India Pictures
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Encounters Travel is a small-group adventure tour operator offering lively, good value India Tours, such as Indian Express's highlights, Indian Spice including Amritsar and Dharamsala, Temples and Palaces including Varanasi and Khajuraho and the amazing Rajasthan Explorer! |
The Taj Mahal at dawn, Agra, Uttar Pradesh state, India.
Click on any of these images to see a collection of photos of that area.
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India tourism offers the traveller an amazing, chaotic kaleidoscope of culture, colour, spirituality and claustrophobic insanity.
Must-see tourist attractions in India (aka Indien, Inde) range from the Taj in Agra to the forts, palaces and moustachioed men of India's prime tourist state - Rajasthan, naughty but nice temples in Khajuraho, pilgrims bathing in the Ganges River at Varanasi, wandering cows on hectic roads, bizarre sadhus, vermilion saris, medieval silver jewellery, snake charmers, wild wedding parties, hilarious head waggles and much, much more.
India's beaches, big and small, crowded and tranquil, but mostly in Goa.
Beaches goa on for ever, towns are crazed but absorbing (absorbing too many people on the whole!) and Indian festivals - of which there are a staggering number - are mind-boggling.
India is generally safe, low cost, has fine weather if you go to the right place at the right time and is populated by relaxed, amiable people, though rather too many of them.
Downsides: Amitabh Kant, Indian tourist officer said this: 'We have hoardings obscuring heritage sites, we have terrible roads, we have sewage and solid waste problems. And we have some of the lousiest airports in the world.'
On the other hand, a vehicle with English-speaking driver will cost not much more than a normal self-drive car, so spoil yourself, get a chauffeur!
Here are some more pictures of India's best tourism places...
The Amber Fort, Jaipur, Rajasthan state, under seige by tour elephants.
More Rajasthan travel photos: Udaipur, Jaipur, Pushkar, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer.
Rajasthan is quintessential India, priority viewing, a magical, historical region the size of France loaded with extraordinary forts, extravagant Rajasthani palaces, monster moustaches, red saris, orange turbans, yellow deserts, blue homes, camel and elephant transport systems, fantastic shopping created by artisans imported by Rajput princes and amazing bedrooms owned by the same royalty but occupied now by tourists.
Delhi Pictures: capital of India. Yes, there are some great sights there, along with people!
India's capital city, Delhi, is maddening, chaotic, polluted and crowded, but - unlike Mumbai - also offers the resilient tourist a good variety of places to visit and tranquil spaces.
The most congested but lively and colourful part of the city is Old Delhi, particularly around Chandni Chowk bazaar area, while just southwest of there is the more spacious and British colonial section of New Delhi, with plenty of attractions.
New Delhi is officially the name of the capital of India but few people aside from bureaucrats (who are not, let's face it, really people), take any notice of the prefix.
Kerala Pictures: Kerala state, quietly luscious.
Boating on the Kerala backwaters is one of the most relaxing and delightful activities a tourist can enjoy during an India travel experience.
The backwaters are a series of calm natural lagoons and lakes, partially salty, that have been connected by canals to form a waterway stretching hundreds of kilomtres along half of Kerala's length. On either side of the backwaters rural Indian life drifts quietly on, fishing, duck, coconut and coir farming, while foreign travellers chug by.
You looking at me? Yup, I guess we are. Hampi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka state.
Hampi village is situated inside the extensive, monumental ruins of the capital city of the Vijayanagara empire which controlled much of southern India from 1336 to 1646.
This is a little-visited UNESCO World Heritage Site, a delightful change from most of the historical India tourism, a place where wandering in calm contemplation is actually possible (apart from affluent begging kids!).
Try that in Agra, Jaipur, or Varanasi!
Khajuraho erotic temples, a green and remote, UNESCO World Heritage Site in Madhya Pradesh state.
Khajuraho village is a bit off the beaten track but well worth a trek 600 kms (385 miles) south-east of Delhi. It's a magnificently calm UNESCO World Heritage Site of gorgeously proportioned and fascinating Hindu and Jain temples.
Khajuraho temples were built around 1,000 AD and 25 remain out of 80 - many were destroyed by Muslim invaders in later years - in an area of 21 sq kms (8 sq miles).
Varanasi Pictures: Varanasi, washing and watching in and on the Ganges River, Uttar Pradesh state.
Varanasi, also known as Benares, is one of India's holiest cities and the one hundred ghats stepping down to the River Ganges are loaded with temples (in some cases overloaded as they are sinking into the river) venerated by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains and visited by 1,000,000 pilgrims a year.
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