After waking up and having breakfast we spent some time in our room before we were driven off to the airport to catch a flight to Varanasi which is to the East of Delhi (This took up half the day).
these are pictures of our hotel in Delhi.
When we arrived in Varanasi we were warmly welcomed by our hotel's "representative" who shared an interest in my religion, cricket. I showed him the photos of me with the NZ cricketers and he could name almost all of them by sight. He told us to meet in the lobby at three o'clock for our tour of Varanasi and the Ganges, we did so and this is what followed.
these are pictures of our hotel in Delhi.
When we arrived in Varanasi we were warmly welcomed by our hotel's "representative" who shared an interest in my religion, cricket. I showed him the photos of me with the NZ cricketers and he could name almost all of them by sight. He told us to meet in the lobby at three o'clock for our tour of Varanasi and the Ganges, we did so and this is what followed.
To start with the guide took us to a small Hindu temple where inside there was a miniature(to scale) replica of the original India carved out of marble. By original I mean the India which consisted of Pakistan, Bangladesh and India (some may count Sri Lanka). It also had the countries:Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan because it was showing where the river Ganges originated. To get there we had to negotiate quite a bit of traffic - including the 4-legged kind ...
Next was a visit to a red Hindu temple (and by visit I mean stand outside the doors and look on from there because we weren't Hindu), the temple was dedicated to the goddess Shiva who in Hindu mythology was the destroyer so that's why they try and keep her happy by paying their respects by presents etc.
Thirdly we went to the local university which takes pride in its facilities. Whilst visiting we saw the cricket grounds where about twenty groups of teenagers were playing the sport in groups, I tried my best to self-invite myself to play but alas they didn't take the bait.
Anyway, after the cricket grounds we went to the New Temple where we took off our shoes in the "shoe-room", which smelled of feet (wow! What a surprise!). We continued into the temple where we saw many people come in and pray and then leave, outside were statues again dedicated to Shiva the goddess.
We then returned to the safety of the car where some young men were fascinated by how tall Dad was.
Anyway, after the cricket grounds we went to the New Temple where we took off our shoes in the "shoe-room", which smelled of feet (wow! What a surprise!). We continued into the temple where we saw many people come in and pray and then leave, outside were statues again dedicated to Shiva the goddess.
We then returned to the safety of the car where some young men were fascinated by how tall Dad was.
Lastly we went to the River Ganges or the River Mother. It was an awesome experience which started with us walking down to the ghats (steps/banks leading down to the river) to the boat which took us on a slow journey down the river.
As we went down the river, we saw people washing, blessing themselves and swimming in the river. Passing us were more ghats and finally the well known ghat, the cremation ghat, this is one of only two places where bodies can be cremated on the river. Most people would expect the smell to be terrible etc. but to be honest it didn't smell a thing apart from the smoke.
On the way back we lit candles to float along the river with our wishes
Apart from the main boat trip we watched a traditional prayer ceremony performed by Hindu dancers from the comfort of our boat, during this show I started talking to this family from Kolkata who were quite nice and had the typical struggles of controlling their young son from staying still on a boat during a long prayer ceremony.
Following our trip to the Ganges we had dinner at a "cheap and cheerful" restaurant which served mediocre food which I guess in comparison to the neighbouring restaurants on offer was actually amazing. Again after this we headed back to our room to go to bed with a 4.30am start tomorrow to see the sun rise over the ganges and morning bathing rituals.
As we went down the river, we saw people washing, blessing themselves and swimming in the river. Passing us were more ghats and finally the well known ghat, the cremation ghat, this is one of only two places where bodies can be cremated on the river. Most people would expect the smell to be terrible etc. but to be honest it didn't smell a thing apart from the smoke.
On the way back we lit candles to float along the river with our wishes
Apart from the main boat trip we watched a traditional prayer ceremony performed by Hindu dancers from the comfort of our boat, during this show I started talking to this family from Kolkata who were quite nice and had the typical struggles of controlling their young son from staying still on a boat during a long prayer ceremony.
Following our trip to the Ganges we had dinner at a "cheap and cheerful" restaurant which served mediocre food which I guess in comparison to the neighbouring restaurants on offer was actually amazing. Again after this we headed back to our room to go to bed with a 4.30am start tomorrow to see the sun rise over the ganges and morning bathing rituals.
Joseph Hewson
Amazing experiences Joseph and it looks really beautiful and very hot. I can almost smell incense and fragrance in some of the photos and your commentary. We'll leave the whiffy feet smell for you. Take care
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