We have spent the last 2 days in Kanpur. Our 6 hour afternoon train journey turned into a 5 hour delay waiting at Agra train station, as the arrival time kept getting put back little by little. Due to this we had missed our 'slots' on the train route so had many further delays making us just over 7 hours late, so our free pick up was not there as it was nearly 1am! To begin with we had the 6 birth to ourselves on the train, then we were joined by 2 army men carrying riffles which looked like they belonged in a museum! They then got off and we were joined by a couple of Indian men who burped a lot and snored very loudly! So, we just put our earphones in and got into our beds.

We arrived at Hotel Mandakini (no not 'mankini') and there were porters still up, so we were grateful to get into our room. Kanpur is not a tourist place, so we had booked into the cheapest 'proper' hotel we could find. It's really nice to have a large room with sitting area, cable TV and room service. We even got toilet paper and soap!

As I said, Kanpur is not known for its tourism, and so far we have not seen any other westerners here at all. It's nice to get a feel of a real Indian city, as this is sometimes difficult in other places where you are guided to see certain things. Yesterday we took a walk down the Mall and to Nanarao Park. I had read on the internet this was a nice park, but we were very disappointed. The grass and plants were all dying and there was nothing really of interest to see. All of the seats and areas in the shade already had locals sleeping there in the afternoon heat, so we did not stay long. We then tried to walk down to the river Ganges, but the heat was too much and the map inaccurate at distances, so we came back to the hotel to cool off! Later we took a walk around the area that our hotel was in and looked at the market stalls. There are a lot of shops selling leather jere and also a lot selling guns! We were starting to feel that we should have bypassed Kanpur at this stage. Then, as we came back towards our hotel I noticed a sign in a window next door but one to our hotel saying 'Research Centre for Drama and Dance Therapy,' so I went up the stairs to enquire and just say 'hello,' but the child who answered did not speak English, neither did the old lady who came to the door too. I'm guessing that the person I really wanted to see wasn't there, so that was a bit of a shame, but nice to see some DMT work is being done out here.

Today has been much more successful in terms of actually doing and seeing things and we're pleased that we stopped off here now. We decided to ask the hotel to organise an autorickshaw for us, to take us to see some of the main sights. First we went to see the J K Temple. Unfortunately this was closed today, but the security guard let us go through the gate to take photos. It's a really amazing building from the outside, and in some ways I am pleased we could not go in, as often the insides are not as impressive, and I am unsure of the protocol in religions I know too little about. After this we went Satichaura Ghat to see the river Ganges. It was great to see it at last, and it was quite peaceful down there, with just a few people swimming and others sitting on the steps. We then went to the train station to sort out our ticket for this evening to Varanasi, and the train building is pretty impressive too. This was the end of our tour, but our driver was eager to show us more, but did not speak English. So, he took us back to the hotel to get someone to translate, and off we went again. It was great just driving around, as it made us realise what a big place Kanpur is. He took us to anothe rtemple, which was on the river side, then further up the river to the flood defense and where the river is wider. There were many small fishing boats here and people fishing with sticks too. We walked up to the bridge and also down to the water. He asked if we wanted to go in, but we declined! It's really quite dirty and smelly, but there is a big campaign to clean up the river at the moment. It's going to take a long time though! After this he took us to another temple, he then bought us drinks and took us to his house to meet his parents and sons.

It's been a great experience here, a very different one to what we have had everywhere else. It was nice to have a driver that did not want to take you to places so you could buy things and he get commission, and it was very unexpected that he bought us drinks and did not want money for them. It was even a struggle to give him a tip. We don't usually do this here, but felt we really wanted to give him something. Kanpur is a great place to see the Ganges without the hoards of tourists, as I think Varanasi is going to be full of them. We shall find out tomorrow.....

Maggie x