Delhi and the End of our Travels

We were up at 4am on Tuesday morning and our prearranged tuk-tuk took us to Jaipur station (but not before his brother, who had arranged the pickup, had demanded a 50 rupee commission!). Our train was on time and we managed to get a few hours sleep in our favourite upper berth 3AC beds, arriving into Old Delhi station just after midday. The final 20 minutes of our journey, as we crawled through the outer city slums into Delhi station, were fascinating. The slums were unbelievable; rickety wooden and corrugated iron huts were perched almost on top of the railway lines; barefooted street children played between the tracks and women carried out their washing whilst the men sat talking and looked on. This was our last Indian train journey and we will miss the ease and simplicity of travelling by train (it's a real joy!) and the amazing outlook it gives you on the Indian scenery, culture and life in general.

We disembarked and after queuing with the masses we bought a pre-paid taxi ticket. A tuk tuk 'taxi' took us across Delhi towards our hotel, situated in the Paharganj area on the border between Old and New Delhi. Our first impressions of Old Delhi was something akin to 'oh God, what a dump!' and as we neared our hotel (our driver also having no idea where he was going) we got increasingly worried by how run-down the area was and how little tourists were around... never a good sign! Fortunately we turned a corner and entered a narow street amass with tourists and with shops spilling out onto it. The area reminded us a lot of the Thamel area of Kathmandu so we were on familiar ground and relaxed instantly. Our driver finally found our hotel after consulting with Ash and our trusty guidebook along with the help of several eager locals and we checked into a rather pleasant hotel tucked away down a quieter alley.

We arrived starving so found a recommended restaurant that served up an awesome Paneer Punjabi, great tandoori roti and a big bowl of curd and so we tucked in! We then grabbed a tuk tuk ride, passing the parliament buildings in comparatively spacious and quiet New Delhi before arriving at Gandhi Smitri which is Gandhi's final home as well as the site of Gandhi's assassination. His house has been converted into an interesting museum which we took time wandering around before visiting the site where he was shot by a Hindu zealot.

We grabbed another tuk tuk ride and headed east across New Delhi to see Humayun's Tomb, built as a mausoleum to the Mughal Emperor Humayun in 1562 and quoted as a 'must see' in our guidebook. It did not disappoint and closely resembles the magnificent Taj Mahal, only constructed in red sandstone and missing the surrounding minarets. Very much like the Taj itself, it was much more impressive to look at rather than walk inside. We returned back to our hotel by tuk tuk, passing India Gate along the way which resembles the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and was built by the British as a WWI War Memorial in 1972. That evening we returned to the same restaurant as lunchtime as we wanted more of the delicious Punjabi Paneer! After dinner we wandered the backstreets of Paharganj and found some fantastic small markets; there were fruit and vegetable stalls selling really fresh, tempting fruit and veg (which we daren't touch!) and spice sellers who had lain all their wares out on the stone streets.

Wednesday was the very last day in India and also the very last day of our 13 month career break. We were very much of mixed emotions. We have had the most amazing time away and are feeling excited, apprehensive, sad and happy all at once. It will be lovely to see our families but we will miss the independence and freedom offered by travelling.

We visited the sights of frenetic, mad, dusty, dirty Old Delhi. We had to laugh at the first few tuk tuk drivers we tried to hire. The first one agreed to our price and then wouldn't budge until we visited his shop (we got out and walked off) and the second one quoted a ridiculously high price and when we said 'No way!' he turned on his engine and drove off furious! Fortunately we found a better driver on our third attempt and so we made our way to the Jama Masjid. It is a huge, red mosque which we poked our head into but we did not hang around long as there have been recent tensions between the Hindus and the Muslims here.

We took a quick ride in a rickshaw around to the Red Fort of Old Delhi, paid the expensive Rs250 entry fee and spent the next hour wandering the grounds and looking at the monuments, which were interesting but not particulary amazing (although we have been rather spoilt recently!). We then walked along Chandni Chowk, the main bazaar in Old Delhi. On sale was all the same old stuff and it was very chaotic so after a half hour we dived into a tuk tuk and headed to Connaught Place, a more developed area of New Delhi and tucked into a cappuccino, where we mused over our amazing 13 month trip and what it would be like when we headed back to England!

Hungry, we headed to a recommended restaurant called Saravana Bhavan, and we had to queue outside with the locals for a table... it was a very popular place and deservedly so as they dished up a fantastic Paneer Dosai when we finally got to our table. We walked around Connaught Place a little more before heading back to our hotel where we relaxed for the rest of the day.

Ash's best friend Jez had suggested we go to the Metropolis Restaurant to celebrate our last night in India and so we decided to follow his advice, getting a nice table for two on the rooftop restaurant. We had a really nice meal and splashed out our few remaining rupees on several different delicious dishes, including our favourite Malai Kofta, chapattis and curd. Ash had his first beer in months and savoured every drop! It was a lovely fitting finish to our 13 months.

Having had just a few hours sleep we got up at 2am to go to the airport for our early morning flight back to London. In India everything takes much longer here so we were advised to arrive for check in at the airport 3 hours before our 6.50am flight. Stepping over the hotel staff who were sleeping on a mat on the floor at the entrance to the hotel, we were met by our driver who took us to his taxi. When we say 'taxi', what we really mean is 'rusting old hulk'! We were driven through the eerily quiet streets; the cows were sat in the middle of them chewing the cud.

We love India... you cannot do anything without something untowards happening. It sounds a bizarre thing to say but it does make for exciting stories and excellent memories. True to form, just 5km from the airport our driver pulled over and told us the car had broken down. Great!! He said it was no problem, that the engine had overheated and cut out. He grabbed two empty plastic bottles from the seat pocket and ran off in search of water to cool down the engine. We sat there in the pitch dark and waited patiently, thinking we would be walking the remaining 5kms to the airport on our own. He returned about 10 minutes later, bottles full of murky water, which he poured into and all over the engine. Smoke and steam erupted everywhere and we watched the water boiling in the engine from where we sat! Well, whatever he did it worked and after a few minutes he started the engine and crawled the remaining 5km so as not to overheat the engine again.

So we arrived safely at the airport, but oh no, the fun didn't stop here. At check in, Ash handed over all the usual paperwork: passports, booking receipt, online check-in papers and then was asked to produce the credit card with which we booked the tickets (apparently this is a new anti-fraud measure for BA). Unfortunately we had booked our tickets using our Australian credit card over 6 months ago and completely forgot this fact when, on leaving the country 3 months later, we sensibly closed our Australian accounts as you have to pay to keep them open. Having explained all this, of course the check-in staff still refused to accept us on the flight despite us having everything to prove who we were! With no choice, we were forced to buy a further 2 tickets costing us double what we had originally paid for them! We weren't happy, but were eased a little by being upgraded to Premier Economy and getting free use of the VIP lounge in the airport. The rest of the flight was pretty normal, except the absolute chaos getting everyone seated before take off... many people had sat in the wrong seats and it was madness (and a hell of a job for the stewardesses) getting them moved!

We landed in London safely and on time at 11.15am and after collecting our bags went out into the new and slightly overwhelming Terminal 5 where we were met by our families. Ash's parents thought we looked like a couple of hippies, emerging at Arrivals in our handmade Indian clothes and also couldn't believe how much weight we had lost - we were on the go so much we hadn't noticed! We had a very bizarre trip back to Ash's parents. Everything looked so clean and pristine and it was a little tricky to adapt.

We have really had the trip of a lifetime - it has been such a privilege to see and experience so much of the world and it's been worth every second. It's a period in our lives we will always look back at with such fondness... we have stories to tell our grandchildren. And for now, it's a return to the Western World for us, the adjustment back into developed society and jobs, homes and putting down roots. We're sure we will adapt with time, but we will always carry the memories and experiences that will make us appreciate what we so often have taken for granted.

Ashley & Bianca Workman

March 2008

Jaipur and the Amber Fort

After a short 45 minute flight we arrived into Jaipur early on Sunday morning and took a pre-paid taxi to our hostel called Devi Niwas, just outside the city centre. We struck lucky as it is a lovely family-run guesthouse which is tucked away in a wealthy and quieter part of Jaipur about 1.5 miles outside the chaotic city centre. Our room is bright and airy and great value for 5 pounds a night. After a chapati breakfast we walked to the main road and negotiated a tuk-tuk to take us 11km north of the city to the Amber Fort, a UNESCO world heritage site. The red sandstone fort is out in the desert and situated about 300m up on the top of a hill and from a distance the fort looked extremely impressive. As we neared the fort we saw painted elephants pounding along the streets and ferrying tourists up the hill to the fort. We declined the experience as the animals are not always treated well and made our own way up by foot.

The inside of the fort was less impressive than it's striking exterior and is a labyrinth of fairly bland stone passages and empty rooms. We wandered for a while, enjoying the views from the top and after encountering a few strange individuals along the way in some of the quieter areas of the fort we decided it was enough. Bi is finding the constant and exceptionally blatent staring from men (and sometimes women) a bit daunting and tiring. We stumbled upon a coffee shop where we savoured a rare cappuccino before deciding to get out of the searing heat and head back to Jaipur centre for a Thali and some Dosai for our lunch. At the end of our meal the waiter stood over us and demanded we leave a tip which we did not like so we walked out not leaving a penny on principle which left him rather annoyed. After lunch we queued outside the Raj Mandir Cinema (the biggest Hindi cinema in India) and bought 2 tickets for the evening to a major 'Bollywood' movie on current release called 'Delhi 6'. We could not help but peer into the McDonalds next door to check out the menu....and found the chicken tikka chapati meal deal quite amusing!

We chilled out at our hotel for a couple of hours during the heat of the day and returned by rickshaw to the cinema (which is set up inside like a theatre with box seats and stalls) in the evening for our film. We had 'emerald' class seats (middle class seats in the stalls) and joined all the locals to watch the movie. It was great to see the local culture like this and it was a big affair for people. The cinema had a distinctly tacky 70's look and at the entrance they were selling samosas, cheese filled chapatis, ice-creams and popcorn which we sadly had to avoid due to our weak stomachs! Although we could not understand the Hindu language we were able to get the gist of the film (they also intermittently burst into an English sentence which is quite strange) and it was actually quite good. Even more fascinating was the way everybody would whoop, cheer and clap at certain points and happily make mobile phone calls throughout the movie and speak as loudly as they felt like! Anything goes here and nobody really complains. It was a great evening and we returned to the guesthouse by tuk-tuk rather than rickshaw since it felt a little safer in the dark.

The following day, Monday, we took a rickshaw to the main old city gate and wandered through Jaipur towards the City Palace. Jaipur is aptly called the 'Pink City' as the whole of the old town is constructed of reddish-pink sandstone. The city streets are quite wide and uniform but of course have that distinct Indian feel to them with grubby little shops spilling out onto the streets, cows wandering around, telephone and power lines dangling untidily and a mass of street children and beggars. It was fascinating stuff and very noisy and chaotic with parades and dances going on in the streets and the endless, and we mean endless, tooting of horns from all the traffic.

We made our way to the city palace and wandered the vast complex of courtyards, gardens and buildings. Our entrance fee came with a free audio guide which was helpful in explaining the history and meaning of the sights. We visited the Welcome Palace, Armoury, Hall of Public Audiences and the Pitam Niwas Chowk courtyard which was beautifully decorated with peacock bas reliefs.

In the afternoon we visited Hawa Mahal, a remarkable, honeycombed, pink sandstone building built for the gentry women of Jaipur. From here we decided to do a spot of shopping. You have to be so careful which shops you enter because it is so difficult to get back out again. Ash bought himself some Indian serving dishes to add to his collection while Bi purchases a tablecloth. Bartering for the tablecloth was hilarious. We entered the shop and were seated like a king and queen and the owner then proceeded to grab out every type and colour of cloth he had whether we liked it or not. We selected the one we wanted and the price started at 2000 rupees. When we burst out laughing the price dropped to 1600.. ok ok..you take for 1600 and the assistant put the tablecloth in a bag as if we were total mugs and would take it at that price. We knew it was worth about 300 rupees so we named our price and less than 1000 rupees was refused we got up and walked out of the shop. The owner continued to count down and yelled out after us on the street eventually giving it to us for 300 rupees. We walked away happy with our purchase and thankful that our extended travels have made us a touch more savvy then the usual tourist. You can't blame them for having a go though. Jaipur is known for its high prices in expectation that you will barter hard.

As we walked back to the hotel we saw several holy processions making their way down the streets, singing, dancing and generally causing all kind of chaos! The traffic was backed up miles and it was fascinating to watch. We wandered back along the city streets past food vendors and spice sellers (with fantastically colourful tikka powder on offer) and found a quieter street and took a rickshaw back to our hotel.

We relaxed at the hotel again in the afternoon having become hot, grubby and tired in the heat and dirt and fumes of the city. For dinner we headed to well recommended vegetarian restaurant where we received exceptionally snotty waiter service. Bi was ready to throw her bowl of channa dahl over the waiter! It was early to bed as we take a 5am train to Dehli tommorrow morning. The guesthouse owner tried to arrange a taxi to take us the 1.5 mile journey to the train station and when they quoted 300 rupees she slammed down the phone and then proceeded to take all their business cards, rip them up and throw them out.... good for her! It should cost 50 rupees but they operate on the basis that you are 'stuck' and can get away with ripping you off. We had to walk outside and arrange a tuk tuk to collect us and one of the men who had taken us by rickshaw a couple of times had a 'brother' (as they always do) that had a rickshaw so we arranged a 4.30am pick up.

Udaipur

On Wednesday night we boarded a sleeper train. We sat and ate our dinner of crisps, chocolate and bananas then settled into our bunks for the night. We decided to try class 2AC (AC stands for air conditioning) which is a carriage with sets of two tier bunks in it rather than three tier and where each bed has a curtain that pulls across it. Unfortunately for us, there were some exceptionally noisy families in our carriage so we didn't get to sleep they disembarked at Jaipur 5 hours later.

14 hours later we arrived into the city of Udaipur in the southern part of Rajasthan at 8.30am on Thursday morning and took a tuk-tuk the short ride to our guesthouse. The city of Udaipur is situated on Lake Pichola and is prettier and far quieter than any of the other places we have visited in India so far. We checked into our room which overlooks the Lake and the 'Lake Palace', a beautiful white palace and famous 5* hotel built on an island in the centre of the lake . It was used in the James Bond movie 'Octopussy'. After a shower (under a tap on the wall!!) we headed out into the town, starting our day with some delicious cake and a cappuccino at a 'German Bakery'.

Having had enough time to suss out Udaipur and the amount of time we wanted to spend, we took a tuk-tuk the short distance back to the train station to book our onward tickets to Jaipur. Over 14 million people travel the trains here each day and there is a specified 'tourist quota' so for some journeys you have to be booked well in advance. It was not a very successful trip as everything was totally booked. Unbeknown to us there is a big Holi festival in Jaipur and Delhi starting around 7th March so hotels and train seats are almost all booked out. With little other option and in a bit of a panic we returned to our hotel to look at other options. As regularly occurs, we had to firmly tell the tuk tuk driver to 'get lost' when he tried to renege on our agreed fare at the end of the journey!!

We decided not to risk our lives on the notoriously dangerous and rather horrid night buses and were lucky enough to find a cheap flight on Jet Airways to Jaipur. We were so disappointed to be missing out on the train as they are a really cheap, easy and comfortable way to travel... in the right class of course!!! However, the prospect of a 45 minute flight was more appealing than a 14 hour bus rickety journey. We had enough of those through South America! From Jaipur we managed to get a train ticket 6 hours to Dehli, our final destination and exit point.

We had read that Udaipur is famous for its cooking courses and being huge foodies we were very keen to give one a go! We checked out two highly recommended classes, one run by a company called 'The Spice Box' and the other a family run kitchen course. They both offered instruction on how to prepare totally different dishes so we adopted the 'only here once' attitude and booked onto both.. one for each day of our stay! We had a delicious Thali lunch and then in the afternoon we wandered the beautiful city palace, situated on a hill in the city centre which afforded fantastic views over both the city and Lake Pichola.

That evening we joined the 'Spice Box' cooking school and with no one else there we had a private lesson just for the two of us. The chef called Shakti showed us through the basics of Indian cooking, spices and masalas and from this we then prepared many different dishes ranging from Malai Kofta, Palak Paneer, Vegetable Cutlets and Biryani through to making our own Chapattis, Chai tea and a deliciously different Kashmiri Saffron Tea. The lesson was a little less hands on than we had experienced in Thailand and a little more like a cookery demonstration but nevertheless very informative and we shouldn't have any trouble making the dishes back home. We ate everything that was cooked and so we rolled out of the cooking course and collapsed absolutely stuffed in our hotel room afterwards!!

On Friday morning we had a leisurely start (sleep-ins have been few and far between) and walked to the beautiful 17th century Jagdish Temple, which stands high on another hill in Udaipur and is carved ornately with stone elephants and camels. From here we wandered some of the small stalls, looking at the various clothes and handmade leather-bound books on offer. Bi bought a skirt and a leather journal (made from camel hide as cows are sacred here) to use to create her own Indian cookery bible... Ash did all the bartering as he has mastered it now!

We crossed to the other side of the lake to the much less touristy Hanuman Ghat area which was much like some of the other places we have visited: ramshackle old stone houses that look half finished, stalls cooking amazing looking sweets and samosas, cows and goats wandering down the streets as if they were people and rickshaws bumping around. We stopped in the local kitchenware shops and bartered oursleves some good deals on a spice box and kadhai (an indian style wok which they weigh to determine the price) so that we can put some of our newly learned cooking skills into practice when we get back to England!

That afternoon we went for another cooking course, run by a nice Indian lady called Sushma. The course was fantastic, well paced and extremely informative and we learned to cook many different dishes that we hadn't learned before. We cooked Paneer Butter Masala, Aloo Gobi, Dal Makhani and made stuffed Paneer Parathas which was delicious! Sushma is a wealth of knowledge and so we picked her brains on everything and anything about Indian cooking. Again we ate all that was cooked and returned back to our hotel absolutely stuffed again! So far so good, eating in India has been a lot better than expected although we have been pretty selective.

Tomorrow we catch an early morning flight the short 45 minute hop to Jaipur, in North Eastern Rajasthan where we will spend a couple of days.

Agra and the Taj Mahal

We boarded a sleeper train just after 6pm for the 12 hour journey from Varanasi to Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal. Our sleeper carriage looked like a very basic dormitory and was split into several open cubicles with 8 beds in each, stacked 3 high on two sides and 2 high on the window side . There were a number of other tourists on the train so we got chatting and then Ash did as recommended by Jeremy, riding on a Indian train whilst listening to Ravi Shankar on his iPod! We were lucky to have a quiet carriage and soon after dinner and Chai tea was served we were in our surprisingly comfortable bed; we had the upper beds 3 stories high. We were provided with a blanket, sheets and a pillow and slept well through the night, helped by the gentle rocking of the train.

We arrived into Agra Fort station at 7.15am on Wednesday morning and did the usual haggling with a moto tuk-tuk driver to take us a few kilometres into the town centre. We checked out a number of different hostels before settling on one with a roof restaurant with fantastic views over the Taj Mahal. It was superb to finally see the Taj Mahal in all it's majestic white marble splendour. We were determined that we would make it to the Taj Mahal on our travels and here we were! The 500 year old building did not disappoint and it is all it is made out to be. We both said it is one of the most beautiful buildings we have ever seen and it was very memorable to be sat enjoying our chapattis and curd breakfast with views straight to the palace over all the higgeldy-piggeldy, derelict rooftops of Agra.

After a well earned 'bucket' shower we took a brief walk around Agra and the outside gates of the Taj. Agra itself is not an atractive place, looking decrepid and somewhat run down. We returned to our hostel where we had arranged to hire a moto tuk-tuk driver for the afternoon. We had decided to see some of the more further afield historical sites of Agra and hiring a driver was recommended as the best way to do it. Our first stop was the huge Jama Masjid mosque, built in the 16th Century and situated near to the station where we arrived, before wandering a local market and marvelling at the piles of spices, fresh breads and chapattis being cooked and tiny, narrow alleyways which we squeezed through to look at the small shops selling jewellery, trinkets, soap and cosmetics. When we returned our tuk tuk we were a little earlier than our driver expected and he had a head full of henna which he proceeded to then leave on his hair for the rest of the day! He was going to see his girlfriend in Kolkatta the following day and wanted to cover his greys!

Our moto driver then took us 13km outside of Agra to Sikandra, the last resting place of the Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great. It is a beautiful, red sandstone mausoleum and was quiet, isolated from the main tourist trail and after wandering the huge tomb we sat in a shady spot and relaxed for a while. We returned back to Agra, crossing the main Yamuna river and stopping in to see the small, Persian decorated tomb of Chini Ka Rauza. From here we travelled along the river bank to Itmad-Ud- Daulah, otherwise referred to as the 'Baby Taj'. Like the Taj Mahal, it is a beautiful white marble tomb, just on a smaller scale to the Taj itself. From here we also had excellent views across the river to Agra and up and down the banks. We continued onwards to the gardens of Mehtab Bagh, directly opposite the Taj Mahal and on the opposite side of the river. The views to the Taj we exceptional and would have been a perfect place to sit and watch the sun setting had it not been for the pestering children... Ash got to practice his 'ne chella!' ('go away!') but we got fed up in the end and decided to head back to our hotel roof terrace for a sunset in peace!

We returned tired out but happy from our day's sightseeing and sat in the rooftop restaurant and watched the sunset over the Taj Mahal. We had expected to see the Taj turn a shade of pink and red as the sun set, but it was not quite so.. it more went yellow and then dark as the light faded. The building was not lit up at night as we had thought it might be. We had an early dinner and were in bed by 8pm, exhausted after our long day and long train journey.

We arose this morning at 6am and headed down to the East Gate of the Taj Mahal. After paying the obscene 10 pound each fee entry (well, a comparatively obscene amount for India) we made our way through the queue and security and entered the sight of the Taj Mahal. It was stunning. As we walked through the central gate, the picture postcard view of the Taj, the icon of India and one of the 'new' 7 wonders of the world was reflected in the water right in front of us. Ash got extremely snap happy with his camera and we spent the next hour walking around the beautiful palace, watching it change colour as the sun rose and capturing lots of different photos. We walked inside the huge white marble monument and saw the tombs of the king, Shah Jahn and of his wife for which the Taj Mahal was built, Mumtaz Mahal before returning to the sight of the famous postcard view and sitting for a while to soak it all up.... with a million other tourists of course!

From the Taj Mahal we hired a rickshaw driver to take us to Agra Fort. The huge red fort is more like a walled, palatial city. It is the most important fort in India. The great Mughal maharajas lived here and the country was governed from here. It contained the largest state treasury and mint and was visited by foreign ambassadors, travellers and the highest dignitaries who participated in the making of history in India. The fort is beautiful inside, ornately carved and with wide courtyards and sweeping views over the city, river and towards the Taj Mahal. We spent a couple of hours walking in the heat, through the huge stone gates, marble palaces and narrow passages before returning to the area around our hotel. On the way back the rickshaw driver jumped off and let Ash have a go pedalling uphill with Bi and the driver in the back!

We spent the remainder of the day chilling out in cafes because we can afford to eat and drink to our heart's content and using the internet in order to pass time before our night train at 6:20pm to Udapiur in Rajastahn, north-west India. We are both looking forward to the train ride!

Into India, Varanasi and the Shiva Festival

On Saturday afternoon, with only 12 days left of our 13 month trip, we arrived in Varanasi airport after a short 45 minute flight with... gulp... Air India from Kathmandu. There were only 16 people on the plane! The airport is in a very rural area 20km from the city so the border formalities were surprisingly rapid. As we had half expected, our arranged transfer was nowhere to be seen so after searching around the airport we took a taxi for the 1 hour transfer. The taxi was fantastic, it was a white Ambassador and a real throwback to the days of the British Raj. As we drove towards Varanasi we were surprised at how quiet and rural it was but the peace did not last long... as we came into Varanasi it became sheer madness with traffic (mostly rickshaws and tuk tuks that paid no attention to the correct sides of the road!!) choking the dusty, dirty streets, cows stood in the middle of the road or roaming along as if they were living the life of a human and ad hoc roadworks causing even more disruption... it was definitely a big welcome to India!

Our taxi driver dropped us off somewhere on the edge of the old town about 10 minutes from our guesthouse as vehicles cannot enter the small windy streets near the Ganges river (and our accommodation) as they are too slim. So we had to walk the final leg of our journey through a labyrinth of narrow, filthy streets, including passing through a metal detector which was rather disconcerting. It felt as if we might get lost inside forever. We were bombarded with hotel touts and other supposedly 'just being helpful' individuals (we were told to trust no one) as soon as we let one leg out of the taxi in all the chaos we finally had to give in and put some trust in a young man who claimed to know the way to our hotel and had an official hotel card... we followed him with caution!

We were safely delivered to the correct hotel, situated on the banks of the Ganges River at one of the many ghats... ours was Meer Ghat. Jeremy, Ash's best mate and best man at our wedding was sitting in the internet room waiting to meet us. It can be frazzling and totally chaotic when you arrive somewhere new so we have never been so happy to see a familiar face. We checked into our room then went straight to the balcony area which overlooked the Ganges. Words cannot describe the sight and the riot of colours and activity that lay before us; it left us speechless.


We set out to explore and first stop was a local Chai tea served on the street in a small clay pot which you smash on the ground afterwards. There we sat on a wall, side by side with the locals and cows enjoying this sickly sweet tea! We wandered down steep steps and walked along the Ghats by the Ganges trying to take in the activity around us. The river is wide and lined on one side with hotels and millions of people just sitting around, getting a shave, having their hair cut, doing their washing, women standing and holding up their saris to dry in the sun like human washing lines, street sellers selling pappadums and snacks and small children trying to sell candles to set afloat on the river. The women wear exceptionally bright Saris which provides an amazing burst of colour everywhere. The streets of Varanasi and along the Ganges are absolutely filthy, with human and animal faeces in plentiful quantities along the pavement in some areas. It can only be described as insane....total madness...total chaos... with people and cows everywhere!

We climbed back up from the Ghats and wandered the streets of the old town which are exceptionally narrow and lined with local food stands selling sickly sweet Jalebis, Galub Jamun, savoury Samosas and Pakoras, shops selling cheap cotton hippy clothes, glass beads, sitars and silk and local eateries. Dinner was a Vegetarian Thali for 40 pence... a bottle of coke costs 12 pence....oh we were cautious but so excited to be able to afford to eat BIG again!! In the evening, we sat the big balcony of our hotel completely mesmorised by the activity along the Ganges below us. Varanasi is a wonderful and fascinating place and not somewhere we will ever forget; it is full of life, energy and colour and is a very spiritual place to visit. We love it!

We started day two (Sunday) with a dawn boat ride along the Ganges river. We were a little eager and ended up out of bed and dressed before the boatmen themselves. There was no need to look for a boatman, as they will definitely find you first! We bartered our price for an hour long ride and climbed into an old wooden canoe. It was an amazing and unforgettable experience. All the locals were bathing in the holy Ganges river and making a racket; Hare Krishnas were sitting in a circle on pillars and chanting; a holy man was taking what looked like a yoga/meditation class; the first cremations were being set up at the burning ghat. We soaked up the atmosphere and the sunrise before heading back for breakfast... Paratha with Subji (curried vegetable) and curd which was delicious.


Our main task for the day was to get to the train station and buy onward tickets to Agra and then Udapuir in Rajasthan. There is a tourist quota for tickets each day and we didn't want to miss out or get lumbered with cattle class seats on a 12 hour journey. We negotiated with a rickshaw to take us the 4km journey. Rickshaws are a fantastic way to see a place and and provide such an good insight into everyday life as they weave in and out of all the backstreets. Outside of the old (and touristy) quarter, the streets were madness and jam packed with constantly tooting bicycles, rickshaws and tuk-tuks, lots of cows (which seem to live off a diet of left over food and garbage and fruit and vegetable carts where the owners are sat on top, in squatting position waiting to serve! The streets are lined the most decrepit looking dwellings and shops and fruit and vegetable stalls. Tickets in hand, we headed back to the old quarter but not before a brief scuffle between rickshaw drivers had taken place as they fought each other for our custom.

We had a vegetarian Thali lunch then spent the afternoon chilling around the town; Bi doing a spot of clothes shopping. If they don't have your size or colour, they'll make it for you within a few hours! Late afternoon we walked to the cremation ghat of Manikarnika which closely resembled the site of Pashaputinath in Kathmandu. We watched the burning pyres from a respectful distance and saw many bodies being brought down to cremate in the open and have the ashes scattered into the river. Between 200 and 300 bodies are brought here every day. Almost as interesting is watching the 'so called guides' and con merchants pounce on the most vulnerable tourists and extract money from them for 'good karma'!!

In the evening, Bi decided to take some time on her own to chill on the balcony at the guesthouse and have her dinner of dahl and paratha overlooking the Ganges. Ash headed out for dinner with Jeremy. On the way home Ash encountered the first of the Shiva celebrations getting underway..... a large religious crowd making their way down the Ganges all insisted on shaking his hand and throwing rice over him as an offering!

On Monday we awoke at 5am to prayer calls and the noise of music and chanting, signifying the beginning of a Shiva Festival in Varanasi. We gave it a few hours before heading out for our Indian breakfast (chapati, curd and Subji) on the balcony, overlooking the action. Poor old Bi was not in good form having been covered in over 45 bed bug bites on her ears, face, neck and arms (which we think she picked up at the last teahouse we stayed at in Lukla) and had to douse herself with antihistamine cream! It was not pleasant and she was not impressed!

The Ganges river and riverside was packed with people and wooden canoe boats so we got ourselves down to the river quickly to soak up some of the madness. There was music everywhere, enormous queues for the temples, millions of people were bathing, immersing themselves fully in the filthy Ganges river, men and women were having their heads shaved (so there was hair everywhere), faces were being painted... it was a riot of colour and frenetic activity, a real bombardment of all senses. We spent the morning fighting our way through the crowds on the Ghats... the atmosphere was unbelievable, overwhelming. There is no way to describe the place and do it justice.

Our hotel was full for the night due to the Shiva celebrations so we gathered our bags and moved down a few Ghats to another Guesthouse which was very pleasant and only 3 pounds 50 a night for us both. We had a big lunch, relaxed a little and then in the afternoon to escape the crowds and madness we took another walk south along the ghats towards Assi Ghat. On the way we passed another burning ghat which this time was really quite grisly. On one pyre a burned, charred head, shoulder and arm was clearly visible (until the man attending the fire pushed it back in with a stick). Bi was disgusted! On our return, we bought a small floating candle from a local boy and fought our way down to the bank through a huge swarm of moths to set it on the Ganges river. Jeremy said he would say some 'puja' (Hindi prayers) but before he could manage them he promptly slipped on the bottom step in the darkness and fell into the river! Instead of Puja we had instant prayers of "oh my god please don't let his head go under the water!". It was hilarious and fortunately he only fell in as deep as his waist (thus avoiding full immersion and the possibility of a nasty stomach upset!). Ash took the opportunity to rib him deservedly as he walked home soaked in the River Ganges, reminding him that there are apparently 1.5 million fecal bacteria per litre of water and that the normal safe bathing amount is just 200!!! It was rapid walk back to the guesthouse for a shower followed by an another Indian feast of a dinner.

Today, Tuesday, is our last day here in Varanasi. Bi and Jeremy took an early morning yoga class and we spent the rest of the day just mulling around and doing lots of eating in the old quarter which is rather quiet after yesterday's festival. The food has been really good here in Varanasi and they have been cooking everything fresh to order. At around 5, we said goodbye to Jeremy and Varanasi and headed to the station for our overnight train 12 hours west to Agra, the site of the Taj Mahal. We had a lot of trouble finding a tuk-tuk and when we did find some and they saw our bags they all ganged together and quadrupled their prices thinking we would have no choice. As a matter of principle we refused to let them win and ended up piling us and our bags onto the back of a small rickshaw and some poor man peddled us to the station!