Shiva Ganges View Varanasi

... Again, no problem? Yeh, right.....<br><br>I mean this river is immense ns we couldn't find it. Walking around in circles, Jiff spots some water buffalo wandering down a road (Like you do), put two and two together and announces, "lets follow the cows to the river" - so we did and she was right..... (Never hear the last of it).<br><br>So - at the Ghats (Steps to river) we started to wander along them.... We didn't know we ...

... good. back on the boat for more floating and was a repeat of the day before, chai and bikkies, then after a few more hours lunch of different curries, cumin and onion rice and apple today. we have arrived back in varanasi and after shower to get the ganges scunge off our feet we are heading off to a silk and cotton shop and to have our palms read, will see how that goes!<br><br>will post some pictures when on a better computer<br>

... of cities. There is surprisingly no smell here as you would expect there to be. Touts again try to get tourists to donate to the cost of the wood after giving detailed education about the place. This place is so full of people on the make it is hard to take but the place is so amazing you cope and see beyond them. It got dark as I headed down to the ghat called Dashaswamedh ghat where every evening Brahmin (highest caste) men perform puja (offerings) beside the river ...

... and occasionally capturing a rivals best kite. Last night we watched the ganga aarti ceremony from a boat just offshore of the Dasaswamedh ghat which was fantastic to watch. We woke early this morning and watched the sun rise on the Ganges and enjoyed a nice glass of chai.<br><br>All for now, headed to Agra and the Taj Majal on an overnight train!!

... at our doorstep. We've got steel bars up over our balconies off the room but another day whilst i was dozing on the bed i felt as though someone was in the room with me so i opened my eyes and looked around to find that three monkeys were eyeballing me. A mother monkey had pushed her tiny baby in through the gaps in the steel bars so it could sneak around and pilfer our mangoes whilst the dad kept his eyes on me in case i moved. As soon as the robbers were caught ...

... with flowers, sandalwood, milk and vermilion. First the blazing camphor lamp and then the many- flamed aarti lamps are raised high and then arched back to the water. Many Indian pilgrims on crowded boats watched from the river with us and many lit ghee candles and floated them on the river in little bowls amde from leaves and filled with flowers, the dark river reflected the golden candle flames as it accepted the offerings. A powerful prayer.<br><br>The next day ...

... side of the river was filled with the sight of the ghat lined city of Varanasi, while the other side was almost completely empty with the exception of a few grazing cows. When I asked the boatman why one side was so desolate he either didn't understand my question or I didn't understand his answer. It didn't matter much, though, as I would get plenty of other questions answered as we made our way to some of the fires burning ahead.<br><br>When our small boat approached ...

... Indian drums. It was really hard, but fun! I got a bit of a tummy bug, so hung out in the room with AC, and the rest of the time we just chilled in the rooftop restaurant where we met heaps of cool travellers. There was lots of bonding over whinging about the appalling service, it was matter of course to wait 45mins-2hrs for an order, be it a drink from the fridge or a cooked meal. Those guys were insanely bad, and everyone who stayed at that place will vouch for me!

NEW AUTHOR IN TOWN - WELCOME MASTER IAN PARKER!!<br><br><br><br>Thursday 27/3/08 - Border Crossing into India and 10 Hour Bus Journey to Varanassi!<br><br> <br><br><br> Today was an early start to get us out of our hotel by 7.15am. Baggage was piled into a couple of tuk-tuks ...

... had been warned to expect this but still it was an ugly experience and we wondered what he could hope to gain if he did this to everyone. Later we asked the hotel manager to give him the fifty rupees we had agreed on, which he did. Later still we passed the boatman in the street and he was jovial and pleasant, as though the incident on the ghat had not happened. Puzzled by this behaviour, we asked a local man if ripping off foreigners didn't constitute a loss of karma for a devout ...