The next time you cringe at the thought of having to deal with a pesky guide, while on a history-themed holiday, look up goplaces.in. This website gives you a personal guide, on your phone as well as racy, fun-reading pictoguides
The next time you cringe at the thought of having to deal with a pesky guide, while on a history-themed holiday, look up goplaces.in. This website gives you a personal guide, on your phone as well as racy, fun-reading pictoguides
We hate that when we finally reach a historical destination, one that has been on our bucket list for ages, there is no one there to show us around, save a lousy tout who is more interested in making a quick buck rather than giving us valuable information about the place. Forget about the historical inaccuracies that creep into his monotone.
One of the pages from the Khajuraho Pictoguide
And so, we did a little dance in our heads when we stumbled upon Go!Places that promises to bring history to life. Their advice: chuck that massive guidebook (it has too much detail and tidbits to keep you interested for long, any way), ditch that pricey, good-for-nothing guide. Instead opt for their Pictoguides or Phonoguides. The Pictoguides are cool comic books masquerading as guidebooks where information speaks to you not in a staid, run-on format but through blurbs, speech bubbles, panels, quotes, photographs and a fun font (see picture).
But what we just can't wait to get our hands on is the Phonoguide -- an MP3 audio tour that comes with a map and a walking route that can be played on most cell phones, iPhone or an iPod. All you have to do is select a guide (there's Taj Mahal, Itimad-ud-Daulah's Tomb, Red Fort, Humayun's Tomb, Qutub Minar and Purana Qila, as of now), pay on their site (Rs 45 to Rs 90 -- doesn't that make you happier now?) and within 24 hours, you will be sent a download link that will enable you to download the Phonoguide on your computer, iPod or MP3 player.
The sample Phonoguides we heard had a pleasant male voice with sound effects and music that helpedu00a0 build the mood. The only aspect that got a thumbs-down? The rates on the website are mentioned in dollars. Reason? 'A majority of our customers are expected to be from outside India and therefore more comfortable with USD' and that 'we use US-based payment gateways like Paypal who charge for currency conversion'. What a shame, just when we got ourselves our Rupee symbol. Coming soon: a guide to Elephanta caves as well as of a few colonial buildings in aamchi Mumbai.
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