Planes, trains and automobiles. There is no other way to describe our day. We had a dinner reservation to make in Hong Kong at 7:00 pm, and we were determined to make it! Rosemarie Kriesel is the sister of Angela Cochrane, Margaret's friend and colleague in Edmonton. Rosemarie and her family have been living in Hong Kong for the past 14 years, and had sent us a standing invitation for dinner. As we were planning to go there anyhow, we had accepted their gracious ...

The soft sleeper was exactly what it sounded like - a soft sleep. We slept through the night until our alarm clock went off at 5:30 am. Soon after, the train arrived in Xi'an. As we stepped out of the station, we scanned through the crowd of cab drivers and hotel hawkers, all vying for our business. Suddenly, we saw someone holding a sign for the International Youth Hostel. It wasn't the one we had pre-booked, but it was right next door to ours, and they were kin...

We got to Beijing at 8:00 pm and were immediately shocked, to say the least, with the unbelievably beautiful, pristine airport that greeted us. Margaret wanted to take a picture of the bathroom, as it was so lovely. Our pre-arranged driver from the hostel was there, despite our delay, which also made us very happy, and he drove us to the hotel following the speed limit, stopping for stoplights, signalling, even wearing his seatbelt. We thought we'd died and gone ...

We woke up 5 minutes before we had to get off in Delhi, which was brilliant. Except for Barry, who got up early because the chai vendors were walking up and down the corridor passed his head. He finally got up an hour before arrival to enjoy a hot drink, but the chai vendors never came back! At the station, Binu ordered some taxis but we had to have one last dramatic episode! There was a line-up of cabs, and we made the mistake of getting into the wrong one. The...

Out the door by 8:30 am and off to a 3 hour public bus ride to Varanasi. It was an OK bus, although a little cramped in terms of leg room. The 3 hours went quickly and when we arrived, we took auto rickshaws to our new home, the Hotel Pradeep. We met for lunch down in the Poonam Restaurant. Binu recommended some rice and mutton (goat) dishes. We stayed safe and had butter chicken. Again. After lunch, we went up to the beautiful rooftop garden, which is also a re...