Greetings All,

As usual, lots to report, so I will summarise as much as poss!

Caught a sleeper train to Varanasi a couple of weeks ago now, which was an "experience" in itself, & one we'll avoid in future… especially since it was a 12 hour journey, & for a sleeper train, there was a distinct LACK of sleep happening! On arriving, we managed to meet our auto driver, Amar, despite our only description of him being that he "is aged 51 years with deserted/poor look"!

Varanasi itself was really interesting, & was well worth the effort to get there. It is 'one of the oldest living cities in the world', & is a pilgrimage site - people travel here to bathe in the holy waters of the Ganges, & come to the cremation grounds on the banks of the river.

In the evening we took a boat ride along the Ganges to see the 'aarti', a daily Hindu ceremony, & then carried on to view the cremation grounds from a distance. It was interesting to observe but it also felt quite intrusive as the pyreswere left burning on the banks with relatives close by, so we made our way back along the river.

After a lovely dinner at a local restaurant, we returned to our hostel, which now didn't have running water as well as no electricity! It was lucky that we needed an early night, as we got up at 5.30am the next morning to take another boat ride so we could watch the sun rise. However, despite our efforts to get up early, it was too misty to see the sun! It was really peaceful though, & interesting to see people hard at work washing their clothes in the Ganges, as well as others bathing in it.

Whilst in Varanasi we also visited Sarnath, an important Buddhist pilgrimage site because the Buddha is said to have preached his first sermon here after attaining enlightenment. Our guide explained that the Bodhi tree here was grown from a sapling taken from the Bodhi tree in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, & was surprised when I said I'd been there!

Our last afternoon in Varanasi was dominated by problems with confirming our train tickets, which left us in a sombre mood & not very enthusiastic to see the remaining sites. Amar dropped us at the museum, which was so bad we found it amusing, & if nothing else, it cheered us up! A couple of hours before our train was due to depart, our tickets were confirmed, much to our relief, and thankfully our second class AC seats were also much more comfortable & we actually got some sleep this time too!

Arriving back in Delhi at 7.30am after another 12 hour journey, we spent another manic day in Delhi organising a trip up north near the Himalayas, before returning to Geeta's aunt's house in the afternoon, completely exhausted, to pack to go to Goa the following day.

On catching our internal flight, I discovered that even the airlines operate on 'Asian timing', as passengers were still boarding when we were due to take off! A short flight later & we were approaching Goa; the views from the plane of the lush greenery and beaches made us feel like we were approaching a different country, & were a far cry from the hustle & bustle of chaotic Delhi!

We jumped in a taxi & headed for our hostel in Miramar, near Panjim, where we were delighted to discover that they had upgraded our room free of charge - & the room was fantastic! We couldn't believe our luck!

We used our first couple of days to explore the cultural sites of Old Goa & Panjim before we hit the beaches. The main sites revolved around Churches and Cathedrals, remnants of the Portuguese influence in this area. The churches were very impressive and ornate; the main highlight was the Basilica Bom Jesus, a World Heritage site, which contains the remains of St. Francis Xavier in an incredible tomb which took 10 years to complete!

From Miramar it took 3 buses (& just 1 pound's expenditure between us!), to get us up north to our next stop in Anjuna. Within about 10 minutes of arriving, I had already had a quick lesson on a scooter, & we were soon heading off to find the beach. Riding the scooter was as much fun for me as checking out the beach!

Thanks to the freedom of having the scooter, we have been able to go off and explore different beaches each day, & have so far managed to visit the whole beach strip in north Goa that lies from Vagator to Aguada. We've even walked most of it now! It's been lovely to stroll down the beach & eat in restaurants looking out over the sea, & I'm particularly enjoying the warmer weather - you know how I am normally always cold! However, as you know, I am not much of a beach bum, so I do find it hard doing nothing! We're not into sunbathing, so the long walks along the beach are lovely, and in between I've also occupied myself with motorbike lessons on a local football pitch (very cool), been off exploring on the scooter on my own one evening, we went on a dolphin watching boat ride one morning (amazing by the way!), & our next trip is to go into the mangrove habitat to see birds, butterflies, and hopefully some crocodiles!

So, all in all life is good at the moment… enjoying long walks along the beach, soaking up the sun, drinking fresh fruit juices and lassi's, eating freshly caught seafood, & getting to practice riding scooters & have motorbike lessons for just a couple of quid… what more could I ask for?! It's a hard life…..!!

Thinking of you guys in the snow you've had recently (as I now laugh very smugly. Ha ha ha!) I'll be in touch again soon, assuming I survive the crocodiles!

Lots of love.

From,

Crocodile Dundee/Hells Angel/118/Striker/Biggsy

a.k.a. Rach ! xx