With alcohol in India it is more complicated, unlike Nepal. It can be found only in bars-restaurants, but not in all, and also in rare specialized stores. Some varieties of Indian beer are quite good; you will also find licensed beer of excellent quality. To while away long journeys across vast territories, I recommend buying local whiskey, which is very convenient to mix with cold cola, sold on every corner. Whiskey is cheap – about $7 per liter – and although it is inferior to Scottish, it is still quite acceptable. The long British rule obviously makes itself felt. Among the wide whiskey assortment, the Indian Back kiper is held in high regard, and in Nepal – local Everest.
With food everything is simple. First, do not look for supermarkets where you can stock up without risking poisoning. They simply do not exist in India. I recommend eating local food (you will get enough of lard at home). At first, you should warn them to prepare dishes "not spicy". And after a week or two, you will without coercion understand all the charm of Indian spices and will, like us, ask for more heat – for some reason in the heat such food invigorates and is much tastier than the bland European-style food.
For many, the main factor holding back from traveling to India and Nepal is the rumor of the extreme uncleanliness of the local population. And when my acquaintances look at photographs taken during the trip, they are horrified by the unsanitary conditions of life there. I have to explain: all this has its own explanation, and in those conditions it can hardly be otherwise. In my humble opinion, Indians are just as clean as sanctimonious Europeans. It is just that in such a huge and by no means rich country with strong traditions formed hundreds of years ago, it is difficult to build thousands of sterile toilets. And it is not necessary, since in most Indian cities the sewerage is open. That is, all the filth flows in gutters along the sides of streets. Any passerby in the most crowded place can simply approach such a ditch, relieve himself without causing public censure, and go about his business. Over time, you get used to such scenes and understand that there is no problem as such.
Yes, it is very dusty everywhere, but in such heat and with such a crowd of people, it is unrealistic to maintain everything in a sterile state. But in all cafes there are washbasins, and Indians actively use them. After eating they always clean their teeth (at least with a finger, without toothpaste). And if a group of Europeans can easily afford to drink water from one bottle, putting their mouths to the neck, then Indians do not stoop to such savagery. They drink without touching the bottle. More than once I had to observe the thorough water procedures of the poorest Indians, whose entire property is what they are wearing.
By the way, half of the country's citizens are homeless. Cycle rickshaw drivers sleep in their vehicles, construction workers and seasonal workers simply on the streets. In Nepal, I met a young couple from Israel who had traveled around India for six months. In particular, they had visited the grand gathering of Indian yogis – Kumbh Mela, which takes place every three years. It is a grand get-together attended by up to 50 million (!) people. All these people somehow incredibly fit into one city and celebrate and stroll for a whole month. The state gives every support to this representative gathering. In particular, four tons of hashish are delivered to the festival at state expense. I asked the Israeli travelers if it was obviously a very dangerous undertaking to visit such a multi-million gathering. They assured me that throughout the festival the city maintained exemplary order and cleanliness, with thousands, if not millions, of volunteers working. At the same time, I sadly recalled Ukrainian rock festivals, where troops are deployed as if to a war zone, which, however, does not protect against drunks, the antics of boors, and pickpockets.
Much that is wild by European standards, over time you begin to take for granted. The only thing I never managed to get used to, and which sometimes heavily weighed on my psyche, was the crush of people anywhere and everywhere. Getting to Nepal, we rode the bus for a day. And all the way we watched villages and towns flowing one into another, and the roadsides were lined with container houses. They stretch for kilometers, and it is hard to imagine that in each such apartment, not much different in size from a container, lives a large family. Moreover, the front part of the residential container serves as a store during the day. After two weeks of wandering through India, I craved solitude. And we set off to Nepal, hoping to hide in the Himalayas from such dear, but so numerous Indians.
The first impression of Nepal: the country is much cleaner, more Europeanized, and richer. In reality, it is not so. Nepal, unlike industrial, rapidly developing India, is surprisingly poor. Buddhism prevails here, which, however, from the point of view of the uninitiated, is very close to Hinduism. The people are extremely hardworking, hospitable, and not greedy, despite total poverty. At times, you get the impression that these people completely lack the sense of private property that Western capitalism has been driving into the minds of citizens from an early age.
In recent years, the number of tourists in Nepal has sharply declined. The reason was the increasingly frequent press reports about the permanent civil war. Indeed, in the Kingdom of Nepal, Maoist partisans have proliferated. They largely control the country, so there are military posts everywhere on the roads. Local residents have to leave the bus every time for a visual check for any involvement in the partisan movement.
After several days spent in the very exotic Kathmandu – the capital of the Kingdom – we set off for Pokhara, the second-largest city, from which one prepares to climb Annapurna, a majestic mountain range that is second in height only to the top of the world, Everest. The Annapurna area is controlled by partisans; royal troops merely patrol the jungle by helicopter, searching for rebels. Foreigners are increasingly reluctant to go to Annapurna, fearing they will fall victim to terrorists.
In reality, there is no danger other than financial. When they meet tourists, partisans charge them a fee for being on partisan territory – about $15 per person. In this case, a certificate is issued without fail, which must be shown when encountering another partisan unit. Thus, you will not have to pay multiple times. As for us, we spent several days climbing the mountains around Pokhara with impunity and never met a single living partisan. But we were lucky to save a considerable amount of money thanks to the fears of Western tourists. The thing is that numerous Nepalese hotels are now half-empty. Hence, prices in them have fallen to an inconceivable level. For $1.5, we stayed in a luxurious room with hot water on the lake shore. In India, for that money, you can expect at best a cot without bedding in a cheap hostel.
But low prices are not Nepal's main attraction. Here you have the most beautiful and highest mountains in the world. And also the Buddhist spirit, which everyone for some reason seeks in Lhasa, which is not only time-consuming but also expensive to reach. Moreover, the capital of Tibet is under the control of the Chinese, which, in the opinion of experienced travelers, has largely emasculated the Tibetan spirit. We spent a week on the top of Mount Panchase in a small village without electricity and did not want to leave. Unique people, a fabulously beautiful place – I strongly recommend visiting it.
One could write endlessly about Nepal and India, so interesting and diverse they are. A month or a year would not be enough to see, feel, and get to know them. That is what many people told me who have traveled there for a long time, sometimes for years. Isn't this proof that you should go there at least once… and fall in love forever.