Blogs from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, Asia

The final destination for our holiday was an add-on trip to the holy city of Varanasi. And while it was a bit of a hassle catching a domestic flight for just a day and a half it was well worth the effort. Before the Varanasi flight we crammed in a few extra Delhi sites - the National Museum and the Lotus Temple. The Museum contains interesting articles found in India and throughout S E Asia. I particularly enjoyed the ancient Buddha collection and a display of musical instruments that was collected by one woman and donated to the museum. The Lotus Temple is a Bahai house of worship that is built to resemble a lotus flower. I expected to find a lotus garden with a small temple, instead it’s a large building that reminded me of ... read more

24.11. – 5.12. Die Velos können wir in Kathmandu leider nicht verkaufen, oder jedenfalls nicht zu einem akzeptablen Preis. Wir entscheiden uns, sie nachhause zu schicken und verbringen einen ganzen Tag damit, sie auseinander zu schrauben und zusammen mit dem restlichen überflüssigen Gepäck zu drei Paketen à 20kg zu verpacken. Die beiden Herren vom Postoffice in Thamel, dem Touristenviertel, helfen uns eifrig. Als wir schliesslich bezahlen wollen, stellt sich heraus, dass es ein riesiges Missverständnis gab, es keine Seamail gibt von Nepal aus und die Sendung per Airmail bedeutet, dass wir die Bikes zuhause zu einem sehr guten Preis verkaufen müssen, um keinen Verlust zu machen… (@ Sabin C.: es hat zwar nie ins Zelt geregnet, aber dieser Tag war mindestens so ärgerlich ;-). Neuer Ort, neues Glück: der Chitwan Nationalpark im Süden Nepals ist berühmt ... read more

Over the past two days we've had three walking tours with Varanasi Walks, The Far North and Northern Bazaars and Hidden Alleyways, on Thursday and Death and Rebirth in Banares on Friday. Our guide Anmet, suggested we change the itinerary a little on Thursday and not spend all day in the northern part of Varanasi as the two tour areas overlap somewhat. We went with his recommendation of spending the morning in the north and the afternoon exploring around the very southern part of Varanasi, where we're staying. Anmet took us to places we wouldn't have found on our own, and over filled our heads with spiritual history and folklore we'll never remember. We visited the only mosque on the ghats, Alamgir Mosque, which occupies the spot where a Vishnu Temple once stood. The temple was ... read more

You can’t avoid India. Try to hide out and it will make a way to find you. I was in my bed at 10am when I was awoken from a blissfully deep sleep. It sounded like all of Varanasi was right outside my door. I peered through the curtains of my room’s window. What I saw was around two hundred people crammed onto the hotel patio, some sitting right up inches away from my room. If I wanted to leave my room, I would have to push my way through and step over the multitudes. Breakfast? Forget about it. They appeared to be some kind of Hindu pilgrim group. I could see a microphone setup with huge loudspeakers. Then the speeches began. Speech after speech booming through the amplifiers, saying lord knows what. You have got ... read more

Sunrise over the Ganges. That is what everyone was talking about. Even before arriving in India, every video I watched or book I read claimed that waking up early to explore the Ganges was something I simply had to do. I had never really focused on the why before. I just figured it was something I was required to check off my list. The details would fill themselves in later. However, I simply could not roust myself up at 5am. It wasn’t until 7am that I finally got underway. Eschewing breakfast, I hurried out the hotel door and down toward the river. Descending the steps, I became aware of the surreal light. The air was a soft white and blue. The rays of light were not at all strong given that the sun had not risen ... read more