Je vous parle et reparle encore du site de couch-surfing qui est pour moi un mine d'or. Ce site me sert non seulement à trouver un hébergement au sein de la population indienne mais aussi à récolter un maximum d'information sur leur pays. Les échanges par écrit sont toujours très chaleureux et me donnent vraiment hâte d'y être!
C'est donc sur ce site que j'ai pu entrer en contact avec de nombreux indiens, dont Harshit qui m'écrit le mail suivant (avis aux anglophones!):
"I am not sure what advice to give you. But since you are gonna be here for 5 months, i would strongly recommend you get a phone for yourself as soon as possible once you get here. You can get your own phone from Canada and just buy a new SIM card (connection) here which is really cheap, some companies even give free connection (trust nokia phones to be compatible everywhere, personal experience). If you cannot put a indian SIM in your canadian phone, you can buy a new phone with connection at like $30.
I once explained a couchsurfer about indian railways. I am just attaching that text below this letter. Though there are special schemes for foreign tourists but they are a bit expensive to continue traveling for 5 months. However, they are pretty convenient too.
September is still gonna be pretty hot and it's gonna get very cold by december (nowhere as close to canadian cold though!:) So you should get appropriate clothing.
There is a long list of places I can suggest for you to travel. India is vast and very diverse! But you can choose the destinations that fascinate you most.
Feel free to ask if you need any help.
I hope you have a great time here and find all that you are looking forward to and more!
Cheers,
Harshit
Attached letter:
This is the website of Indian Railways: http://www.indianrail.gov.in/dont_Know_Station_Code.html
Every station has a station code. Example: New Delhi is NDLS and Varanasi is BSB. Also to reach a city you can get a train to a nearby station as well. Example: Varanasi station(BSB) and Mughal Sarai Station(MGS) are quite nearby. You can choose train to whichever station that suits your schedule. Also Delhi has I believe atleast 3 nearby stations. All the information about station codes and stations is on the website.
You should book your tickets well in advance because they get reserved very soon. Booking for a train opens 90days before your date of traveling. Check the availability on trains from the website that I told you. Also there is a "TATKAL QUOTA" for booking tickets just 3 days before your travel.
Trains with train numbers starting from "2" are superfast trains and mostly run on time. Always prefer getting a ticket on a superfast train other trains might really run very late. This website: http://www.trainenquiry.com/indexNS.aspx gives you the current running status of your train. You should check this on the day of your travel to find if your train is late or not.
After you have gone through the Indian Railways website and chosen appropriate train for yourself, you can make the ticket booking at: http://irctc.co.in/ with your credit card. Another website for booking tickets is: www.makemytrip.com"
Je me suis permise de copier son mail ici, parce que je pense que ces informations sont très pertinentes et qu'elles pourraient sans doute être utiles pour d'autres voyageurs désirant se rendre en Inde par leurs propres moyens (notamment concernant les réservations pour le train).
Je communique aussi très régulièrement avec Harman (il fait même parti de mes amis facebook!), qui me fait découvrir sa culture. Je ne sais pas si l'image que je me fais de l'Inde est réaliste. J'ai l'impression qu'on nous a toujours décrit l'Inde comme étant très pauvre mais avec de grands contrastes. D'après moi, les indiens avec qui je communique sont plutôt issus d'un milieu très favorable. La plupart de ceux inscrits sur le site de couch-surfing ont déjà quitté le pays pour aller voyager.
J'ai hâte de pouvoir les rencontrer pour connaitre leurs expériences.
J-60!!!!!!!!!!!! J'ai bien trop hâte!
