India: 10 Tips for Traveling in India

India was definitely a land of beauty. But certainly it was not easy traveling in India. I heard someone once says 'If you can travel and survive in India, you can travel and survive anywhere else.'

With these words carved in my heart, my husband and I decided it is the right time to travel India. So, we did travel in India for 2 weeks and it was experience like none other. It was not luxurious trip nor an easy trip like we used to do in Korea, Singapore, and Bali. We thoroughly enjoy our experience in India despite the ups and downs. Everything happens for a reason and it gives us a chance to learn and be wiser.

Taj Mahal, Agra

But if I could share my/our wisdom and experience with you guys, I hope this 10 tips will help you for your upcoming adventure in India.

1. Triposo India

I am truly grateful for this app. Not only you can use map and gps when it is offline. You can also check recommended places to see, foods to eat, things to do while offline. But of course if you are on online mode, you will get more of it; like you would be able to see pictures of places to see, booked hotel and see the reviews first, etc. This app helped us booked 4 hotels on our journey, one in each cities; Jaipur, Agra, Delhi, and Goa. Our favorite hotel were the one in Jaipur (H.R Palace) and the ultimate one in Delhi (Hotel Holiday Inn, Airport City). Also it helps to navigate offline with the offline gps and map every time you need to walk around the area or looking to find the hotel's address.  *Hotel Review on the next post

Front side of Hawa Mahal 

2. Learn the basic Language

Sure, there are a lot of people that speak English in Mumbai and Delhi. So did in Jaipur too. But it is always nice to be able to say thank you, hi, etc in local language. On our case, I can speak a little bit of Hindi since I have been watching Bollywood movies since I was small. I picked up some words that I used a lot on the trip. I find it a lot easier to haggle and people tend to be nicer and more willing to help when I speak the local language.

3. Polite but Firm

There will be plenty and believe me when I said plenty..because it will be plenty of scams and people trying to offer you things to sell. They always act super nice and tend to be helpful. But then they will ask you to visit their store and buy something. I bought 2 overly expensive pashminas for 1000 rupees when I can get it for even cheaper price. I also bought several clothes and other fabrics for quite expensive price when I can always get it cheaper somewhere else. Sigh. It will happen more often in Jaipur and Agra. Not so much in Mumbai. Lesson learned, be polite yet firm when it comes to say NO.

4. Dress Modestly and Comfortably

Whether you are a man or a woman, dress modestly in India is always more appreciated. Don't forget to pack a scarf or you can buy some in India as they have so many of those beautiful scarfs. Jaipur offers a satin/sutra made scarf, I bought mine for 500 rupees. But I think you can still get it cheaper. It won't hurt to bring your own scarf too. In case you won't have any time for shopping. On hot humid India, we prefer to wear sandals. As it is a lot easier to take it off if you want to visit temples.

5. Best Season

Best season to go to India especially North India is October-November. As it will be lest hot. Train journey will also be faster before December for a trip from Agra to Delhi or Jaipur to Agra as there might be sand storm on December which we will make the train goes super slow and the journey will be longer twice than usual.

Akbar's Tomb in Agra

6. Careful with Auto rickshaw or Tuk-tuk Driver

I was really upset when I first dealing with Tuk-tuk driver in Jaipur and then Agra. They appeared to be nice. The one in Jaipur offer a cheap trip of 200 rupees to 4 different places that was currently free of charge. He said there is some event for the elephant. He would take us to Elephant house, water temple, Maharani's pool, etc and we don't have to pay a dime for the ticket. Turned out those places were Elephant's cage where they will guilty trip you to get an elephant ride for the benefit of the elephant (yeah damn right it is for the elephant!?), Jal Mahal and a small pool which cannot be entered to begin with..obviously there won't be any ticket selling there. The worse, he said he will take us to Mughal's village to see local people's home business; like printing and stuff. But he took us to a store where the owner explained how the printing was made from a handmade block print. I had to bought 2 overly pricey pashminas there. Fortunately I can give it to my mom who loves pashmina. The driver's name is Ali and he is a tuk-tuk driver in Jaipur. He drives like a mad guy in small alleys or cramped road. Make sure if you get a tuk-tuk driver, said No if he offers all the think like I mentioned above. Stick to your plan and to do list.

beautiful Jal Mahal or Water Palace

7. Pack Lightly

India is hot and humid. It won't be fun to walk around with suitcases every time you move city to city. It is always better to pack lightly in India as it will be easier for you to pay attention to all your stuffs and less chance of it getting stolen. Don't forget to pack sunblock and lotion too. Sunblock is the best protection against the sun. And despite of its humidity, it is always best to put on lotion right before sleeping to keep the moisture inside. Because it is also very dusty in some parts of India. Scarf will also help you breath when it is really dusty. Bring sling bag too, it is easier to walk around with sling bag instead of backpack since we won't be able to see if pickpocket try to steal something on the crowd.

8. List to Do and Places to Go

It is better to have a list to do and places to go before going to India. It will give us brief information on our plan and will help you to navigate from places to places avoiding wasting time in between places thinking where else to go. However, let live decide the next plan. Don't get too upset if it is not exactly as you plan it. Because you will never know what will you encounter there. You might like a certain place a lot more and decided to stay there longer. That could works too. But having a list to do and places to go/see definitely help the decision making. My advice, no need to stay longer in Agra and Jaipur as you might finished all the sightseeing in the major tour destinations within 2 days. You can even do one day trip to Agra and coming back to Jaipur. We regret not spending more time in other part of Rajasthan like Jaisalmer which I heard even more beautiful.

Our list

9. Be Alarmed but Don't be Paranoid

Yes, there are a lot of bad publications about India. You are entitled to be more cautious but no need to be paranoid. I found Mumbai pretty save even at night. Jaipur especially, we would just randomly sitting some where at night while waiting for the night entertainment to start. Just use your common sense. Don't go out too late at night and better if you have company.

10. Have sense of Humor and Enjoy the Ride

Yes, India is super beautiful. They have rich culture and beautiful palaces. But there are also parts where people peeing on the street, lousy traffic, scammer tuk-tuk driver, etc. I let myself becoming to engross in the feeling of being upset and mad that it almost ruin our journey. I almost cried in Fatehpur Sikri, a palace outside of Agra, because people keep swarming us and offering to sell things or to guide us. I have said No to this one but the next one coming. I could not event count it. They are super persistent. I yelled and cried. All they did was amused and confused. But after I look very upset. They stop bothering us. However, it almost ruin the experience. Actually it is pretty ruined. Because of all the things that happened to us in India including getting stolen in Mumbai, Fatehpur Sikri was really awful experience. I almost think it was not worth it to go 1 hour tuk-tuk drive from Agra. Lesson learned. Enjoy the ride and the rest is history or exciting story for the future.

Korea: Itinerary in Seoul

Honeymoon in Seoul

I have been posting a lot about our last trip to Korea. But, I have never posted the entire trip story or our itinerary.

In case any of you are planning to visit Seoul and wondering what to do or where to visit, you can use my itinerary as a start or just to give you a general ideas for your trip.

Here is our itinerary

The red color represented our time on the flight or the delay that happened to us.

The blue one was the non-flexible schedule. Mostly because we really wanted to do it on that day for some reason which now I already forgot. hehe

We usually started our day around 8am and started going out around 9-10am. We were such a lazy tourist. I also put the budget or the money that we spent on those places. This will give you guys general ideas on your budget plan. We were pretty lucky because my friend and my boss paid for some of our meal and I got present from another friend. Definitely a nice saving to our budget hihihi

Oh, I would suggest you to create a sheet of addresses you would like to visit. It will be too much problem to keep googling for place's addresses. Better have it ready for you. This is an example for ours.

We always took subway for all our trips to those places on our list. It is cheaper to have T-Money Card handy with you instead of buying ticket for each trip which could cost you more. Or you could get Seoul City Pass instead if you want to visit major tourist attraction because it has advantages for that and also with it you can try to ride on Seoul Tour Bus.

Here is comparison that I made between Seoul City Pass and T-Money, I prefer T-Money tho. Mostly because I know we will be back to Korea again someday soon and it is rechargeable as for Seoul City Pass, once you used up all the credit, you need to get another card. Since we stayed for more than 3 days, it is better to get T-Money instead.

Korea: Seoul Subway App and Hotel Accommodation App

singleluxurytravel.com

New in town (Seoul)? Worrying about how to go around in Seoul? No worries. Technology is here to help you out, not just with map or going around town with Subway but also helping you find a good decent accommodation for your stay in Seoul that might be better than staying in hotel or motel.

1. Seoul Subway Map by Malang Studio Co,LTD

I noticed that even some Korean that I encounter used this app when they wanted to find out the route to go to their destination or the schedule for the train. It is very useful for tourist as it is available in English language too.

 All you need to do is install this app on your Android Phone or iPhone and then download the data. So, it can be used offline. Yes, you heard me right. It is offline application. Making it easier for tourist who doesn't have Korean cellphone number.

Open the app, pick the origin station, click depart from, pick the destination and click arrive at. Voila. There you go. There will be list of station you need and the route you have to take.

These are the links to download it;
Android: Play Store
iPhone: iTunes

2. Hotel Accommodation App: Airbnb

Have you heard of AirBnB? Yes, it is a kinda cool app to search for cheap and comfy accommodation during your trip. You just have to type in the name of your destination and all the list of apartments, hostels, rooms, houses, villas, etc will pop out on the app.

The idea of Airbnb is to help those who has more spaces in their house or has extra accommodation and use it as a way to make income by putting it on a list here. Also to help tourists or visitors to find cheap and better accommodation than hotel. 

This is how it looks on the website homepage

Like I said earlier, you just need to type in the city of your destination and the date of check in and check out, also how many people will go with you. 

This is the search look for Seoul, every time you move the map, there will be more list pops out.

If you joined now and click Airbnb website from the one I gave you down here. You will get $25 Airbnb credit that you can use for your first trip.

Website: Airbnb <- Click Here for $25 off for your first time using Airbnb
Android: Play Store

My Experience with the Apps: Seoul Subway and Airbnb

1. Seoul Subway app or Subway Korea app has been a great help through out our trip in Korea this early June. I get to pick the shortest route or the slightly longer one with less transit stops. I get to modified our trip on the subway based on what I prefer. As we all know in Korea, subway is the cheapest and fast way of transportation. I absolutely love this app. I recommended this for everyone wanting to visit Seoul. Nope, They didn't paid me for this recommendation or reviews.

2. Airbnb has landed us in a very cute place in Dongmyo area. It was so comfy and close to all the tourist destination. The place where I booked for our holiday was a cute studio apartment in Dongmyo. In front of the apartment, there is flea market and on Sunday, they will have more sellers there. Truly a gem to find something for cheaper price. GS25 (kinda like 711) is so close. Only 5 minutes from the place to subway station. Super convenient. We love that place.

Pictures of the place we stayed in

We paid only 5 million rupiah for the whole week there. It is definitely cheaper than staying in a 2 million/night hotel or more comfortable than shared bedroom in hostel.

What are you waiting for? Start saving some money for your next trip or book the ticket already. Go now! ♡♡♡ ^_^

Road Trip from Madison to Gulf Shore (Alabama)

Day 6th in America, boyfriend took me on my first American Road Trip experience. He took me to Gulf Shore (8 hours away) before going to New Orleans (15 hours away or 4 hours away from Gulf Shore).

Get our coffee for the trip.

The owner/Barista found out that I am from Indonesia and Indonesia has a big variety of Coffee. Then out of no where, he gave us this huge bulk of Sumatran Coffee. He seemed happy that boyfriend introduced us and that I ordered cold drip.

He said he wanted to introduce me to his childhood friends. They have been friends since they were toddler up till now fully grown adults, yet they still talk passionately about games (nerds huh!?lol)

Posing in Rest Area

Their Rest Area provided us with tour booklets

8 hours was a long drive. I thought we were going to pass by an area that resembles the setting for any creepy movie like Chainsaw Massacre, Wrong Turn, and/or Psycho, Motel or something. Well, i really had no idea on what kind of roads we would have to pass through. But apparently we stayed mostly on the highway.  

We stopped by in Montgomery,AL for dinner in Japanese restaurant. Arrrrrgh it was horrible experience. I asked the waitress if they have Ramen and the waitress flipping out, rudely put the menu on my table and said "This is Japanese restaurant!Only Japanese food, not Korean!". Ramen is Japanese food! Then I found out she was actually Korean American. She thought I was asking for Ramyeon. But hey, there is no need to get upset with me! At the end of our dinner, they gave us fortune cookie. Yeah right Fortune cookie is Japanese food? And you don't know if Ramen is Japanese food? Meh!!! 

There will be a lot of changes in your life.

I was so upset that I barely eat. We decided to move to lively Mexican restaurant. We ordered Guacamole dips and chips. The waitress and the cashier was a lot nicer in this one. The Guacamole was reallly reallllllly good. 

Boyfriend's parents has several condos for rent near Gulf Shore beach. The condo was neat and pretty clean. I love the view to the beach. It has it's own swimming pool. The sands is really really white, even whiter than the so-called Pasir Putih. It was a nice spot. We were able to spot Sunset from our balcony.

First Selfie in Gulf Shore

Sunset Light

White Sands

Boyfriend's friends come over and stayed with us. They took me to Irish Pub/Restaurant for dinner, the name of the restaurant is McGuire's Irish Pub located in Pensacola, Florida.
Website
I love their decoration. Do you know the old tale about pile of money on the end of a rainbow? I think the Irish invented that saying. The color was dominated with green and they hang dollar notes on the ceiling in almost every rooms. It is like Leprechaun's luck or something.

Moneeeeeeey!!! Dollllllaarrrrr!! Gimme!!!

What to eat????

My money that we were planning to hang on the ceiling.

Good Luck Charm

The light was pretty dim there. So, I was not able to take picture of foods nicely. But the food was really good. I ordered a bean soup for only $0.18 or around Rp.2.500 yes that cheap. They said they never change the price ever since they open the restaurant. Whaatttt!!!
The Calamari that I ordered comes in a huge portion that we had to box the rest (almost or more than half of the portion) and took it home.

The Ultimate Irish Wake that will send you down memory lane but not on so-smooth ride.

Complementary Bread which was moist and fluffy on the inside but crunchy and buttered with sweets on the outside.

$0.18 bean soup with granny crackers, a comfort food for any bad day.

The next day, we had to go back to Alabama, Guntersville to stay in the cabin house there for several days. They took me to a very authentic Mexican restaurant. It was a cute and small restaurant, kinda like Bakso/Mie Ayam small restaurant with only 5 tables available. We tried the salsa dips and chips this time and I absolutely love it. The food that I miss the most now that I am back in Indonesia is the dips and chips from all those Mexican Restaurants.

Spicy Shrimp with Bean and Buttered Rice

On the way home, we stopped by in Montgomery to eat Indian food (finally a decent Indian food, compare to the one I tried in Huntsville and Madison) and to watch Shahrukh's new movie Happy New Year. There is no way I would miss his new movie. It was 3 hours drive from Madison or 4 hours from Guntersville maybe. So, we decided to watch it on our way home.

The huge Samosas for appetizer, yup not even main course yet.

It was a memorable road trip. We ate good foods, met good friends, went to great places, bought good stuffs. We had so many fun times. I would do it again with no hesitation.

Trip to Alabama, USA Part 1 (The Flight)

On 17th October 2014, I had to go to the airport early because I had a flight to catch. I went to the airport with taxi around 4.30am and reached airport around 5-ish in the morning. My flight was around 6.30am.

I am going to go to Alabama, USA. My first flight was All Nippon Airlines or known as ANA from CGK JKT to Narita. Then after 3 hours of layover I took United Airlines to Houston, Texas and another 3 hours layover in Houston then took a small flight to Huntsville, Alabama. The same goes for flights coming back to Indonesia later on early November.

That was me waiting for ANA to depart from Jakarta.

The stewardess added this sticker to my seat because I specially ordered Indian food through email for all my flights.

Satisfied with the in-flight entertainment

Got a seat next to window..yeay

This is actually Indian food, but they name it Hindu Meal because mostly those who ordered this is Hindu who doesn't eat beef or meat. I had to specially ordered the food because I am super picky when it comes to food. I don't eat dairy product and plain taste food. I prefer it to be rich taste and spicy. Thankfully it was free to order this from email.

Satisfied with my meal.

Touch down Narita with the sleepy looking face. Barely able to sleep on the plan thanks to 2 passengers behind me who kept gossiping loudly.

I was so happy to find USB plug in and Power outlet available almost everywhere in the Airport. I had to charge my phone.

 I saw Gundam in Narita and it reminds me of my college best friend who is a big fan of stuff like this. The picture next to it is the power outlet that you can use. It is available in most of the gates.

I didn't took much picture on United Airlines. I was too sleepy. Oddly I can't even sleep. Next to me, sitting a newlywed couple going on their Honeymoon to Miami. They are both Indonesians. So we got to chat a little bit in Indonesia.

In Narita, they had to do secondary inspection on me out of random order of numbers and I was the unlucky one. It doesn't take long tho and when I asked a lot of questions to do the Inspection lady..she was so confused as to why I seem to enjoy the inspection and so curios about all the process. Unfortunately her English was not so good. She couldn't answer most of my questions. The guy who had been checking me out was also getting secondary inspection. He was surprise that we both got it. He said usually being American, he never had to get such treatment. He was also surprised because I look so harmless. I told him "Oooh maybe they find me dangerous with all the pink stuff attach to my body!" I was wearing pink sweater, red pinkish polkadot pants, pink backpack, and super girly sling bag, listening to pink mp3 with pink cord and my nail polish is also pink. There you go, I am such a pink monster...raaaawr

Finally touch down in Houston and had to get Starbucks coffee. Super sleepy.

The plane that took me to Hunstville from Houston was super small. It is as small as (probably) Syahrini's private jet. There are only 3 seats on each line and there are 24 lines. I got 24C. They only have one stewardess on the plane. What a cute small plane.

Before we depart, the stewardess asked us on line 24 if we wouldn't mind exchanging our seat for family of 4 (with a baby and toddler). We didn't mind. So I got seat 19C instead. I sat next to a very nice middle aged man.

He helped me out with my carry on. We got to talk a lot about the book he was reading, about how he just move to Huntsville, how he used to live in Philippines, about the possibility of job for me in Huntsville, and so on.

It only took an hour and half and we arrived in Huntsville. A very nice young looking man who previously sat on line 24 offered to help showing me the bag carrousel, since they didn't put the number on it. But then I saw my boyfriend and his mom. I said bye to him immediately. Sorry man, I am taken. lol