India the Country from Another Planet

TOP TRAVEL DESTINATIONS – http://routebyroad.com

I am firmly convinced the country of India was transplanted from another planet. You will find no other place like it on this world.

India

India is a country where you will see everything you can imagine. More importantly, everything you will see will be intense. You will not see a beggar, you will see millions of them. You will not see a beautiful beach, you will see the most beautiful beaches in the world. Places of wealth are so over the top youll be stunned. The shanty towns of the poor, on the other hand, will set you back on your heals.

India is the one place you can visit and come away completely enthralled and disgusted at the same time. If your idea of traveling is sitting in a posh hotel, India has such resorts but youll be unable to avoid the less attractive areas. If you prefer to get out and take in a culture that is completely alien to your own, you will never find a better place than India.

India is really a number of countries within a political boundary. The south of India is entirely different than the north. The same goes for the east and west. If you dont like the place youre in, just get on a train for a day or two and youll be in a completely different world.

One of the biggest traveler complaints about India is the poverty. In truth, it is bad. There is simply no way around the fact. Whatever you have previously seen, wherever you have previously gone, nothing matches the poverty in India. The shanty towns are large cities and the conditions are less than ideal. To get a first hand account, I suggest you read the excellent book, Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts. Roberts lived in one of the shanty towns for years while on the run from the law. The book is tremendous and gives you a different perspective on the poverty situation. Regardless, you will have problems dealing with the poverty in India. It can ruin your trip if youre not careful.

If youre considering visiting India, you need to accept the fact that life is different there and you need to come to grips with this before you go. In truth, India is an incredibly captivating country of beauty, stunning sites and incredibly people.

India the Country from Another Planet

Taking the Train from Cusco to Machu Picchu

TOP TRAVEL DESTINATIONS – http://routebyroad.com

If you are the comfortable-type, train transport is the best option for travelling from Cusco to Machu Picchu. The other common alternative to reach the Lost City of the Incas, the strenuous Inca Trail, involves 3 days of hard trekking through a beautiful yet arduous landscape. And taking a helicopter is most probably not an option, both because its unaffordable and it misses the beautiful Andean scenery that comes with the land journey.

Besides the strenuous Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, which usually takes 3 days of hard trekking through a beautiful yet arduous landscape, train transport is the best option to travel from Cusco to Machu Picchu. Ok, you can reach the Inca citadel by helicopter, but only the few can afford it besides, youll miss the beautiful Andean scenery that comes with the journey.

Train transport to Machu Picchu is indeed the best alternative for the trekking-adverse: not better nor worse, just different. Still charming and attractive, yet much more comfortable.

Rail services to Machu Picchu, Perus most important tourist site, are managed by Peru Rail, a company of the Orient Express group (which also runs the exclusive Monasterio Hotel in Cusco and Miraflores Park Plaza hotel in Lima). Trains depart from the San Pedro station in Cusco (close to the Huanchac market), and arrive at Machu Picchu city (Aguas Calientes) some 3 hours and 40 minutes later.

The spectacular journey begins at Cusco with a series of switchbacks, or zig-zags, as they are know locally, that last for half-hour: the trains ascends the Picchu mountain, up to the city’s highest point (El Arco or The Arch) and out of Cusco into the village of Poroy.

The train then descends into the Sacred Valley and the foothills of the Andes, along the Urubamba River, passing through a beautiful landscape packed with typical Andean crops and grasslands, herds of llamas, and colourful villages. Many old Inca buildings and archaeological sites can be seen along the journey, in particular the magnificent Wiay Wayna ruins and Qente (hummingbird in Quechua), amidst a lush vegetation where a nearby waterfall attracts oversize hummingbirds and colourful flowers blossom all the time.

In alternative to the Cusco departure, travellers can choose to take the train at Ollaytantambo or Urubamba, in the heart of the Sacred Valley of the Incas. This offers the possibility of staying longer in Machu Picchu -that is, without having to pass the night there-, as the first trains arrive before any other, at 7am, and depart from the Lost City of the Incas after every other train has left, at 6.10pm.

Regarding carriage qualities, you can choose among the plain Backpacker train, the more upscale VistaDome train, or the luxurious Hiram Bigham train (which departs from the village of Poroy, some 20 minutes from Cusco’s city centre).

Taking the Train from Cusco to Machu Picchu

Travel Protect Yourself from Carjackers

You’ve seen it played out on television programs: a “bad guy” fleeing the police (good guy) commanders a car or truck being driven by an unsuspecting driver at gunpoint or knifepoint at an intersection; or a “bad guy” lays in wait and takes the keys away from a person who is unlocking their parked car sometimes the “bad guy” takes the person as well as the car.

We are all vulnerable to carjackers all the time, but we’re even more vulnerable when we are traveling. Locals know what areas to avoid, but travelers don’t. There are things that we can all do all the time whether we’re on our own home turf or halfway across the country.

1. Keep your car doors locked and your windows rolled up. If you must stop, lower windows only about 1 inch.

2. When you stop behind another car, leave enough room so that you can maneuver around the car if you need to. It’s an old carjacker’s trick. The driver in front of you stops, and the driver behind you forces you out of the car and takes the car or takes both you and the car.

3. Drive in the center lane.

4. Don’t stop to assist a driver who has a car problem. Call the police and report a stranded motorist.

5. Park in well-lighted areas.

6. Have your keys in your hand when you approach your parked car. If you see a suspicious character loitering near your car, go back into the store and

ask a store employee to walk with you to your car.

BUT, if you are being victimized by a carjacker, give him the keys to your car. It’s not worth your life.

Travel Protect Yourself from Carjackers