[Gate Keeper]

Originally Posted by mbev51

My plan at the moment is to fly to india, probably Kolkata then train through the Bangladesh border. We will then visit the Sundarbans wildlife area. I prefer to book a wildlife trip when we reach the area as prices are higher the further away from the venue you book. I prefer to put my money in locals pockets rather than big business whenever possible. We will be very lucky to see a tiger, everyone sees a tiger footprint. After that I'm after river and train journeys and trying to stay off the beaten track. Will exit Bangladesh to NE india, probably to Tripura, then take a flight to Mizoram state as we missed it out on our last trip. Not sure if we will continue on to Myanmar, we were there about 8 years ago and I'm not sure my wife will return as she's already ticked it off! I would think Bangladesh and Mizoram will be sufficient for a 5 week tour.

To anyone thinking about having an adventure off the normal tourist path, I would say go for it. We've never had a bad moment in all our backpacking trips, you just need to act sensibly and take local advice. The gov uk travel advice is often over cautious. We all need to focus in on having good times in the future, to see us through the current situation.

I have been to India 4 times through work but never managed to get outside of the cities. It’s a fascinating country and apart from the corruption, I felt safe.
Have a great trip.