Blogs from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, Asia - page 10

The twenty nine hour train journey that we undertook to get to Varanasi left us understandably exhausted, and we were in no way prepared for the walk from our taxi tuk tuk drop-off point, to our hotel, with each of us having to carry our very heavy loads of luggage. We were shocked to discover at the drop off point that the tuk tuk could not, as per always, take us to our hotel doors because the streets to the hotel were too narrow for tuk-tuks to go through. Just as we were reluctantly debarking our vehicle with absolutely no idea of where to go, a young boy offered his services to guide us there. (Sadly for us, neither he nor any of his buddies were offering porter services). So our Varanasi adventure began, even before ... read more

Someone leaning over your table at a desolate, dirty old bar in Delhi to inform you that the place you are about to travel to “takes no prisoners” is always concerning. But as two South Africans and One New Zealander discovered, this couldn’t be further from the truth. The destination in question was Varanasi AKA the home of the great Ganges River AKA a place we should brace ourselves for, apparently. So in the words of Journey “we took the midnight train…” from Delhi to Varanasi. Turns out the midnight train deserves the title “takes no prisoners” far more than the city does! This train orders you aboard, sleeps you at the mercy of the three or four other passengers in your cubical, and can’t be done without a small prayer. We were in sleeper’s class. ... read more

So this is just a short message to let you all know we are fine. We had absolutely crazy week with an absolute highlight of our trip in the mountains with Indu and with some down in other places. We will be staying in Varanasi for next few days so we should have some time to fill you in with all the details and upload some photos. Sending lots of love from Simona and Davy... read more

A crazy 5 days. Aneirin arrived at midnight - delayed due to his bag, along with everyone's on his flight, being left in Singapore. Sadly though we held out hope for it's return, we left Delhi without it, and thus Aneirin will have to accumulate his equipment from markets at our destinations to become. If it had happened to me after so much planning I think I would have totally flipped; Aneirin has taken the best attitude and we let out a little boat with a flame in it as a homage to his lost bag - gone but never forgotten. The sentimental moment was abruptly extinguised by a little lady washing herself on the ghat who took a swipe at our vessel, ending a heartbreakingly short journey for our 50rupee boat. We spent 2 full ... read more

Beste mensen, De vorige keer ben ik geeindigd bij de kamelensafari in Jaisalmer. We zijn toen s'middags met de auto richting woestijn vertrokken en toen we daar aankwamen stonden de kamelen en hun drijvers al klaar. De rugzakken werden op de kamelen gebonden en toen mochten we beide opstappen. Even goed vasthouden en hop; daar stonden we dan, midden in de woestijn op een kameel! We zouden voor 2 uren richting de zandduinen rijden, om dan vanaf hier van de zonsondergang te genieten. Het was toch weer eventjes raar, zo op een kameel door de woestijn. Tijdens de rit naar de duinen voelden we het ook goed in onze beenspieren! Daar aangekomen waren zigeuners van een nabijgelegen dorp aan het zingen voor geld. Klonk gezellig dus toch even kijken. Het was best leuk, zelfs de baby's ... read more