Rahi Tourist Bungalow-Sarnath Varanasi

... guide had seen tigers that morning and the day before and the day before that (we didn’t really want to hear him brag), but it just wasn’t our lucky day. Never mind though, in some ways it’s good that you aren’t ‘guaranteed’ a sighting as it means the tigers are too comfortable around humans. Tigers are generally very shy, much more than say lions in Africa. We blame the hunters & poachers of the past (and unfortunately the present) for nearly ...

... were outside the shop of the Indian, but he insisted we paid 50 Rs more. Not strange in India though, but I was a bit fed up with that behaviour. So I just put it in my pocket and gave him the money which was on the board outside. Then he tried to grab it out of my pocket and he insisted we had to pay more. There were old prices on it... Yeah right... In the end we did get it for the original price, so that was a small ...

... Returning to the place we began from beside the burning ghat we saw the fires going by night as well. Back at the guesthouse we had time at the rooftop restaurant while checking emails and enjoying the cooler air there. Sleep was difficult as the beds are very hard and the fan noisy but necessary.<br> Friday 9th October. We missed getting up for the 5.30 am free boat trip as sleep was erratic. Being unmotivated we hung about today and Wayne uploaded the blog with ...

... quite gruesome in a way. Skip the rest of this paragraph if you'd rather not know. As we gazed at the fires, we realised we could see a leg burning and then as the men poked at the fire with a stick, we saw a skull and what was left of the torso. They keep turning the fires and moving the body so it will burn. Then we watched as the men prepared a new stack of wood and the body of a man was bought down and placed amongst the wood. He was wrapped in ...

... little old man who drove us to our hotel with no hassle. We got there and spent the day relaxing and catching up on the rest we missed out on last night. Another funny episode! We ordered a snack in the afternoon yesterday, Ed ordered a banana pancake but the guy told him they had no bananas so he changed his order to a mixed fruit pancake. When it arrived the only fruit that was in it was banana! I tell you, India is mad!<br><br>Today we got ...

... what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground' - Jelaluddin Rumi<br><br>Just for a change, we've decided to take some music lessons whilst they're available to us at rock bottom prices, about 100rupees an hour one on one. <br><br>I started with the flute seeing i had started lessons as a child and had been carrying around my beautiful Auroville model for months. i am a closet Jethro Tull for sure. The teacher, Manohar was full power classical Indian ...

... br>Klein** Junge, wahlweise auch Maudchen od** aelt**** Mann auf d** Strasse:<br><br> "Hello Ma'am" (optional auch: what do you want, Ma'am od**, als absolut** Stimmungskill**, "Wh**e going?")<br>Bei<br>gekonntem Ignori**en eines solchen Annaeh**ungsv**suches ist man sich<br>ein** penetranten, imm** eindringlich** w**denden Wied**holung d**<br>Frage sich**. Also antwortet man in v**schiedenen Abstufungen ...

... the Indiots in back with smaller vehicles (ie compact cars, motorcycles, tuk tuks) try and sneak around and go through the cracks...this procedure is done in both lanes of traffic until finally there is a Idiot Jam miles long with absolutely no place to to go. It is impossible to back up because the guy behind is boxed in for miles. The only solution is to go miles back to where cars can actually back up and start the whole ...

... br> <br> Back to the hotel then for a lazy afternoon, including the most thorough massage I have ever experienced. This was performed by the hotel porter, whose only two words of English were "off" (when I first arrived) and "good?" (when he had finished) and left no room whatsoever for modesty, as towels were apparently only provided for use after the shower at the end of the session! An unusual entertainment, but actually quite invigorating once it was all ...