Week 38, Varanasi, India

Dear Ethel, Family and Friends,
I can now quiet confidently say that India’s best attraction is also in India’s most boring town. Apart from the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort and Fatehpur Sikri, (a deserted palace outside Agra), 1 or 2 days at most would be enough for Agra. We spent 5 days here including Christmas day. The Taj Mahal is defiantly worth seeing. A lot bigger and more impressive than I thought it would be. We were there on the right day at the right time, the fog had disappeared and it was not very crowded at all so we had some good photo opportunities.

Christmas in India is a bit of a non event, no one pays it much attention until after it has happened, and then they put up some decorations. We phoned around some upmarket hotels to find a place to have Christmas lunch and only one had a Christmas buffet, but due to security reasons would not accept anyone who was not a guest. So we had pizza instead. The fog returned Christmas Night as we waited for our train to Varanasi at 11.30pm. The train was only a half hour late so we were onboard by midnight.

Varanasi, another hectic chaotic town, fortunately we had someone to meet us at the train station and guide us to the hotel. It’s just as well because the finding the way through the winding streets, Bazaar and alleyways down to the Ganges would be impossible. The city is billed as the oldest in the world and India’s holiest city. It is an incredible sight looking up and down the Ganges from our balcony. A ceremony it held every night here celebrating the river. It’s an hour long ceremony, with lots of incense, smoke and fire along with bell ringing chanting, gongs, water sprinkling and flower tossing. A frantic experience. We went for a walk along the Ghats today (the stairways leading down to the river), being Sunday it is the day off for most Indian’s, so they were out in force bathing in the Ganges and washing their cloths and praying. We also went past the Burning Ghats where cremations are performed on the steps of the river. A trip along the river is a good way to get back and get a view from the other side.

In other news, we booked some ticket back to Australia. We have some business to attend to with our properties, so it gives us an opportunity to refresh ourselves back home and plan for the next step, be that a trip back to Europe, New Zealand or around Australia, we don’t know, but destiny takes care of these things for us. We will still be doing our month volunteer teaching in Puna, then a train back to Bangalore. We will be back in Australia first week in February. Mumbai next stop.

All the best Ric & Louise

Week 37, Agra, India

Dear Ethel, Family and Friends,

When we left Australia, we made it a rule not to travel anywhere with a ‘Stan’ in it. But this week we found ourselves in Rajasthan, India. Technically it’s not a ‘Stan’ because it has an H in it, but it is very ‘Stan’ like. There are more funny hats here of so many different designs, than anywhere else in the world per capita. However our only real destination here was Jaipur.

Jaipur turned out to be a real surprise. Apart from the chaotic city itself (only 2 million), it has more forts and palaces than anywhere else we have been. The forts are really impressive, built on top of the hills surrounding the city, with huge towering fortifications, they are truly impressive structures. Around the forts lie walls comparable to china that stretch off down the mountain side then back up the opposite side. Within the city walls are more palaces and an astronomical observatory.

In the suburbs surrounding Jaipur are more palaces again. We went to a one of these palaces, renovated by the Taj hotel group (5 star) and had to sit down at the restaurant and have a cup of tea, which cost us $18 but worth every cent just to be able to wander around the palace and beautiful gardens and use the luxurious loos. Also worth a visit is the monkey temple at Galta, actually two temples, a dozen shrines, some sacred pools nestled in a gorge and covered in monkeys. This is the same temple in the National Geographic TV show, Monkey Thieves.

We are now in Agra, the city of the Taj Mahal. We only arrived yesterday so haven’t been yet. It is much colder here than even Delhi and has a permanent pea soup fog. We will still be here on Christmas day, so till next week...MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
All the best Ric & Louise