Varanasi

From Hampi we have started to make bigger journeys compared to what we have been doing. From here we got an over night sleeper train to Hyderabad, which took 12hours. Luckily for us at the other end we didnt have to contend with any rickshaw drivers as we were being collected by our friend Laxmi, which was so nice not to be hounded!

The Buddha Statue

We stayed here for 3 nights with Laxmi and it was like being on a holiday from travelling. She had a lovely home where we got looked after so well and provided with a driver. (Again was a haven from the rickshaws!) We planned the 3 days and saw all the sights. We visited museums, temples (some of which having amazing views over Hyderabad), a place called Golconda Fort which was the old city now slightly in ruins and also had great views, tombs that where bigger than houses/churches! We went to the worlds largest film studios... Ramoji Film Studios, went to a planetarium, a laser show.. which was really good and visited a evening market where I had Henna put on my hands, was bought some bangles and Tom a new wrist band. We had lots of lovely home cooked food and a/c in our room... we really didnt want to leave and was quite sad saying goodbye to Laxmi. From here we flew to Calcutta, which was a god send otherwise it would of been a 30 hour train journey and around then Tom came down with man flu... bless him!

A Tomb

We arrived in Calcutta and luckily had booked our hotel  before leaving Hyderabad, so we got a pre paid taxi to where we were staying. We were so exhausted we had planned to chill out as much as we could while here.. hard life all this travelling!! We didnt see a lot here and walked around the streets near where we were staying, there was lots of street kitchens, which after seeing how they washed there pots we decided best to stay away from! We visited their markets but got followed around by touts too much which became annoying, however we had KFC and dominos pizza while here!!

From here we had our longest train journey to date 15 hours, it was an over night sleeper again, but before even boarding the train we were told by 3 people to take care of our bags on this journey and then again on the train. Feeling very uneasy we put the packsafe's on both bags. Tom didnt sleep much as he lay watching anyone who came into our compartment.

Hyderabad

We finally arrived in Varanasi where we are now and thankfully had no problems with our bags. Here we had also booked our hotel in advance and arranged to be picked up at the station, as apparently rickshaw drivers will tell you anything from 'that hotel has burned down' to 'that hotel is infested' so that they can take you somewhere else instead earning lots of commission! Our hotel is in a perfect location and our room over looks the Ganges. However when we booked and planned where we were staying we didnt realise just how close we would be to the burning ghats! We have now walked past a least twice daily and nothing is left to the immagination. Yesterday we got up early to go on the 6am boat trip down the ganges, it was lovely and cool and the views along were really interesting. You had people washing their clothes and bathing right next to the burning Ghats... we havent had any laundry done here! We have spent time wondering along the river as its a great place to people watch and yesterday afternoon we sat on the steps at the main Ghat with about 1000 other people and watched a ceremony called the Puja. The colours everywhere are amazing, the clothes, the buildings, the hanging flowers and the decorations.

View from Golconda Fort

Today we walked as far down the Ghats as we could and had lunch and headed back to have a siesta.

Tomorrow we leave for Agra to see the Taj Mahal, on the 6:30pm over night sleeper.. luckily its only 12 hours!     

Laxmi

Superman x 2!!

Henna

Boat trip in Varanasi..

The Ganges

Evening ceremony on the Ganges