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Published: October 15th 2010
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Hey all,
Hope everyone is well and things are going ok at home. Feels like we have been away for ages now, can't believe its only 3 weeks! Well our time in India has come to an end, we are off to Thailand on a horrible flight tonight - think we fly at about 1 in the morning. We have found a lovely hotel in Bangkok that has a swimming pool so I don't think we will be moving from there once we arrive! It has been another busy week although we we're hoping it wouldn't be but somehow it has turned into one.
Agra was great, so much nicer then we were expecting after all we had read about it. We stayed in a nice ish area called Taj Ganj, which meant we were only 5 minutes walk from the Taj Mahal. This was very useful when we decided to go and see it at dawn! It was worth the early morning though, the Taj Mahal is definitely the most beautiful building we have ever seen. It doesn't seem quite real. We spoiled ourselves and hired a guide, which was really good as he gave us lots of
information but also acted as our photographer so we have lots of pictures of us together for once rather than one of us trying to hold the camera out in front of us! We also got to sit and have our picture taken on the Princess Diana bench, which was cool. To be honest that was all we really did in Agra apart from doing the Taj Mahal nature walk which was quite relaxing and peaceful - oh dear we sound old!
After, this fleeting stop it was back on to the train to Varanasi. James got narky with a cross eyed lady who wanted our seat and tried to move his bag but we won the battle in the end. After all it was our seat in the first place! Getting off the train at Varanasi was a little mental as they guest house that was picking us up wasn't there as our train had arrived late. After, a short wait in the tourist office getting useful info about prices we were on our way to the guest house. We met some lovely people which resulted in a few beers! The next morning it was up at sunrise
to do the Ganges boat trip. There was something peaceful and mystical about the Ganges at dawn even though there were hundreds of people along the banks of it washing and praying. Not to mention the other bodies that were at the bottom of it along with the cows and any other animal! We went to the burning Ghat, which has had a fire burning constantly on it for 500 years. The guy reckons 200 bodies get burnt here every day! He explained to us how some people would be cremated here but pregnant ladies and beggers were just wrapped up and put straight in to the Ganges along with any animal apart from cobras. This was so that their bodies would feed other animals and so their life would bring new life. It was all very interesting, you even get different types of wood depending on how rich you are. The cheaper wood doesn't burn so well so you need more of it. Apparently it takes 250kg of wood to burn a body properly.
In the evening we went to watch the ceremony where they bless the Ganges, it lasted for an hour and there was a lot
of bell ringing involved and incense. It was very interesting to watch. On our final day in Varanasi we stumbled upon a lovely material shop, where we ended up chatting to an elderly man for a long time. He also ended up selling us a beautiful scarf and a wall hanging. We figure they will be lovely momentos of our time here. However, it is causing our luggage to strain so a box maybe arriving home soon! That evening it was back on the train, I got put in with a sickly family who preceded to check their 10 year olds temperature every hour throughout the night. This involved putting the light on in our compartment, having a long conversation and then turning the light off again! The boy was then sick all over his bed and the floor at about 2 in the morning - not much sleep was had by any of us that night I don't think - apart from James who woke up saying he had slept really well!
We are now in Delhi killing time before our flight this evening. Think we are going to head to the Red Fort and just have a
wander. Sorry there are no photos with this update but the computer is so slow we will probably end up here all week. Watson - there are photos of Fish and the present at the Taj Mahal so we will get them up soon! Hopefully there will be a faster one in Bangkok so we can put some up.
Hopefully speak to you all soon, keep us updated with what is going on at home. We have now worked out how to reply to your comments as well! Love you all lots Sam and James xx
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Mum and Dad M
non-member comment
on to Bangkok
Hello It all sounds amazing. Dad was very impressed with omlette story although not totally convinced that they are better the All in One! We are looking forward to seeing some more photos especially the Taj Mahal. Hope you have a good flight to Bangkok tonight, what is the time difference there? All ok here at home its getting cold though! Missing you both lots xxxx