I get a lot of requests from my Indian

friends to come to India so I decided to

make this video with my honest thoughts

on the country which is a love-hate

relationship I spent three months

backpacking solo around India in early

2015 and my experience overall was

worthwhile and memorable so I'm here in

Mumbai in total I visited 13 cities

eight states and I covered a distance of

47 hundred kilometers I travelled

strictly by land from Goa to Mumbai

through Rajasthan up to Amritsar and

finally the Himalayas India is both

challenging and inspiring like a roller

coaster of ups and downs a sensory

overload a giant mix of good versus bad

happy versus evil and everything is

thrown at you in the face at the same

time I learned more about myself in

those three months than the last three

years nothing about that trip was luxury

I slept in budget hotels eight street

food took the cheapest trains and buses

to get around whenever I wasn't driving

myself and most of all I walked and

walked and walked and walked more than

20,000 steps a day I wanted the full

experience this was before I made videos

like I do today but luckily I filmed

some things on my GoPro which is the

footage you are seeing over my narration

the highlights of my trip to India were

celebrating Holi festival and Goa with

all night raves on the beach temple

hopping and humpy seeing the Wagah

border ceremony in Amritsar starring in

a Bollywood film playing cricket with

youngsters admiring the Taj Mahal going

on a three-day camel trek in jaisalmer

and relaxing in Rishikesh once again my

trip to India was very valuable and I

have no regrets about the experience

that people are overly nice the food is

tasty and the sights are very unique I

believe I saw India as well as

in three months that being said I

haven't been back to India over the last

few years for the following three

reasons overwhelming attention severe

food poisoning and a near-death

experience overwhelming attention India

is intense for someone like myself who

has red hair and white skin I also stand

out in places around Africa but I was

less anxious because I had room to

breathe in India I get swarmed by people

from the second I step outside my hotel

until I get back we're talking about 1.4

billion people food poisoning

unfortunately I was brutally food

poisoned three times within three months

food poisoning in India is ten times

worse than I've had elsewhere hands and

knees down on the bathroom floor

throwing up her fiercely and so weak

that I couldn't crawl into bed

near-death experience one evening in

Rajasthan I bought it an overnight bus

from who diaper to joke for where I was

the only foreigner on board about an

hour in as I was about to fall asleep

the bus driver slammed on the brake and

sharply turned the wheel and the bus

flipped off the highway and was in

pieces my life flashed before my eyes

I was covered in glass in dirt from head

to toe and had bloody elbows and feet

but I was thankfully okay two people on

that bus didn't make it out alive

this was my snapchat the following

morning after this catastrophic event I

would love to give India another chance

this year with new perspectives and a

more optimistic attitude if I do end up

going back which places should I visit

any advice would be greatly appreciated

I'm drew pinsky and if you like my

travel videos please click Subscribe and

join me as I plan to visit every country

in the world