Mar 24, 2013 - Varanasi at sunrise

We're up early to take our bus to the Ganges for sunrise. Unlike last evening, the streets are deserted until we get closer to the river. Mornings on the Ganges are full of devotional chanting, praying and bathing. As we board the small wooden boat, the sky is just beginning to lighten. Along the ghats are hundreds of colourfully dressed devotees, barely clad bathers and holy men performing their rituals. Floating on the river are dozens of prayer candles and garlands of marigolds. Considering the pollution in the river, I am surprised to...

Mar 23, 2013 - Varanasi

This morning, we have an early flight from Delhi to Varanasi, a city on the banks of the Ganges. It is the holiest city in Hinduism and Jainism. We are also told that it is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. It's not full of glorious temples, those were plundered in the 12th Century. Most of the sights are in tiny narrow winding alleys that head to the banks of the River Ganges. Varanasi is the spiritual capital of India. The culture of the city is entirely centred on the Ganges River; it is a Goddess for people of the...

Feb 28, 2013 - India - Varanasi

Thursday 28th February 2013 Varanasi Group left at 5:30 am to view the sunrise over the river Ganges Motor rickshaws to riverside, then boat with a small motor out into the calm Ganges river to drift down river and watch the sunrise on one side and the activity of the people on the other. The river is narrower in dry season but the river is many feet higher in monsoon season. Thousands of tons of mud is deposited on the banks of the river, it is very rich in nutrients and used for many purposes. The river bank on the city side is lined by...

Feb 18, 2013 - Varanasi and the Ganges

Monday 18th February Today started with a 5am alarm call as we met up for an early start. It was back to the Ganges for a sunrise boat trip. Things were a little quieter than last night, but it is still unbelievable how many people there are on the streets at 5:45 in the morning. We set of again, sixteen of us in a rowing boat with one oarsman and we went upstream to see the rituals on the river bank. There were many bathers, mainly men but some women too. There was also washing of bed sheets being done, and being placed to dry out...

Feb 17, 2013 - Overnight to Varanasi

Sunday 17th February Yesterday we were at Orchha, a small village outside the town of Jhansi. The hotel we stayed in was unusual. The 'rooms' consisted of tents in the grounds. They were comfortable enough, and had TV, showers and even aircon! The hotel itself was very nice with a very pretty reception area and a good restaurant. The backdrop to this was four huge mausoleums, where the bodies of the royal family are taken for cremation. Each building was put up as a memorial. There were also two ancient palaces a short walk away, and we had...

Nov 8, 2012 - Varanasi, India

November 5, 2012 We arrived in Varanasi around 2:30 yesterday. Sanjay dropped us off at the train station around 6pm. Our train WAS scheduled to leave at 8:22pm. It was 6 hours late. The station to catch the train to Varanasi is not in Agra. Its 20km’s out of town in another village. It’s a smaller station with only four platforms. I wasn’t sure which platform we were going to leave from so I had Mom sit on a bench in the ticket hall watching our gear while I roamed about trying gear to figure out which platform was ours. I located the...

Apr 10, 2012 - Karjuraho, Agra, Jaipur,New Dehli, Amristar,Mumbai

KHARJURAHO A temple complex located 12 hours south of Varanasi by train. The temples here depict an age in India where they carved the karma sutra positions into the stone temples to supposedly educate the locals on sex. Bernie & Sharen spent quite some time studying these poses and wondered how they were humanly possible! Keith says they are…hmmm!! Khajuraho is a small village (20,000) built up around the temple complex. Most of these temples reminded us of the temples of Ankor Wat in Cambodia…they worshiped the same God (Vishnu) in the...

Mar 20, 2012 - Varanasi

This morning we took a Spice jet flight to Varanasi in the state of Uttar Pradesh, the fourth largest and most populous. It took 40 minutes and out of the windows we could see snow capped mountains - was it the Himalayas, we wondered? Varanasi was always going to be a highlight and as we made our way down to the Ganges for the evening Aarti at the Ghats the mood and scene around us was incredible. From time immemorial this has been a great religious centre for Hindus and one of their most sacred places of pilgrimage. Needless to say we...

Mar 20, 2012 - Varanasi

Varanassi: The Start of India: We were driven from the Rainbow Safari Lodge in the back of a 1 ton truck to the bus stop, there we boarded a bus for a 4 hour ride to Sanauli, the Indian border crossing. Sanauli is not a place to linger. The faster you can get out of there the better. The Indian side of the border is swarming with people and it is sheer chaos. Rather than attempt to find the bus station and ride the bus for 4-5 hours over some of the roughest roads imaginable, we opted to hire a taxi for 1400 inrs($28 )for 2.5 hrs. The roads...

Mar 14, 2012 - Varanasi - Day 2

We were up at 6am to watch the sunrise over the Ganges from our balcony. There were boats everywhere serenely moving up and down on the river, most of them being rowed by a man perched on the bow with a couple of bamboo oars and various numbers of passengers. There were a few motor boats but they intruded on the setting with the engine noises. We went down to the ghat and were immediately spotted by one of the touts who persuaded us to let his friend row us around for an hour for 100rps. It seemed a good deal so we spent a very pleasant...

Mar 13, 2012 - Varanasi

The toilet was in an even worse condition in the morning and on top of it all the train was three and a half hours late arriving in Varanasi. The hotel,had sent a guy to meet us at 10am and he had to hang around the station till we finally arrived at 1.30pm. Our guide led us away from the usual chaos at the station and crowded us all into a Tuktuk. The traffic was horrific and we had to hang on for dear life as we made our way into the old town of Varanasi. People, bikes, motorbikes, rickshaws all parted the way before us as our driver...

Mar 12, 2012 - Off To Varanasi

Very cold again this morning, looking forward to getting back down to the plains again to warm up. Up at 6am so packed up my bags and then went out for a last look around and to suss out the easiest way down to the train station. Even at 7am the front door was still locked and I had to get one of the boys out of bed to let me out. I was getting hungry walking around and decided to Go back to the little cafe where we had breakfast yesterday and have another of their omelettes. I was too early for them and they were still shut. Across the...