The road goes ever on and on

From Hampi to Goa

remlaph — Wed, 3 Dec 2008 01:19:00 GMT

Well from the meditation course I proceeded to Hampi which is quite an interesting place both historically and from a natural landscape point of view.

The landscape is scattered with massive boulders, which are apparently the remanants of a prehistoric volcanoe that covered the area. Amongst all the rocks are ancient ruins from around the 14th century. You can wander for days amongst these ruins some of which people are still living in and around today. I spent a few days walking and one day hired a bike to cover some more distance, the place is truly fascinating.

From Hampi I moved onto Goa, first stop Colva beach. I have to admit that Goa so far hasn't been quite what I expected it to be. Colva Beach was nice, and I met a lovely British couple on the train there who where great company, but there was really nothing at all to do there. I mean literally nothing other than lie around on sunbeds and read (and also get a little burnt..) all day. Which I realise is exactly what alot of people are looking for in a holiday.. but I like to mix a little activity in with my relaxing and was quite bored of it after two days. I have now moved onto Candolim Beach which is supposed to have a little more going on.

The other thing is the recent attacks in Mumbai have put a bit of a dampener on things. The attacks are just terrible, luckily for me personally I was nowhere near Mumbai, but I really feel for all the people that where. Most people I have spoken with are continuing on with there trips, but there is a much more reserved and less jovial air around the place. I hope for Indias sake that they somehow work out how to put and end to all this and live in the peace that all ordinary Indians want.

Gallery: Hampi

remlaph — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:09:00 GMT

Nagpur - Cricket and Meditation

remlaph — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:14:00 GMT

Well after having so much with with the flag group in Bangalore I decided to head back to join them in Nagpur for the final Australia and India cricket test.

Well Nagpur is a pretty clean, but not terribly exciting city. The cricket however was not as good as it was in Bangalore. The stadium there is brand new, however because of its location out of town and steep ticket prices it was quite empty and lacking in atmosphere. Add to that not the best ever performance by the Aussies...

One of the more interesting experiences was after the last day of the test, the India crowd was in a jubilant mood after winning the series 2-0 and I decide to get a bike into town as I needed to locate a new guest house. One of the cheaper and more interesting ways to travel in India is to get a lift on a motorbike, there are thousands of them in India and they are normally more than happy to give you a lift, even when there not going in the same direction. So I quite easily found someone to take me back to town after the cricket. I found myself surrounded by jubilant Indian cricket fans on the road, all pulling up along side the bike to shake my hand and discuss the match. They where literally riding alongside for 5-10 minutes having full on cricket conversations with me and taking photos and all.

From the cricket I went a few days later to a 10 day Vipassana meditation course just outside of Nagpur. Vipassana is purpoted to be the meditation technique that Buddha used to attain enlightenment. The 10 days are spent in absolute silence with no commumication at all, not even eye contact between participants. It is very full on, with meditation starting at 4.30 am right through to 9.30 pm (with breaks for meals..), and yes OK, those that know me will not believe that I got up at 4.30 am every morning, and I will admit that I may have missed a couple of those early morning sessions... In all honesty it was very difficult and that much time alone with your own mind is very confronting, but I think I got alot out of it, at least I feel very peaceful and calm at the moment.

On the last day of the course when you are allowed to speak again the Indian woman where very interested to talk with the three western girls that where on the course, it was such a relief to be able to speak with all the people I had spent the last 10 days with! They took us of to there rooms and dressed up in Saris, make up and all.

From Nagpur I have moved down to Hampi, which consists of alot of very ancient ruins, I think I'll be here for a few days before heading to Goa.

Gallery: Nagpur

remlaph — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:32:00 GMT

Whitewater Nepal

remlaph — Sun, 9 Nov 2008 21:59:00 GMT

I have spent the last couple of weeks rafting and kayaking in the beautiful rivers of Nepal. I travelled with Equator expeditions who I have travelled with before and who again ran an exceptionally good river trip. As I am learning to kayak I firstly spent four days at the beautiful Sukute Beach camp set on the banks of the lower Bhote Kosi. The camp here is superbly set up to learn kayaking, with a swimming pool, fed by mountain streams, in which you can practice your rolling and a nice variety of grade 1 and 2 rapids to hone your skills. If you are a more experienced kayaker you can also attack the upper Bhote Kosi from here, so there is something for everyone. The camp itself consists of quite comfortable jungle tents situated right by the river bank. There is even a small bar on site, so it is a really pleasant environment to spend a few days. After Sukute I left the very next day for the Karnali, a wild river in the west of Nepal, a 10 day trip all up. The first 2 days are spent on the bus getting to the put in point, after which we paddled down river a little to set up our first river camp. The Karnali was a magnificent river running through a really remote area of Nepal. The first 3 days the rapids are really large 4+ and 5 in some places, so rather than attempting to kill myself in a kayak I spent these days enjoying myself in the raft. After the killer rapids had passed the river becomes quite quiet with mostly grade 1 and 2 rapids so it was time for me to get in the kayak, which I was really looking forward too! Well I am getting better... slowly, I only took 2 swims in 3 days, although one of them did involve swimming over a rather large rock and straight into a hole. The good news is I am now managing to make some rolls in the whitewater, so that is progress! I just need to make sure I get out there more when I get back home. Overall the river was great, I really enjoy camping out and being out in nature and to a long river trip like this is just amazing for that. Just can´t wait till I get to do it again. I am now back in India at the cricket again in Nagpur, I am planning on doing a 10 day Vispassana meditation course where when the cricket finishes, I have had a bit of the flu and feeling a bit run down, so hopefully it will give me a chance to relax and recuperate a little!

Gallery: Nepal Rafting and Kayaking

remlaph — Fri, 7 Nov 2008 23:41:00 GMT

Gallery: Mumbai - Bangalore - Hydrabad

remlaph — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:05:00 GMT

Waving the Flag

remlaph — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:06:00 GMT

Well I have been a very slack journaller lately! So what have I been upto?? Well most recently I have been 'Waving the Flag' at the first Australia v India cricket test in Bangalore, but between my last entry and then I have..

Had the most amazing (and strange) yogic massage and cleansing treatments in Pushkar
Decided to skip the train and spend 4 days on a camel from Pushkar to Jodhpur instead
Spent a few days exploring the blue city of Jodhpur and it's amazing fort
Spent an day as an extra on a Bollywood movie in Mumbau - yes! I am a star ; )
Met up with some friends from home in Mumbai which was great to see some familiar faces after 4 months away!

And now for my Bangalore experience, well the whole thing started with a train trip and because this is India and I am me it didn't go as smoothly as it could have.. it went something like this:

7:00 pm - Take a taxi from Colaba to Dadar station, leaving myself an hour and a half to get to the station

8:25 pm - Get to Dadar station and have compulsory disagreemet with taxi driver over the fare

8:27 pm - Wander all over the station madly trying to find the platform for my 8:30pm train.

8:35 pm - Noone can tell me which platform, so eventually I go to the staion masters office. My train has just left - the only train in the history of India Rail to do so on time. BUT he tells me I can possibly catch it. He gives me instructions on how I might do this, but I can't understand what he is saying. He is then yelling at me to go with a porter as the train is about to leave/

8:40 pm - Run after a porter with a bag and jump on a train. The porter yells at me for a tip and I yell at him to tell me where I'm going. There is no time for all this however and he jumps off the train as it pulls out of the station with me on it and no idea where I am going. The commotion however has bought many people out of there seats to try and help me. It is determined that I have to get off at the next station in half an hour where I may or may not catch up with my train.

9:20 pm - Arrive at the station, my train is not there. BUT if I get on a train to Pune, my train will almost definitely be there..

1:45 am - Arrive Pune, my train is not there. BUT there is a train in 15 minutes that is going to Bangalore.

2:00 am - Board a train that is at least finally going to Bangalore, it isn't my train, but hey, at least it's going to the right place.

So once in Bangalore I joined up with the www.wavingtheflag.com touring group. This group was awesome, the people where great, the organisation was great and I even got to stay in a real hotel!

Bangalore is a very modern Indian city, so the whole experience of being in a more western style place and all ws so different from Rajasthan and Himachal. The atmosphere at the cricket was amazing, the Indian crowd is alot louder than an Australian crowd, lots of drums and shouting. The crowds in general where well behaved, there where a couple of 'Monkey' calls from a few Indian fans but there friends around them told them to pull there heads in, so nothing got too nasty.

I really enjoyed waving the Aussie flag, Ponting and Husseys centuries in the first innings where highlights. The evenings where also alot of fun, with trivia nights and drinking and dancing - despite a strange 'No Dancing' rule that exists in Bangalore at the moment.

From Bangalore I went with my friend Chris from Australia to Hyderbad for a night and then an arduous 3 day journey back to Kahtmandu, where I am now!

There is a distinct lack of photos as the computer just decided to delete everything from my USB - but will sort it out and upload some shortly!

The land of camels

remlaph — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 22:01:00 GMT

Well I am now in Rajasthan the land of Maharajas and camels. My train got into Bikaner in northern Rajasthan at 2am in the morning, 2 hours later than it was supposed to.. Luckily for me the guy from the hotel I had arranged to pick me up waited and I got safely and easily to the wonderful Vino Guest house!

Obviously at 2am there wasn't much to see, but the first noise I heard (at 5am) was a camel braying, and the first thing I sore when I took a walk in the morning was a camel cart, and then lots and lots of camels pulling loads to and from everywhere, so I was definitely in Rajasthan!

Bikaner was a hot dusty city, it isn't heavily touristed (yet) so you can walk down the street and see everyday life without lots of tourist shops and touts, which was nice. The Junargh fort was quite interesting, it was started 500 years ago and finished by the British so there was a real mix of architectures. The Jain temples where also really spectacular.

The most unusual temple I have visited so far though has to be the Karni Mata temple just out of Bikaner. Here, they worship rats, the temple is full of rats, which they feed and... anyway like most hindu temples you have to take your shoes off to go inside, so I was in and out of there pretty quick smart, very very bizzare.

From Bikaner I took a bus to Pushkar, and I have to say the Rasjasthani roads are really quite good. Pushkar is a holy city (I know.. theres alot of holy cities..) situated on a lake in the middle of the desert and is quite a tourist town, so there is alot of 'hassle' here which is a little annoying.

I went the other night on an overnight camel safari, the camel owner takes you to his house on the camel ride, his Mum cooks a great dinner and you sleep there the night and ride the camel back the next day. As it was so warm we where able to sleep on the roof of the house under the beautiful stars. It is actually an unusual thing to look up at the stars and realise they aren't your stars.

I am currently spending 3 days some yoga/natural therapies sessions. I get treatments, like mud packs and amazing massages in the morning, and am having a prescriptive yoga session in the evening, where we are doing yoga specifically to work on my posture and back issues. This morning though, as part of the cleansing he suggested having a colonic irrigation, I said a definite NO! But he is still quite adamant I have one tomorrow.. AAggggh.

Anyway, I am quite enjoying Rajasthan, I do have to say I don't love it as much as I loved the mountains, but it us interesting and different, annd theres lots of camels!

Gallery: Rajasthan

remlaph — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:55:00 GMT

The Golden Temple of Amritsar

remlaph — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 19:30:00 GMT

Now, I have been to Amritsar and have seen the Golden Temple of the Sikhs and it is indeed beautiful.

After the 3 or so weeks in Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh leaving the mountains was a real shock to the system. These areas are different to alot of India in that they are generally cleaner, cooler and much less crowded. So arriving in Amritsar to the heat and crowds of large, bearded and turbaned sikh men was quite intimidating to begin with.. I am back in 'India'!

I met a couple of other girls on the bus and after checking into a hotel really close to the temple when we got there in the evening, we went of to explore. It definitely looks its best all lit up at night and with the moon rising right over the top of it it was amazing. There is a community kitchen, which is a feature of every sikh temple, where you can eat for a donation so we headed there for dinner and lined up along the mats on the floor with 1000's of others for curry and chappatis.

Sitting around looking at the temple later that night a few people came up and started talking to us. It is amazing how interested they often are in you, if they speak English they want to know all about your country and will sit talking to you for as long as you will let them, the children all want to shake your hand and on this occasion we had about 20 people all gathered round just listening to our conversation with an older sikh man. Sometimes it feels like your some sort of zoo attraction. Alot of Indians often want to have there photo taken with you, the next day I even had a woman practically throw her 2 month old baby into my arms for a picture. At first this can be quite intimidating, but when you realise everyone means well and is just really interested in foreigners it is ok - I have posed in alot of Indian holiday snaps.

The next day we got up to see the sunrise over the temple and then lined up to go inside. I have to say it is the cleanest temple I have seen so far in India, they have an army of volunteers constantly cleaning and cooking and generally looking after the place. Apparently it is part of your duty as a Sikh to volunteer as you learn to humble by serving others - or something like that.

We took in some more sites of the city and went in the evening to Attari on the India-Pakistan border to see the closing of the border ceremony that takes place every evening. It was really quite humorous. The guards on both sides are dressed up like there going to an 19th century fancy dress party and they yell and carry on for about half an hour. When they march they swing there arms and legs so high they nearly knock themselves out. Quite an amusing afternoon.

I am now in Bikaneer Rajasthan... It's hot!

Gallery: Amritsar

remlaph — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 15:24:00 GMT

Gallery: Indian Road Safety

remlaph — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:00:00 GMT

A day in Mcleod

remlaph — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:30:00 GMT

I had a good day yesterday, and I often don't write till ages after things have happened so I thought I'd write about my day yesterday now. Maybe it's interesting.. maybe it's not.. but it just goes to show that you never know what you'll end up doing when you wake up in the morning.

It started about 8.30 am when I got up and did some clothes washing. Not very exciting - but necessary. I generally wash my clothes local style in a bucket in the bathroom, occassionally if I am feeling lazy I give them to the laundry.

After laundry I sat on the balcony of my hotel restuarant and had breakfast. It was one of those beautiful moments when you really appreciate where you are. The balcony overlooks a valley and there where eagles soaring in the sky and buddhist prayer flags blowing in the wind and I couldn't imagine being anywhere else. After breakfast I strolled up the road to a cafe run by some trendy young tibetan guys which does a real cappucino! Yes! A relaxing coffee and read of the paper. Pretty relaxing morning, hey!

I then met up with my companions from the weekend to sort out expenses (and of course have more chai..). Something pretty great happened then. I mentioned that our Indian friend - Deepak, owned a Thanka shop. While we where looking through them earlier I found one that I really loved and was umming and ahhing about buying. Anyway, I decided I couldn't afford it. But he insisted, that it was mine, and that I take it and send him the money later when I had it. I know! It sounds like I'm making it up right! Indian shop keepers are always trying to sell, sell, sell. But I have NEVER heard of one just letting someone take something and pay for it later. Deepak truly is an amazing person.

So Emma and I left the shop, me in a very happy mood, in possesion of my new thanka. We went walking down the hill to Dharamsala in search of a Tibetan Astrology place. As often happens here, we where on a bit of a mission to nowhere and never ended up finding the place, but we did find the Tibetan Goverment in Exile. As I have said before, you can't get to attached to where you think you are going, or what you think you are going to do here, because you always end up somewhere different.

We continued on to Dharamsala for lunch where a lovely Punjabi woman, with no English kept suggesting dishes other than the ones we ordered. We politely declined and placed our order. She smiled, patted Emma on the shoulder, and came back with the dishes she thought we should have, ummm.. not the ones we thought we should have. It turns out her selections were delicious, so we smiled, gave in and ate what she served us.

After our delicious 'surprise' lunch, Emma went to check in with the office where she was to start volunteering and I tagged along out of interest. She is volunteering in a slum school and they basically sent her straight down there for the afternoon and let me join also. I had never been in a slum before and you had to walk right through it to the school. It is extremely confronting and discomforting to see people living in these conditions. They have nothing, they live in shelters made of sticks and plastic, no sanitation and running water for only 2 hours a day.

I sat at the back of the class just watching, but it wasn't long before the teacher asked if I would help, of course I said yes. So he handed me an alphabet chart and a group of 3-4 year olds that spoke virtually no english... and so I started reciting with the alphabet with them. Your heart just can't help but go out to them. I did intend to do some volunteering on this trip, but the travelling seems to have taken over. But spending the afternoon here has made me determined to come back soon and do a proper volunteer stint.

The evening, back in Mcleod was again great, being a tourist hub, there are many great restuarants and we ate at one of them, along with my Israeli roommate Eran. Which just reinforces how easy we have things, when you think about the people down in the slum.

It was an interesting and eye opening day, and not the one I thought I was going to have when I woke up in the morning.

An Indian road trip

remlaph — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:17:00 GMT

When I first arrived in Mcleod Ganj I met a lovely Scottish girl - Emma at my guest house, later that night we met Gabby and Martine who had arranged to go on a little road trip with a local Thanka shop owner and it was decided we should join them! I love it when random events come together like this!

So the next day the four of us met our host Deepak at his shop and drank lots of chai before setting off for the weekend. We piled into a van, I took the 'special' seat in the back and headed off about 20 minutes out of Mcleod. From there we walked a further 20 mins or so into the hills to a quaint little village where we where to spend the night. Many stops had been made along the way for supplies and it was clear we where in for quite a feast.

The village was beautiful and the family we where staying with, incredibly welcoming. There was sooo much chai I just couldn't drink anymore. We shelled peas and the women cooked chappatis over the open fire, while Deepak the master chef prepared a brilliant Indian feast. The kids are so excited to have you there it makes you even more excited to be there. We sat around on the floor eating dinner traditional style and trying to communicate with our hosts who spoke very little English.

They live in a simple village house, and gave up one of the rooms for us (I think the kids had to sleep in the kitchen). The three girls piled into the large family bed and the boys had to make do with the floor (hehe). The whole place is really beautiful, and it is easy to forget that these people are quite poor and to really understand the struggles they face. Sometimes, I feel a little awkward, a rich westerner just breezing in and out, but they are always smiling and you can't help but feel welcome.

The following day we want for a walk with alot of kids, they came from everywhere, I have never seen such an excited bunch of kids. They wanted to show us there cricket pitch, and did some little hindi dances, and took stacks of photos on my camera. It was very difficult to leave, they just didn't want to let us.

Finally we had to say goodbye, as we where heading off, supposedly for some trout fishing in a more remote part of Himachal. We piled back into the van and drove for like 5 hours.. which was alot longer than I had anticipated, but finally we arrived at small riverside village that apparently has great trout fishing. I say apparently, because after all this it turns out we couldn't get the proper equipment and no fishing actually took place. Which was really fine with me, I'm not much of a fisher anyway. This is also a typically Indian experience, you can't get to attached to what you think is going to happen becuase invariably you always end up doing something else.. but it does generally work out great, and we had a loverly evening relaxing on the balcony to the sound of the rushing river.

Gabby, Martine, Emma, Deepak and the driver where aweseome companions for the weekend. Martine immense enthusiam for everything was rejuvenating, I think we had a pretty good weekend, sans fishing and all.

Gallery: Himachal Pradesh

remlaph — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:23:00 GMT

A week in Ladakh...

remlaph — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:44:00 GMT

is just not long enough! Ladakh, is my favourite place in India so far, although it is nothing like anywhere else in India at all, so maybe it is unfair to compare it. In fact the Ladakhis themselves don't consider themselves Indian at all.

The whole Ladakh experience begins with arguably the toughest bus ride in the world on the Leh-Manali road. The bus leaves at stupid o'clock (or 2 am) and goes over passes as high as 5300m. They say the first thing that most people do on reaching Leh is book an airfare back to Delhi so they don't have to face the road again. As this was not within my budget or really the direction I wanted to head, I faced the road down on the way back again too.

The first part of the journey is in the dark, but when the sun rises, you are in a the middle of a high altitude desert, above the treeline but below the snowline. There are endless mountainess rock formations and I never realised dirt and rock could reflect in so many different colours, just amazing. The scenery is so incredible it even takes your mind off the discomfort of the trip. One piece of advice -DO NOT, whatever you do, book the back seats of the minibus, unless you enjoy being thrown bodily into the air every 5 minutes or so.

Leh itself is a beautiful little oasis in the middle of this desert. I met a Chinese girl (Dada) and Spanish guy (Oriel) in Manali and we travelle upto Leg together. We found excellent accomodation at the Auspicious hotel, the owner and staff where fanatastic in helping us out with anything we wanted.

The town itself is overlooked by the 500 year old Leh palace. Walking through it's dusty old rooms you really feel something of what life was like all those years ago, you also get that feeling in alot of parts of Old Leh itself which feel like they havem't changed for 1000's of years.

There is some excellent trekking around Leh, but as I had really just gotten over my chest infection from my last trekking expedition I decvided to leave the trekking for next time (and yes, there will be a next time). Instead, I spent my time doing a 2 day introduction to Buddhism course, visiting Pangong lake - from where you can see China, exploring the centuries old monasteries around Leh and having tea with the local Kashmiri shop owners while they tried to sell me beautiful Pashminas and Rugs, which I valiantly resisted buying.

The Ladakh festival was also on while we where there, which meant many cultural groups from all over Ladakh where in Leh giving cultural performances. The highlight of the festival for me was the polo match, apparently polo is quite popular here and it was really easy to get into the match, they where really quite skillful.

I have also become a little obsessed with eating Korma curries and cottage cheese naan, which I really need to curtail a little or I will come back from India twice my original size! But they are just sooo good.

I really can't say enough about how beautiful and relaxing Leh is. Everyone visiting India should make the effort to get up here, and everyone not visiting India should, so they can visit here.

Gallery: Ladakh

remlaph — Tue, 9 Sep 2008 21:48:00 GMT

Holy Cow!

remlaph — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:06:00 GMT

Well it has been awhile! And I have been doing so many things, where to start?? Well I will try not to make the entry too long... or I think most of you will stop reading halfway through.

Well picking up from after trekking, which seems so long ago now, I spent a bit of time in Kathmandu and Pokhara recovering before heading off for India.

It has been a bit of a holy city pilgrimage so far. First stop was Lumbini which is still in Nepal, about an hour from the Indian border and its claim to fame is that its the birth place of buddha. The town itself is lovely and quaint and there is walking tour you can take through the village. It is different from anywhere else I have visited in Nepal as it is in the Terai plains and there is not a mountain in site. It also has a bit of an Indian feel about it, being so close to the border.

The birthplace of Buddha itself is a world heritage site and situated in a large 3km square garden. Entry is cheap – only 50 ruppees and the ruins of the temple and surrounding monasteries date back to the third century BC and are quite fascinating to walk through.

The rest of the gardens consist of relatively new monasteries or monasteries under construction representing different countries, it is intended to be a symbol of world peace. When they are all completed there will be 52 monasteries. As the area is quite large you can hire a bicycle or take a rickshaw to get around. We opted for the rickshaw. Some of the monasteries and gardens where quite spectacular – particularly the german one. I really think this will be an exceptional tourist attraction for Nepal once all the buildings are finished, so long as they maintain all the gardens and building properly, which unfortunately they are prone to not doing. The other thing about Lumbini was that it was incredibly HOT, like 30 deg in the middle of the night, it has been hot the whole time Id been in Nepal, but this was a whole nother level of hot.

From Lumbini I took a short bus ride to the border and then a rickshaw for the actual border crossing. From there a 12 hour bus ride to Varanasi, which was the best bus ride I have had here. The bus was practically empty the whole way and I had 2 seats to myself the entire journey! Luxury!

Varanasi was mindblowing. It is a holy hindu city and it is considered good to die and be cremated here. I met 3 Britsh girls on the bus and arranged to stay with them, and I am sooo glad I did. It was dark when we got into Varanasi and the trip to the hotel involved a crazy rickshaw ride through winding backstreets and then a walk through even more crazy dark alleways down to the ghats. The first budget hotel we intended to stay at was full and we ended up at more expensive one, which was way outside my budget, but decided to treat myself and blow the budget for a couple of nights – and it was worth it! Airconditioning! The hotel was the Rashmi and the rooftop restaurant was spectacular both for its awesome view of the Ganges and its divine Navaratan Korma which HAS to be one of the best meals I have had in my life.

The next few days where spent taking boat rides down the Ganges, wandering through the back alleys of the ghats full of temples, holy men, beggars, cows and monkeys. I really cant describe the sights and experiences properly, but it is like being in another world. The evening Puja ceremony held on one of the ghats involving a lot of fire and chanting, viewed from a boat on the river was an extravagant spectale of fire and chanting and a must see.

For my final night in Varanasi we moved to the Sonmony guest house. Which is a budget place – much more within my budget, and I think anyone visiting Varanasi should spend a night here. It is right on top of one of the burning ghats and from the rooftop you have a birdseye view of the entire funeral procession and cremations, without intruding. It starts with the men (women are not allowed down here) bringing the body down on a stretcher to the ganges, the body is always covered in bright red and gold cloth, the more extravagant the richer the person.. The body, cloth and all is then submerged several times in the Ganges. Sometimes they remove the covering from the head and put water from the river in the mouth of the deceased. But in between all this young boys continue to jump off the nearby piers and horse around in the water. The bodies are then cremated, which I wont describe but you do get a full on view of the cremation pyres from the rooftop.

I know I havent really described the experience of Varanasi properly, but the way the traditions live on there, and the unswerving faith of the people in there traditions and the holiness of the water of the ganga is just something to behold.

From Varanasi I took a 20 hour train ride north to Haridwar, another holy city. I was a bit nervous about the train ride, as I was travelling sleeper class (the cheap class) and I had heard stories of people having bad experiences on the trains, but I have to say it was quite fine and all the people I met where nothing but polite and helpful, although I did stay awake half the night waiting for someone to try and rob me... (which thankfully didnt happen).

Haradwir is where the Ganges river leaves the Himalayas and enters the gangetic plain, so again the place like Varanasi is holy and completed centered around the river. It is a lot stricter than Varanasi though, there is no meat or alcohol allowed in the city. I got talking to a local while on the train and he offered to show me around the city, which worked out very well, he was so polite and was happy to have the chance to practice his english.

So we walked around many temples, at one point a monkey stole my bottled water, took the top off with his mouth and proceeded to drink it. The evening Aarti ceremony on the banks of the Ganga was again spectacular and drew extremely large crowds. On my last night in Haradwir it was the festival of Krishnas birthday. Which as it turns out is an extremely big party, I have never experienced that many people and that much activity in one place together before. Unfortunately my camera battery died – and there are no photos, but all the temples where decorated and there where many scenes set up all over the place with children depicting scenes from Krishnas life, much like Christmas nativity scenes and the celebrations went on long into the night.

From Haridwar I have bussed it to Shimla, which is the capital of Himachal Pradesh and was once the summer capital of the British administration. It is a quite a beautiful place, set on a steep hill side and with lots of remnants of the British, extremely different from the holy cities I have spent the last week at. It is also clean, really clean, and I had a really nice hotel and a good price – one advantage of travelling in the off season.

I am now in Manali, staying in a lovely guest house (Veer guest house) with a garden restuarant surrounded by hydragenas and roses and apple tree you can pick apples right off to eat. Tomorrow I will take an 18 hour bus ride to Leh..

So if your still with me, thats a bit of a lengthy summary of what Ive been upto!

Gallery: Varanasi and Haridwar

remlaph — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:03:00 GMT