Useful
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- On the streets, wear shoulder bags across the body (impossible to
snatch), and keep all money and valuables out of sight (never in
unzipped pockets). Beware of being frisked by beggars pretending a
friendly hug. Never give anyone your camera, radio or walk man to
'look at',unless you feel quite sure of getting it back again.
- On trains, where there is much robbery, use your ruck-sack or bag
as a pillow(or stash it under your knees)when sleeping. If going to
the bathroom, bolt your bag to a fixed compartment attachment or to
a window bar.
- On crowded local buses, keep a constant eye on your luggage. You
may be asked to put your bags under a seat to make room for other
passenger. Don't do it.
- In cheap lodging, double-lock the door(with combination padlock)
and secure all windows before retiring for the night-thieves are
adept at creeping into unsecured hotel rooms.
- If leaving your luggage for anywhere, for any reason, padlock it
to a pipe, a bedstead, or anything that cannot be moved. Some hotels
will remind it for you-but always get a receipt, and always check
nothing's missing on your return.
- Don't accept any food or drink from total strangers, especially
on trains or buses. There are good chances that it might be drugged.
Health Precautions
- Keep a flask of fresh drinking water handy all the times. Top it
up each morning before you leave your hotel. This saves you having
to drink local (often insanitary) water. Remember most of the
diseases out here are water-borne.
- Never drink any water (even in restaurants) that has not been
filtered, sterilized with water purification tablets or with
solution of iodine (made up by a pharmacist),or boiled for at least
10 minutes. Since you will never be sure of this, always take
mineral water to drink. Avoid local companies.
- With aerated drinks or fruit juices, never drink from the
bottle-always ask for a straw. Be especially careful with
soda-water:it's often made in somebody's backyard, loaded with
typhoid germs.
- Always peel your own fruit and vegetables-steer clear of raw
vegetables salads, raw sugar-cane or (a big cause of amoebic
dysentery) iced cane-juice.
- Eat three square meals a day. In hot, dry climates (like
Rajasthan) it is common for travellers to go right off solid foods,
and to live on a watery diet of fruit salads, curds, and loads of
bottled drinks. The inevitable result is diarrhoea. To soak up all
that excess liquid, you will have to get back to solids (bananas,
breads, biscuits etc.) immediately.
- In very dry climates like in Rajasthan remember the best way to
quenching thirst is to drink deeply and seldom, not little and
often.
- When eating with your fingers(indian custom), clean them
first-most restaurants have a wash-hand basin. Better, use moistened
medicated tissues or (when travelling) orange_skin peeling. You'd be
amazed how difficult it is to keep clean in India-though the Indian
people themselves are among the cleanest in the world!
- Avoid throat and chest complaints-ration visits to (fiercely
air-conditioned) luxury hotels and restaurants, and go easy on sun
bathing or bathing in cold swimming pools. When travelling in tour
buses, always wear a cap or scarf. Walking along the dusty street
(cum public spitting!),get in to the habit of breathing through
nose, not the mouth.
- Keep your medical kit regularly replenished. Before you head off
into remote places visit a local pharmacist and stock up on
aspirins, diarrhoea tablets, insect cream, salt tablets and other
first-aid essentials.
