India

Rough Guide:India is probably the most difficult country for travel and cycle! Large, populated cities, with extreme pollution, poverty and traffic. Corrupt police and government officials looking for bribes. The list can go on and on. However the culture is fascinating! Hindu Sadhus walk the busy streets bare foot, while buses dodge rouge holy cows. On the streets in India anything and everything goes! Prices are cheap but hygiene is very poor, if this is your first visit to India expect to get the “Delhi Belly”. I enjoyed spending time in the Sikh state of Punjab where devote travelers can stay in Gurdwara’s (Sikh Ashrams) free of charge. The mountainous states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand were better for cycling, and offered good wild camping locations. As touristic as i was I loved visiting Dharamshala, and could easily have spent a whole month there meditating and practicing yoga. I wish however that I could say the same of Rishikesh, Uttarakhand which I found to be more centered around making money than teaching, spirituality and yoga. If you can travel/cycle in India you will have no problems with a majority of other countries.