Varanasi to Agra

We pulled away on the Overnight sleeper train headed towards Agra – city of the infamous wonder of the world – Taj Mahal 🙂 It took three of us to stuff my bag under the seat if the train and with every pocket padlocked I slept like a baby thinking that if someone managed to et the bag out they totally deserved it!!!! I slept in the Middle berth bed with no room to sit up, so i ended up Laying down for 12 hrs with the exception of two pee breaks; before bed and morning. Boarding the train was perfect time as we got on close to 1030 and ended up heading to sleep by 1130pm. The train was No drinking or smoking so no time to party….just zonk out if you can. The Rocking and shaking and swaying of the train felt very much like experiencing an earthquake so I ended up having a few dreams of being back in NZ, but otherwise slept pretty well. I had my Shoes tucked under my sheet at end of bed, backpack and ski jacket as my pillow, handbag around my wrist and sleeping silk keeping me warm…..what better comforts and security could I ask for!
I woke up around 9am with the 3 Indian local woman in our area talking as loud as they possibly could, then one of them went to put pillows up on my bed, rubbing them against my butt, which woke with a Start thinking someone had come in for a feel!!!
We Got off the train around 11am, an hour after expected arrival time but all good. The Train stopped at Agra and we had 10 mins to get all our gear and off the train, we almost left two of our group behind …. somehow they missed the memo to get off and they made it off seconds before it moved on.
Outside and on to a bus parked alongside the Agra Fort…. i was really looking forward to getting back…it was huggggge! Onwards to our hotel – Royale Residency. Our accommodations just keep getting classier!!! It’s in the new part of Agra and minutes from the Taj Mahal. A quick freshen up (shower and snack) and we were out the door onto the bus again for a tour of the Agra Fort. Our guide was a nice Indian man who loved to crack a good joke and made the experience really enjoyable. Agra Fort had its ups and downs in its history, gold and jewel Incrusted everywhere was stolen in invasions eventually. It has two security walled sections – water moat and dry section full of Bengal tigers. The marble work was incredible with intricate flower patterns cut out and inlaid with other coloured precious and semi specious stones from all around India and its surrounding countries.
We went back to the hotel for a quick lunch then out the door again heading towards one of the wonders of the world, the majestic and royal Taj Mahal. We had first glimpsed the Taj from the Agra Fort but up close seeing it for the first time was very dreamlike – I couldn’t believe I was standing in front of it. We had a quick guided tour/explanation of its history and then free to explore for the next 2 hours. I wandered with MJ, Lee and Keiri. We took many photos from different view points and the tell tale selfies, walked the gardens, wore our booties over our shoes to walk inside as we looking up to see the smaller double dome inside. We walked around the outside checking out the different marbles and stone used and the whole time I was just in awe of the size, shape, skill and coordination that went Into creating something so beautiful. We took a quick look in the taj museum where you can find layout plans of the Taj, a sword room, pictures of Emperor Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal whom he spent 22 years building the Taj Mahal for. We even saw a bowl that was found that would change colour if food was contaminated or poisoned. Afterwards we walked to the main marble platform where people stand to take photos and sat on the edge and just looked at the Taj for the next half hour as the sun set and the lighting changed from a white Taj to a grey Taj. It is said that the Taj changes colour multiple times in a day to reflect the mood or a woman’s emotions!
A quick coffee stop for the group to meet up, a postcard purchase and back to the hotel to change for dinner.
We were taken to a restaurant which was Our guides favourite place to eat…. as well as every other tour guide in town at the moment … I think there were 6 other tour groups….Intrepid and G Adventure that I spoke to.
Dinner was delicious but I have realised that the curries even when I ask for no chilli, capsicum or corriander… The three things I know that make me sick. I’m still finishing meals with the biggest stomach ache and a cement feeling that grows and expands over the next few hours. Not the most pleasant experience, so thinking there may be something new that I can’t eat now. Ill keep trying some different ones over the last 4 days left of the tour in India and see if I can crack the code!
When MJ and i arrived back at the hotel there was the Loudestttt wedding music RIGHT outside our first floor room…..feeling sick and tired and knowing it would be a few hours left of this racket we asked to change rooms. All good and no drama, we went up a floor and to the other side of the building. Still needed ear plugs but managed to get some sleep……utillllll…..the Electric socket blew up my power adapter charging my iPad and short circuited the power in the whole room….sparks and a loud bang woke me up to fi d the charger half way across the room with my iPad dangling off the table and half the power plug still in the charred black wall socket!! Next thing I knew it was 11pm and I had 2 Indian men (one with the longest pinky fingernail I have ever seen) in the room pulling apart our main wall socket try into rework the power in our room and checking the charred wall. I now have nothing to charge my iPad or iPod with now so will be borrowing from others for the next few days.
Finally made it to sleep after midnight a tired, grumpy and sick Melly.
BUT TODAY I SAW THE TAJ MAHAL!!!!!!!! So life is great!

Varanasi – India

I can’t begin to even think about how I am going to explain what my first day in India was like. It is truly indescribable in a way that only those who experience it may understand. But I loved every second of the experience. So I have decided to give you 10 seconds of a walk down part of the Main Street In Varanasi, and then give you some highlights of my day.

Here goes:
Fire burning on the edge of the road, man walking the streets with the biggest gun I have ever seen outside of World War One memorabilia, cows sleeping and walking the roads by the dozens, stray dogs with more flees than they can chew off in their lifetime, an orange haired midget, kites flying in the sky, fairy floss vendor, cow and dog paddies to try and dodge, one second smelling yummy street foods and the next poo that the person beside you just squished, people spitting red liquid out of their mouths (beetle nut of some kind apparently), cars hooting and bikes swerving out of the road, pedestrians by the hundreds, people staring as you walk by, the most gorgeous textiles and coloured outfits, puppies huddles together on a bed of old ashes, goats wearing jumpers, medieval looking castle buildings. ……. And that is just what I can think of off the top of my head in those TEN seconds alone.

Today was day one in India and we were greeted in a style that catered for EVERY sense. I loved every bit and at one stage found myself laughing my head off almost hysterically for a minute straight. Varanasi is the holy city of India and one of the oldest cities in the world (so I’m told).

We started our day by “took took” or tuk tuk rides to get us close to the River Ganges. The roads are organised chaos with hooting and swerving, drivers that don’t look where they are going and animals that walk where they like. We had to take a short walk to the River Ganges – main gat where we were greeted with even more amazing images. People bathing in the Ganges, men preparing themselves for prayer and sacrifice by cutting all their hair off before bathing, cows everywhere, people trying to “good price, good price this way ma’am” every 20 seconds, boats lining the river bank, religious men on their raised platforms along the bank ready to take your prayers and give blessings. We took a walk from the main gat up to the main cremation site. I kept my distance and was glad I want wearing my glasses as I watched outlines of bodies burning on the woodpiles that are kept alight 24/7.

Next we were walking the streets back to a small alley, led up a narrow dark staircase and told to take our shoes off. Walking into a room with a cushion floor and floor to ceiling of materials, we were offered masala tea in small clay cups (to bring out the flavour of the chia and better hygiene as they are one use only cups and then recycled). We were offered another 3 cups and samosas during our time in this shop (2hrs45mins). The purpose of the shop was to tell and teach us all about the types of materials sold in the stores around. Pashmina, cashmere, silk, blends and synthetics. How to know the fakes straight away and how to test ones we are u sure about. The lighter test – take a thread out of the material and burn it, if it catches fire, burns into a plastic ball = you ave a fake. If you burn it, it doesn’t catch fire, smells like hair burning, and turns to ash between your fingers = you got the real deal. I walked out with 2x 50 rupee 100% fake scarfs that I love the colour of, and dreaming about a 400australian$ boiled silk blanket that I couldn’t afford or bring myself to purchase….maybe when I’m older and have more money 🙂

Lunch was amazing – Palak paneer 🙂 after lunch was not amazing. There’s a spice in the curries that’s making me sickkkkk. The most painful stomach cramps and cement bloated stomach. Trying to walk back to the Ganges for our night boat ride was almost unbearable – hunched over like an old lady trying to hobble down the street.

The boat ride was humbling. We departed just before sunset taking a short putter up the gats where we stopped to light and place into the water a prayer flower candle. It was windy so lighting them and keeping them lit into the water was a challenge. After, we puttered back to the main gat to watch a prayer ceremony conducted on the riverbank. 5 men conducted prayers with bells, flames, flowers and alot of music. Photos on camera, but the sights and sounds were A-mazing.

After a crazy tuk tuk ride back to the hotel I had a milkshake for dinner and had a laugh and a half watching a bogus “palm reader” grope the hands of boys in out group and refuse to look at girls. (It was a man… A very affectionate man….to the boys haha). After we got kicked out of the bar at 11pm, we ended up taking our small group of 10 back to One of the group members balconies for some late night drinks. By 2am we had one of our leaders appear on the balcony next door having just arrived home from his own party….to tell us there had been complaints about noise….whoops.

The following morning I woke to torrential downpour. With a free day planned and no inclination to hit the streets getting wet, I decided (along with most of our 14 person group) to take full advantage of the spa facility of our hotel. At 10am I was being massaged from the tip of my head to my toes with a head, shoulder and neck massage and a pedicure. Pure bliss and a pittance in price 🙂

By lunch time it was still very wet so MJ and I treated ourselves to lunch at the restaurant; veg panini with pesto and sun dried tomatoes for me. By late afternoon the rain had let up and with a long train journey ahead MJ and I set off in search of supplies in the local streets. We came across a crowded intersection where we used a cow that was crossing the road to walk with to get across also. We came across a small shop where we met a nice young boy and his father eager to help out with riffling through his biscuit cabinet to help us find some goodies. Afterwards he directed us across a bridge In search of fresh fruit. Along the way we wee hooted and honked with “Hello…..goodbye” as drivers sped past. We were chased down a street and grabbed at by better children, we batted our purchases of oranges and as we dodged puddles big enough to drown in, we came across an Indian sweets store that help half the local village people. Be bought a sample pack of 4 by pointing at unknown sweets and later ate then with tea. They were far to sugary and had an oily, liquid sugar oil consistency.

Back at the hotel dinner consisted of a veggie pizza for me as the curries have been making my stomach unsettled lately and i was about to board an overnight train to Agra…. As we left dinner, next door was hosting a wedding reception. Our Whole group mingled ourselves in to dancing, clapping and drumming along with a very large Indian family and their live band of trumpets and horns.

Finally it was time to gather our bags and head to our next tuk tuk ride. Two to a tuk tuk with our luggage behind and in between us, flying through dark alleys and crowded, honking streets in the dark….all I could see were headlights and all I could hear was honking and myself laughing! But we made it to the train with time to spare, found our cubby holes on board and slowly pulled away out of Varanasi.

On we go into INDIA!

6am alarms blazing, pushing aside my Mozi net, stuffing bags full of PJ’s and sleeping sacks, pack on the back and out the door ready to jump on the bus at 6:30am…..or 7 in Nepali time 🙂 A quick bus ride to the Indian border 40 minutes away and we were changing our Nepali Rupees into Indian Rupees. I didn’t know Nepal has a closed currency, so no changing it out of Nepal….explains why I couldn’t find any in Australia!! After getting ripped off in my exchange we were faced with child beggars, lots of stares, a quick departure stamp from Nepal immigration, a casual stroll right over the Indian border following our 4 rickshaws full of our groups baggage…all the way to Indian immigration. It was comforting to see a “beware of travel agents in this area” sign posted out front as we handed over our passports to be take into a building…then to watch as police came to move our rickshaws along with our baggage onboard……waving them both goodbye we stood to wait.

We finally made it to our transport – 4 big cars to hold 5 people each with our bags already loaded on top and ready to go. In my car i had MJ, Keiri, Kat (a different one) and Lee.

It would be a monumental 12 hours on the road to follow….with two food stops, one pee stop, a petrol top up, a traffic stand still that required a turn around and detour, and two flat tyre changes. We saw animals being butchered in the streets, passed through many small towns or rural and then intensely busy and traffic logged towns, goats in woollen jerseys, people peeing in the streets, one armed monkey chasing our car after the driver stopped to give them a bag of cookies, and a fog so dense you could hardly see the hazards lights ahead. But we made it to our hotel just after 9pm in Varanasi, Hotel Suyra, and were greeted with my first steaming shower in 3 days. MJ and I ordered room service – nachos for me 🙂

The quote of the day came from Keiri – “Slow down India…your too hectic for me”. At a point where we had been in traffic for half hour and hd our driver creep 5cm and slam on the brakes every few seconds!!! In the days to come the saying became quite the opposite in its meaning.