I head to Delhi

Thursday 26^th February 2015

It was a relief to wake up feeling better this morning. We got up early as we were taking a drive out to the national park that’s close by but by the time we actually got moving and had breakfast it was 10am.

The drive took a little over an hour and once inside the park we headed for the lake only to discover that it no longer exists and clearly hasn’t for quite some time as there are now houses built there. The drive was still pretty fun (apart from one horrible section of unsealed road that went on for about 5km of bumpy hell)

We attempted to have a motorbike riding lesson but as usual two guys on a bike appeared from nowhere and wouldn’t leave they didn’t really speak English but parked their bike in front of me and asked the usual questions “where you are from?” “Where you are going?” “What is your good name?” all without understanding the answer or really caring. Every time I went to drive off they would make random noises and in the end I sacked it in as they threw me off my game

We drove back a different way (unintentionally as we missed a turn but it worked out for the best since we missed the unpaved road section) we came into Varanasi on the south bridge where we witnessed two altercations with the same policemen on motorbikes the first was a car driving the wrong way across the bridge the policeman immediately began waving his hitty stick at the car and held up all the traffic and made him turn around (rightly so) the second the policeman was actually clubbing a rickshaw driver over the head (again he was driving the wrong way across the bridge)

We parked up at the Assi Ghat which is the furthest south and found some food (including apple pie and ice-cream!!!) then had a little wonder about before driving back to the old town. We parked up and Mark got a Bhang Lassi and played Tetris for the rest of the night while I looked at flights to Nepal.

Friday 27^th February 2015

We mixed it up a bit this morning and headed out for breakfast we wanted puri bhaji but were out of luck and had to settle for idly. After eating we walked a bit before getting annoyed with all the traffic

We headed back to the guesthouse for some tea and a bit of a chill out before setting out on an adventure to find spark plugs. It was actually a pretty easy find and on the way back we stopped off at the train station for me to get a ticket to Delhi. I tried tourist quota and there was one ticket left but it was 2AC having never travelled anything other than sleeper it better be worth the extra rupees (I could have waited in line and got a tadkal (“emergency”) ticket but last time we did that in Jaipur it took about six hours so I just paid the extra.

We took a drive through the Benasi Hindu university campus (the travel man at our guesthouse tells me it’s the 3^rd largest university campus in the world but I’m not sure if that’s actually true or not) the campus is pretty massive and a lot of the buildings are beautiful. Driving through it seemed a bunch of the students had started celebrating Holi early as there were tons of guys running around covered in coloured powder (the fact that they were all screaming “Happy Holi” at us was another clue)

Since we were at the southern end of the river we decided to park up and have some food. Drawn in by the apple pie from yesterday we went to the same place and had massive thalis followed by apple pie.

When we came out of the restaurant we saw a man with a monkey on a chain. The monkey was clearly miserable pacing in circles the length of his chain and when he stopped pulling at it and at his collar the whole scene was just wrong and was made worse by the fact that the man was obviously using the monkey as a tool for begging.

The other thing we noticed when we came out was that the bike was leaking petrol so after driving back to the guesthouse Mark set about being all mechanic like and tried to fix it while I sat on my arse.

I managed to be somewhat productive and book a flight to Nepal which took ages as my stupid credit card wanted me to use a stupid mobile verification code but I don’t have a phone so that was a no go!

We had quite a late dinner at a somewhat average kind of place then chilled for the rest of the evening.

Saturday 28^th February 2015

As usual we were awakened by the sounds of a random Indian man on the roof next door shouting at his pigeons it’s the most bizarre thing he stands there waving a stick yelling what sounds like orders from a drill sergeant followed by pigeon coos.

We headed up to the roof and had some breakfast as sat about for a bit then I raced off to the post office to get some stamps before they closed I got there just as they were shutting up shop but managed to wheedle my way in and get my postcards sent.

Back at the guesthouse we decided enough time had passed and we could go get lunch so we walked to the German bakery and sat up on the rooftop eating bread and cake and then more cake.

We took a slow wandering walk back to the guesthouse and did a whole load of not a lot and I packed my bags before eating again and then heading to the station.

The drive there took an age it was only 3km but the traffic was horrendous and we had to deal with several round abouts which in India are pointless as no one gives way to their right everyone just plows onto the roundabout and then no one can move. Near the station was a whole lot of road works and it was so dark we couldn’t really see where to go so we parked up and walked the rest of the way.

We said our goodbyes for now and I got on the train with minutes to spare before it pulled off. It was my first time in any other class than sleeper after getting the last tourist quota ticket I was in 2AC which has ruined trains for me now! I’m not sure I can ever go back to sleeper! It was so warm and clean and there were no rats or mice crawling on my feet. They gave me two sheets two blankets and a pillow. The beds were wider. There were charging points. The toilet was clean ANDTHEDRE WAS TOILET PAPER! Basically it was luxury on wheels.

Not long into the journey a policeman came through and I had to sign a document saying I had read his guidelines for not getting drugged on the train, basically your common sense don’t take candy from strangers kind of thing.

I passed the time reading my book and then listening to tunes as I dozed and next thing you know it I was fast asleep.

Sunday 1^st march 2015

 I woke up this morning after a pretty good sleep (it’s amazing how much better you can sleep on a train when you are reasonably confident that no one is going to try and get into bed with you in the night) and arrived into Delhi about an hour late. It was pouring with rain and everyone was acting as if it was aid rather than just water and pushing each other and trampling people down in an attempt to find shelter. Getting off the platform and out of the station was difficult as everyone was hiding from the rain on the stairs and in the over bridge making moving through near impossible.

When I finally got out of the station I had the same problem at the rickshaw stand over half the people crowded into the shelter didn’t even want an auto they were just getting out of the rain meaning I kept getting pushed further and further away from the counter by people not even in the line! Eventually I used my bags to plow people out of the way and pushed my way to the front, all the while the touts were also in the shelter constantly asking me where I was going and trying to tell me I wouldn’t get a rickshaw because of the rain but that they could take me. Why people feel the need to out and out lie is beyond me.

Eventually I was in a rickshaw cruising through the near empty Sunday morning streets of Delhi the driver was a bit of a nutter and every time we had to go around a roundabout he drifted through the huge puddles which was quite fun more than once we were on two wheels.

It took about 25mins to get to Haze and Johns (my auntie and uncle) I arrived rather wet and muddy and dived straight into a hot shower and then scoffed down some peanut better toast (PEANUT BUTTEER!!!!) before we called mum on skype and chatted for almost three hours.

The afternoon was spent snacking and chatting and generally lazing about before we got hungry and braved the rain to walk 50m down the road and get some noodles for dinner. More lazing followed before I finally crashed and went to bed.

Varanasi so far

Thursday 19^th February 2015

We got up this morning and told the guesthouse we would stay another night to give us today to find somewhere better. We then had a ridiculously long breakfast on the rooftop before getting productive and getting some laundry done. The pants that I was wearing on the bike yesterday ran black with dirt from all the dust and grime in the air yesterday.

Sitting back up on the roof terrace I got some writing done only for the internet to crash and everything was lost which was a massive ball ache. So I packed that in and we went exploring.

We wandered about for a while until we found somewhere to eat the food took freaking ages but when it finally arrived it was pretty decent so it was worth it. The tables were low and the seats cushions on the floor so we chilled there for quite a while.

Next door was a Kali temple and a ton of cow and water buffalos including three tiny very new babies which we spent some time patting.

We then went on the most annoying search for a better guesthouse it seems that any better than what we are in but in our price range are full and everything else is grand but way too expensive which was a tad annoying we did have a good walk along the Ganges though and stopped and patted the millions of tiny puppies that seem to be everywhere.

 View from a guesthouse that was perfect but not so perfectly priced!

By the time we got back to our guesthouse the touts were out in full force and it was getting dark so we retreated to the roof to eat, chill an get attacked by all the mozzies Varanasi ha to offer.

Friday 20^th February 2015

We didn’t do a lot today but we did do a lot of walking. After breakfast we headed off to explore we went to the main road and turned right to see what was in that direction. The answer was not a whole lot. We did find a chat stand and eat all the samosas and other random Indian street snacks though.

Then we took a walk through random streets of shops selling paint, barbed wire and tools.

We had a wee look at google maps and decided to walk to a park that was kind of close. Along the way we stopped to look at some tiny baby piglets and their huge unhappy mama pig. We got to the park and it was set up for some random household goods sale with rugs and air conditioning units a plenty.

On the way back to the guesthouse we stopped at a lassi shop and I had an amazing pomegranate coconut and chocolate lassi that I savoured mark knocked his back like a shot.

We chilled the afternoon away before heading out for dinner it was harder to find somewhere than we thought it would be but we found some cheap thalis and polished them off before heading back to watch a movie.

Saturday 21^st February 2015

After being up or a lot of last night due to make being all sick an fevery we had a slow morning and then chilled on the roof for half of the day. Eventually we roused ourselves enough to change rooms to a bigger one with a window that overlooks the Ganges.

About 1pm I set off to go and find the yoga training centre as I wanted a reiki session. The place is renowned for its yoga and healing and is expensive by Indian standards so I was expecting a lot.

I spoke to the dude and organised a session for 2pm as that was only 30mins away I opted to just chill out and wait.

At 2pm the guy came back and explained how he does he sessions and introduced me to a girl who was there having just had her level one attunement he started the session but talked to her throughout the entire thing which was incredibly distracting. He was an amazing healer with incredible energy so it’s a shame he was one of the rudest most unprofessional people I have ever met.

After the healing I was really pretty spaced out and turned the wrong way out of the centre and was then lost for about 40mins just wondering about the side streets and back alleys of Varanasi eventually I came out onto the river and was able to walk back to the guesthouse from there.

We chilled on the roof for a bit before heading off to find food we had been fasting all day and were starving and so ordered way too much food and then ate it all and felt rubbish, to make it worse the food wasn’t even that great.

Back at the guesthouse we lazed about in our glorious new room watching parks and rec.

Sunday 22^nd February 2015

This morning I woke up early and read my book and watched the monkeys outside our window. We didn’t get moving until late and were pretty pleased about the hot water being on (it’s been nothing but cold the last few days)

I wasn’t feeling great and Mark was still all fevery so we just chilled out on the roof eating pancakes and drinking chai

I attempted to download some new music but the internet wasn’t playing ball and so I ended up just getting annoyed.

In the evening we headed out for some food and then down to the Ganges to watch the Ganga Arti. It was stupidly busy mostly with random Indian tour groups where they all wear matching hats and t-shirts (mostly in fluorescent orange) we found a little perch and sat and watched. Towards the end a man lady came up and started talking to us although I’m not really sure what she really wanted she then proceeded to drink Marks water which I found rather amusing.

 Cow going to town on a bag of chalk

 The crowd watching the Arti

 Ganga Arti

The Lady-man who drank Marks water

We walked back along the river avoiding touts selling boat trips, massages and shaves (all aimed at Mark) and up past the burning ghat which was still in full swing even this late (the fires burn 24 hours a day and on average  cremate about 600 Hindu believers in that time! )

We then headed up to the roof for a tea before bed like the nanas we are.

Monday 23^rd February 2015

Today was another fairly nothing day I was feeling even more shite than yesterday and Mark was still crook as well we didn’t do much else than occasionally eat, sleep and read. Thank fuck for roof terraces! The only interesting thing to happen was when a bunch of men from the government (including one policeman armed to the teeth) came and started smashing holes in the floor and then in several walls something about trying to determine how old the building is…

Tuesday 24^th February 2015

Sarnath is the place where Buddha first taught Dharma and it happens to be just 15km or so from Varanasi so we went to see if we could get some enlightenment. The drive out of the city was hectic as always but once we were on the road we moved without too much drama. It didn’t take long to get there and we parked up in the centre of town and had a walk around.

Our first stop was the Thai Buddhist monastery (they also have a Vipassana centre if anyone’s interested…) the grounds are really pretty with a huge 80 foot Buddha statue set at the end of a long fountain, flower lined garden. As well as several other statues dotted here and there and a prayer hall.

Next we walked along to the archaeological museum which holds artefacts recovered from the site of Buddha’s first teachings at Mrigadava (Deer Park) it’s quite an interesting museum and I especially enjoyed the ridiculous typos in the English translations. The museum is pretty strict on security, you can’t take anything in and have to walk through a metal detector to get in which is a shame because some of the exhibits were quite photo worthy.

We came out and Mark had to get a Gaylord ice-cream.

After the museum we went into the Mrigadava (Deer Park) ruins. It’s quite hard to make out what buildings would have looked like and the signs weren’t overly helpful but nonetheless it was a pretty place to walk around and the toilets were amongst the cleanest I’ve seen in India. As usual we were swarmed by folks wanting photos but we were not in the mood after feeling rough the last few days and declined every person.

By this stage we were starting to fade a bit but pressed on we managed to see three more temples a Buddhist one built by some Sri Lankan dude a Korean temple and the golden temple which was super impressive from the outside but we didn’t go in as there was some sort of teaching going on.

 The Korean Temple

 Outside the Golden Temple

 Outside the Golden Temple

From the golden temple we headed back into town (it was quite a trek out and we got chased by some scary arse dog who couldn’t decide if he wanted to eat us or run away from us) and back to the bike. 

We drove back into town and hit the traffic it was even more chaotic then usual so we parked the bike back at our guesthouse and headed along the river on foot to find food.

We settled at pretty much the first place we came to which was a rooftop restaurant with views of the river and tons of green parrots flying about. The food was a tad pricey but pretty spectacular and we left feeling pretty satisfied. We went back along the main road so we could swing past the ATM and somehow ended up in Blue Lassi having Bhang Lassi.

 Green parrot

Sunset on the Ganges

Varanasi has government approved bhang shops so ordering in a restaurant had to be done on the sly it was nowhere near as tasty as the ones in Pushkar and way more expensive but it did the trick.

Back at the guesthouse we put on a movie and giggled our way through the night. In the night I kept waking up way too heavy to move and began to feel quite ill which wasn’t ideal.

Wednesday 25^th February 2015

Today was a bad day. After feeling so great yesterday today was a bit of a nightmare. We slept half the day anyway after being so fucked last night. We got up and had a bit of food then went back to bed then got up and ventured out to go get dosas but I immediately regretted it as I felt super shit again so called it a day and showered and went to bed.