Thanks Himal. Yesss… very similar. Both are a wonderful adventure– although I do find Nepal a bit more laid back than India. 😉

This reply honestly doesn’t help our reputation – especially since it seems you are a woman yourself. She has already taken quite a positive side to our cultural differences from the West.

And in that, single travelling girls who are having an adventure dont really fit into the culture, so that is one reason there is some difficulty.. seeing a lone girl wandering around just looks totally strange in indian culture!!!! Indian Girls are always surrounded by family.

A cultured girl is one who is taken care of in every part of her life. She does not take on many stresses that men do. She does not talk to men outside of the family

An independant girl who talks to any man is considered uncultured, and this sometimes equated to a prostitute. Also western girls have a got a bit of a bad reputation because of movies. Western girls are known to have many boyfriends and be loose because of the image given in movies(which is actually a realistic picture…) My husband told me that, who is Indian

Anyways if you have people with you then there is no problem or awkwardness

@Leela Yes, western culture is much different in attitude when it comes to speaking up. I’ve always found women and families in a lot of places as more protective of women.

I forgot to touch upon the Indian police as I hear they’re to be avoided in India. The west might have corrupt officials but often they are in different sectors of corruption which don’t affect normal public.

@Raushan: Those are both unfortunate cases, I agree. I hear it gets pretty rowdy and drunken during Holi,such that not even Indian women go out, much. But that’s something our travel guidebooks don’t always mention. It’s sad that bad apples can spoil a barrel. =(

Great Tips and thanks for sharing!!