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India is a tourist friendly destination and is known for some great culture, awesome beaches and hills, and some great travel destinations for the discerning traveller.
Goa is the hot and happening party beach destination in India popularized by the hippies who visited the beaches here in their heyday and still do so in flocks and Anjuna ranks prominent among the beaches for the party atmosphere and hippie culture along with gorgeous cliffs, lazing on white sands and marvelous ocean waters.
Ladakh is the Buddhist area in the Islamic state of Jammu and Kashmir in the northern fringe of India and is known for some great Tibetan culture and cuisine including monasteries, chanting and meditation by monks and the area is also a mountain desert and you can even watch some camels among the hills or some great snow ways.
Rajasthan on the north western fringe of India is a desert state and has some hot desert destinations like Jaisalmer near the border with Pakistan. But if you want some hot Hindu religious fervour in the desert, head to the holy town of Pushkar that boasts a holy lake, that is like an oasis in the desert, and some temples.
Delhi is the capital of India and what a better way to start the journey in India is by alighting in the busy and crowdy Paharganj backpacker area in Delhi that boasts some budget guest houses and restaurants and some thriving markets. The area also gives an idea of the busy and lively culture that is identical with India.
India is host to a variety of people and the Tibetan refugees from China have made Dharamshala in the Himalayan mountains their exile home and the residence of their leader Dalai Lama is also located in the area. The area has some gorgeous views of the Himalayan peaks and there are even waterfalls in areas like Bhagsu.
India is known for some great literature and scholars and architects and the Gupta empire in India is known for some majestic constructions like the erotic stone carvings in the temples and monuments of Khajuraho that give an idea of the erotic culture in the country on the lines of the Kama Sutra, the Indian erotic literature.
India has a great history of rulers and empires and a prominent south Indian empire is the Vijayanagar kingdom that constructed temples and other architectures at the site of Hampi that is full of rocks and stones in various shapes, sizes and positions. The temples and architectures are in ruins but definitely make Hampi an interesting place.
India has a strong guru or religious teacher culture where gurus and disciples hang around and live in an ashram or commune like setting. Prominent among the Indian export gurus is Rajneesh popular as Osho who devised some unique dynamic methods of meditation like jumping, shaking, dancing to new age music and his international ashram is located in Pune.
The river Ganges that runs along north India is considered holy and several Hindu holy towns have sprang up on its banks. Varanasi is a prominent Hindu holy town on the banks of the Ganga river where there are lot of temples and puja or religious offerings to the river and deities along with sadhus or Indian mystics some of whom have dreadlocks.
The north eastern part of India is known for some great tribal culture like the Khasis and Garos of Meghalaya and the Nagas of Nagaland. Shillong is the capital of Meghalaya and the Khasi stronghold and is known not just for traditional Khasi cultures like the Nongkrem dance but also modern rock music that got it the nickname, the rock capital of the country.
India is not just known for Hindu culture, there is also a strong Buddhist sentiment as Bihar is considered the holy land of Buddhism as Lord Buddha attained enlightenment under the famed Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya that gets religious visitors from Buddhist Asian countries and communities and the renowned Nalanda university ruins also constitute Buddhist travels in the state.
Indian mystics like Patanjali devised the unique system of body, mind and spiritual development popular in the world as yoga. Rishikesh, on the foothills of the Himalayas and on the banks of the Ganga river, is considered the yoga capital of the world and gets international yoga fanatics and hippie tourists.
India is a great travel destination not just for some great culture but also awesome natural landscapes like hills, beaches, deserts and some great people and cuisines. The destinations mentioned here not just provide travel enthusiasm but also hippie style peace, serenity and spirituality.
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