After a while though, like India, Beijing grew on me. The food tasted better, the landscape changed, and I meet some cool friends. I think you need to stay in a place long enough to truly understand the people and culture–it is just not possible traveling thru for a day or a week. New Year’s countdown was fun, and on the night of the second we awoke to a city blanketed in snow and all of a sudden the freezing temperatures of Beijing were all worth it. The storm continued through the 3rd and apparently it was the most snow Beijing had received in several days.

Oh, I also had time to visit the Terra Cotta Warriors in Xian–so I guess I can cross that off my places I wanted to see list–although I have to say that I was actually more impressed with the Great Wall than the warriors.

Matt’s wonderful tip: Go to the Taj Mahal for sunrise and then check out the Taj Mahal from the other side of the river (free) during sunset.

Dajeeling is a beautiful mountain town (about 4x better than Matheran) overlooking the Himalayans. Unfortunately though, during monsoon season the area remained relatively foggy with low visibility…but I saw pictures of what it’s suppose to look like on a clear day and the views were spectacular. Even on a foggy day though, the uniquely designed hillside town and small village-like atmosphere is well worth a visit.

We flew to Kolkata on a redeye AirDeccan flight out of Mumbai. It was the first time I have flown AirDeccan and I can safely say it sets the standard for a no-frills airline. I ranted about AirAsia in a past post, but Air Deccan makes Air Asia seem like a luxury carrier. To start with, AirDeccan essentially reserves the right to cancel any flight for any reason it deems fit (including it not being booked to capacity) without any liability except the cost paid for the ticket. So AirDeccan sells tickets 6 months in advance but if on the day of departure overhead costs of operating the flight outweigh the income earned by paying flyers, management can simply cancel the flight…which it often does. A cursory glance at their live online flight status table clearly confirms that under “typical” operation at least 10% of their flights get canceled, and almost all are delayed. The result is passengers who are left stranded and frustrated. I consider us lucky, because of the 4 sectors we’ve flown with AirDeccan two were delayed 2+ hours, but luckily none were canceled. A canceled flight would have been disastrous because AirDeccan makes no assurances of proper transfers. So if you miss your connecting flight because their plane came in late, you’re stranded at your transfer point. One last rant, I’ve never seen so many seats crammed into an Airbus A-320 before. If you’re over 6 feet tall, good luck! To be fair though, AirDeccan tickets are often half the price of their nearest LLC competitor…which unfortunately for my travel stress level, keeps me as a repeat customer.

Matheran is a wilderness retreat and pleasantly doesn’t allow motor vehicles inside. Instead you can opt to hire a horse (120 Rupees/hr) or get carted along in a human powered push cart. I’d recommend a horse because the human-powered cart over unpaved, muddy road does a lot more damage to the butt (and gave me a headache).

To get to Matheran, take a suburban train to Neral on the Karjat-line train (different from Nerul which is on the Harbor line). The train code is S. From the Neral train station, walk right (past the toy train tracks) to the share taxis that will take you to Matheran car park (50 rupees/per person). From there you can choose your method of green transportation (human-powered push card, horse, or walk) to Matheran town (there’s also a 25 Rupee/per person park entrance fee). I stayed at the Regal Hotel and was satisfied with the value. If you are going during the off season, there’s no reason to book ahead (it’s more expensive online).

Enjoy the beauty and clean air…at least by Indian standards.

My only comment is $20/day will buy you an on-the-beach luxury room in some countries.

Goa is the gorgeous beach province about 10-hours (by bus) south of Mumbai. It’s the resort getaway of choice for Indians and foreign tourists alike. I went with my (all twenty-something year old) co-workers and had an awesome time. The abundance of foreign tourists comprised mostly of Europeans (many with British accents) unfortunately gives it a very non-native atmosphere, but the twist of hippy-ness adds something unique.

Perhaps the most memorable time (although certainly not most enjoyable) was experiencing the ridiculous conditions of a 3^rd class overnight train in India. Wow…I wrote about the Mumbai suburban trains before, well the conditions don’t get any better just because it’s an overnight train that travels nonstop for 8 hours. Yes, there were 4-5 people to a 3 seat bench, people sitting (lying only if they were lucky) on the floor, and even more standing squished like sardines in the isles. I certainly didn’t manage to find any sleep with three individuals all vying for space on the floor which I thought was reserved for my feet or the crazed lady next to me who for some reason thought if she kept pushing, I’d somehow shrink. Although for 150 Indian Rupees (about $3.25 USD) it’s pretty much the cheapest way to get from Goa to Mumbai.

Maybe it’s just coming from world renowned Thai hospitality and the hotel industry, but the service at Mumbai eating establishments is horrible. From the waiter who disgustingly clears his throat before serving my food, to the ignored service requests, and the sweeping up of dust into the air; good service isn’t known in Indian restaurants. Certainly parts of my displeasure are culturally related but I think it stems a little deeper.

Of course training’s the only way to solve this shortcoming, but I wonder how easy that is to accomplish for a society who’s presumably grown-up lacking a service economy.

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