1. When did you first visit the Indian Subcontinent?
The first trip was the classic tour through Rajasthan in 2011.
2. How many trips have Greaves arranged for you?
We have booked four trips in total between 2011 and 2023.
The first trip was in 2011 and followed the more traditional golden triangle route, with Jodhpur & the Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur at the end. This was mainly done by road, a train journey and one internal flight back to Delhi,.
The second trip was more adventurous in the we visited Amritsar, Varanasi, Shimla and Rishikesh. Visiting the ghats on the Ganges at Varanasi could be challenging for some people by getting so close to the cremations on the riverbank but I found the experience to be very moving.
The third trip organised by Greaves was predominantly spent in Bhutan which was fascinating and visually stunning.
Trip four at the end of 2023 was an extensive tour from east to west across southern India from Chennai and Pondicherry through the hillsides and tea plantations then on to Kochi and a trip to the backwaters in Kerala on a houseboat.
3. Do you have a favourite region in India?
We have enjoyed all of the trips as the cities, landscape, food and people are different in each of the tours we have experienced. Our introduction to India was our trip through Rajasthan and the sheer number of temples and palaces on the tour was breathtaking and most of the hotels we stayed in were converted palaces so amazingly grand. I would probably recommend that type of trip to someone travelling to India for the first time.
4. Which hotel or has left a lasting impression on you?
I think the RAAS Devigarh, Delwara was the most exotic place we have stayed as it was a bit like how I imagined Gormenghast in in the book by Mervyn Peake. The experienced was enhanced by the fact that we were put in the honeymoon suite.
5. What is it that keeps drawing you back to India?
There is so much to explore which is obvious when you consider India as a continent rather just a country. The culture and history are fascinating but the contradiction of the relationships between the historic wealth from the era of the maharajas, the poverty but industry of many of the population and the emerging new dynamic India is very interesting.
6. Which items can you not do without on your travels.
On our most recent trip Greaves supplied a wifi dongle which was fantastic so we were able to use our phones without incurring huge roaming charges and I was able to upload the photographs I was taking daily to the Cloud.
7. Which camera is your favourite to travel with?
I have been a fan of Nikon cameras for years so have gone through a number of digital SLR’s. Just before the trip at the end of 2023 I upgraded to a mirrorless camera.
As India is so photogenic it is very easy to take hundreds of photographs every day so include spare batteries. I managed to arrive at the Taj Mahal with a camera battery in the red zone so had to default to my habits of 40 years ago when I used film of making every shot count. I still managed to get a good record of the Taj and managed to actually look at the Taj as well.
India can be very dusty so if you are using a DSLR and change lenses it is easy to contaminate mirrors and sensors so consider buying a lens (24-200mm) which stays on the camera. Also carry a kit for cleaning the camera if you do get dust inside to avoid spoiling shots. Before my first trip to India in Rajasthan I had camera settings which boosted the colour intensity but after the first days I had to turn the settings down as the colours were so vibrant. Many historic sites require a photo licence but the local guides, provided by Greaves, purchased the licences and entry tickets.
8. Which destinations within the Subcontinent are on your bucket list?
We would love to visit Ladakh and tour Kasmir and we still haven’t been to Mumbai.
9. Do you have any favourite dishes that you love to eat whilst in India?
We always stick to a vegetarian diet when we are in India so breakfast of a dhosa with a vegetable curry and lentil dal makhani accompanied by naan or paratha.
10. Do you have any advice for people who are intimidated, or nervous by the idea of travelling to India?
Some people are intimidated by the thought of travelling in India but we found people to be friendly and pleased to see us even in the more rural locations and we felt safe to explore. A major concern for travellers from the UK is getting ill. Over our four 2-3 week trips we did not get ill once by sticking to a few simple rules – no ice cubes, no salads, vegetarian foodstuffs, sealed bottles of water and a daily probiotic tablet every day.
All images have been taken and belong to Mr Hindle.
