trip down the Ganges - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**freespiritz** · 10-25-2007, 09:12 AM

Soooo I decided to go with the river journey for my proposal and although I don't normally rant about trips until I'm sure they're happening, I'd love tpunk's help in making this happen (hopefully)...if it doesn't and I phail and get no money, I'd love to have some shoulders to cry on too.

How do I get started on following the Ganges from source to ocean!? I know NOTHING about India, and everything is overwhelming now that I've started reading and all these foreign and beautiful names are swimming around in my head even though they mean nothing yet. I'd love ANY advice or encouragement or suggestions on how to make this project a) sellable, b) doable and c) enjoyable, or just things about India in general, or potential safety issues on my route.

I will have 9 weeks (potentially negotiable) to make it from the source of the greatest river in India up in the Himalayans down to the Bay of Bengal, while studying the interactions of man, spirit and water on the way. I'm particularly interested in spiritually significant towns, for that reason - to see how the three aspects collide, how they are interdependent, and how they all affect one another. Here's a rough itinerary that I cobbled together.

Gangotri (point of union of the glacial streams)
Devprayag, (Bhagirathi and Alaknanda meet to form the Ganga)
Rishikesh
Haridwar (where the Ganga first enters the plains)
Bithoor
Kanpur (highest concentration of pollutants?)
Allahabad (Ganga meets with the sacred Yamuna and the mythical and now invisible Saraswati rivers)
Varanasi (one of the holiest sites on the river)
Patna (capital of Bihar)
Mayapur
Calcutta
Ganga Sagar, the island where the river empties into the Bay of Bengal.

This will hopefully be over July/August next year, and I may either be starting from Delhi (and yes I will take a side trip to see the Taj at some point

), or I am toying with ideas of going to Nepal beforehand and coming in from there. Yes I will be traveling alone, and yes I picked the summer because I have no choice although I understand it will be HOT which is why Nepal in June might be a better idea.

All thoughts, comments and suggestions are appreciated!

**Esterina** · 10-25-2007, 09:16 AM

Inspired, you are ! Sounds great !

BUT I'm asking you a quick question here, an important one : have you thought of the Moonsoon ? You need to make sure that it will be doable and safe to follow the Ganga whilst the rains are pooring at their worst ! July and August are the worst months, and floods are terrible, to my knowledge.

**freespiritz** · 10-25-2007, 09:18 AM

Yeah, I'm still working on trying to figure that one out! Well, if so, I could go in May and June and die of heat-stroke instead, although hopefully the Malaysian conditioning will help a little.

**space virgin** · 10-25-2007, 12:53 PM

Any time between October and April will be the best for this. Esther's right, you don't want to go through monsoon season-- if for no other reason than the leeches alone!

This sounds like a great trip, but one of the biggest safety concerns is Bihar. Please believe me when I say that Bihar is almost as bad as Kashmir these days, although for different reasons (mainly caste warfare) and in different ways (kidnappings, robbery, etc instead of bombings). You do NOT want to be traveling alone throughout Bihar. You WILL get into trouble. I'm not saying that you shouldn't go through there at all, just be very careful and -- I really hate to say this -- try to have at least one guy with you. Currently the rate of kidnappings in Bihar is higher than that of Colombia. http://in.news.yahoo.com/070804/43/6j0ld.html

Are you planning to take buses or trains? You'll probably be stuck with buses for the most part as I doubt the train system will be very direct.

I'm sorry I didn't get to see you when you came back to Seattle-- between my work schedule and being really icky sick, there was no way.

**freespiritz** · 10-25-2007, 09:21 PM

Hm. I've been getting mixed responses on this monsoon thing but unfortunately school gets in the way! The real question is, if you had no choice for timing but May-August, and 6000 dollars for a free trip, would you still go, and if so, which months would you go in?

After reading up on the Bihar thing (thanks Jeanie!

) I'll probably eliminate Patna and maybe take a train straight from Varanasi to Mayapur or somewhere further on, maybe Kolkata, or just have a brief stopover and not spend extended time in the region. And yes, traveling alone is usually traveling "alone" and with luck I will have a guy with me.

Buses, trains, boats, ferries, cow carts, horseback, anything. It is all good and well with me. Any tips on the Indian transportation systems (or lack of) would be lovely too!

No worries about not hanging out, Jeanie...I had a good time catching up with my old friend and meeting some new ones, and I'm sure there will be another time (and happier circumstances) for us to get together again!

**space virgin** · 10-26-2007, 12:05 AM

Well, personally I'd rather go during the monsoon season than the hot nasty mugginess leading up to it. If you're just going to be traveling near the river and not actually ON it, you should be fine-- if drenched.

One of the hardest things to deal with while traveling in India is the incessant-- and I really, really mean incessant-- pestering by touts, rickshaw drivers, rug merchants, would-be tour guides, trinket sellers, sadhus wanting to tell you your fortune and anyone and everyone in between. As long as you're prepared to want to tear your hair out you'll be fine.

**worldwidemike** · 10-30-2007, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by space virgin

One of the hardest things to deal with while traveling in India is the incessant-- and I really, really mean incessant-- pestering by touts, rickshaw drivers, rug merchants, would-be tour guides, trinket sellers, sadhus wanting to tell you your fortune and anyone and everyone in between.

Sounds like Luxor..."Hassle Capital" of Egypt!

I would have to say they were the most annoying by far part of my experience in Egypt, so I can imagine they're even worse in India, Jeanie...

Hwei...isn't there any other spiritual river you could do the journey along? And does it have to be a spiritual thing? What about the Danube and it's cruise through Eastern Europe. If it doesn't have to be spiritual, it could be a historical thing: How the towns along the Danube have changed in the last century. There has to be some historical travelogs of folks who boated along that river in the 19th century or early 20th that you could write a comparison of...

Just an idea...

worldwidemike

**freespiritz** · 10-30-2007, 05:33 PM

Well...from things I've heard, it is *doable* in the monsoon, just not ideal. Anyone can tell me how Indian monsoons compare to the South-East Asian monsoons of my home?

It's mainly to study the interactions between man and environment...so I'm interested in the Ganges (besides the fact that traveling to India seems crazy, and I seem to have this irresistible attraction to craziness

), and the fact that the Ganges is SO holy and revered and yet SO damn polluted and disgusting fascinates me - just the tensions between these elements.

Oh and I want to go to Nepal too, for other volunteer-y and hiking purposes, and they're just conveniently located next to each other.

**Esterina** · 10-30-2007, 05:50 PM

Have you tried communicating with the US embassies in Bangladesh and India to ask them advice ? Or any internet site of expats in those countries ?

I can only imagine the pictures you'd do ! Monsoon is so photogenic, and so is India !!!!!

Did you know that Steve McCurry prefers to do pictures in the rain, and even has a book named "Monsoon" ?

**noke_travel** · 10-30-2007, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by worldwidemike

Sounds like Luxor..."Hwei...isn't there any other spiritual river you could do the journey along? And does it have to be a spiritual thing? What about the Danube and it's cruise through Eastern Europe.worldwidemike

That would be too easy for Hwei!

**joe7f** · 10-30-2007, 09:03 PM

^What if she slept in a car the night before?

--Joey

**freespiritz** · 10-30-2007, 09:15 PM

lol what?

maybe I could do a project that involved sleeping under bridges on the Danube...it's on my list of things to do - sleep under a bridge, that is.

but yup, esther, I am totally excited to take photos of India if I ever get there...and I feel like the monsoon would give it a totally different feeling of life too, so it's all good to me. :D

I'm trying hard not to be too pumped about this because I DON'T KNOW if I will get the money!

**Legitikick** · 10-30-2007, 10:30 PM

I did India and Nepal in August and September, monsoon season. It rains a lot, even flooding, but then 30 mins later and it'll be bright and sunny. I wouldn't let that deter you from going. The only time it really messed up the trip was during my trek in Sikkim, the constant drizzle and most importantly the lack of views really ruined it. So I wouldn't plan on Himalayan treks. Otherwise, go for it!

Prepare yourself mentally, India's ROUGH on all your senses. It'll be a wonderful experience though. And skip Kolkata, that place is just a shithole.

**space virgin** · 10-31-2007, 02:03 AM

The only problem with monsoon season & the Mother Ganga is that her cup, and everything else, tends to overfloweth... with all of the attendant garbage coming up with it.

But hey, I'd absolutely do it if that was the ONLY time I could go.

And Hwei, check your PM's.

**freespiritz** · 10-31-2007, 09:46 AM

Garbage photos will be part of the mix then. Mmmmm! :D And thanks for the info, Jeanie, although I haven't perused at length yet!

Sounds like monsoon will be similar to what we have in Malaysia...about 3 hours of mad downpour EVERY day and sun in the mornings.

If all goes well, I'll be in Nepal in May/June, hopefully before the Himalayan drizzle kicks in!

**maracle** · 10-31-2007, 11:11 AM

When do you find out if you get the grant?

**freespiritz** · 10-31-2007, 01:19 PM

I need to submit everything before December 3rd for potential interviews (I HATE paperwork!) and should know not *too* long after, I believe...

**jengt** · 10-31-2007, 01:34 PM

Good luck with getting your grant! It sounds amazing to me.

**Sijuki** · 10-31-2007, 03:21 PM

Sounds very exciting. From some of the travels of yours I have read... I am sure you can tackle this one also. I wish you the best of luck getting your grant. In the big picture of traveling, if it were a college degree, I think of India as a 400 level class. But definitely something exciting.

**freespiritz** · 10-31-2007, 03:28 PM

oh and if anyone has budget/monetary information on India that would come in handy too.