India by storm!

Namaste all those back home!

Seems like a while since I've sat down with old Blogger and we've been travelling a lot it seems. After an interesting trip from Kathmandu to Varanasi (more like Nepal to India to Nepal to India because of our Nepalese visa running out, then an (extended) bus ride marked with a rain storm which forced us to stop due to the heavy rain for which we didn't have windshield wippers, accidents, and finally no headlights... needless to say, Varanasi wasn't as crazy as it's made out to be... maybe we're getting used to it??!) .

Anyways, let's start with Varanasi- it is one of the holiest spots in India where Hindu pilgrims from all over come to bathe and do laundy, brush teeth, pray and play, wash animals and most famously be dunked before being cremated on one of the nearby burning ghats. It's a truly fascinating place with the Ganges (Mother Ganga) acting as the life vein of the city. The Hindu people believe that the Ganges flows from the feet of the god Vishnu and if they die in Varanasi, they will escape the cycle of birth and death. It's also the spot where the film Water was based (though the film is banned in India after considerable controversies). In addition to the Ganga and the ghats, the streets are narrow narrow mazes filled with food stalls, shops selling holy offerings, silk saris, temples, cows and monkeys. Despite staying there for 4 days, we still got lost whenever we left! I really enjoyed Varanasi as history, religion and day to day life really converge in your face.

This third picture is the night puja (offering)
ceremony on the main ghat- pretty spectacular.

Next stop, after an overnight train ride (I have to say that after reading many books based in India, for some reason I’ve dreamt for years of riding the overly congested Indian trains, filled with all sorts of walas (vendors) to catch a glimpse of the diversity and chaos (and beauty perhaps?) of humanity) to Agra. We rode 3A/C (3 tiered beds in A/C) which was way to comfortable and lacked the chaos I was expecting. But I’ll cut my complaints as I’m not sure I’ve mentioned that it’s HOT in India… but again I won’t complain as I’m soon to write about our next couple destinations which are even hotter! Anyways, without too much trouble we arrived in Agra, the home of the most recognized Indian visual: the Taj Mahal.

In the heat, we were pretty wiped, but managed to get a rooftop restaurant view of the Taj Mahal (as to get in costs what we pay for about a day of traveling and we were happy with a glimpse while holding a cool drink!). Pretty beautiful and an amazing tribute to love. It was constructed by a devastated husband whose wife died after birth of her 14th child. But what caught my attention from our perch were the number of multicoloured kites being flown by young children and fathers alike- oh and the monkey playground (I mean city scape!).

Next stop: Jaipur! Why we decided to enter Rajisthan in this heat, I will never know… but interesting none the less! Jaipur is known as the pink city as the old town is all painted in pink. Lots of interesting bazaars with tie dye and all sorts of gems. We visited a field of astronomy/astrology sculptures which was really interesting and via the sundial, I determined that my watch was 1 minute slow- cool! We also enjoyed the local lassiwala (think yoghurt drink) which made the heat bearable!

Here is the palace beehive-like watch tower building thing- neat little spot to watch the city pass by... and one of the sun dials (the 27 m high one is currently being restored).

From Jaipur, maybe due to madness caused by head, we went further into Rajisthan to the Shekhawati region to Nawalgarh. Upon our arrival, I got hit with heat exhaustion I think and didn’t move far from the bed (and toilet, but I’ll leave out the details) for almost 48 hours. Meanwhile we stayed at a great family guest house with great food and lots of friendliness. Though no one does much from 10am – 5pm due to the heat (it was about 48oC), the region is known for it’s villages filled with havelis (old mural paintings- see the images below) and laidback rural charm (oh, and camels!!). John toured around when the heat was bearable, while I finally got out to see one of the main haveli that was really spectacular!

Though I can’t say we were in tears to leave the heat to enter Delhi, which even in a heat wave is a lot more bearable! I’ll write more on that later… that’s news for now!

Hope all is well back home and the summer is sneaking up with pleasant temperatures and all sorts of goodstuff!

Namaste!
Kristy