Tag Archives: India Travel

10 rules for finding budget accommodation in India. All Backpackers traveling to India get acquainted with the term ‘Cheap and Best’ in the first 2 weeks of their time in India but we Indians never come across such a thing while traveling. We pay too much or at least are expected to pay too much while travelling in India. In our recent trip to spiti n kinnaur valley, we paid from INR 200 to INR 700 for rooms, and surprisingly had to bargain the most for the 700 one. In one place in Kalpa, we went in to check a room in Kalpa, receptionist showed a dirty room, and quoted 600. We exchanged looks which he understood meant NO. Before we could say anythin, another Indian couple walked in, about 10-15 yrs elder to us to whom he quoted 1400 for the same room, most hotels were booked out, so they said YES as they had to stay only a night. We left Kalpa and headed to Sangla, and 2-3 days later met two Israeli girls who came from Kalpa. They had stayed in the same room paying only 400. We had expected them to pay as much and they didn’t disappoint. Despite having been in India for only 1 week, they had mastered the act of paying the right price for a room in a remote part of Himachal Pradesh, in a land where their only way of communicating was a foreign language. Things to be remembered while traveling. 1. Even if you are travelling for a short duration, don’t splurge too much. You are creating a bad environment for the days you will travel long term. 2. It is still possible to find decent rooms in india for about 500 if you are away from the cities. 3. …

1:00 am in the night, at Patnitop 120 kms from Srinagar Don’t remember what the date was. We had spent a month zig-zagging, criss-crossing, bumping over the roads (or roads that could be paved) in Ladakh. We were returning home via the beautiful Kashmir valley. The clouds were bleeding over us. But we stopped not breaking our ‘no riding at night’ rule. We kept going like there is a tomorrow, and we must get to this place, any place outside of Kashmir before tomorrow gets here. We stop. We stop only when reach that and knock on the door of the first hotel in sight at Patni Top at 1:00 in the night.   5 hours ago at 7:45 PM, 55 kms from Srinagar on the way to Jammu The local traffic police official asked us to leave. “What are you waiting for? If you want to get out of here, then now is the time. People are all in their homes breaking their fast. Leave before they return. Tomorrow morning the stones will return to be pelted at you. God knows what will happen. Leave! Leave! God will take care of you. Khuda Hafiz.”   5 hours ago 2:45 PM, 55 kms from Srinagar on the way to Jammu Ishwinder refuses to eat anything before she gets home and sees “mumma” again. She can’t stop crying. A kind uncle who is the owner of the hotel where we were staying waiting for the curfew to be lifted tries to pacify her. We feel like we are in a movie when he offers us to bring something from the house of Hindu shop owner in case we feel eating at Muslim’s house violates our religion. Ishwinder in a gust of emotions touches his feet and tells him he is like …