Hello guys! Thanks for all the messages - it's great to hear from you all - keep them coming!
Sue and Braddy, you have been on the contact list from the start so I don't know why you're not receiving the updates - I have deleted and added you addressed again so let us know if this doesn't work. Win, we are just at the airport now waiting to get our little plane to base camp - there are fog problems though so might not be able to land... boo! Kevin, the transport system is much less confusing than in Edinburgh so I have managed to cope so far. Mum H - keep an eye on Kevin up ladders, we saw how unsteady on his feet he is nowadays in Stratford!! Mum and dad, thanks for the Abernethy update. Everyone, will email later when we've got more time..... x
So, to Varanasi..... Well, after the 5am get-up we arrived in Varanasi late afternoon and tired... perhaps not the best frame of mind to be in when you first arrive here. It is definitely the most intimidating place we've been to yet. Apparently it is the oldest city in the world and is where the most sacred part of the River Ganges is. There are burning ghats here (piles of burning logs!), which is where people bring dead bodies to be cremated as they believe that if their ashes are scattered in the Ganges they will go straight to heaven and will have a good life next time around. Seeing dead bodies trussed up and put on these burning logs is a bit odd, especially as there are more westerners here than we have seen on the whole trip as these ghats are a major tourist attraction - you're not allowed to take pictures of the burning ghats but it still seems a bit wrong that people have come here especially to gape at them! Anyway, the first night we went down to the ghats to watch a Hindu prayer ceremony; this was quite interesting for the first ten minutes, but became a bit tedious during the next million (about 20, to be fair). And when you're sat being dive-bombed by mosquitos and being hassled to buy a bottle of sprite every 30 seconds the experience became even less enjoyable. The night didn't improve immediately either, or at least it didn't for Stuart; our next stop was a clothes shop where we sat for quite some time listening to a very enthusiastic Indian man explaining how 100% cotton fabric was made and dyed before being told that "there is no pressure to buy anything but let me show you a thousand different garments in every colour and style possible just for the craic"! Anyway, we then headed back to the hotel by rickshaw, which was quite unpleasant due to Varanassi being absolutely heaving with people, dogs and goats and our driver repeatedly turning round whilst he was cycling to tell us about his wife and three kids and how we should pay him 100 rupees each as opposed to the 40 rupees in total that we'd agreed. Let me tell you guys, we were v. pleased to reach our hotel that night! The next day we had another 5.15 start to catch a boat on the Ganges and see the ghats by sunrise. Despite the early start, this was actually a really good experience. You would not believe the number of people who were out and about at this hour; most of them washing themselves or their clothes in the river and a few waiting to have bodies cremated - the atmosphere seemed a little less sinister from the river and at this hour as there weren't as many tourists around and it was much quieter. In the afternoon we went to watch a Bollywood movie. This was quite funny as there were big crowds of Indian youths queueing to get in and the six of us were the only white people there. Needless to say we didn't understand a word of the movie as it was in Hindi, but we got the general gist of it and I'm pretty sure it was crap! At sunset we went on another boat on the Ganges to listen to some classical Indian music and float candles and flowers in the river. This was lovely - we made lots of wishes to Mother Gange and a few of the 330 million Hindu Gods and these wishes will apparently all come true "within 10 to 14 days!" Stuart's wishes seemed to centre a lot around Man City, but our confidence is not that high seeing as though one of our wishes was for the England rugby team to win the World Cup... enough said! And so that was Varanasi - absolutely fascinating but a bit too nuts for us conservative, non-religious Brits! Our next stop was Lumbini in Nepal so we will update you about this as soon as we get chance. Keep your fingers crossed for the base camp landing - we're getting on our plane now. Hope you're all OK. Speak v. soon. Mums and dads we will call tomorrow xxx