Practical Information

If you’ve never been to Mysore before, then you might not know this little well-known secret. The tailors in Mysore are fabulous! You can have clothing custom-made to fit you for a fraction of what it would cost in the U.S. It’s such a great perk of traveling to Mysore, that many students take advantage of having clothing custom-made when it would never occur to them to do otherwise. [click to continue...]

These common Hindi words will help you navigate around Southern India. Can you think of anymore? Please submit them in a comment to this post.

Badam

- milk made with almonds
(sometimes pistachios) typically spiced
with cardamon and saffron
and sweetened with sugar

Chapati

- Round flat unleavened bread typically
used for scooping up food or dipping in soups [click to continue...]

So now having waxed profusely on the incredible culinary delights of Mysore in my previous post, the question foremost in most students’ minds is “Is the food safe to eat or will I be crying feverishly while clinging to my blankie, formerly known as my cool $80 Mysore rug?”

Good question – glad you asked. I first arrived in Mysore armed for battle! My weapons of choice included grapefruit seed extract, a vegetable scrub brush and peeler. Whatever was left of my food after sanitizing it, exfoliating every crevice and peeling it down to an unrecognizable nub, I would ingest with a fistful of probiotics and enzymes. Ahhh, my plan was foolproof! Parasites didn’t have a chance.
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Besides your passport, you will need a visa to travel to India. Requests for visas are now handled by Travisa Outsourcing, a private contractor to the Indian Embassy. For US citizens applying for a tourist visa, you will need the following.

1. The online visa application form.
2. Your passport with a minimum validity of six months from the date of application with at least two blank visa pages. (Last 2 amendment pages are not acceptable.)
3. 2 current identical passport size photographs (black/white or color) depicting front pose against light background on photographic paper.
4. Proof of residence/address. Photocopy of driver license or utility bill is acceptable.

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The only vaccination requirement for entering India is for yellow fever if you are entering from an infected area. The Government of India regards any country that reports an incident of yellow fever as infected. Below is a list of countries considered to be infected regions:

Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela. [click to continue...]