Planning Phase - Asia: Extending India and Consequences

I picked up a book from when my brother was getting ready to volunteer for the UN in India. The thing is that India has a lot to offer that much of the rest of Asian countries don’t. Originally, especially after I decided not to go to Hampi, India was just gonna be a stop over. A week tops. There’s supposed to be a route that goes straight from the Ganges to Nepal.



I was even considering not going to see the Taj Majal and going straight from the Ganges. But reading the book, I got interested in Kaziranga National Park (where you can ride elephants!) and Udaipur which is a city built in a lake and Jaisalmer which is a desert where you can ride camels. India is the farthest west I’ll be going so it might be the only country I’ll be going to that has a desert! Plus, if I do all of that, I might as well go and see what all the fuss about Goa is.



I’m beginning to think that I’ll be spending a lot more than just 3 months on this trip. Trek to base camp in Nepal alone is 16 days. Going around in Nepal, maybe a few more days. If I do all that stuff in India, I might spend three weeks there including travel time and about a week in Goa if Nick decides to come with me.



That would leave me with just one and a half months to go from Vietnam, passing 4 to 6 other countries to get to India traveling by road which takes really long in itself. Not to mention HK and maybe Macau. Assuming I divide it equally, that’s less than a week per country! I wanted to spend some time climbing in Krabi (Thailand) pa naman. One and a half weeks minimum if I’m in shape (which I plan to be).



Honestly though, I’m not that interested in going to the beach since the Philippines has beautiful beaches.



I am excited to report, though, that I’m taking pledges as early as (too early) now! Nick wants to go to Goa with me and I’m trying to get Geric to visit me in Thailand. Maybe I can talk to Nic Co about meeting me in HK.



I also mentioned Malaysia to Migoy in passing. I probably won’t go there anymore though since I’ve been there and, though I didn’t do much, I’m under time and budget constraints.



I would like to keep Nepal for myself though. I didn’t realize it until earlier but when my parents told me to ask the Kaya ng Pinoy guys about Everest base camp (maybe they wanted to go with me), I cringed. It seems like something I should do alone, like a pilgrimage.