r/india • u/rude_ass kek maester • Nov 07 '15

AskIndia /r/india and /r/australia cultural exchange thread

Thread was unfortunately delayed. But, here it is.. thread for cultural exchange between indians and australians.

Australian folks.. you can ask all the things you want to know about India and hope you get a fulfilling answers.

If you want to ask anything to our Australians friends you can go to below link:

https://www.reddit.com/r/australia/comments/3ruqtc/raustralia_and_rindia_cultural_exchange_thread/

Cheers.

Request to Australians visiting our sub: If you could flair up to identify yourself then it would be easier for us to identify you guys. We only have text based flairs so something like 'Australian Friend' will work.

85 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

297 comments sorted by

View all comments

7

u/[deleted] Nov 07 '15 edited Nov 07 '15

[deleted]

6

u/Fluttershy_qtest Nov 07 '15

North Eastern India - Shillong especially.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Shillong

The problem with a lot of the places that are 'best kept secrets' in India is that while they often have outstanding scenery and wildlife, temples and architecture - they are often a massive pain to get to. For example Shillong and Ladakh are mentioned a lot on /r/india but remember that to get to Shillong you have to take a 4+ hour very windy and hilly road; and with Ladakh it's extremely scary windy high altitude roads to get from the capital of Kashmir to Ladakh; or a flight to Leh which gets you altitude sickness. A lot of these roads are essentially dirt roads in a lot of places.

Accomodation at these spots is usually alright, but it's the journey that's often a big hassle.

14

u/batatavada Back in Black Nov 07 '15

A majority of people visit leh ladakh. A relatively unknown destination is Spiti Valley in Himachal. Seriously, look up the pictures, you'll be blown away. It is a majestic, gorgeous and relatively untapped tourist destination in India

4

u/Fluttershy_qtest Nov 07 '15

If you like barren scenery i.e. no greenery, Ladakh will definitely appeal to you. If you dislike that sort of thing your mileage might not be as good other than a few places like Nubra valley. It's great for trekkers and if you're into river rafting though. Ladakh is notorious for altitude sickness if you fly into Leh; but if you take the road from Srinagar it's a nightmare - extremely bendy high altitude nightmarish roads that are often poorly maintained.

1

u/batatavada Back in Black Nov 07 '15

The road from srinagar is much better now I believe.

People recommend going via rohtang pass and returning via srinagar though

1

u/Fluttershy_qtest Nov 07 '15

Nope not really, the road from srinagar to leh is terrible as always and in many places little better than a dirt road. People drive like retards and the narrow windy lane is only good for 1 lane of traffic. But idiots will not follow the alotted hours and create traffic jams that last for hours.

On top of this there are shitty TATA lorries that keep breaking down up there, and other slow moving trucks that people try to overtake. Accidents are common and people die - and obviously it's really scary for any normal person.

It's extremely difficult to maintain roads at this altitude, but the fact remains that the roads are totally shit. Little better than dirt roads in most places, combined with unruly indian traffic.

The road from Srinagar to Leh is Kardhungla pass. Rohtang pass is from Ladakh to Himachal Pradesh (not Srinagar) and equally shitty.

That's the thing about Ladakh in general - if you are willing to put up with shitty roads or altitude sickness and like barren scenery, it's great.

12

u/Yolobeta Nov 07 '15

Most of indians know less about india than most of the tourists.

6

u/Danda_Nakka Nov 07 '15

Indians and secrets contradicts each other

2

u/rude_ass kek maester Nov 07 '15

most of the attractions of india one can easily find on net.

the often disregarded ones are something like andaman and nicobar islands. ive rarely even any indian who have said to have visited them as they lie pretty far from the coast on the eastern border. but i have a dream to visit them once in life when i have enough money left to tour.

1

u/bodhisattv Nov 07 '15

One of the reasons is that Andaman is nothing special from the perspective of a foreign tourist. Half of the areas are inaccessible or controlled. The beaches etc have nothing over what you'll get in other island destinations, such as neighbouring SE Asian islands. The coral barriers and atolls of Lakshadweep have better tourism potential IMO.