Advertisement
Published: March 3rd 2007
Edit Blog Post
Hi all,
It's been a while.... Since I last wrote Tamara and I left Kochi and Gulliver to go to Varanasi... We were very sad to leave Gulliver after having traveled with him for 1 month... We all became very close spending every minute of every day all together will do that... We are not as sad as we could be however as we know that we'll all get to hang out in London and Bristol (where he lives) when we get back to the real world...
So we left on The 19th of February and caught a (delayed) plane to Mumbai where we had a connecting flight the next morning... We arrived in Mumbai in the early evening and were only leaving the following morning quite early... Because of this we felt that it wasn't worth it to leave the airport. Thankfully Mumbai airport has these chaise-long seats which are suprisingly confortable!! Tamara has taken up coffee drinking (who comes to India and acquires a coffee addiction ... very odd). She therefore drank about 6 coffes while we were at the airport in hopes that she would stay awake to watch the bags... This did not happen and
we both slept untill the morning (sleeping in an airport... Bet you never thought I'd do that!)
We took the flight in the morning which landed in Delhi and then after sitting on the ground for two hours took off to Varanasi...
Needless to say we arrived exhausted... We hadn't booked a hotel and so the search began.... We found one very close to the Ganges which is the main attrction of Varanasi as it is considered a very holy river... We put down our bags and went to check out the town...
I must say that Varanasi was probably my least favorite place in India... It is extremely dirty... and not very beautifull... that being said some people love it so don't take my word if you were planning on going...
The Ganges are quite breathtaking with all the ghats that lead up to them... People washing themselves and there clothes in the river... Priests performing rituals... And of course the burning of the corpses at the river side... Unfortunately some people can't afford to be cremated and so, are simply thrown into the river whole!!! Tamara and I decided not to swim for obvious
reasons... We also saw a dead cow floating in the river...
On our last night in Varanasi we decided to take a boat trip along the river front... We took the boat with a boy we had met in a cafe who showed us the sights... It was quite beautifull, though we probably should have taken it during the day, as we would have seen more and not gotten eaten alive by mosquitos!
That night we took the train from varanasi at 1am... Unfortunately the only tickets left were in the lowest class... We were both a bit nervous about it... We got on the train which was filled with beds wherever they could possibly fit... We found ours... Tamara took the top bunk and I took the bottom... Mine was occupied by someone who eventually moved... The bottom bunk was kind of annoying as people were constantly sitting at my feet and at around six am the family sleeping across from me woke up and turned their bottom bunk into a bench where they all sat and appeared to be watching me sleep... On noticing this I woke up and Tmara and I also turned the
bunk into a bench which we shared with the middle bunker (a lovely korean girl)...
The family sitting across from us had a 5 year old girl who was very sweet... Tamara gave her her colouring book and some crayons... She was thrilled and coloured the whole way to Delhi...
On arrival in Delhi we got slightly lost but eventually found our friends driver.... It was so nice to be back in Delhi...
On arrival back at the house Pavita and Sadeev welcomed us with open arms... We went and showered and sat down to an amazing meal prepared by their brilliat chef.... It was so good to be back in Delhi!!!! That Night Pavita and Sadeev took us out to a dilicious meal at a really great chinese restaurant where, as usual, Tmara and I showed no restraint! We got home and slept....
The next morning we awoke and decided to spend the day reading at home (it really felt like being at home). Not the most interesting day to describe so Ill skip it...
The following morning Tmara and I headed off to the Red Fort... Pavita thought it would be nice for
us to check out the new delhi underground... all I can say is wow...If only Londons tube was as nice, clean, civilised as the new delhi undergound... We got off the tube and walked down the busy road (almost got run over a few times) to the red fort...
I had been already when I came to India with my family and obviously nothing had changed... It is really amazing in its vastness and beauty... The gardedns are massive and the building (built by the same guy as the Taj Mahal) are inlaid with precious and semi precious stone (most of which were stollen by the british)... That night Pavita and Sadeev took us for dinner to an Italatian restaurant... The food was soooo good... We ate salad for the first time in a while which was so great... I has a delicious pasta which was as good as Da Paolos (for the Genevans)
The following day (our last in India) we went with Pavita to a upscale shopping square where she wanted to find some clothes for one of the numerous events of the upcoming wedding of her stepdaughter... Unfortunately she did't find any but it was
really nice for us to see what these shopping complxes in delhi were like... It reminded me alot of Athens... The shops set around a square etc...
When we got back to the house we packed our bags and had our last home cooked meal with Sadeev and Pavita... After dinner they took us to the airport where we said our very sad goodbyes... We all promised to meet again soon in our respective countries... We were very sad to leave the Pavita and Sadeev but were excited fro the next part of our adventure....
Next stop Bangkok.... Very exciting stuff!!!
Anyways gonna go now but miss you all
xoxox JC
Advertisement
Tot: 0.061s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.036s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Michelle
non-member comment
What a tale !
Hallooooooo! The train train journey from varanasi sounds hilarious....... I cannot even begin to comprehend finally finding my bunk to find it already occupied by someone else who 'eventually' moved???!!!! I would have absolutely freaked out if I had awoken to a family sitting across from me watching me sleep..........I would have probably ran out of the cabin screaming!LOL I must say that I have had to sleep in an airport before......Couple of years back there were outrageous delays and we got stuck in Abu Dhabi for hours...... The seats are surprisingly comfortable though........best 5 hours sleep I probably got all holiday! You know what they say, if it does not kill you then it will only make you stronger! Cannot wait to hear about Bangkok. Kisses Mich