Mike - If early means January/February then heat/humidity should be manageable. If early means April/May then you might encounter some tough spots from a heat/humidity perspective.
I'm sure you will be prepared and will thoroughly enjoy the trip.
If this is your first trip to the area then I know you will enjoy Hong Kong and Xi'An. There are so many areas within China that are amazing. If you haven't already visited the other areas you are going to want schedule a return visit after you get a taste on this trip.
Thanks for your note, Smiling Sam. Yes, the trip is in the earlier part of the year, not April/May. I have traveled to China on business but only along the coast (from Beijing to Hong Kong). And when you're on a business trip you don't really see a city or country. I did take a bit of extra time to go to the Great Wall outside Beijing, but that's about it for tourist activity.
I've been to Hong Kong several times. I took an R&R (or vacation time, don't remember) to Hong Kong back in 1970 and even had a suit made while I was there. Flying into Kai Tak airport in a 747 was interesting. You could look out of the plane into windows of tall office buildings.
The political situation between China and the US gives me some concern, but mostly whether the pre-cruise excursion will go or not.
[Also been to Japan a number of times (years ago) and did a bit more tourist stuff there.]
I chose to take the Dharavi tour. It’s a shame that pictures aren’t allowed because it’s so much more than some stock photos that show a slum. The entrepreneurial spirit that is throughout the area is amazing. There are people fixing large electrical appliances for resale, a recycling of cardboard for reuse and sale to shopkeepers to use, several stalls tearing apart large plastic appliances for recycling, other plastic recycling that cleans, dries and chops up plastics for reuse, rather than ending up in a dump, denim reuse, fabric dying using natural dyes, backpack manufacturing and repair, sewing of clothing for sale to other countries. If you order on Amazon for something made in India, it’s a good shot it’s made there. There’s also a school on premise, both grade school and higher education.there was so much more but alas, without photos it’s tough to remember because it was all coming at you at once. I found it to be a fascinating visit.
MS 78. Thank you so much for the description! We did the Spotlight tour so it was not on the tour..
I've seen similar in Namibia and other areas in Africa. One of our memories in India is driving along in the bus and seeing women make ‘bricks’ out of cow poo for fuel.
There is a famous slum city in Africa. Sorry senior moment can’t recall the name, oh Kibera I think. I’ve seen a documentary on it and attended a lecture about it.
We’ve been to many third world countries now and visited communities off the tourist path. Although some people don’t approve of others being ‘ exploited’ the tour guides have always collected money and goods such as cooking oil etc and purchased locally and we present them. I also buy the crafts, some of which are not to my taste or not so good, but I don’t care and it’s more of a proper trade than just giving. It’s a sense of pride.
Another favorite is the discussion group organized between the Masai women and the females in our tour group. We asked questions about their lives and they asked us questions. It was so much more open without men around. This was on our K and T and Rwanda tour and I believe was a new experiment on the behalf of the Tour director I think these things are the differences between some tours that make you see a bit more of the culture.
British, travel for me has always been about learning the culture or way of life beyond a dance presentation or such. I’m really glad I took the time on this journey.
I just got back from this trip and thought I'd add a few comments to this thread.
First the pros:
Tauck did an excellent job. For the most part, we were kept within the "Tauck bubble" and had only short stints seeing the real India.
The TD (Sid) was very good and an Indian native
The hotels are among the best of any hotel on any Tauck trip (14 to date) I've done.
Next, the cons:
People are friendly. Service incredibly polite, but slow with requests politely acknowledged and ignored (eg., asking for coffee 2-3x).
The country overall - yuck. I can understand why so many Indians are in the US and hardly ever go back.
Horrible pollution. In Delhi, the AQI (air quality index) was in the 500 range (anything above 300 is considered hazardous). It was below 100 (unhealthy for sensitive groups) only in Cochin and Kumarakom. I, and others, wore N95 masks most of the trip. My mask turned black and had to be replaced every 2 days.
Filthy dirty, traffic horrendous. The endless horn honking is absurd.
While it's interesting to see, this trip at the bottom of my list. All the northern cities are pretty much the same, once exiting the Tauck bubble, with garbage, fllth and barefoot people everywhere. Beggars using small children as props. Very aggressive "salesmen" who followed the group for long periods of time. I, for one, like to walk and explore. With the exception of Mumbai, all the other hotels are gated. walled compounds isolated from the outside world for good reason.
Regarding weather, we had one day when it rained a little. Temps were very comfortable in the north (high of low 70s and 50s at night). In the south, it was considerably warmer, but less polluted. Temps hit about 90 each day and went down to low 70s at night. Cochin and Kumarakom were extremely humid (80+%) while Mumbai was hot, but drier. Like Mike Henderson, I'm not a fan of hot/humid weather, but I didn't have any problems with it. Dec/Jan tend to be the coolest, but also the most polluted
For those who are concerned about climate change, anything we do is simply pissing into the wind. Countries like India, China and Egypt are simply destroying the planet without regard and any countermeasures we take are negligible.
In summary, India is a truly disgusting place. If you are sensitive to the human condition where people live like animals trying to survive, don't go.
@bkmd - One thing you didn't comment on was the food. What was your opinion of the Indian food you were served.
I had always wanted to see the Taj Mahal and that part of the tour was very good. Also, Varanasi. I'm sorry I didn't take my good camera for that part of the tour. I would have liked to get better pictures of the cremations and the other activities on the Ganges.
For me, the most interesting part of the tour was Delhi, Varanasi, and Agra (the Taj Majal). The least interesting was Kochi.
I do like Indian food and found it to be excellent, all in the bubble. Speaking of food, in his intro on day 1 and repeated a few times, our TD said, "Don't eat street food. You will die." (seriously, he said that)
I liked Kochi/Cochin. I found the Jewish and Christian influences there interesting to see, especially the synagogue. I know the heat got to you there. In Mumbai, we did some stuff way outside the bubble, including a tour of the slum and a guruwalk in the Crawford Market area with a train ride (no doors on the trains!) back towards the hotel.
Here's a pic from outside Crawford Market in Mumbai. Besides people, there were, of course, cars and motorcycles working their way through:
BKMD- Wow!!!! Thank you so much for this detailed trip review. After much consideration, we decided to do a few stops in India on a cruise rather than a whole trip. We didn’t think our GERD could withstand 3 weeks of Indian food. So glad we made that decision.
we are going on the Feb 12 POI tour. We have reached out to the Leela and they have been extremely cordial in arranging a few pre tour activities.
Question on Mumbai - we are going to stay an extra day and plan to have dinner at the Indian Accent Restaurant. The hotel quote 8,500 taxi fare each way - this is more than double what Leela Palace quoted. (and equal to cost of the meal). Anyone have any similar experience with the Oberoi transport in Mumbia?
That's about $100 each way, which seems excessive - especially for India. It would seem that there would be a company you could get to chauffer you. Carey Limo is supposed to be international - see if they can do anything for you.
We, too, stayed an extra day on both ends. We had a dinner rez in Mumbai on our last day, also about a 30 min ride from the Oberoi and wound up cancelling it. By that time, we were so sick of all the pollution, traffic, noise, and filth, we didn't want to spend any more time in a cab, so we ate in the hotel.
I thought so, too. Mike, thanks for the Carey suggestion. I checked them and it's $34 per hour plus charge per kilometer, so it's pretty expensive if the driver waits. I'll refine the estimate and see what the final figures look like.
From what I have researched, luxury cars cost in the area of $180 to 200K in India, so I imagine the car people have to recuperate their outlay. I'll have to give it more thought and might ask the hotel if there are other options. otherwise, we might try their sister restaurant in NYC next time we go up there.
we agree. we're going to play it by ear and probably just do a light something in the evening.
Really wanted to get to the Indian Accent for the experience. Next time...
For those of you that arranged a tour through the hotel before the group tour started, what did you see that did not duplicate what Tauck will take you too?
For those of you that arranged a tour through the hotel before the group tour started, what did you see that did not duplicate what Tauck will take you too?
If you do a private tour, you can do whatever you want. What I did was work with the guide to see things that were not on the list of things that tauck had listed as activities. If you go to our blog, and look at the private tour we did, and then what we did with Tauck, you will have some idea. But a private tour is yours to direct.
Comments
Mike - If early means January/February then heat/humidity should be manageable. If early means April/May then you might encounter some tough spots from a heat/humidity perspective.
I'm sure you will be prepared and will thoroughly enjoy the trip.
If this is your first trip to the area then I know you will enjoy Hong Kong and Xi'An. There are so many areas within China that are amazing. If you haven't already visited the other areas you are going to want schedule a return visit after you get a taste on this trip.
Thanks for your note, Smiling Sam. Yes, the trip is in the earlier part of the year, not April/May. I have traveled to China on business but only along the coast (from Beijing to Hong Kong). And when you're on a business trip you don't really see a city or country. I did take a bit of extra time to go to the Great Wall outside Beijing, but that's about it for tourist activity.
I've been to Hong Kong several times. I took an R&R (or vacation time, don't remember) to Hong Kong back in 1970 and even had a suit made while I was there. Flying into Kai Tak airport in a 747 was interesting. You could look out of the plane into windows of tall office buildings.
The political situation between China and the US gives me some concern, but mostly whether the pre-cruise excursion will go or not.
[Also been to Japan a number of times (years ago) and did a bit more tourist stuff there.]
I chose to take the Dharavi tour. It’s a shame that pictures aren’t allowed because it’s so much more than some stock photos that show a slum. The entrepreneurial spirit that is throughout the area is amazing. There are people fixing large electrical appliances for resale, a recycling of cardboard for reuse and sale to shopkeepers to use, several stalls tearing apart large plastic appliances for recycling, other plastic recycling that cleans, dries and chops up plastics for reuse, rather than ending up in a dump, denim reuse, fabric dying using natural dyes, backpack manufacturing and repair, sewing of clothing for sale to other countries. If you order on Amazon for something made in India, it’s a good shot it’s made there. There’s also a school on premise, both grade school and higher education.there was so much more but alas, without photos it’s tough to remember because it was all coming at you at once. I found it to be a fascinating visit.
MS 78. Thank you so much for the description! We did the Spotlight tour so it was not on the tour..
I've seen similar in Namibia and other areas in Africa. One of our memories in India is driving along in the bus and seeing women make ‘bricks’ out of cow poo for fuel.
There is a famous slum city in Africa. Sorry senior moment can’t recall the name, oh Kibera I think. I’ve seen a documentary on it and attended a lecture about it.
We’ve been to many third world countries now and visited communities off the tourist path. Although some people don’t approve of others being ‘ exploited’ the tour guides have always collected money and goods such as cooking oil etc and purchased locally and we present them. I also buy the crafts, some of which are not to my taste or not so good, but I don’t care and it’s more of a proper trade than just giving. It’s a sense of pride.
Another favorite is the discussion group organized between the Masai women and the females in our tour group. We asked questions about their lives and they asked us questions. It was so much more open without men around. This was on our K and T and Rwanda tour and I believe was a new experiment on the behalf of the Tour director I think these things are the differences between some tours that make you see a bit more of the culture.
British, travel for me has always been about learning the culture or way of life beyond a dance presentation or such. I’m really glad I took the time on this journey.
I just got back from this trip and thought I'd add a few comments to this thread.
First the pros:
Tauck did an excellent job. For the most part, we were kept within the "Tauck bubble" and had only short stints seeing the real India.
The TD (Sid) was very good and an Indian native
The hotels are among the best of any hotel on any Tauck trip (14 to date) I've done.
Next, the cons:
People are friendly. Service incredibly polite, but slow with requests politely acknowledged and ignored (eg., asking for coffee 2-3x).
The country overall - yuck. I can understand why so many Indians are in the US and hardly ever go back.
Horrible pollution. In Delhi, the AQI (air quality index) was in the 500 range (anything above 300 is considered hazardous). It was below 100 (unhealthy for sensitive groups) only in Cochin and Kumarakom. I, and others, wore N95 masks most of the trip. My mask turned black and had to be replaced every 2 days.
Filthy dirty, traffic horrendous. The endless horn honking is absurd.
While it's interesting to see, this trip at the bottom of my list. All the northern cities are pretty much the same, once exiting the Tauck bubble, with garbage, fllth and barefoot people everywhere. Beggars using small children as props. Very aggressive "salesmen" who followed the group for long periods of time. I, for one, like to walk and explore. With the exception of Mumbai, all the other hotels are gated. walled compounds isolated from the outside world for good reason.
Regarding weather, we had one day when it rained a little. Temps were very comfortable in the north (high of low 70s and 50s at night). In the south, it was considerably warmer, but less polluted. Temps hit about 90 each day and went down to low 70s at night. Cochin and Kumarakom were extremely humid (80+%) while Mumbai was hot, but drier. Like Mike Henderson, I'm not a fan of hot/humid weather, but I didn't have any problems with it. Dec/Jan tend to be the coolest, but also the most polluted
For those who are concerned about climate change, anything we do is simply pissing into the wind. Countries like India, China and Egypt are simply destroying the planet without regard and any countermeasures we take are negligible.
In summary, India is a truly disgusting place. If you are sensitive to the human condition where people live like animals trying to survive, don't go.
(edoted for typo)
@bkmd - One thing you didn't comment on was the food. What was your opinion of the Indian food you were served.
I had always wanted to see the Taj Mahal and that part of the tour was very good. Also, Varanasi. I'm sorry I didn't take my good camera for that part of the tour. I would have liked to get better pictures of the cremations and the other activities on the Ganges.
For me, the most interesting part of the tour was Delhi, Varanasi, and Agra (the Taj Majal). The least interesting was Kochi.
I meant to comment on the food, but forgot.
I do like Indian food and found it to be excellent, all in the bubble. Speaking of food, in his intro on day 1 and repeated a few times, our TD said, "Don't eat street food. You will die." (seriously, he said that)
I liked Kochi/Cochin. I found the Jewish and Christian influences there interesting to see, especially the synagogue. I know the heat got to you there. In Mumbai, we did some stuff way outside the bubble, including a tour of the slum and a guruwalk in the Crawford Market area with a train ride (no doors on the trains!) back towards the hotel.
Here's a pic from outside Crawford Market in Mumbai. Besides people, there were, of course, cars and motorcycles working their way through:
(again edited for typo - must be jet lag)
BKMD- Wow!!!! Thank you so much for this detailed trip review. After much consideration, we decided to do a few stops in India on a cruise rather than a whole trip. We didn’t think our GERD could withstand 3 weeks of Indian food. So glad we made that decision.
@MotherOfPoodles - You should definitely see the Taj Mahal. That, by itself, was worth the trip. Varanasi was also interesting.
we are going on the Feb 12 POI tour. We have reached out to the Leela and they have been extremely cordial in arranging a few pre tour activities.
Question on Mumbai - we are going to stay an extra day and plan to have dinner at the Indian Accent Restaurant. The hotel quote 8,500 taxi fare each way - this is more than double what Leela Palace quoted. (and equal to cost of the meal). Anyone have any similar experience with the Oberoi transport in Mumbia?
That's about $100 each way, which seems excessive - especially for India. It would seem that there would be a company you could get to chauffer you. Carey Limo is supposed to be international - see if they can do anything for you.
I agree it's excessive.
We, too, stayed an extra day on both ends. We had a dinner rez in Mumbai on our last day, also about a 30 min ride from the Oberoi and wound up cancelling it. By that time, we were so sick of all the pollution, traffic, noise, and filth, we didn't want to spend any more time in a cab, so we ate in the hotel.
I thought so, too. Mike, thanks for the Carey suggestion. I checked them and it's $34 per hour plus charge per kilometer, so it's pretty expensive if the driver waits. I'll refine the estimate and see what the final figures look like.
From what I have researched, luxury cars cost in the area of $180 to 200K in India, so I imagine the car people have to recuperate their outlay. I'll have to give it more thought and might ask the hotel if there are other options. otherwise, we might try their sister restaurant in NYC next time we go up there.
With so much food on Tauck trips, I might want to forego another fancy dinner.
we agree. we're going to play it by ear and probably just do a light something in the evening.
Really wanted to get to the Indian Accent for the experience. Next time...
anitasbooth...you guys start right after we get back
we end our POI trip on February 8th.
For those of you that arranged a tour through the hotel before the group tour started, what did you see that did not duplicate what Tauck will take you too?
If you do a private tour, you can do whatever you want. What I did was work with the guide to see things that were not on the list of things that tauck had listed as activities. If you go to our blog, and look at the private tour we did, and then what we did with Tauck, you will have some idea. But a private tour is yours to direct.
https://www.mikeandjudytravel.com/2024-3India-01.htm
Have you seen the reports of the very most recent pollution in Delhi today, many flights have been cancelled, The density is now 400. Maybe use masks