India Tourist Visa On Arrival: Fast and Easy

There are three things that surprisingly impressed me about modern India.  First is the tourist visa on arrival facility for passport holders from Asian countries which include the Philippines, Cambodia, Japan, Myanmar, Laos, Singapore and Vietnam. This visa facility is available at the airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.  I arrived in Delhi and as a Philippine passport holder I took advantage of this tourist visa on arrival system.

 It was fast and easy and took no more than 30 minutes and was granted a 30 day single entry tourist visa. I had to accomplish the application form, provide a passport size picture, a copy of first page of my passport and pay the fee of US$60.  Of course, I also had to show proof of my outbound ticket from India and booking for my accommodations in Delhi.  You can also apply for a tourist visa in Manila at a slightly cheaper rate of US$49 but that is a more tedious process with more documentation requirements, and requires you to file the visa application at the processing office in Makati.

Second thing that was impressive is the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.  This airport is  new and modern and is a striking contrast to the chaos and filth that are a common feature of many places in Delhi.

This airport has a fast train shuttle that will bring you to Central Delhi.  This is the third impressive thing in Delhi.  The airport train is new, clean, fast and efficient.  It is in fact surprisingly better than the airport shuttle of Bangkok.

These three things are bright spots for tourism in India.  If only, India was less chaotic, cleaner, and scam free, then a vacation there would truly be magical and great!

Passage to India

My worst experience in land travel was my train ride to travel around India. The train stations in the bigger cities like Delhi and Jodhpur were hard to navigate as there are no escalators or elevators to go from one ramp to the other to get to the ramp designated for your train.  This is especially difficult if you are carrying heavy luggage.

And the conditions at the train stations were also worst than I had expected. Since the train is the most popular and cheapest way to travel in India, there are always big crowds in the train station.  Aggravating the crowded condition are people who appear to have made the station their home. And at the parking area of the Agra station, I smelled the worst stench ever, probably a combination of feces, rotten food, and urine.

We were booked in airconditioned sleeper cars. The accommodations were fine, strong airconditioning and relatively clean beds by Indian standards.  Pillows and blankets are provided. I got the lower berth since most of our train bookings were day trips. However, the locals occupy your assigned berth sharing it  with you  without even asking your permission.  And they do not even tell you that the bed can actually be converted into a chair for a more comfortable train ride if you opt to sit instead of lie down on the bed.

All of our train rides were also delayed by at least 2 hours.  Even if I spent only around US$50 for 4 train tickets (Delhi to Jaipur to Jodhpur to Agra to Delhi), it is one train ride that I will never do again.

For people who want to experience  the train as your Passage to India, you can book online and pay using your credit card thru the website:  www.cleartrip.com/train