Namaste,

Sorry I haven’t been in touch for a while, have been pretty busy. So after I last blogged The three of us, called “the bunch” by a rickshaw driver went to go to so Ghandi’s monument, We went to the metro and I went through the metal detector for women, while the guys queued up for the men’s section. I went through straight away but 45 minutes later and the guys were still in the line to go through security Rowden and I decided to give up as we had to catch out train, so we said good bye to Jack who was catching a plane to his next destination later that night.
We got our night train to Varanasi, which was a new experience, there are six beds in a section and you are sleeping with the other people (but in separate beds!) Our train was 51/2 hours late arriving, so a 13 hour journey turned into an 18 hour one to get to Varanasi.
Varanasi is a beautiful bazaar place right on the Ganges river, and is one of the most, if not THE most holy site for Hindus, as this is where they bring their dead to be cremated on the side of the river. On the first day we went to some ghats (steps down to the river) where people wash in the sacred water. The streets are very narrow with trees coming out of pastel coloured buildings. It is a really pretty place (apart from the never ending dirt and smell that is India). In the evening we watched a post cremation ceremony by the river which was spectacular. The day after we wondered around the town which is actually a really big town with lot of noise and dirt with the usual cows, goats, dogs, donkeys and horses wondering the streets which no one seems to own, but I’m sure someone somewhere must! (except the dogs, no one owns them) In the evening we got a boat down the river and saw a burning ghat where they burn the bodies and saw a ceremony taking place, and saw a white clothed body being taken out to the river to be weighed down. They do this to children, pregnant women, and people with leprosy as they do not burn this group of people. I also lit a candled lotus flower on the Ganges as is the tradition for memories of loved ones.
The next day we went to see the main burning ghat, which burns bodies 24 hours a day. It is really bazaar experience and one that I will never forget. We actually watched the bodies burning from pretty close up, which they light with a flame that has been burning for thousands of years; it is the longest burning fire in the world. The bodies get carried through the streets with people chanting. You can be just standing there or walking a long and a group of people carrying a body down to the ghat just comes past you. Varanasi is a very weird pl ace, with so much visible death, but also a very spiritual and beautiful one. In the afternoon we went to the Muslim quarter and got guided though the work shops of the people making the silk, polyester and cotton scarves that we all buy and watched the local men hand make them which were really good to see.
Later that night we got another night train to Khajuraho which we arrived in this morning. This time we got on the wrong carriage and we were very lucky to have found out just be happening to show our ticket to the man in our carriage, as the train split apart half way through the journey to go to a completely different destination, so at about 11pm we had to get off the train and go to another carriage (the trains are very very long).
So now we are in the town which has the original karma sutra calved in stone, and lots of temples which we will go to see tomorrow. This is a very small town and very laid back compared to Delhi and varanasi with not many people which equals less dirt and less people hassling you! Yay.
I think that’s it for now, I am sure I have left out something vital! Very much enjoying India so far!
Namaste