Wife and I are going on our first trip to Asia. India and China for 5 weeks. I know India especially will be hot. But will it really be that much more unbearably hot than Houston? Trip will be typical Northern India tourist loop Delhi to Varanasi. Peking, Xian, Yangtze River ? and probably Hong Kong. Starts with a rt to Bangkok and smaller amount of time in Thailand. It has to be summer as wife works for a school district.
I was in Lahore, Pakistan (essentially northern India) a few years ago in July and it soared to 123 degrees. Add massive amounts of air pollution to that = do not recommend.
I don't know about India but a lot of China can be very very hot in July. Shanghai's weather is basically like Houston's as both cities are built on swamps. In places like Hubei, Guangzhou, Henan and Hunnan Provinces it can get very hot, like over a 100 temps. That combined with the pollution can be really rough. June might not be too bad but I think things start getting bad in July. Two years ago I was in Hubei Province in May and it was pretty nice. Beijing being situated near a desert can also get uncomfortably hot and dusty in the Summer.
Understand that much of Asia uses essentially swamp coolers as opposed to the AC that we are used to. The air may be cooler, but it is pretty much just as humid
Not sure about India as I have never been, but Honk Kong I can comment on. Honk Kong is miserable during the summer. Its really hot and humid. Is it that different than Houston? Not really, but if you expect to walk around and explore it will get to you during the day. I would say when I was there 5 days last July, during the day the temp never got below 90-95 degree F with a RH at about 90+% So if you can handle walking around, and being in the sun from 11am-5pm in Houston, you'll be fine in HKG. Evening and night hours are same as Houston as well.
If you do end up going....dont forget to visit the famous restaurant below to get your mind away from fear of getting raped....
