Sandhya Guest House Varanasi

... a nightmare. The two guys running the place were lovely, but couldn’t really communicate in English that well. After a long process of discussions we’d checked in and booked 2 safaris for the next day. After a long few days the excitement levels of seeing a tiger were high. Our safari started the next morning bright and early (we’ve got used to this now) and we were pretty happy to see a modern gypsy (4WD jeep with no roof) waiting for us. We had the whole thing to ...

Our trip from Orchha to Khajuharo went fine except that our driver almost fell asleep on the wheel... In the end we stopped somewhere at a restaurant, which was so touristic the water was already 3 times more expensive than on the street. Our driver took a little rest and on we went. In Khajuharo we went to a great hotel including a balcony, which we took advantage of later on. Khajuharo is most famous for it's erotic carved ...

... whole into the river and weighted down as they are considered already holy and go direct into the river without cremation. Sometimes the weighting of the body fails and it floats up. We saw one such body tonight in the dusk face down near the banks. Unbelievable people bathe, fish and drink the water from the river and seem ok. The young fellow rowing told us and showed us as he drank some scooped up water. He said people from Varanasi are strong and don’t get sick ...

We had four nights in Varanasi which was probably enough although it is a place that grows on you enormously. It is amazing to see how so many people with so little can cohabit in such close proximity. I read that during the festival which was going on, the police and army segregated the vast city into seven regions to prevent ethnic problems arising. This was as a result of the religious fervour that was being worked up at the numerous temporary temples ...

... of people there. There was a mix of children swimming, locals bathing or going about their spiritual rituals, cows, dogs, boatmen, beggars and tourists (foreign and Indian). Varanasi is also extremely popular with Indian tourists who come to visit the holy city.<br><br>So we wandered along the river to have a look and to check out the ghats. We wandered into Manikarnika Ghat which is the main Ghat where bodies are burnt (but there are more along ...

... tour guide hey! So that is why we were not offering as much as he had expected. Sanjay was cross that he was not getting much and so told us we could go. We took that to mean he didn&#8217;t want our tip so we took it with us. Clearly that is not what he expected as he started shouting after us down the street, wanting us to come back and give him his money. Has he not learnt anything about us in the last couple of weeks?! He should know not to ...

... zone. Anyway, the guy looked over my feet, tongue, teeth, palms and face and made random comments about them. He wrote down some figures and told me some random, general predictions. We also had a staring match where he said we were reading each other's astrology. For the record, he folded first. He gave me some sacred herbs but i wasn't sure what they were for so i crushed them up and put them in my pocket like a true pixie would. He gifted me some mantras and ...

<br><br>"The Ganga Aarti" (Varanasi, India) *video* <br mce_bogus="1"><br>Grrrl Traveler's Postcard Diaries presents "The Ganga Aarti" (Varanasi, India). The evening Ganga Aarti is an hour long ritual performed daily at the bank of the main ghat.<br>

... I would never be able to sleep at that 90 angle. <br> Now to address an issue that has happened on most of our bus journeys that is simply infuriating... I have not spoken of it before because it happens so often that I have accepted it as part of traveling in India. However, this one particular time since I was on a 16 hour bus ride, it really chapped my ass! This is the phenomena I have dubbed as an Idiot Jam. Indians love to ...

... a better view, and to take photographs' - an offer I found it easy to decline. <br> <br> We were then led through some narrow alleyways to a local rooftop restaurant for breakfast, which felt somehow inappropriate considering the sights that had just confronted us, though we did all seem able to manage a little something! On then to briefly visit an area of high tension, where a mosque was sitting right beside (and some claimed on land stolen from) an important Hindu ...