Jyoti Hotel Varanasi

... an autorickshaw tour around some temples. The temple part was a real waste of time as our ‘English speaking’ driver couldn’t speak English and there was no information in the guide book... so we had no idea what we were looking at. We were then met by the hotel dude for a 2 minute ‘tour’ of other dudes weaving silk, finishing off with the usual attempt to sell us some product. The boat rides to see the Ghats though, were something else. Just seeing the ...

... to Monique and Marcel unfortunately. Saying goodbye was hard after this great week and I miss them still. Have fun you two the last week!! They went to Mumbai and Goa in West-India and I went to Nepal where I am now. I will be on a 18 day trek in Nepal starting tomorrow so don't expect any updates from me anytime soon. What I have seen of Nepal so far is great and hopefully even better things are on my way.<br><br>Namaste!

... down flickering , quite pretty actually watching the floating lights float down the river at night. We passed cows, goats and dogs foraging in the rubbish and in the dark we hoped we had side stepped the dung laying around. Back at the hotel we chilled on the cool rooftop with chai and fruit salad and icecram for dessert. Then we attempted to sleep so that we could try again to make the sunrise trip on the boat. Bugs , a hard bed and noise proved sleep was a very ...

... open toilets onto the lines below.<br><br>As the train passes through the countryside you cannot escape the sheer quantity of people that live in this vast country. In every vista there always seems to be a person in your view, whether it is a lone shepherd with his goats, people tending their crops, school kids running along, women just walking or as often is the case, a man doing his ablutions by squatting on his haunches oblivious to the train ...

... and began talking. We ended up talking for quite sometime (he was very interested in Australia) and then he allowed us to go into the temple where we made an offering of flowers to the Hindu God Shiva who is Lord of the Universe. Quite an amazing experience and we were very fortunate to be able to go inside. You can see the photo of us with the Hindu blessing on our foreheads which we received from a man outside the temple. We don't have any ...

... went to the school a few times in the evenings when we could use the drums for free sessions and were loving them so much that we even hired the drums for a few days so we could play them on the rooftop of the hotel. <br><br>The very poor kids that live in the alleyway next to the hotel were well happy with this because they loved to play too, especially one little one who has a mental disability. After the first time we gave them a play on the drum, they started to jump ...

... turned into an all night sleep, so it was good old fashioned western hospitality that eventually left me feeling better. <br><br>The next morning we took a walk down the shopping center nearby, which we had been told had a Mac Donalds AND a Pizza Hut. We were delighted to find this was true, and we gorged ourselves on a Pizza Hut lunch and shopping before heading back to the hotel to freshen up and go for a swim. In the evening, a few of us decided to head down to the ...

... Ganges river in Varanasi, some used for bathing, some for laundry and two for burning. <br><br>As I said, people bring the bodies here from all over India, and walk through the narrow alleys carrying the covered body on a decorated stretcher to the burning ghat. The family (men only...woman are not permitted to be involved in the ceremony) take the body to the river and wash it. They then continue their ceremony and set the body on fire. There ...

... Arms, heads, and legs are poking out of the burning pile, so men come by with huge bamboo poles and break the bones so they can fold the body back into the flames. They also turn the torso over to burn both sides and you can see the exposed skull and vertebrae in the poorer bodies. Then the ashes are just dumped into the river. Some bodies don't even get a fire. They are just tied to a rock and sunk in the river... the same river ...

... could ever afford to buy anything from. Who decides to invest in such projects? Then back to find out if Nic and Adam suffered the same indignities when they had their massages as Sue and I had the previous day - judging from the glazed look in Adam's eyes, I would say his experience was similar! <br> <br> Sue appeared a little better, and had managed to pack her bags in readiness for moving on, so we rested until about 4pm when we got a bus to the local train station.