Rishikesh...
After another over night bus journey we stepped off the bus in Rishikesh and for the first time in over 2 weeks we found ourselves both blinking and sweating because THE SUN WAS OUT !!!! cause for celebration indeed !
Set on the banks of the River Ganges Rishikesh is one of Inida's holiest cities. Pilgrims come to bathe in the river to wash away a life time of sins, sadu's (holy men) line the roads and tourists from all over the world come to meditate in the ashrams.
As soon as we arrived Charlotte set about looking for a peaceful ashram whilst Matt and our German friend Flo hired mopeds to hoon around the town and recreate Matt's Mexican biker gang - "the Wolverines"!!! So with Flori - "Flo-rida", " Peter - the "Serbian Beast" and Charlotte - "Miss Daisy" in tow as new recruits Matt (aka "Stretch") was thrilled to be back on two wheels at the head of his reformed gang - all be it on 50cc hair dryer powered scooters.
We spent the following days exploring the area and learning the rules of the road - of which there is only one - if you're bigger, you go first!! Matt took to Indian roads like a duck to (septic) water. Charlotte was forbidden from driving after her and Matt were overtaken by a man pushing a banana cart.
On our travels we discovered a stunning waterfall...
A beautiful deserted beach where we went everyday to swim in the river...
...and an Ashram. Set amongst shady mango trees on the banks of the Ganges Osho's Ashram looked like just what Charlotte was after so she checked in for a 7 night stay anticipating a relaxing week of meditation by the river. Matt on the other hand looked forward to a week off the leash!!
Charlotte would like to offer some advice to anyone considering staying in an "ashram" - CHECK THE PLACE OUT FIRST!! As after 2 1/2 days of wearing a full length maroon robe and giving the dynamic and kundalini meditation her all i.e. shaking, dancing, waling, crying, sitting, lying and all the while chanting "Osho" "Osho" Osho" Charlotte made the mature decision to run away (the final straw was when they started talking about finding her "sex centre"). After hitching a lift until there was a landslide, clambering over the mud and walking the last 3 km's back to town in the baking sun you will not find it surprising that Charlotte was happier to see Matt than Matt was to see Charlotte!!
This was even truer the next morning when we woke up to discover two had become three - no, not a baby Higgs - but an amoeba, yes that's right, Charlotte had amoebic dysentery! Nice. Two hospital trips and one misdiagnoses later (when did "piles" ever cause anyone to pass out and vomit for 2 days??) and Charlotte was on the road to recovery and as it was our last night this meant only one thing......BEACH PARTY !
The next day we said our goodbyes to Rishikesh and prepared to undertake our first train journey in India during which we would be traveling 12 hours overnight in "sleeper class" to.....
...Varanasi
The first thing we noticed stepping out of the taxi at the station we were due to catch our sleeper train from was the seething mass of humanity either sleeping, eating or just sitting around, there were literally thousands of people just milling around waiting for trains. The second thing we noticed was that every single one of them must have taken a piss right next to where they were sitting, honestly it was enough to make your eyes water ! Still as we keep reminding ourselves T.I.I - This Is India - and you have to expect these things. So after picking our way through the crowd, locating our train carriage, fighting our way on to it and throwing out the entire Indian family that was sitting on Matts seat we settled in with Flori for the long haul.
The train journey started auspiciously when about 2 mins before departure a wave of people carrying boxes, bags & children surged onto the already crowded train only to find themselves instantly repelled by those already on the train sparking a mini riot which we could thankfully watch from the relative safety of our bunks. However once the train got rolling things calmed down and we were able to grab a few hours sleep....that is until Flo woke Matt up at 07:00 and passed him a glass of "indian wine" (errr...I think you'll find that's whisky & tap water) that some of the locals were passing round and insisting we share. From then on things got distinctly messy with Matt & Flo introducing the Indians to "english wine" (ok it was rum & coke) and then insisting on playing them really loud English music instead of "..that Indian shit you all listen too...". Which meant that by the time we arrived in Varanasi every single Indian had passed out and Matt & Flo were totally hammered, just what Charlotte needed when turning up in one of the craziest cities on the planet !
Somehow we made it to the guest house and after checking in we decided to check out the town. For those who don't know Varanasi is allegedly the oldest continually inhabited city in the world and it is also the place where Hindi's come to die and then have their body burnt and the remains thrown (unceremoniously) into the Ganges. This means that it is a fairly common sight to see stretchers being carried through the narrow alleyways bearing blanket covered bodies on their way to be burnt. It's hard to describe just how a crazy a place Varanasi is and they say "a picture paints a thousand words" so here are 3000 words....
Varanasi is also famous for scams which we found out the hard way when we were "mugged" for a 300 rupees "charity donation" by a cunning little git, an aghori (these are dark sadu's who cover themselves in ash from the funeral pyres and drink out of human skulls) and a...er...90 year old lady. Still you live and learn.
The next day we met a guy called Sunil who's main occupation seemed to be hanging around outside our guesthouse hustling tourists......however after speaking with him for a while and sharing some chai we realised that we'd been lucky enough to meet one of the only "street hustlers" in Varanasi who was actually just a really nice guy who wanted to show us round his city and didn't want a single thing in return (except for us to buy some weed....so Matt & Flo gallantly took one for the team! ). The first thing he offered to do was to take us to the "Ghats" where the bodies are burned, which sounded interesting, what we didn't know was that he has going to take us to stand 3 feet from the edge of one of the funeral pyres where we could actually see a human skull & a spine blackening in the flames, however this was nowhere near as disturbing as seeing a dog dragging a smoldering hip bone out of one of the piles of ash....just what you want to see before breakfast. (Fortunately for you we weren't allowed to take pictures up close so you'll have to settle for this one which we took from a boat - you can see a funeral pyre on the right !)
Over the coming days we got to know Sunil and his friends (or the Varanasi Junior Mafia as we called them) and spent a lot of time hanging out with them on various rooftops, riverside Ghats and at numerous local restaurants where Sunil always insisted on paying ! We also met a nice Austrian girl called Fabianna.
We even got taken to see a Bollywood blockbuster called BODYGUARD (click to see the trailer) which was brilliant and made even more enjoyable by the reactions of the audience who were whooping and catcalling all the way through.....this was a bit odd as the loudest shouts came from the men in the audience when the lead male character lost his shirt in a fight ???
On our last night we were taken to an abandoned boat moored off of one of the Ghats where we sat with Flori, Sunil and the rest of the Junior Mafia sharing way too many beers and enjoying some of Sunil's sisters home cooked chicken curry that he had brought along for us
The next day we said our goodbyes to Sunil and the rest of the boys and set out to catch our next train to Khajuraho...home of the erotic temples !
After another over night bus journey we stepped off the bus in Rishikesh and for the first time in over 2 weeks we found ourselves both blinking and sweating because THE SUN WAS OUT !!!! cause for celebration indeed !
Set on the banks of the River Ganges Rishikesh is one of Inida's holiest cities. Pilgrims come to bathe in the river to wash away a life time of sins, sadu's (holy men) line the roads and tourists from all over the world come to meditate in the ashrams.
We spent the following days exploring the area and learning the rules of the road - of which there is only one - if you're bigger, you go first!! Matt took to Indian roads like a duck to (septic) water. Charlotte was forbidden from driving after her and Matt were overtaken by a man pushing a banana cart.
On our travels we discovered a stunning waterfall...
...and an Ashram. Set amongst shady mango trees on the banks of the Ganges Osho's Ashram looked like just what Charlotte was after so she checked in for a 7 night stay anticipating a relaxing week of meditation by the river. Matt on the other hand looked forward to a week off the leash!!
This was even truer the next morning when we woke up to discover two had become three - no, not a baby Higgs - but an amoeba, yes that's right, Charlotte had amoebic dysentery! Nice. Two hospital trips and one misdiagnoses later (when did "piles" ever cause anyone to pass out and vomit for 2 days??) and Charlotte was on the road to recovery and as it was our last night this meant only one thing......BEACH PARTY !
The next day we said our goodbyes to Rishikesh and prepared to undertake our first train journey in India during which we would be traveling 12 hours overnight in "sleeper class" to.....
...Varanasi
The first thing we noticed stepping out of the taxi at the station we were due to catch our sleeper train from was the seething mass of humanity either sleeping, eating or just sitting around, there were literally thousands of people just milling around waiting for trains. The second thing we noticed was that every single one of them must have taken a piss right next to where they were sitting, honestly it was enough to make your eyes water ! Still as we keep reminding ourselves T.I.I - This Is India - and you have to expect these things. So after picking our way through the crowd, locating our train carriage, fighting our way on to it and throwing out the entire Indian family that was sitting on Matts seat we settled in with Flori for the long haul.
The train journey started auspiciously when about 2 mins before departure a wave of people carrying boxes, bags & children surged onto the already crowded train only to find themselves instantly repelled by those already on the train sparking a mini riot which we could thankfully watch from the relative safety of our bunks. However once the train got rolling things calmed down and we were able to grab a few hours sleep....that is until Flo woke Matt up at 07:00 and passed him a glass of "indian wine" (errr...I think you'll find that's whisky & tap water) that some of the locals were passing round and insisting we share. From then on things got distinctly messy with Matt & Flo introducing the Indians to "english wine" (ok it was rum & coke) and then insisting on playing them really loud English music instead of "..that Indian shit you all listen too...". Which meant that by the time we arrived in Varanasi every single Indian had passed out and Matt & Flo were totally hammered, just what Charlotte needed when turning up in one of the craziest cities on the planet !
Somehow we made it to the guest house and after checking in we decided to check out the town. For those who don't know Varanasi is allegedly the oldest continually inhabited city in the world and it is also the place where Hindi's come to die and then have their body burnt and the remains thrown (unceremoniously) into the Ganges. This means that it is a fairly common sight to see stretchers being carried through the narrow alleyways bearing blanket covered bodies on their way to be burnt. It's hard to describe just how a crazy a place Varanasi is and they say "a picture paints a thousand words" so here are 3000 words....
Varanasi is also famous for scams which we found out the hard way when we were "mugged" for a 300 rupees "charity donation" by a cunning little git, an aghori (these are dark sadu's who cover themselves in ash from the funeral pyres and drink out of human skulls) and a...er...90 year old lady. Still you live and learn.
The next day we met a guy called Sunil who's main occupation seemed to be hanging around outside our guesthouse hustling tourists......however after speaking with him for a while and sharing some chai we realised that we'd been lucky enough to meet one of the only "street hustlers" in Varanasi who was actually just a really nice guy who wanted to show us round his city and didn't want a single thing in return (except for us to buy some weed....so Matt & Flo gallantly took one for the team! ). The first thing he offered to do was to take us to the "Ghats" where the bodies are burned, which sounded interesting, what we didn't know was that he has going to take us to stand 3 feet from the edge of one of the funeral pyres where we could actually see a human skull & a spine blackening in the flames, however this was nowhere near as disturbing as seeing a dog dragging a smoldering hip bone out of one of the piles of ash....just what you want to see before breakfast. (Fortunately for you we weren't allowed to take pictures up close so you'll have to settle for this one which we took from a boat - you can see a funeral pyre on the right !)
Over the coming days we got to know Sunil and his friends (or the Varanasi Junior Mafia as we called them) and spent a lot of time hanging out with them on various rooftops, riverside Ghats and at numerous local restaurants where Sunil always insisted on paying ! We also met a nice Austrian girl called Fabianna.
We even got taken to see a Bollywood blockbuster called BODYGUARD (click to see the trailer) which was brilliant and made even more enjoyable by the reactions of the audience who were whooping and catcalling all the way through.....this was a bit odd as the loudest shouts came from the men in the audience when the lead male character lost his shirt in a fight ???
On our last night we were taken to an abandoned boat moored off of one of the Ghats where we sat with Flori, Sunil and the rest of the Junior Mafia sharing way too many beers and enjoying some of Sunil's sisters home cooked chicken curry that he had brought along for us
The next day we said our goodbyes to Sunil and the rest of the boys and set out to catch our next train to Khajuraho...home of the erotic temples !
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