For Mai Linh, independent female travel to India is quite safe. Here, most of the people Mai Linh met during the journey were gentle, kind and supported the group a lot. If you are a girl, the Indians are even more enthusiastic to help.
However, according to Indian customs, women usually do not fully expose their legs or shoulders. Therefore, women who want to travel independently should wear modest clothes.
"Indians pay a lot of attention to how they dress. Vietnamese women often look at us when they walk on the street," Mai Linh laughed.
first day in India
Mai Linh chose June 2022 as the suitable time for her trip. She chose two areas with completely different hot/cold climates. Himachal Pradesh state in the North of India has only 4 degrees Celsius, while the capital New Delhi is up to 42 degrees Celsius. Therefore, Mai Linh believes that there is no best time for a trip to India. Tourists who want to go to any area of India should choose the time according to the most favorable weather there.
"If you want to go to New Delhi, wait until September or April next year, when the temperature will be much more pleasant and mild," Mai Linh shared with Travellive.
Mai Linh spent the first 3 days in Himachal Pradesh. After landing at Chandigarh airport around 3:30 pm, her group took a bus to Manali town. From Chandigarh to Manali is about 310 km, because of the mountainous road, traffic is quite difficult, Mai Linh took about 11 hours to reach Manali. Unfortunately, on the way to Manali, the mountain collapsed, Mai Linh and her group were stuck in a dilemma.
"We couldn't back up or open the door to get out of the car because rocks from the mountain were still rolling down in huge chunks, smoke and dust were everywhere, and in front of us, rocks had blocked the road," Mai Linh described.
The girl was confused and asked the Indian driver in English if they would survive, the driver burst out laughing "we are not dead yet". After that, Mai Linh and her companions arrived in Manali at 4am and prepared to visit Old Manali.
"Indian people are very nice, not as negative as the media shows. We took a taxi to our destination despite the traffic jam and they didn't accept any money. Even if we were going in the opposite direction, they were willing to give us a ride home," Mai Linh excitedly shared.
Traveling the harsh North India
The next two days, Mai Linh traveled the Rohtang Pass – Chandra Tal Lake route. This is a winding and dangerous mountain road. On one side is a cliff, on the other side is a deep abyss. Although the road is only 80 km long, the driver had to drive very carefully, there were sections so narrow that one lane had to stop to let the other lane pass.
The difficulty most people will encounter when traveling to India is the distance between places is quite far, for example, one day in the schedule Linh will go from Manali to Chandra Tal. From 9am to 5pm, Mai Linh has to go through a dangerous road with a steep cliff on one side and a deep abyss on the other. Many times, Mai Linh wonders if this road is for buying and selling life and not for tourism.
"I kept asking the driver how much longer it would take, but he only replied 2 hours. However, many times the 2 hours passed, but the road seemed longer," Mai Linh said.
Because she had not had time to research, after arriving at the rest stop, Mai Linh did not camp overnight but continued to take the bus to Chandra Tal. The weather was too harsh so Mai Linh stayed to visit for only 30 minutes then took the bus back to Manali.
The total time Mai Linh spent going and returning that day was nearly 20 hours, a full day but a lot of time traveling. Not only that, Mai Linh and her group suffered from altitude sickness and lack of oxygen. So the North Indian region is only really suitable for people with very good health or who have trained physically before.
Travel preparation luggage to India
Leaving North India, Mai Linh took a bus from Mandali to the capital New Delhi (in 13 hours). Here, she and her companion continued to visit the National Museum, Jama Masjid and Lotus Temple.
Mai Linh believes that at present, finding direct flights to India is not difficult. There are many international and domestic airlines with all types of fares operating many flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Chandigarh. Mai Linh spends about 12 million VND for a round-trip ticket and checked baggage. In addition, India has relaxed its quarantine policy to welcome foreign visitors. Online visa registration can be done easily on the website indiavisaonline.
According to Mai Linh's survey, she did not spend too much money on accommodation and food in India, because the prices here are somewhat cheaper than in Vietnam. Therefore, Mai Linh only spent 1.5 million VND for accommodation and about 4.5 million VND for travel + sightseeing/entertainment tickets + food.
"You should bring toothbrushes, toothpaste, shower gel, shampoo..., because these items are not typically available in India. At the same time, tourists should bring medicines: effervescent vitamin C tablets, cough medicine, runny nose medicine, headache medicine... to protect their health," Mai Linh said.
In particular, visitors should bring along an adapter, as most hotels only use three-pin plugs. For mountainous areas higher than 43,000m, warm clothes such as woolen hats, gloves, socks, down jackets, etc. are essential to cope with harsh weather.
