India Hitchhiking Guide

In general you’ll have no problems in Muslim countries where the guest always has a special place of honour.

India

Hitchhiking can be pretty good in India though generally people pay to be taken a dstance along the road – public transport is sometimes non-existent. Make it clear before you get in.

You can always trust a Sikh driver and in general the truck people will want to take care of you. They’ll press food upon you and you can sleep on rope beds at the truck stops. There’s also water here for you to wash in your underwear (men only!)

The roads can be abysmal though, especially if you head along smaller highways. Only around the cities will you get rides in cars and these will be with upper class Indians.

Here the hand is held horizontal to the ground.

Israel

This used to be a hitchhiker’s paradise before the first intifada in the 80’s. Here soldiers still hitchhike and while it’s still possible most are too scared to stop. The technique here is to point one finger at the ground like a gun.

Pakistan

There are some big deserts here and the going can be painfully slow. The drivers will take good care of you though and the trucks are the most beautiful in the world – they look like they’ve driven through a tinsel supermarket covered in glue.

Turkey

The hitchiking is pretty good here though people will reportedly warn you that you’re committing suicide if you venture East into the Kurdish conflit zones. Drivers will look after you here.

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