Saturday, April 14, 2007

wikitravel

rocks..
chanced on the wikitravel article on india, and was amazed at the amount of detail/tips available to travellers. The article mentions things like

Books and written material are treated with respect, as they are considered the concrete form of the Hindu Goddess of Learning, Saraswati. So a book should not be touched with the feet and if accidentally touched, the same gesture of apology as is made to people (see above) is performed.

and

It is customary to put up a token friendly argument with your host or any other member of the group when paying bills at restaurant or while making purchases. The etiquette for this is somewhat complicated. In a business lunch or dinner, it is usually clear upfront who is supposed to pay, and there is no need to fight. But if you are someone's personal guest and they take you out to a restaurant, you should offer to pay anyway, and you should insist a lot. Sometimes these fights get physical, with each side trying to snatch the bill away from the other, all the time laughing politely. If you don't have experience in these things, chances are, you will lose the fight the first time, but in that case, make sure that you pay the next time. (and try to make sure that there is a next time.)...

of course, all these things apart from the normal stuff that you would expect..