When the bus driver eventually decided we had reached our destination and turfed us off the bus – we hadn’t. We were in a small nowhere town still 5Km from the border, it was starting to get dark and a huge dust storm (that quickly turned into torrential rain) was whipping up!! We checked into the first and quite possibly the only hotel we could find but luckily one whose owner had a ‘friend of a friend’ who was willing, for the right price (80p) to risk smuggling us at dawn to the border through the mobs on his cycle rickshaw. Finally 24hrs behind schedule we were in India! J
We caught a tourist bus from the Indian border down to Varanasi
which took about 11 hours. It was a reasonably comfortable ride as for the
majority of the way, bar a couple of locals right at the front, Mike and I were
the only people on the bus. Unfortunately however despite practically having
the bus to ourselves, having not left our seats and having read the majority of
the journey, just as we approached Varanasi Mike realised his beloved kindle
was missing!!We searched the bus thoroughly but to no avail and annoyingly we
still have no idea what happened to it…the journey was pretty bumpy so in
theory it could have fallen onto the floor and slid down to the front where
someone sneaked it into their bag, or maybe and probably more likely the really
nice polite young student who came to talk to us to practice his English for an
upcoming exam swiped it from right under our noses! Though neither of us can
think of a single conceivable moment when that could have happened so it
remains a mystery!
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| The Best Lassi in Varanasi |
Subsequently though
we arrived in Varanasi (The Holy City) suddenly very hardened travelers, unbelievably skeptical
of every Indian who approached us, convinced they were either trying to steal
our things or scam us. I’m pleased to say that very quickly changed and
actually from that moment on with only the odd exception everyone was really
nice and helpful. In fact, we loved Varanasi, complete with its small windy
streets littered with fresh cow pats and endless lines of barefooted Hindu
pilgrims traipsing between temples adorned with elaborate offerings for the
gods. Mike even took a liking to the thousands of annoying monkeys that clambered
across the roof tops and the mangy stray dogs that slept in the gutters. One of
the definite perks of travelling ‘off season’ we hardly saw another western
person, so not only did we get everything a lot cheaper but we also seemed to
gain the respect of a lot of the Indians who thought we must be completely
insane to be visiting India when it was so hot! And although it has at times
been pretty hot going up to the mid 40s the only people it seems to really
bother are the locals!
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| Chai! |
Our first day in Varanasi was spent in the police station
where Mike wrote his statement and we sat and waited to be seen whilst the 10
officers who were sitting around the station all came over to have a good read.
I don’t think anyone was really sure what to do with us or the information we
had given them until eventually the chief of police was informed and he
promptly invited us into his air-conditioned office. We were then offered tea
‘as his guests’ whilst he explained what a tough job he had policing Varanasi
as there were just so many people and such a small force. Despite the fact we
had gone there to report a theft (on our first day in India!), he was so nice
and made us feel so welcome the conversation soon turned to us saying what a
good job he was doing and how we were loving India. Within the space of a
couple of hours what had been a bitter nightmare was already turning into a
lesson learned and a good experience had as a result of it! Cheesy but true J
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| Ganges at Sunrise |
We took a boat trip down the Ganges at sunrise which was
great although we didn’t see any of the
floating dead bodies that the holy
river is supposedly renowned for! We became regulars at an amazing little lassi
shop and a local masala chai vendor. Another favourite was the lonely planet
recommended brown bread bakery that served up amazing breakfasts and shakes –
it was slightly pricier than other places but the profits went to a local
school so we felt able to justify the yummy food in the name of a good cause!
At least that’s what we thought…it turns out we were actually dining at the
‘fake’ brown bread bakery three doors down from the real one that was opened by
an ex partner of the real one after the business relationship went sour.
Unfortunately for the real one despite having exactly the same menu, the food,
general ambience and service wasn’t half as good as the fake one! It seems to
be a running theme, though, that wherever the lonely planet recommends a
restaurant, several of the same name pop up next door or round the corner to
reap the benefits.
Next stop after Varanassi was Agra and the Taj Mahal. Unfortunately due to a severely delayed overnight train and an already booked
onward train, we didn’t get to go inside the Taj Mahal but it was very beautiful
from the outside!! I know…ridiculous.
As well as not leaving us enough time to go inside the Taj Mahal
the overnight train to Agra also left us with quite bad chest infections so the
next couple of days in Jaipur (The Pink City) were not that productive. We wondered around the
little bazaars, visited a huge fort with great views of the city and went to
see a Bollywood movie! Disappointingly the film didn’t have as many cheesy
songs as we would have liked and neither was the acting as cheesy/bad as we
would have liked. Instead it had a rather serious message about how many young people
in India are killed by their families for falling in love with people from different
casts. Despite the whole film being in hindi it was entertaining to watch, and
made even better by the fantastically involved audience of Indians who whooped
and cheered at all the jokes and went completely berserk when there was
eventually a kiss!!
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| View from Hill Fort Jaipur |
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| Bollywood Film |
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