Hotel Meraden Grand Varanasi

... a ningún extranjero a la vista y los carteles no se entendían porque estaban en Hindi. Como no nos daban ganas de preguntarle a la gente, tuvimos que mirar para adelante y caminar sin titubear hasta que encontramos a una persona oficial que nos indico el camino. Cuando finalmente encontramos la plataforma correcta comenzamos a escuchar unos ruiditos muy agudos que parecía como si alguien estuviera moviendo algún engranaje sin aceitar, pero en realidad no era eso, eran ratas, por ...

... floor from the ghats below. Then as I watched, the worker used the same squeegee to sweep the water form the flooded glass dining tables as well.. ...I remarked to Steve that there needs to be more of a hygiene education here. He agreed, and related a story from his walk through the streets that same day. As he walked near a female cow, she urinated. Three people ran up behind the cow with cupped hands, captured some urine, and put it on their heads. (Think about ...

... hour bus journey to Delhi was standard India - long, sweaty and mysterious, random stops! Stayed in the Parahganj area (grimy backpackers central) for 7 hours, to freshen up - glad we didn't have to stay in the temporary room (Matt said it was like the Villa Bella in Only Fools and Horses).<br><br>Next it was a 17 hour overnight train to Varanasi! Met a very interesting chap mid-journey though, a Buddhist monk from Thailand, called Rungphet ...

... keyboard has white out written on the keys to indicate the different letters. Needless to say, I won't be posting pictures until I get back to a more high tech situation, maybe back in Delhi sometime the first week of August. I remember feeling so frustrated about the inefficient computers earlier in my trip- now I'm totally relaxed. <br><br>So I'm really having the "India" experience- right off the train we encountered a small classroom's worth of dirty, skinny kids ...

... and the outer walls and doorways of houses are covered with eye-catching paintings, while murals decorate interiors. Motifs like fish, maharajas on elephants, parrots, peacocks and banana trees are popular and we stopped to admire the work on our way to a bookshop. Everybody should paint murals on their houses. Say yes to house art!<br><br>We've been loving the choice of books in India and being the nerd that i am, i dream of a home library filled with titles such as ...

... Waschen im Ganges - beeindruckendes Schauspiel. Und dann zum Schluss - kehrt bei einem "Burning Ghat" . So werden jene Ghats ( also die Stufen die zum Fluss führen ) genannt an denen Menschen verbrannt werden. Auch hier 2 Möglichkeiten. Zum einen gibts ein Gebäude aus dem 2 Schornsteine ragen.... zum anderen seh ich noch ein Häufchen rauchende Asche direkt am Fluss.....<br>und daneben wird gerade ein neuer Holzstoss geschichtet. In Varanasi zu ...

... The first night was lots of VERY loud music with lots of shouting and cheering from the crowd, with lots of dancing and merrymaking. Those guys sure know how to party; I certainly wouldn't mind having my wedding hosted by them-it sounded like a lot of fun!<br><br>We took advantage of the chance to wash some clothes, eat some fancy restaurant food and chill out by the pool, before off to our next destination!

... and over again. Electricity had gone out briefly three times and my room phone hadn't worked since the initial outage. My only solace was in being able to make my blog postings free of any extra charge in their barely-working 'cyber cafe' (one computer for 70 rooms) and room service where the food was actually quite good though I was instructed to stay away from my beloved spicy cuisine for a few days as well.<br><br> <br><br> My bed-ridden ...

... have preferred doing so at the beginning of my time in India I was grateful nonetheless. This is because he was a well spoken (spoke great English) intelligent purveyor of Indian history, myth, and culture. He helped me to develop an understanding of Indian life that far exceeded what I could draw from the the guide books or documentaries I'd seen. <br><br>He was also involved with ...

... to be cremated. A concrete building on legs towered above the ancient steps which we were informed was an 'electric ghat' where less well-off people were cremated efficiently in a fierce electric oven. If one can afford it, a more traditional cremation takes place here on the steps. The body, swaddled in cloth, is carried down through the Old City by a caste know as chandals on a bamboo stretcher. A funeral pyre is built from the logs that can be seen stacked carefully on barges and ...