| Submitted by: Kaye Stott , Australia |
| Submission Date: 04 February 2005 |
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Money and foreign exchange
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Bank rates were as of February 1993, 25 rupees to $US1, black market 31 rupees to $US1.
Banks and money-changing authorities will issue you with receipts of all cash and travellers' cheques changed. Keep these receipts - they will be required when paying for hotels, trains, flights, or for exchanging money for foreign currency when you leave India. Many hotels require foreigners to pay in hard currency (not rupees) unless you can show that your money is exchanged through official channels.
New Delhi airport only has money exchange booths _inside_ the international arrival section. If you pass through immigration and out into the ground transportation area, there is no way to get back in to exchange money. This could result in your having to find a taxi driver willing to take foreign currency, something they would no doubt be happy to do, but only at an exorbitant rate. So be sure not to rush past that exchange booth in your eagerness to get on to your destination.
An alternative is to go to the departure lounge of the domestic airport (nearby), where State Bank exchange booths do exist. So, if you're connecting to a domestic flight you could exchange your money there. Getting there might require you to get cab though and then you are again faced with the problem!.
You should try to ensure that the rupee bills you get are in good shape, i.e. no tears or large ink stamps or corners missing. Damaged notes will be very difficult to spend. However, in most major banks there are separate counters which will accept damaged notes and give you new/better notes for no charge. This may only apply to major cities, as there have been numerous reports of difficulties in exchanging notes, including at the bank branches in the Delhi airport.
You may also experience the perennial problem of 'no change' from Indian shopkeepers. It can be very difficult to get small change, and you should hoard whatever you get, producing it only when necessary.
When leaving India, remember to exchange all rupees back into foreign currency. It is illegal to export rupees. You must do this _before_ going through customs, and you must produce the official receipts at the time.
How much money should you budget? Some people live on $US5 a day; others say that $US100 lasted about 3 weeks. It depends on the quality of hotels you expect to use, the amount of internal flying you want to do, and the number of things you can't resist buying!
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One simple tip: bring a combination lock, a good one. Many of the cheaper hotels don't have locks on their doors, so you need your own. Combination locks are more difficult to jimmy than key locks.
You are recommended to carry as little as possible. This can't be overemphasized. Most guest houses will hook you up with a local laundry person who will take your clothes, beat the tar out of them, and return them clean as a whistle for a low price. So take few articles of clothing, and expect them to receive rough treatment. Carrying a flashlight and mosquito repellent (strong stuff) is also a good idea. Reading material is easy to find in second-hand book vendors in the major towns.
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Don't think of renting a car and driving yourself. Hire a car and a driver, or just take taxis. The rules of the road are very different.
To quote one contributor:
'Speaking of driving in India, my wife and I had several interesting and harrowing experiences with driving in India, while visiting for three weeks in Winter 1990. We discovered some rules of the road:
He who is loudest wins.
Urban traffic in India is a miasma of vehicular and non-vehicular traffic, including such diverse things as cars, semis, motor-rickshaws (three-wheeled taxis), bicycle-rickshaws, motor scooters, elephants, goats, dogs, children, chickens, bearers, push-carts, camels, buses, etc. These things are all moving. If you want to pass anything, honk your horn. Everyone else will start honking too. If you don't have a horn, shout. He who is loudest gets the right-of-way. Everyone else moves over to the left (unless they are in a hurry; everyone in India is in a hurry). If the other vehicles and livestock don't yield to the loudest horn, that vehicle with the right-of-way enters the lane of oncoming traffic and passes those ahead. Especially on a busy street at rush hour.
This especially fun when you are in a flimsy motor-rickshaw, with a semi bearing down on you.
Don't hit the cows.
In addition to the moving traffic, you have a number of stationary targets, er, obstacles, including cows, beggars, street repair crews, double-parked cars and trucks and elephants. You are in the right as long as you don't hit the cows. The cows can be ANYWHERE in the street. Usually they sit on the median, but you can find them sitting in the middle of the road. All traffic flows around the cow. Other animals or people are not so lucky.
All roads shall be repaired once every 20 years, whether they need it or not.
The state of road surfaces in India is a miracle of hand labor. Everything is done by hand, including the removal of old asphalt (burn a fire on top of the road until it gets soft), laying the stone underlayment, mixing concrete (usually right on top of the street), and leveling the surface. The tools are shovels and picks and brooms. This insures that the maximum amount of work for the repair crews. This also insures the maximum amount of disruption of traffic, because the process of resurfacing a stretch of road will take a minimum of five years. When they are done resurfacing, the condition of the road is nearly identical to previous, meaning full of potholes, very uneven, etc. And since most vehicles lack any sort of suspension, a short ride around town is a bone-jarring, exhausting, white-knuckled adventure. The process of building a one mile stretch of new road takes about ten years.'
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The meals on Air India (and for the most part on the domestic Indian Airlines flights) were pretty good and somewhat spicy. Vegetarians will be pleasantly surprised to be offered a no-meat meal as 'standard.'
Always get prepaid taxis at the airport unless you are taking public transport.
There is an Indian Airlines Airpass available for $US400 which entitles you to unlimited flight privileges for 3 weeks. Keep in mind that India is huge in terms of distances so if time is limited and $ not, this is recommendable.
Air reservations: The Indian Air Pass is a good investment provided you can get reservations on the flights you want. The most reliable way to do this is to be completely flexible about your itinerary and get to the Indian Airlines office nearest you upon arrival. If you make reservations in the US before departure, IA may have no records in India. Flying standby is NOT recommended: it creates such pandemonium that someone not versed in the ways of handling it is unlikely to be successful.
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Indian trains are great, and are good value, You can take trains everywhere, going overnight to save on hotel fare. Even travelling first class most of the time is still cheaper than staying in most guest houses and is much more comfortable (and private) than second or third.
Trains in India are very cheap in any case, so you may not want to bother with any kind of pass.
Rail passes may have benefits, though....the 2 month pass is around $300 or so, and while you may not gain much price wise, you are likely to get priority reservations. Most trains in India run at maximum capacity (the supply-demand at work), and getting a reservation is one of the major hassles of domestic travel. It may be that people carrying an INDRAIL pass (which is the equivalent of the EURAIL) get some sort of priority in that each train may have 1 or 2 seats kept aside as a quota to be first given to INDRAIL holders.
There is some debate on whether or not you must buy your INDRAIL pass outside India - some contributors say that they are available at major stations in India, on production of your passport. If you know you want a rail pass, it may be prudent to buy it before you go to India.
The Indrail Pass gives unlimited rail travel within India in the specified time period. It is available to non-Indian citizens as well as Indians residing outside India. It can be purchased through the General Sales Agents (details below), though any competent travel agent should be able to fix you up. It can also be bought from major stations in India. Main plus points include eliminating the need to buy tickets for every trip, though reservations are necessary. There are special reservation quotas on some trains for Indrail holders. It is available in 3 categories: AC, First Class, Second Class. It is not advisable to take the AC pass since not many trains have AC First Class. The First Class pass also covers AC Sleeper and AC Chair Car. GSA details: Hariworld Travel, New York. 212-957-3000 Also in Toronto, 416-366-2000
Fares: AC First Second
1 day 65 29 12 (all in USD)
15 270 135 65
30 410 205 90
90 800 400 175
(Also available for 7,21,60 days. Kids below 12 pay half)
There are also odd rules like a foreigner can buy a pass for his/her spouse. Another plus point is that you can make reservations up to 360 days in advance, i.e. even through your travel agent in the US, though you would have to have the pass in hand before making reservations.
Much useful information about the Pass regulations (in fact, about the Indian Railways as a whole) can be found in 'India by Rail', by Roylston Ellis, published by Bradt Publishers. Some information is also available in 'Eurail Guide' and 'Thomas Cook's Overseas Timetable'
The problem with Indian railways is that it is nearly impossible to get reservations at short notice.Most of the major trains have a quota for tourists (you have to show a foreign passport), but you may have problems using this quota at stations in small cities (e.g. Varanasi). These quotas generate revenue for ticket clerks and on-train ticket inspectors! Be prepared to fight, bribe, and bully your way onto trains!
One thing to remember is: make reservations for all your journeys. They are not easy to do, take time, and availability is always limited. |
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| Copyright © - "Kaye Stott" |
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