We arrived in Varanasi three days ago - to noise, bustle, chaotic traffic, rickshaw drivers, thousands of people, a few con men, cows, goats, ferrets, chooks, dogs, dogs, and more dogs, and our hotel right on the burning ghats....yes the 24hour cremation ghat! The air is constantly smoggy and the Ganges is not quite as clean as the Clarence! This is a very significant place for Hindus and many people come here to die and be cremated on the Ganges. We have seen many, many cremations in the last few days - visible from our balconies and the restaurant in our hotel!
We have acquired many new "friends" since arriving in Varanasi. This fellow though has been quite useful and has given James and Robyn several tabla lessons. He also took us to a concert just near our hotel and it was fabulous. There was a sitar player, a tabla player, a singer with the most amazing vocals, and a dancer. They were all so enthusiastic and we were a very small audience - we were very lucky and spoke with the players after the concert.
In the mornings there is much activity on the Ganges - washing hair, bathing, prayers, laundry being done, cremations, buffalo swimming, fishing......really interesting to sit back and watch. At night there are rituals and prayers and candle boats being placed on the water.
Pampered buffaloes!
It can be very colourful with the washing - especially the saris laid out to dry on the steps of the ghats.
Passing the time away on the Ganges!Our introduction to India has been a little confronting but we figure if we've survived Varanasi we can cope with the rest of India! We are off to Agra tomorrow night on the overnight train and then it's off to see the Taj!
We are all travelling well and the food so far has been good - we found a lovely retaurant last night which had very delicious food for just over $20 for 2 courses and drinks for the four of us!
Hope everyone is well at home - thanks for the comments - keep posting them as we love to hear from you. Love to all and miss you xxx
We visited Durbar Square in the city a couple of days ago - these ladies were praying outside one of the temples.
We hired a driver and guide yesterday and today and went out of the city to see some world heritage sights. This is the stupa at Boudanath - a very significant site for Buddhists and very peaceful compared to other places. We had lunch on one of the rooftop cafes here and watched the monks and nuns circling the stupa as they prayed.
We also visited Monkey Temple - and yes there are lots of monkeys there (and mangy dogs!). The monkeys were quite timid though and a little camera shy although not shy of stealing bananas from passing plates!
Sadhus in Durbar Square - very colourful admist the browns of the temples and city streets.
This is Patan - amazing temples. All very old and intricate wood carvings. We also saw what looked to be an advertisement or movie being filmed here. The dancers were a little weary - it had obviously been a long day!
Men playing instruments in Buktinath whilst a goat was being sacrificed on the temple (I'm not joking) and later cooked for a feast (no I didn't watch as they worked themselves into a bit of a frenzy).
A little weary after a long day looking at many temples with a long running commentary about all the gods by our guide - there's only so many gods you can remember in one day - then they all start to blend in to one!
Day 2 we set off with a little trepidation as we had to climb to our highest point in the trip. After many rest breaks for me and time to catch my breath we finally made it to Muktinath. Needless to say James and Krissy powered ahead!
Robyn and I almost to Muktinath!
We had a wonderful trek and even though there were times when I thought I wouldn't make it up another "hill" (Nepali hill) I did, and we are all very proud of ourselves for making it to the end without catching a pony or jeep! We were very safe all along the trek and Dil, Resham and Kamal helped us to laugh and dance all the way and made it great fun - thanks boys!
