India
Overview
Dates: Oct 12th-Oct 21st, 2026
Locations: Bengaluru, Jaipur, and Delhi
India is a supremely beautiful place, with some challenges that might surprise a Westerner. I personally loved my time there, and eagerly await a return trip! I hope you will love it too.
Some general notes:
- Traffic throughout SouthEast Asia is bananas. The lanes and direction of traffic are mere suggestions. Don’t try to understand it. If you need to cross the street, try to walk behind locals so you can borrow their instincts.
- Agree to a price before you get in a vehicle, and be ready for attempts to squeeze more out of you :) Common attempts include “I dont’ have change” “the original price didn’t include [gas, your bag, etc]”. It’s fair to not want to be taken advantage of, but remember that what you might be haggling for is ~$1. I personally go in expecting that someone won’t want to break 500 rupees, so if I dont’ have exact change myself, I just give the full 500.
- When shopping, if someone starts showing you stuff that’s WAY different from what you asked for, they are telling you they don’t have what you want. Example: I was asking for a specific brown kurta with a specific neckline pattern. They pulled two brown ones, neither of which were the right size, and then the third one they pulled was bright blue. This was the signal that I should give up and graciously leave.
- A LOT of business in India is managed by “mouth publicity” - if you get connected to good people with good vibes, their network is likely to also be good with good vibes. Just roll with it. Everyone is helping each other out, and trying to keep you happy too. It’s not a scam if you get passed to another person! It’s community :)
- There’s a LOT of trash around. This can maybe feel jarring to Westerners? It didn’t bother me at all, but I feel like I have to mention it.
Bengaluru
I was traveling for work, so I’m not sure if I would have chosen this as a destination, but it turns out to be a really lovely place to get introduced to India. It has 80% of the charm, with only 20% of the bummer aspects of India.
Things I loved:
Shopping on Commercial Street.
A mix of really nice boutiques and open air markets, so there’s something for every budget.
Mysore Saree Udyog
A MASSIVE building with approximately 10,000 different fabrics, each exquisitely beautiful. You can get measured for custom clothing here, which was a lovely experience. I haven’t received my garments yet, but I’ll try to remember to update this blog post when I do!
Farmlore
An unbelievably decadent local food experience that is absolutely not to be missed. Not only is the food phenomenally delicious, but the farm is gorgeous and the experience is top notch. Worth every penny.
Mysuru
We also took the ~3hr drive to Mysuru, because it’s one of the only day trips to cool architecture that you can do from Bengaluru. We hired a local driver, who I can highly recommend: Abu +91 99456 82370, who we connected with via Tanvir, also recommended: +91 99450 66060
Mysuru palace was beautiful - in general at sites and temples in India, you take off your shoes. We got lunch at the Parklane hotel. I can highly recommend everything there, but especially the curd rice (just make sure they don’t mix it with water), and the salt lime drink. Phenomenal!!
Then, we wandered around doing some shopping, which was lovely. I can recommend a few shops for brass items (see the map). We also got recruited to the government run silk emporium. For some reason, even the guidebooks recommend these places. While I’m happy with what I bought here, I found the quality to be lower and the prices to be significantly higher than everywhere else we went, and don’t recommend these!
Jaipur
Jaipur was my favourite place I visited. The vibes were immaculate: it’s rare to go to a place where people are cheerful, helpful, kind, and thoughtful even to random visitors. I’ve really only visited three places like this in my life: Thailand, Bali, and now India. Immediately jumped to my top 5 favourite countries ever.
Highlights:
Food tour.
We ended up walking all over the old city, seeing a bunch of artisans, and eating some of the best food I’ve had in my life. HIGHLY recommend, especially for your first day in a new place. I hired through GetYourGuides, but I’d recommend my guide specifically: Mr. Kumar +91 94134 76369. He had so much knowledge about the process behind things - either the artistic proces, the cultural background, or the science. I felt like I learned a massive amount and really enjoyed my time. Also, GREAT shopping.
Panna Menna ka Kund.
You know how sometimes a place just absolutely takes your breath away? This stepwell did that for me. I went back TWICE, and genuinely considered returning a third time. Something about this place just caught my imagination and wouldn’t let me go!
Galta Ji temple.
All the postcard pictures have water, and just note that if you go in the dry season, the bottom pools will be empty. But - it’s still a beautiful place. I was lucky to be there in the mornig, when the light was perfect, and there was a lot of activity happening. The water is holy and washes away your sins (no pictures, for obvious reasons).
Places I thought were overrated: Hawa Mahal, Jal Mahal, Red Fort (but I admit I didn’t go inside any of them).
Delhi
Still really nice, but very different vibes. Got that big city atmosphere. Immediately put me more on my guard. I also completely didn’t have service in Old Delhi, which really stressed me out. I definitely recommend the area I stayed: Connaught Place. Walkable to a bunch of sites (including the Red Fort), great shopping, and fantastic restaurants.
Highlights
Agrasen ki Baoli
Another stepwell. I cannot get enough of these.
Red Fort
It takes some really unique architecture to wow me, but this was very pretty. Not sure I’d go again. Really cool museum about Subhash Chandra Bose - an important freedom fighter for Indian independence. Also passed this insanely detailed carved building wandering around in Old Delhi.
Tulip Overseas - Statue store
The most gorgeously detailed and beautiful statues. From the extremely teeny (but still lovely) to museum-grade pieces sourced from Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, India, etc. I spent multiple hours here. Absolutely do not miss, if you are interested in statues.
Government emporiums
Unlike the silk emporium in Mysuru, this place seemed legit, and had decent prices for really nice stuff. Everything from a massive teak and sterling silver bench for over $100,000 to sandalwood prayer beads for $20. I found a bunch of gorgeous gifts here. Really bizarre vibes, but definitely worth going. Evidently they have different themed ones for different areas, so could be worth checking out a few more.
Holiday
I got super lucky, and happened to be in India for the Navratri festival - a celebration of the triumph of good over evil. The last day (Dussehra) happened to be my last night in Delhi, so of course I had to attend a celebration. I went to a huge park, and got to appreciate the carnival rides, the dance show, and the burning of the effigies.
