Mansarovar Hotel Varanasi

... length of the river is lined with bathing ghats where people do their ablutions by diping themselves into the river 3 times. Every Hindu takes part in this religious ritual, in order to be purified and blessed by Shiva. It's really impressive to watch all of these people taking part in such a dedication. What is most moving about Varanasi are the cremation ghats, where people bring their dead to be burned so their ashes can be ...

... was a hindu festival on whilst we were there so we saw some of the evening celebrations, lots of singing and dancing and ritual releases of flowers into the water - Indians certainly know how to celebrate in colourful style!!<br>Day 2 was fairly short, we decided to have a bit of a boatride to the north end of the ghat and hired a boatman who took us up the river to other smaller ghats, we saw the smaller burning ghat and many more people going about their daily washing ...

... was for after all the issues we had in India!<br><br>We then carried on down river to watch the big ceremony that happens every night to give thanks to the Ganges. <br><br>The next morning we had another early start as we were treated to another boat ride this time to watch the amazing sunrise over the river. Have managed to include one photo of this but as you can imagine we took loads. <br><br>Love and miss you all and wish you were here<br><br>The Gibbons x x x

... report. The report is in Hindu and I have no idea what it says and I&#8217;m sure our insurance company won&#8217;t have a clue either!!! But this is India and nothing is ever simple, we are due to go back at 4 for the official copy of the report. Don&#8217;t ask because I don&#8217;t get it either.<br><br>So here we are. The Gibbons have well and truly settled into the travelling way of life. I&#8217 ...

... a fuel token for commission! we did this, but on the way we got pulled in by the cops &amp; the driver got 100rup fine for not wearing his uniform (it was in the wash!!!)! So in order for him to cancel out the fine we had to visit another one of his friends shop for 7mins to get another fuel token! we did all this &amp; hit off again! not far (well what he told us wasn't far) from the fort we got a puncture &amp; had to walk the rest of the way (about 20mins) in ...

... to find that the pieces turned out very nicely. We bought a couple more stones to practise with and continued to visit the guy's shop regularly for tips and pointers. I found one very nice stone that resembled the total solar eclipse. <br><br>Dis taka dis tas.......<br><br>Cosmic Forces Are At Play<br><br>Other than that we just soaked up and observed the Varanasi life. We took a rickshaw cycle ride around the city and the muslim quarters and wandered around the ghats ...

Once out of the fun filled testosterone train at Varanasi we knew there were few tourists around by the swarm of rickshaw lads that were out for our cash. One extremely pushy guy whose teeth were so rotten and stained with the tell tale red colour of betal nut juice that i couldn't focus on what he was saying, lead us to his pre-paid rickshaw. Even with the knowledge that scams abound here, we were still taken for a ride as him and his buddy tried to take us to different ...

I'm floating down the Ganges in the glory of normality. Looking at the world through different eyes. Like a man back from war rather than the toilet. A young girl makes me laugh. "You break my heart, you not buy my candle". She's 10. I tell her I bet she says that to all the boys and I drift away.<br><br>Today is the first occasion that I have been able to leave the hotel without a **** or rain storm on my ass. I jumped on the back of a bike for a ...

... on / shat all over the previous evening!<br><br>We went for a boat trip on the Ganges yesterday evening. An elderly guy rowed us up and down, avoiding the bloated fish and dead human bodies floating in the water. As the sun was setting the cremation fires lit up the banks and you could clearly see the sari-clad bodies being exhumed, by the side of the river. Apparently it costs a ...

... adults or enshrouded babies, drift slowly by. " Crazy eh? But despite this filth a Ganges Dolphin exists. Just like the pilgrims who drink and swim in the waters the dolphins have adapted too! These guys are blind and rely solely on echo-location to get around. They are endangered due to fishing nets, pollution, poaching and dams. It's amazing there are any left at all!<br><br>Hooper caught a train the next day back to ...