India

Yesterday, I was trying to decide whether we should cancel the India/Nepal leg of our trip and instead see Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Singapore (collectively known as the Malay Archipelago).  After doing some research on Indonesia and Malaysia (I already know a bit about the Philippines and Singapore), I decided that the better idea would be to stick with the India/Nepal plan, for two main reasons: I've heard much more good things about India and Nepal than the Malay Archipelago, and, well, India/Nepal was my original plan, and I tend to stick with my plans - even tentative ones - unless I have good reason to change them.  Since the vacation value of India and Nepal vs the Malay Archipelago seems to be a wash, I am sticking with India and Nepal.

So, I have narrowed the countries we will visit down to India/Nepal and Thailand/Cambodia/Laos/Vietnam (which will be referred to as the SE Asian Mainland from here on), and since India is such a vast country, it seems logical to allocate two months to India/Nepal and two months to the SE Asian Mainland.

The trip is scheduled to begin on the first of March, and assuming we are able to get our Indian visas in Bangkok in a week, we should be in India by March the 10th, which is a week before Holi.  If we spend 5 weeks in India, we will arrive in Nepal towards the end of April, which is a great time for hiking the Himalayas, as temperatures are relatively warm and everything is in full bloom.  That will give us three weeks in Nepal, which is just enough time to complete either the Mt Everest Base Camp hike or the Annapurna Circuit hike.  More on that below.

Edit: It looks like Holi begins on March 1 this year, so we may be starting the trip a week early.  It will cost me $1.5k to lose that week of work, but Holi seems like something that is not to be missed.

That said, here is a preliminary list of places I'd like to go in India:

• Darjeeling
• Kolkata
• Varanasi
• Goa
• Mumbai
• The Golden Temple at Amritsar (Next to Chandigarh, but closer to the Pakistani border)
• Delhi
• The Taj Majal at Agra
• Jammu and Kashmir, specifically Ladakh, which is the much safer eastern portion of the state.  However, this is contingent on both stable Indian/Pakistani/Chinese politics as well as advice given to us from other travelers in India.
• Teh Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya, which is where Buddha attained enlightenment (between Kolkata and Varanasi).

This is a dynamic list - it can (and almost certainly will) change, depending on a variety of factors.  It is likely that once we are actually in India, we will receive many recommendations from more experienced travelers and will modify our plans accordingly, but I think it is a good idea to have at least a vague notion of what one wants to do when traveling in strange lands before one arrives there.  It is easier to build a framework when time is plentiful, and to modify it as necessary when time is short, than it is to start with nothing and plan the trip from scratch upon arrival.  Others may disagree, and if I did not have 12 hours of time to surf the internet every day, I would probably not do nearly as much research as I am doing, but I need a way to pass the time, and reddit has gotten old.

Anyways, what I'm trying to do is determine the best point of entry and basic route to see these things.  Should we start at Varanasi or Darjeeling for Holi, stay a few days in Kolkata, head to Goa, head back up the northwest cost to Mumbai, northeast to the Golden Temple at Amritsar (possibly further into Ladakh) before crossing the border into Nepal?  

Edit: Alternatively, we could just fly into Goa, which is somewhat of a mecca for backpackers in India, and decide where we want to go from there based on what we find from talking to people.  Holi isn't such a big deal in Goa, so we'd miss out on that, but we could circle back and see Varanasi and/or Darjeeling before heading into Nepal if we want to.  

Also, there's the possibility that we see mainland SE Asia first, and do India/Nepal second.  Either way, we're going to be hot in June and July.

Decisions, decisions...

Blog Title?

For those of you who are not familiar with my plan to conquer the world, my next goal to that end consists of a four month trek through Asia.  This trek will begin on the first of March, and if everything goes as planned, it will take us from the southern tip of India to Nepal, possibly through Myanmar, down into Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos, and if we have time, into China and Mongolia.  I say 'we' because I will be flying my little brother, Ryan Whitehead, into asia, and we will be doing this together. 

Now, a trip such as this requires a lot of planning to get things right, and I decided that a good format for said planning would be that of a blog for three main reasons: it's easy, anyone can read a blog, and visitors can leave comments on the posted articles.  The latter reason ties into why I am creating my travel blog two months early: my brother and I need a place to collaborate on the trip, and a blog serves that function perfectly.

While attempting to create a general outline of the trip, I will be posting articles on possible landmarks to visit, routes to take, and preparations to be made, and any and all suggestions will be duly noted and appreciated.  If you have some experience with traveling, or if you have been to any of the countries we are planning on traveling through, or you have some general recommendations on travel, feel free to post your suggestion/recommendation as a comment.

To this end, I have made commenting as easy as possible - anonymous comments are allowed, and no login is required to do so.  Even if you just want to suggest a place we should visit, no matter how obscure, if it is in one of the countries we are traveling through, please post your suggestion.  Some of the countries we will be visiting are immense, and it is often the places which are overlooked by tourists (and thus touring websites) which are the most awesome.  Besides, everyone's seen the Taj Mahal, but how many people have been to the birthplace of Buddha or the island where The Beach was filmed? The information on India alone is enormous, as is China, and that's only two of 9 countries.

I simply do not have the willpower to find all of the cool things to see in all of these countries, nor do I remember all of the interesting things that I have stumbled across on the internet - but you might.  If you remember something interesting in one of these countries that you would like to see one day (or you think that I would like to see), by all means, please, make a suggestion, and if it can be integrated into our trip, we will probably go there. 

Note that I am not creating a strict timetable/route plan for this trip, because on trips like this, plans change, and restricting spontaneity for the sake of sticking with a plan usually leads to regret.  However, when undertaking a trip as gargantuan as this one will be, it is foolish to do so without having at least a general idea of where we are going, which order of visitation would be the most efficient, and what preparations need to be made for travel in each country.  There are literally thousands of points of interest in these countries, and the best way to see the best of the best is to have a general plan of what we want to see, and in which order we are want to see them.

Also: any suggestions for a blog title?  I found a good url, but I'm not so sure about the title... ;)

Update: After thinking about this for half a minute, I came to the conclusion that traveling nine countries in 4 months is nuts, so the new goal is India, Nepal, and mainland SE Asia (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam), and anything beyond that is icing on the cake.