The journey from Nepal to India was an adventure in it self, left Kathamandu on 20 October 2008 on an 8 hour bus journey to Sounali, the boarders of Nepal and Kathmandu. We only been on the road for less than an hour and the petrol tank fell off, so had to stand on the roadside waiting for an replacement bus, however this was not clear at the time. I thought we had to wait for someone to come and fix the bus we been on and expected a very long wait. It took just over an hour for a replacement bus to turn up, which was a pleasant surprise. The hour passed by quickly as I got to chat with some girls from Canada and Croatia that were in Nepal doing voluntary work in childrens homes and lived with Nepalese families, sounded very interesting. The second half of the journey was extremely bumpy, the only available seats was at the back of the bus and there were times when I almost flew in the air. Arrived in Sounali at 4.30pm and had to walk across the boarder, I don't think I can describe in words how chaotic it was, but still relative easy with the passport controls. I was then told a bus to Varanasi was leaving at 5.30pm on the right side of the road a bit further on. I found the place and was approached by a man selling tickets. He wanted 600Rs for the journey, which I new was far too much but he was so persistant, so I paid it. Got on the bus and everyone stared at me and laughed, I felt very uncofortable, I new I been ripped off and therefore didn't trust this ticket seller and even started to worry wheather I was on the right bus, no one spoke English, when I asked; all they did was laugh. Eventually a Portugese guy turned up who spoke English and I felt such a relief and felt much happier. The 10 hour journey started with more people getting on and the bus became very full, majority of men, many who just sat there staring at me, some trying to talk to me but the language barrier made it difficult. I arrived in Varanasi at 4.30am exhausted and took a rickshaw to Yogi Lodge which became my home for the next 3 nights, very basic (200 Rupees per night (2 pounds 50pence), no windows and basically just a matress, so I was happy I had my sleeping sheet to crawl into. Later that morning I got up to have breakfast and felt very welcomed. The breakfast tasted great, I hadn't eaten since lunchtime the day before. The people working at this guest house were so friendly and took me around on a tour to the temples, the university art gallery, which was really good with a lot of Indian art and an exhibition by a Swizz artist called Alice Boner. Varanasi is a facinating and very spirutal place. It is one of the holiest cities in India and people come here from all over India to bath in the river Ganges which is suppose to be holy water. In the morning I took a boat on the river, the sun was raising and it was so beautiful and colourful with all the people on the river banks bathing and doing their rituals. We then got to the Ghat where they were cremating bodies, this I found disturbing as there was a body being prepared to be cremated.
On the last morning in Varanasi I and two people I met at the guesthouse I stayed at went to yoga to Dr Shiv Shaktis' house, he spent about 45 minutes talking about the philosophy of yoga and meditation, very thought provoking, then we practiced some yoga and meditation, I loved it. Sending a parcel from the post office was very different experience to what I am used to, it took me over 1 hour, first I had to go to the post office to weigh the things I was sending, then accross the road to the packing place where they wrapped my parcel with cloth that they stitched together and sealed with wax, then back to main the post office to weigh again, fill in forms and pay, it was quite funny how complicated they made it. I spent 3 days in Varanasi before I took a night train to Agra, where I arrived this morning. Been to Agra Fort this afternoon, which was amazing, I will go to Taj Mahal at 6am tomorrow morining to see the sun rise over it and spend the morning there.
Taj Mahal, what a magical place, the architecture was just amasing, the details, the way it reflects in the water, the colour as the sun raise, so beautiful. I went there at 6am when supposedly not too many people would be there. However, it was still a long que when I arriived but I managed to see it as the sun raised, beautiful. Such a sad love story though as Emperor Shah Jahan built this as an memorial for his wife who died in childbirth. However soon after it was finished he was overthrown by his son and sent to prison in Agra Fort where he could see the Taj Mahal everyday.
Now I am off to Jaipur.
