Travelling to India has always been on my bucket list, but with the many horror stories about girls getting raped, I hesitated and procrastinated for a while. However, in recent years, having to hear personally from Malaysian girls studying in India as well as awesome travelling stories from Malaysian girls, 2016 was it! I've plotted different ideas on ways to tell my mum that I'm going to India "just girls mum, no guys". Subtly showed her beautiful photos of India pictures taken by female instagrammers and eventually told her that I'm planning a trip there too. Don't think she gave me a green light, but she reluctantly said if my husband says ok, then she's ok. So, this calls for an amber light?

While it's true that there are men who look at you in a super hamsap way, but we've met way more good samaritans than the hamsap ones - The couple on the train who told beggars not to disturb me because I'm a tourist; Khan, the tuk tuk driver from Jaipur, who took care of us so well during the whole money crisis incident; Khan, the same tuk tuk driver, who pleaded us to come back to his tuk tuk before dark as it gets dangerous at some places; Jimmy from Ladakh who shooed away men who wanted to take picture with us; The father & daughter who checked our train tickets to make sure we were waiting at the correct platform; The small girl who came up to me to say i should be using my hands instead of spoon to eat chapati because it will get too sticky and i won't enjoy it. Too many angelic moments that I can't possibly name them all.

Then again, I'm not guaranteeing that it's 100% safe in India. It's impossible to fan off bad experiences, especially in a country where there are 1.25billion people. Most of them have yet to step out of the country, so having to see a foreigner back home, it makes them curious. So here are some personal tips for woman travelling to India:

1. Research before your travel

Read up travelling tips especially from woman bloggers, watch vlog of woman travelling at places you are planning to go and look up checked-in places on Instagram! Instagram is my favourite way to make sure i pack the right clothing. You wouldn't wanna be too colourful or too dull among the locals right? Haha! It's also my favourite platform to check if i'm bringing enough layers during winter.

2. Do not tell the truth to strangers

Out of the countless people I've spoken to in India, only 2 person knew that I'm not a student. Along the way, locals threw many questions at us - where are you from, where are you going next, how old are you, where are you currently staying, do you have a boyfriend - we told way more lies than the truth to all these questions! Not that we were being unfriendly, but we do not know their intentions. The best part about travelling in India is that you can simply ignore their question by doing the universal Indian head bobble. LOL.

3. Reject selfie request from boys or men

During our travel, we've received many requests to take a picture with them. As written earlier, many Indians have yet to travel out of India, these people are curious to see foreigners in their country and will boldly come up to you to ask for a picture with them. We've only entertained requests from families, couples, women and kids. Do reject all requests from teenage boys or men. You do not want them going around telling people that you both are lovers and the thought of their real intention, if any, towards the picture is disgusting.

4. Avoid doing anything that you will not do back home in Malaysia

We've gotta give credit to our paranoid and conservative parents for this. We were exposed to many dangerous possibilites back home in Malaysia as well, so whatever rules our parents taught us during our younger days come in handy here - Do not follow strangers home, do not accept drinks from men, do not hitchhike, do not wander around at night, do not go near drunkards, do not wander around alleys be it day or night, etc etc. It's not only useful here in India, it's useful when travelling to any parts of the world, unless that country is super duper safe la.

5. Dress decently

Dressing in India is pretty decent and conservative, you don't see woman walking around in shorts (except for the bulging belly from their sari). Having a contrasting skin tone is already warranting alot of attention from the locals, so you wouldn't wanna dress too skimpily to avoid drawing more of those unnecessary stares.

6. Avoid arriving or departing at night

Only do so if your hostel / hotel provides pick up. Even so, our hostel arranged for a young tuk tuk driver to pick us up from the train station at night, when we expected a proper cab! We were definitely a lil bit paranoid in the tuk tuk, doubting if this was really the driver appointed by the hostel. Wanna take selfie also hard because it was already so dark. Do also google up what time does the sun sets in the city you are travelling to.

7. Download offline maps

The thought of getting into a tuk tuk / cab with a stranger, which is your driver who is also the person having full control over the wheel, is scary! So before starting your journey, tell the driver that you have a map and that he can use it to direct him to the hostel / hotel. The purpose of this is to alert your driver that you know the route so that he can't cheat you. If he goes off route, be bold to ask him why and demand an answer from him. This is to warn him that you are alert. We've been using maps.me throughout our travel. Also, we've read that friend of driver will hop into the cab, which is another super scary thought. 2 men against 2 women, omg! It happened to us at Agra, we were super scared la! Turns out, the driver's friend was trying to sell his tour package to us, phew!! 

8. Take a selfie with your driver before the journey

Take a selfie with your driver and broadcast to him that you are going to send his photo to your family or is going to share his photo on Facebook. Here's how we do it. Before we got into the cab, Caryn told the taxi driver that he is handsome and would like to take a selfie with him to show her boyfriend. When we got into the cab, Caryn made a fake call to her "boyfriend" and spoke as loud as possible "we've arrived, on our way to the hostel now. By the way, our taxi driver is handsome! Took a picture with him and will whatsapp you the photo right after this call". The cab driver gave out a shy laugh when he heard that. Haha! We did it this way to becareful so as to not give out the slightest idea to the driver that we are vulnerable and scared, that's what hamsap men likes anyway.

9. Watch your body language

The indian locals are superbly friendly people! But be vigilant when talking to them, do not even give out the slightest idea that you are flirting with them as they can get a lil bit more touchy if you do so. Be firm and confident when walking on the streets, do not smile at random men.

10. Trust your six sense

If your six sense tells you to U Turn, believe it and U Turn! No matter how fantastic the view ahead is, U TURN!! This happened to us at Nahargarh Fort, Jaipur. Our intention was to get to the peak of the fort for sunset, but as we looked up towards the fort, we saw random men standing along the pathway. Halfway through, there were 3 men wandering near us, not doing anything. They walked near to the spot where we were taking pictures of the sunset and stopped there too, but they were not looking at the sunset but was looking at both of us instead. Our six sense told us to U Turn, and when we did, their heads followed. I turned and gave them a death stare. Looking at the amount of men wandering around, and with the tourists being so scattered, we've decided to forego the view from the peak and walk back down, and these 3 men followed! So, we were told that about a month ago, 2 japanese girls were raped there. We may be wrong about these 3 men, they may really be there for the sunset, but safety first.

So, this is my first post revealing my identity, but am trying to make a point here that we, two women, made it safely in India and it's not as bad as how the media potrays. These rules apply to most countries I've travelled to, so it was nothing new when travelling in India. We had ton of fun experiences with many locals and if time permits, I would love to go back again. Shall blog soon about the money crisis experience in India, till then, goodnight!