Travel Blogs I Read

I read a only a few Travel blogs. Some of them are-

1. Kunzum - This blog is written by Ajay Jain who travels to new places and writes about them on his blog. If you are India-centric traveler, this is a good blog to read.

2. The Wandering Mind - Anu writes about her travels on her blog. It is full of interesting places she visits.

3. Bed and Breakfast Delhi Blog

4. My Delhi Travel

5. New Delhi Bed and Breakfast

6. New Delhi Hotels

7. Accommodation in Delhi

More about these blogs when I do a full review on them.

Tips for Traveling to India - Part 2

This post is continued from my earlier post Tips for traveling to India

6. Food Is Spicy:

In general, food is spicy. In most places in India, especially in the northern and western regions, cow is a sacred animal. So beef is not widely available. If not from 5-star Delhi hotels, meat may not be a good option. For strict non-vegetarians, it always better to go for fish, especially in coastal places.
Read Restaurants in New Delhi before going to eat out in New Delhi. With a little thought & preparation, India Travel can be easy peasy, keep local customs in mind when traveling.

7. Beware of Cunning Agents and Pick-pockets:

Once in India, keep in mind that not all people approaching you are genuinely interested in helping you. Some people earn their daily bread by cheating the helpless tourists. Also, always keep only small amount of hard cash with you. Debit cards or credit cards will do. Read my Tips for safe India Travel. When you are in trouble or have lost way, it is better to approach a police man. Most of them understand English, though may not be able to speak in English.

8. Bargain Hard:

When you go for shopping, don’t purchase anything without bargaining. It is common in India. This bit of advise is for road side stalls only. If you enter a big mall or a posh shop, remember bargaining is frowned upon. New Delhi Hotels might not be the best place to bargain, especially not the 5-star New Delhi Hotels.

9. Respect Holy Places:

If you go to holy places, such as temple or mosque, remove your footwear before entering. Also do not smoke inside the holy places. Some places require you to cover your head and/or wash your hands or feet.


10. Always Carry ID Cards:

If you land on some trouble, the first thing authorities ask for is an identity card. If you can produce a valid passport and or some other equally sound identity proof, your safety is half ensured.

Best tip:

Book in advance. If trying to get away from the boring, impersonal hotels of New Delhi try Bed and Breakfast Delhi or the New Delhi Guest House. If you want to see the Tourist Attractions in New Delhi read here. Other places to see in Delhi are India Gate, Jantar Mantar, Jama Masjid and Old Fort.

Book other bed and breakfast in India online as well.

Related Posts:

* India Travel- 5 tips for safe India Travel

* Inn at Delhi Review

* Delhi Airport Hotels Review

* Delhi Dentist Review

Tips for Traveling to India

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when traveling to India.

1. The Subcontinent:

India is a vast country with 28 states, each of which is a small country by its own right. Each state has its own language, culture and climate. Actually it is like many nations existing within a single large nation. No wonder India is called a subcontinent. The only thing common is an impressive array of unique tourist places. India Travel can be an arduous and long journey. Therefore, plan in advance & carefully.

The idea of size can be assessed by the fact that the whole of U.K can fit into the state of Uttar Pradesh

2. The Summer-winter Divide:

The majority of places in India experience two diametrically opposite weather changes in a year. Summer is extremely hot and humid, while winter is chillingly cold and foggy. Generally, summer starts in March and extends till July, when the monsoons take over. Winter arrives three months later at November and goes on till February. So be prepared to dress for the weather.

3. Book Accommodation in Advance:

A lot of good Delhi hotels in India provide online reservation facility or you can call them and book rooms. Scan the web and book a Delhi Guest House that suits your budget well in advance. Otherwise one may never know when an emergency creeps up. An all-India level examination or a massive political rally in a particular place can quickly fill the hotel rooms. So it is better to reserve the hotel rooms in advance. Bed and Breakfast in Delhi is a recent introduction by the government of Delhi - so they are worth checking out.

Also worth checking out is the facility to book Indian Bed and Breakfast's online.


4. Land on Metros:

The four metro cities in India are well-connected in international aviation map. So identify the metro city nearest to the place you want to go. Delhi (Northern India), Mumbai, better known as Bombay (Western India), Kolkata, better known as Calcutta (Eastern India), and Chennai, earlier known as Madras (Southern India), are the four metros in India. They are generally well connected and give you an in-sight into the customs and culture of the state. If you want to see the Tourist Attractions in New Delhi read here. Other places to see in Delhi are India Gate, Jantar Mantar, Jama Masjid and Old Fort.

5. Keep a Map:

You have plenty of options for travel within India. Nowadays air tickets are becoming cheaper, with lot of domestic airline players coming into the fray. Trains are a good option, as train services exist even to remotest and farthest places in India. Official website of Indian railways is good place to visit while planning a trip to India. Always keep a map so that one can even depend on bus services or boat services to travel. The best option to travel in India is car hire. Car hire in Delhi is one of the good options as you get a driver in the same price, that is with the car. With prices as low as 30 USD for the whole day of Delhi Tour, you will have time to look around and absorb the trials and tribulations of a Delhi local, with a driver.

This post is split into 2 parts, Read the Tips for Traveling to India Part 2

Related Posts:

* India Travel- 5 tips for safe India Travel

* Inn at Delhi Review

* Delhi Airport Hotels Review

* Delhi Dentist Review

Bristol - England's Firsy Cycling City

Bristol has been named England's First Cycling city in a £100 million Government campaign to encourage cycling.

This is Indeed good news for regular Cyclists, like myself, who tend to cycle for work and leisure. I wrote about Cycling your way to Health in a previous post. With London Olympics round the corner, this is especially true. Many London hotels near the Olympic arena have provided cycle parking free of cost. And in these sky rocketing petrol price days, the government scheme aims transform cycling by creating dedicated cycle lanes, better facilities and more training for children in Bristol. Among the features in Bristol will be the UK's first major bicycle rental network, modelled on a scheme in Paris. You can find out more about the places to see in Bristol on Delhi Hotels website.

I hope that this is rolled out all over the country and more and more people are encouraged to cycle to work and for leisure.

See this Cycling video

According to BBC, The Public Health Minister and Bristol South MP Dawn Primarolo said the scheme would help tackle growing levels of obesity in the UK.

"For most people, a great way to keep healthy is by building physical activity into everyday life, such as cycling to work or school," she said.

In developing countries like India, which has a large pool of cyclists, measures like dedicated cycle tracks on the road, cycling campaign by the Government and economic initiatives to cycle industry will go a long way to ease congestion, control pollution and ease the health problems of its population. A significant majority of people in India travel using push bikes.

If you cycle to work & for leisure, please feel free to jot down your experiences.

Dangers of Body Piercings!

A new study published in the British Medical Journal found one in 10 people - and nearly half of all younger women - had a body piercing other than on the earlobe.

* Almost half of women aged 16-24 have had such a piercing.

* In those aged 16-24, health problems occurred with about a third of piercings and further help was sought in about one in seven, leading to hospital admission in about one in 100.

The article Body Piercings in England states that the complication rates are higher when body piercings are performed by non- specialist groups. Also many tend to get their body pierced by friends, relatives or some belong to the DIY (do it yourself)group!

The joint study between the Health Protection Agency and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine asked a sample of more than 10,000 people aged 16 and over in England whether they had been pierced somewhere other than the earlobe, and if they had suffered any complications as a result.

They found approximately 10% had some sort of body piercing, with women and younger people most likely to have one.

In women, the most common piercings were, in order:

1) navel
2) nose
3) ear
4) tongue
5) eyebrow
6) nipple
7) lip

In men:

1) nipple
2) eyebrow
3) ear
4) tongue
5) nose
6) lip
7) genitals.

To summarize, nipple piercing was the most popular in men, but one of the least popular in women, while navel piercing was by far the most popular in women (accounting for more than a third of all piercings in women) and much rarer in men.

The most common problems reported with piercings in those aged 16-24 were

1) swelling,
2) infection,
3) bleeding.

Not surprisingly, problems were most likely to be reported with

1) tongue piercings (50%),
2) piercings of the genitals (45%) and
3) nipple (38%).

Transmission of Blood borne diseases like Hepatitis B and C and HIV remain the most feared complication of these procedures if proper precautions are not taken.

According to BBC, the spokesman for the British Liver Trust, which offers advice on avoiding hepatitis infection, said: "It is important to remember the long-term problems that can occur, particularly if you get a piercing from a non-specialist.

"You put yourself at a high risk of contracting hepatitis B or C, both of which are serious, life-threatening conditions which can be fatal.

"You may not know you have contracted the virus until later on in life when the damage has already begun."

New Delhi Dentist - Review

I recently visited Delhi for a bit of work and Dental Tourism on the side. I particularly liked the information given on the site of New Delhi Dentist for Overseas Patients and for Dental tourism in Delhi.

I reached the clinic via Delhi Metro - a air-conditioned Tram like train on a concrete elevated track - like the London Underground - but on an elevated track. The nearest station to the clinic was Kohaat Enclave and I took a rickshaw.

The Dental Clinic (site name is New Delhi Dentist ) was very neat and clean and I was greeted by the receptionist who was very courteous. I had made an appointment and was seen to promptly - no waiting etc as is so common in England.

Dr. Arun Grover asked a thorough Dental and Medical history and after examination told me what was wrong and explained the whole thing to me in detail. This process took more than 30 minutes and I was amazed by his insight. He gave me an estimate of how much the treatment would cost me and I was amazed by the price difference.

In England, if you walk into a central London dental dentists chair they take a minimum of 35 pounds for registration plus the cost of treatment and other things - the bill can easily run into a few hundreds if you have slightly complicated treatment.

I was very impressed with the service he provided. And the icing on the cake was the bill. I was amazed that the dental care prices are so different in different parts of the world. Dr Grover has trained in England, Guy's and St. Thomas of London - so I knew that the treatment would be world class.

The best part was that he charges the Delhites and overseas patients alike and he publishes the charges on his notice board in the clinic.

Other Dental practices in India charge differently as they view the foreigner's as a "cash cow" - apart from Dr. Arun Grover.

Overall, I would rate his services as 5- star and I am happy to recommend his services to anyone and when I go back again to Delhi, I will surely get a Dental checkup.

By the way, I stayed in a Bed and Breakfast in Delhi during my stay and was amazed at their services - but that would be another blog post! :-)

My friend, also a dentist who blogs at London Dental Blog, stayed at this place and his Delhi Inn Review can be read on my Blog.

Related Posts:

* India Travel- 5 tips for safe India Travel

* Inn at Delhi Review

* Delhi Airport Hotels Review

American Army's Secret Weapon - Prozac!

Increasing levels of stress in the US Army regulars in Iraq have started a new trend - the deployment of anti- depressants in the armamentorium of the ordinary foot soldier.
According to one of the soldier's serving in the Iraq war for non-existent Weapon's of Mass Destruction (WMD) -

"When you search someone's house, you have it built up in your mind that these guys are terrorists, but when you go in, there's little bitty tiny shoes and toys on the floor — things like that started affecting me a lot more than I thought they would."

Soldier's per se are known to have a rough -tough image with admission's of mental health problem's being rare. The soldier's who admit to having problem's are given a supply of various anti-depressants to help them cope. US Army doctors have this to say.

The medicines are intended not only to help troops keep their cool but also to enable the already strapped Army to preserve its most precious resource: soldiers on the front lines.

The levels of stress are increased manifold when images of dead parts of small children or the shattered body of your best friend are constantly in your sight. These pills cannot erase the images imprinted in the mind of a young soldier but they do help with the symptoms of stress and anxiety and may help them to get back to full functioning capacity.

The use of anti-depressants restoring a soldier to "full functional recovery" allow the Army to avoid the cost of training and re-deployment of new recruits.
The downside to that is the long -term effects of Army regulars needing medication for depression and related mental health disorders.

This shows that the US Army is keen to have bandaged soldier's on active duty to what is already an over-stretched force and avoid the cost of training an re-deployment of new recruits.

According to a study, repeated re-deployments to the war zone are responsible for the increasing mental health disorders faced by the Army regulars.

PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is common in soldier's facing the enemy everyday in difficult circumstances and having to face indelible memories of friends and foes bodies being blown off or "liquefied".

How this medicated, "Prozac-propped" US army of dazed zombies is able to do an increasingly difficult job which needs high level of concentration and split second decisions, is anybodies guess?