Hotel Clarks Tower Varanasi

... as no one else was staying at our ‘resort’. As it turned out though, for both safaris one of the dudes from the hotel came with us. No idea why – maybe for experience? But it was a pain as most Indians don’t really have an idea of personal space so he took up most of the room in the gypsy and we were left to sit quite uncomfortably. Anyway, you’re waiting for the moment we saw a tiger... so are we. We had no luck, in two safaris. Supposedly the ...

... on the temples. The question is why it is on them, but it seems to be just an expression of normal life or some tantric sex positions. Whatever it is, the temples themselves look really great and there are a lot of them. We even rented a bicycle to visit them all, because they were some distance apart. <br><br>In the evening we bought some rum to sit on our balcony which was also already a story to get. The prices of the ...

... We rowed on past the numerous ghats and saw palaces donated to the people and houses rich people owned on the banks. The free hour ended and we opted to continue for a price for another hour and half to watch the puja ceremonies from the river (a similar one to the one we saw last night) There were masses of boats all vying for a close to shore position. The colours, noise, music and incense were great to experience. The boats did not only have tourists but locals also on ...

... were built. In saying that, we never felt threatened and found the whole Ganges experience and religious Sadhus (the men that devout there life to the gods) very uplifting and inspiring.<br><br>As the time came to leave we had another travel agent moment. He had obviously had to put us on waiting lists and gambled that tickets in Aircon class for our train to Haridwar would free up. They didn't. I made a trip to the station to see if we could do anything ...

... river). This was quite an odd experience. There were many people there and we sat on the cement stairs with the other onlookers to watch. There were maybe 10 or more piles of burning wood each burning one body. We were later told that an exact amount of wood is needed to ensure each body is completely burnt and depending on body size this is 500kg, 750kg or 900kg. There is also quite an art to how the wood is stacked. So we sat and watched and it ...

... with us!<br><br>The train ride to Varanasi wasn&#8217;t too bad but no big surprise our driver wasn&#8217;t there to pick us up. That left us in a nightmare position of being followed by loads of taxi drivers all the way through the station and across the car park. We ended up getting really cross and nearly hitting a fair few people. Man we have started to have more violent thoughts since we came to India!<br><br>We eventually found a really ...

... offered me a rudraksha talisman. I left him with some small baksheesh to keep him in paan for awhile and he had cured me of my desire to ever visit an astrologist again, a win-win situation. I saw him again the following day and he didn't recognize me at all.<br><br>Music Lessons- Flute and Djembe<br><br>'Today like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened. Don't open the door to the study and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument. Let the beauty we love ...

... drum ist ein** nicht genug.<br>Wir schreiben den 30.06. im Jahre 2009, Monsun-Beginn in Varanasi. <br>Aus<br>d** trockenen und staubigen Luft wurde im Nu (?) ein feucht-froehliches<br>tu**kisches Dampfbad und anstelle von Faech**n will man uns jetzt "v**y<br>cheap" Regenschirme andrehen. <br>Hi** eine typische Unt**haltung, die wir im Schnitt 50-70 mal am Tag fuehren (mehr od** we***** freiwillig...)<br ...

... each other on the road at all cost...uphill, blind corner, not enough speed...it does not matter they will pass hell or high-water...the only problem is that when the entire country is doing this sooner or later they run out of road. The Indiots (Half Indian half Idiot..run them together) then use what ever drivable space is left on the sides...when this fills up, traffic comes to a stand still in that particular spot...oh but ...

... huge security and much barbed wire, to protect two small and apparently insignificant buildings. Surely highly significant, but only if you are either Hindu or Muslim! <br> <br> Back on the bus then for an unscheduled trip to the local silk manufacturing co-operative 'cottage industry' where poverty stricken people work in sweatshop conditions producing beautiful silks that are sold by their 'masters' for enormous profit - none of which finds its way back to the ...