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Blogs from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, Asia - page 15
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May 16th 2010
Hi Everyone, Our time in Varanasi is over, and we couldn’t have had a better time here. Varanasi is the oldest continuously occupied city on Earth, and it shows! The streets conditions here are significantly more “3rd world” than anything we saw in Delhi. With over 3 million people living in the small city, there are incredible traffic problems, the likes of which we have never seen (mind you here what passes for traffic is a mélange of bicycles, motor bikes, rickshaws, ox carts, pedestrians (no sidewalks), autos, and random cattle). Still, it somehow seems to flow and work in spite of the appearance of complete and utter chaos. Another thing that flows is filthy sewage-soaked water through the gutters and into the festering underbelly of the city. Without proper water and sewage sanitation systems, the ... read more
May 14th 2010
Greetings all, Our time in Delhi draws to a close as we sit in the bustling Delhi airport awaiting our flight to Varanasi. Delhi has left an indelible impression on us both. The city is a contrast of sheer opulence juxtaposed against abject poverty. Interestingly it is not a depressing place to be at all. We have certainly seen living conditions that seem inhumane, but in a strange way it doesn’t seem as sad as we might have expected. The people go about their day with a sense of contentment despite having no earthly possessions. India is a very spiritual place, so perhaps that abiding sense of faith and hope of things to come transcends their earthly circumstance. The population in about 80% Hindu, but other faiths like Islam, Bahia, Sikhism and Buddhism seem on the ... read more
getting back north...quite a long way
Published: May 11th 2010Asia » India » Uttar Pradesh » Varanasi
May 10th 2010
un peu contre notre volonte, nous avons du prolonger notre sejour a Hampi...d'un cote, on s'y sent vraiment bien dans ce petit village calme et oublie en cette saison et donc cela ne pose pas un vrai probleme d'y sejourner quelques jours de plus. Mais de l'autre cote, on se serait bien passe...enfin, surtout Michy, je pense...de la fievre thyphoide qui accable ce petit coeur de maux de tete infernaux. Et comme un trajet de 10h en bus, c'est deja assez penible en soit, on n'allait pas y ajouter le mal di tiesse. Bien decide a explorer le nord aussi bien que nous avons decouvert le sud...encore que 3 mois en Inde nous donnerons a peine l'occasion d'en effleurer la surface, c'est un pays pour lequel meme 2 ans ne suffirait pas entierement...nous avons pris le ... read more
May 9th 2010
Friday 7 May The days within the weeks are now blending to become one continuous string of days; weekends we have to remind ourselves are upon us and when others around the world are having a weekend, we too have to realise that our journey, especially the planning of it, is curtailed because there are not the people at the other end of the email or phone to help us plan our way forward. So it is with this coming weekend. But we have had two days on the road to reach this holiest city of India, for Hindus at least, Varanasi, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. We left Agra at just after 6.00am to drive the first 100km of our journey along a road that really brought home to us what India really ... read more
May 7th 2010
Hi guys, waiting for our train to Delhi, so here is a little catch up on our en devours. Varanasi is a wonderful city with ever present culture. We have arrived late at night and set of to look for a reasonably priced clean hotel without any bedbugs...this proved to be a challenge as there was a power cut every 10 minutes and the streets near the Ganges are so narrow and resembling very complicated mouse maze. After an hour we have managed to find a beautiful place...they have even reopened the kitchen so we can have a nice meal on the roof of the hotel...when we got up to see the stunning view on the whole city we have noticed about 5 fires burning only 50 meters from our hotel...it did not take long to ... read more
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April 28th 2010
City of Life & Death A 25 hour train journey (temperature still well into the 40s) brought us north to the famous holy river town of Varanasi. Nothing, and i mean nothing can prepare you for Varanasi. It is the world's oldest inhabited city, and boy do you feel it!! Ancient labyrinthine cobbled streets take you back, to an almost medieval era, time has stood still here....no taxis or rickshaws as the streets are too narrow, people use hand pushed carts to ferry goods to and fro, cows and dogs wander freely, and chai is on every corner. With power cuts for up to 14hours a day, the eerie street lighting adds a mystical element. It is impossible to be unaffected by the religious fervor here. It is the MOST holy place for a Hindu to ... read more
April 24th 2010
If I had to describe India in a word I wouldn't. There is no single word that can encapsulate the experience of traveling there. If I had to describe India using two words, I would use beautiful yet haunting. Every day was an assault on the senses, a festival of human existence, and there was a haunting beauty to it all. First of all, let me apologize for the long space of time between blogs. I feel that I never fully recovered from the illness that I had in Jaipur. I was functional for most the last several days that I was traveling with Caroline in Rajasthan, but I started to get really sick again in Mumbai. By the time I reached Varanasi a few days later I knew I needed to see a doctor because ... read more
April 24th 2010
Goodbye Goa ------------------------- The great thing about travelling is when you leave a place, you get to go to a new place instead of having to make the reality-checking journey back home. Which incidentally was never truer this time around, considering the amount of stranded European's at the mercy of a certain volcano. We've had a month in Goa and are happy that we have done almost everything there was to do. We spanned the coast from North to South, walked on white sand, red sand, hot sand and filthy sand. On our last day we waded through the hot jungle to find an abandoned 5star Resort Hotel we had read about. The project was left incomplete in the 80s and is now home to scores of monkeys and a few security guards. To say it ... read more
April 15th 2010
Namasteeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! This is the second time I have written this post because the internet died the first time around but I will TRY to recapture everything I had initially typed up... I am happily, HAPPILY in the holy city of Varanasi right now with my VERY dear friend Miss Tessa Fleming and am so thrilled about it!! And guess how I got here? On a MOTORCYCLE!!! An Enfield Bullet to be exact, the most badass-est bike in all of INDIA and it was SO much fun and here is how it all happened: I was in Bundi, this little, beautiful blue-painted town in the desert where it was hot hot HOT and I somehow managed to get a head cold. I have no idea how I managed that in a place where it was 45 degrees ... read more
Varanasi - contrast of spirituality and greed.
Published: April 5th 2010Asia » India » Uttar Pradesh » Varanasi
April 5th 2010
Varanasi was the place I'd most imagined visiting for this Indian holiday. My quintessential image of India has always been people bathing in the Ganges on the ghats (large stone stairs leading into the water); just one of those images I picked up at some stage and wanted to see for myself. Then, having read further about it, ideas like it probably being the oldest populated city in the world (Iron Age settlement, 1000 BC), being the home of learning and spirituality, etc., etc., also hooked me. I took a hotel immediately on the river, spending the most on a room anywhere in India. I wanted a balcony with a table and chair, so I could work overlooking the river. I was given a lower room, and lacked such a vantage point, although there were views ... read more
