Varanasi, holy burning Ghats!

View of the ghats from our hotel roof

It only took 14 hours on a train straight. We took a sleeper train, which provides beds. But it certainly doesn’t provide the quietness of a good nights sleep. We pull into some obscure train station at 7 in the morning and transfer trains and kept going until 11:30.

We get into Varanasi with 40 degree weather waiting for us. The rickshaw goes only to a certain part of the city and then we walked the rest of the way in. Varanasi is a very holy city with the Ganges running through it. In fact, Indians abroad order specially water from the Ganges for their different celebrations. Along the banks of the the Ganges are hundreds of Ghats (stairs leading to the water for whatever purpose, bathing, washing clothes, or what have you.)

The iconic images of India

Taj Mahal

You’ve seen it in pictures. You know it by name. And you know the country just by looking at this building. The Taj Mahal. And it was about time we finally saw it. This is pretty much the only reason to come to Agra. That and it’s lesser known things, like the fort and gardens.

Ian didn’t expect himself to be incredibly excited. After all, it’s just another monument. It was also reaching 40 degrees at the heat of the day. Not the funnest time to go wandering by any means. And to top it off, the crowds have dispersed, as it is low season, but by jove! if they’re still isn’t a huge line up to go through security.

Jaisalmer – Deserts, forts, and camel safaris

Jaislamer's desert ruins

The air force streaked across the sky more and more often the closer we approached Jaisalmer. Military bases litter the eastern side of the city, the direction in which we were coming from. Pakistan is on the west side of the city by a few hundred kilometers. But that’s close enough to have the military presence for a quick response in case Pakistan decides to strike.

We were warned about the very aggressive touts that were in Jaisalmer. And forewarned we were. To the point where we booked a pick up from the hotel, which turned out to be a good idea. As the bus pulled into the bus stop aka, side of the road, the rickshaws appear from thin air along with their drivers. I didn’t know rickshaw drivers were even on the bus until Neil was stopped by one before he had a chance to even get off.

Jodhpur. Recovery and hours of ziplining!

Looking back at the city to the fort

An agonizing 5 hour train ride from Jaipur proved to be disastrous, for our stomachs anyways. It was hot, stuffy, and the stomach provided no relief from the heat or discomfort. The sleeper trains that were seemingly comfortable for 15 minutes was very uncomfortable within 1 minute. We had 5 hours to go.

We get into our guesthouse in Jodhpur, eventually, and literally just exploded. Literally. We tagged team the toilet and beat the crap out of it. Or more accurately the crap was beaten out of us. Our friend from across the hall and up one floor could hear us. It was fantastic. We started our anti-biotics when we got into the guest house. We were smart enough to pick them up before we left Korea. Finally using them.

Jaipur. Holi and explosive toilets.

Fort for the Pink City

We flew into Jaipur from Goa 2 days before Holi. We came specifically to Jaipur to see an elephant festival on the eve of Holi. Spirits were high. A succesful booking of a flight into Jaipur, with a transfer in Bangalore, refreshed our wallets with ATM money from home and got into our hotel with no problems.

"The elephant festival is cancelled" says the hotel manager. That was the first thing about it we hear since entering Jaipur. The government cancelled it because of the animal cruelty. BOOOOO!!! We reconfirmed with searching for news on the internet. Sure enough, it was cancelled. Fair enough too, poor elephants. They're regarded as a holy animal but the ones that are "working" under the care of the owner, we don't really know how well they're being treated. Some of them are healthy (looking) and some of them are so sad looking.