An Idiot Abroad - S1 E2: India
Added 2024-12-01 15:00:13 +0000 UTCComments
I've seen or heard many people state that, but personally I thought it reached its hiatus during the first series with the end of Monkey News. I particularly loved the episode where the monkey has an affair with the zoo keeper's wife!
Eddy
2024-12-15 01:14:57 +0000 UTCI stayed in Shimla, summer residence of the British Raj, high in the foothills of the Himalayas where the air is very thin, for 6 weeks in my 40s and then travelled down to Delhi and a quick trip to the Taj Mahal before flying back to London. Having lived rough in France, Spain and Portugal, travelled to many places across the world, been homeless and squatted etc for many years in my 20s, I thought I’d enjoy India, but frankly I hated it. Maybe that’s because autism runs in my family, and even though I live in Central London on a reasonably busy road, I abhor noise and dirt! Indians seem to have no consideration for noise, and it’s no exaggeration to state that the horns from motor vehicles did not stop all day and all night, even in Shimla – considered to be a small, quiet, tidy place – with its hillsides strewn with dumped rubbish. I took a coach from Shimla down to Delhi, about 14 hours in all, if I remember correctly, and felt like I was travelling through a post-apocalyptic Mad Max landscape of dusty plains stretching into the distance, ugly half-built concrete shacks and yet more rubbish strewn everywhere. Delhi was, of course, insanely busy, although kinda fun, but, once again, the noise from car horns never stopped. The trip from Delhi to the Taj Mahal by cab was seriously scary, not helped by my years working at a UK road safety charity and the knowledge that the death rate on the roads of India was the highest in the world. Coming back into Delhi at night reminded me rather of my trips to Glastonbury or Stonehenge Free Festival before it, with the vast crowds of people walking hither and thither, smells of street food and animals of all shapes and sizes crossing the path of the cab now stuck in choked up traffic. The Taj Mahal was beautiful but relatively unimpressive, I felt, although maybe that’s because of all the photos I had seen previously that made it appear vast, when it is in fact a small mausoleum with virtually nothing to see on the inside. I know that might sound churlish, and on visiting the awe-inspiring pyramids one early morning on a camel, with a mist lifting to reveal them only when we were so close that they towered over us in their majesty, I wondered how so many people come away unimpressed. These monuments have to be taken in context. In that regard, it never ceases to annoy me when the ignorant Ricky Gervais and Steve Merchant, who consider themselves oh-so-clever and yet are easily outshone in intellect by Karl Pilkington, insist on referring to the Taj Mahal and other monuments as one of the “Seven Wonders of the World”, when we all know that the Pyramids are the only surviving monument from Herodotus’ list, written 1.5 millennia before the Taj Mahal was built. I had brought my first pair of noise cancelling headphones with me, imagining I would need them on the plane, but ended up talking to a beautiful girl who spent her life travelling the world on the way out and trying to ensure I didn’t throw up in the aisle of the plane on the way back. What I hadn’t expected was that they should prove the only means by which I could sleep each night. There are simply too many people in India, and for some unfathomable reason they do not seem to have adopted nor respect British reticence…
Eddy
2024-12-15 01:07:47 +0000 UTCIndia was a real eye opener when i done the golden triangle. Yes they burn bodys on the banks of the ganges. The Taj Mahel did bring tears to my eyes in real life. I think everyone should visit it once in your life it will make you a better person.
PHILLIP CORNISH
2024-12-04 18:13:20 +0000 UTCThe pain in your face Mike watching the genitals abuse had me regressing back to the first time i watched this years ago.. I feel your pain brother 🤣🤣
Lee Jones
2024-12-03 13:32:02 +0000 UTCWell actually it's 4, as he did his own 5 episode series after it called, The moaning of life!, which is similar but with out him being stitched up all the time by Ricky as it's just him and the crew no Ricky n Steve
Dan-C
2024-12-01 21:57:49 +0000 UTCSeconded, Karl’s Diary is really where it kicks off
Kieran B
2024-12-01 21:57:00 +0000 UTCHad a little laugh when Mike said "we're gonna send you back" it's sort of true in parts with season 3!, now that you are doing it as a weekly series are you gonna carry on with season 2 and 3 straight after?, s3 is only small! No pun intended ( you will get that joke when you see season 3 😂
Dan-C
2024-12-01 21:54:27 +0000 UTCDefinitely! They would also hear more detail about Karl’s Ice Pop choking story! 😂
Aaron Page
2024-12-01 21:41:19 +0000 UTCThe one in Alaska is my favourite one😂
AngieG
2024-12-01 16:45:56 +0000 UTCIm from the UK but have been to India roughly 5-6 times to see family. Pretty much is how Karl experienced it. Fast paced, chaotic and eye opening. Every time my dad comes with us, he always gets swarmed or people would just stare at him as he is fully English. Id say majority if Indians are friendly people and very hospitable, however, you need to do your research thoroughly before making a trip there.
Dolly Parton
2024-12-01 16:14:06 +0000 UTCI travelled India for 9 months and just adored it. Adored it for how different it was I'd go back in a minute
Louise Miller
2024-12-01 15:49:38 +0000 UTCHi Jess and Mike, I’ll look forward to watching this later. Just wanted to comment on the Ricky Gervais show, I think you’ll like it more when they get to reading Karl’s diary, it’s much funnier then. It’s just the crazy things that go through Karl’s mind and it’s just generally more entertaining than the first lot of episodes. In my opinion anyway ❤️. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving 😍
Erica
2024-12-01 15:02:53 +0000 UTC
