As promised, starting a new thread here for our upcoming trip to India for four weeks, followed by two weeks in the Massif des Bauges in France -- will start a separate thread under France for that.
A little background for those who don't know us from ST. Hubby Oscar and I hail originally from India but our families have been part of the massive Indian diaspora for three generation in Oscar's case and two in my case. So going back to India is going back to our original roots. Our parents and most of their generation have passed on, but we both still have siblings there. I am going to India after a 5 year break; Oscar went back in 2015 for a quick visit to see his sick Aunt/Godmother who has since passed away. In India Oscar traces his roots to the former Portuguese colony of Goa, while my family hails from Kerala aka 'God's own Country' . Recently Rick Stein's did a series in India searching for 'The Perfect Curry' and had based himself in Kerala. (Shown on BBC World here) . Both Goa and Kerala have their seats at the 'popular tourist trail' in India now. Amongst the places our family has grown roots in their migrations are, Malaysia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Qatar before we came to roost in Fremont, CA that we now proudly call home.
Planning a trip time India is a lot more challenging then our two or three weeks stints anywhere in the rest of the world. While India may have found its seat at the global high tech table, it is still very much a developing country and fortunately retains a lot of its rural charms. We leave on Tuesday the 18th of April--Lufthansa via Frankfurt, leaving San Francisco at 3:00 pm and will reach Mumbai at 1:00 AM Thurs early morning. And then we start the challenges of maneuvering the system, which is a interesting mix of the bureaucracy left behind by the colonizers, mixed with the poverty that still remains, the affluence that comes with the new 20 percent intellect cum rich, and a government that is trying to get it out of its developing country status. As an example, whenever we leave India, we keep some Rupee currency with us to cover us when we just arrive esp since we always land in the wee hours of the morning. So we usually have a couple of Rs. 100s and Rs 500 notes with us. Last November, while we were in Australia, we read that the government had just announced the it was discontinuing the 500 and 1000 rupees, with a short window and provisions for residents to exchange old notes. So we now have only some 100 rupee notes, our 500 being worthless; by the way, 500 rupees is about $7 so it is not a huge monetary loss but we are wondering if what we have left will be enough to get to our hotel! We are told there are ATMs at the airport now so we will see. First night at the hotel and then we move to an Air B&B close to my sister's place. Oh and getting a SIM card is also not so simple though we hear that now 'foreign tourists' which is what we are now can get a transit SIM card at the airport. We also have a special status called OCI (Overseas Citizens of India) since India does not allow dual citizenships.
More as we go along.......off to pack now for India where temps will be well over 100C in various places and then the French Alps!
A little background for those who don't know us from ST. Hubby Oscar and I hail originally from India but our families have been part of the massive Indian diaspora for three generation in Oscar's case and two in my case. So going back to India is going back to our original roots. Our parents and most of their generation have passed on, but we both still have siblings there. I am going to India after a 5 year break; Oscar went back in 2015 for a quick visit to see his sick Aunt/Godmother who has since passed away. In India Oscar traces his roots to the former Portuguese colony of Goa, while my family hails from Kerala aka 'God's own Country' . Recently Rick Stein's did a series in India searching for 'The Perfect Curry' and had based himself in Kerala. (Shown on BBC World here) . Both Goa and Kerala have their seats at the 'popular tourist trail' in India now. Amongst the places our family has grown roots in their migrations are, Malaysia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Qatar before we came to roost in Fremont, CA that we now proudly call home.
Planning a trip time India is a lot more challenging then our two or three weeks stints anywhere in the rest of the world. While India may have found its seat at the global high tech table, it is still very much a developing country and fortunately retains a lot of its rural charms. We leave on Tuesday the 18th of April--Lufthansa via Frankfurt, leaving San Francisco at 3:00 pm and will reach Mumbai at 1:00 AM Thurs early morning. And then we start the challenges of maneuvering the system, which is a interesting mix of the bureaucracy left behind by the colonizers, mixed with the poverty that still remains, the affluence that comes with the new 20 percent intellect cum rich, and a government that is trying to get it out of its developing country status. As an example, whenever we leave India, we keep some Rupee currency with us to cover us when we just arrive esp since we always land in the wee hours of the morning. So we usually have a couple of Rs. 100s and Rs 500 notes with us. Last November, while we were in Australia, we read that the government had just announced the it was discontinuing the 500 and 1000 rupees, with a short window and provisions for residents to exchange old notes. So we now have only some 100 rupee notes, our 500 being worthless; by the way, 500 rupees is about $7 so it is not a huge monetary loss but we are wondering if what we have left will be enough to get to our hotel! We are told there are ATMs at the airport now so we will see. First night at the hotel and then we move to an Air B&B close to my sister's place. Oh and getting a SIM card is also not so simple though we hear that now 'foreign tourists' which is what we are now can get a transit SIM card at the airport. We also have a special status called OCI (Overseas Citizens of India) since India does not allow dual citizenships.
More as we go along.......off to pack now for India where temps will be well over 100C in various places and then the French Alps!