The temples of Kathmandu

Countries Visited : 3          Flights Taken : 4
Different hotel Beds Slept in : 8 (+ train, tent and mud hut)
No of times drugs offered to us in street in Kathmandu :4

We had a total nightmare journey to get from Chitwan up the hills to Kathmandu. The scenery around us was staggering as we were following the course of a river up a sharp valley. At some points the road was so close to the edge of the ravine it was quite scary. At one point there was a land slide and this caused a terrible traffic jam. From this point onwards (about 3 hours) we inched up the mountains. It also became really dusty due to all the traffic and all our clothes and the inside of the minibus became drenched in dust (we had to have the windows open as it was so hot). When we got to Kathmandu it was the most grid locked city on earth. Its in the middle of a bowl with the mountains on either side and there was so much traffic that we inched forward. However finally reached our hotel and managed to rid ourselves of the dust.

The next morning we visited some Buddist temples in the city (a major undertaking due to the traffic!). The temples were very different to the Indian ones.

So we have made it on the epic trip from Dehli to Kathmandu. We can't pretend it has been easy - it certainly has not. However it was been such an eye opening journey during which we have done and seen so much in 2 weeks. We have been travelling with an excellent guide, Narji. He was always so patient and always made us feel safe and was happy to answer any questions we have. The group we have been travelling have been a great bunch of people and everyone has got on and been open minded. Our bags have not proved to be a problem at all (this was our major worry!!). So all in all an amazing 2 weeks that we are really pleased to have experienced. Just this 2 weeks alone would have been one of the journies of a life time and to put it together with everything else we are doing is still sort of mind blowing!!
Next stop a couple of weeks of rest and total relaxation in beautiful Krabi in Thailand. Bring it on!!!

Elephant Safari in Chitwan

We spent the last afternoon in the jungle doing an elephant safari through the national park. This is when you ride on the elephant and apparantely this allows you to get really close to the wild life as they are not disturbed by jeep engines. I was a bit sceptical about this but decided to give it a go.
When we got to the elephant "boarding point" it was a bit like queing up for a ride at Blackpool pleasure beach. There was 4 people per elephant (plus driver) and there were about 15 elephants. On top of the elephant it was quite cramped and rather rocky. We got quite rather concerned when the driver turned round and said "balance" and looked quite concerned. We did manage to juggle ourselves around though to his satisfaction.
The ride began to grow on us and certainly was an interesting way to see the jungle and open grass lands. Being so high up on the elephant gave a different perspective. We were really lucky to see 2 rhinos and they were not worried initially by the elephants. Unfortuantely the drivers circled the rhinos and gave them no means to escape and they became very agitated and charged at one of the elephants. This had most of the tourists in hysterics (it was quite scary as we had been told that every year people die in the Park from charging rhinos). However it was all fine and the procession proceeded on its way. We also stopped to admire a beautiful red stag. It got scared when one of the Japanese tourists mobile phone went off and she answered it.

The rhinos before they charged

On the back of an elephant

Rhino spotting in Chitwan national park

Countries Visited : 3         Dug out Canoes ridden in :   2      
Rhinos spotted : 3       Mossie Bites : approx 25 (between us)

After leaving Lumbini we drove for about 5 hours to get to Chitwan. There was a definate difference between India and Nepal. Nepal seems much greener and much less populated than India so there is alot less rubbish lying around.
We arrived at our hotel in the Park and it was beautiful, big airy rooms set in large gardens which were a welcome relief after the dirt in Varanasi.
First up was a bike ride through the village which was fine until we got to the bumpy road where riding a bike was very wobbly. We arrived at the river and crossed in the quite scary dug out canoes to the other side where we visited the elephant sanctuary.

In the evening we went out with the rest of the group to a roof top restaurant. This turned out to be a very big night which resulted in Chris and others dancing on the tables. Never try to keep up with Australian drinkers!!.

The next morning we managed to get up in time to do the jeep safari. We saw monkeys, crocs and were lucky enough to see 3 rhinos. However no tiger !!. We were supposed to walk for 6 hours through the jungle but we opted to do the shorter trek (1 hour) as the talk of leaches rather put us off. We were also carrying our day packs as we were staying the night at a home stay.

We spent the evening in a local village overlooking the river in a home stay. The rooms were very basic and built of mud and just had 2 beds in them (well some planks nailed together with 2cm of foam on top) but they did the trick. It was nice to relax and watch the sunset over the river whilst enjoying the local Everest beer.

Escaping the rain and floods in Varanasi to get to Nepal

So our last day in Varanasi and the heavens opened. It started raining and did not stop for 24 hours. When I say rain I mean in the sense of millions of taps being turned on overhead on full. The roads became waist deep (lovely what with all the 'deposits' on the road). We could not leave the hotel so our departure to Nepal was delayed whilst we waited for the rain to stop and the water to start draining away into the Ganges. Apparently it was exceptional weather,the monsoon has finished and the locals said that even in the monsoon it does not rain like this for so long. It rained so much that our hotel room (which was basic to say the least and had an insect problem) got flooded and my bags got a bit wet which was not very good news.
So after a 8 hour delay we managed to escape Varanasi on some four wheel drive jeeps. The city was badly flooded but daily life seemed to be going on as normal with the tut tuts running (although the passengers were getting wet as the water level was higher than the bottom of the vehicle). It took us 11 hours to get to Lumbini in Nepal. The journey was tiring and uncomfortable. We got to the Indian Nepalese border about 10.30pm and the Indian passport checker was sitting behind a mosquito net dressed in his underwear. It would have been a great photo but there were men with guns so did not seem the right thing to do. On arrival in Nepal we were badly bitten by the mossies whilst waiting for our visas to be processed.

However the next morning we visited Lumbini which is the birthplace of Buddha. A very serene and claming place but also a very sweaty and hot place. Some of the architecture dated back to 2BC (or so the sign said). We touched the actual stone where Buddha was born but it was so hot at that point the significance was rather lost on us.

Outside Buddha's birthplace in Lumbini

Contemplating the teachings of Buddha

Avoiding the cows (and other things) in Varanasi

Countries Visited : 2          Flights Taken : 4      
Different hotel Beds Slept in : 6 (+ train and tent)
Cow pats slid in : 1 (Ruth- whilst wearing flip flops) v 0 (Chris)

So here we are in the holy city for Hindus - Varanasi. We are supposed to be soaking up the unique vibes. Hmmm to be honest we are not feeling them. The city is one of the dirtiest we have visited. There is rubbish everywhere, men urinate openly in the street, there are loads of beggars and does not seem to be any proper drainage. Cows, goats and wild dogs are everywhere and you cannot really admire the surroundings as you have to constantly look at your feet to avoid the crap (literally). We have walked round the city and it is really really busy with thousands of cycle rickshaw and tut tuts.  We walked around the back alleys which were really narrow and had to avoid the cows which would not stop. They had very frightening horns on them and we had to press ourselves against the walls as the cow charged past.
We visited some Ghats (the famous steps) and saw the place where the dead are burnt which had huge piles of logs in the streets leading up to it. The guide said its like a factory, they burn one then move straight onto another - we saw the bodies wrapped in cloth in the production line.
In the morning we did a boat tour at 5.30am to see the sunrise (hmm too cloudy so did not see this). We did however see hundreds of people coming down to the Ghats to bath and soak up the holy Ganges water and immerse themselves. They seemed to be enjoying themselves and often waved at us on the boat. 

So our time in India is at an end. I was the one who chose to come to India and I can definately say my curiosity is satisfied. It is an amazing country with such diverse people and so many things to see. But it is so difficult and there is constant hastle. It is also really hot and sweaty all the time. Tommorow onto Nepal!!.

Roughing it down the Ganges

Before leaving Orchha in the morning we went white water rafting on the river. This was brilliant as we rafted past and saw the temples on thebankBefore we left Orchha we had a visit to a community project which was a paper making factory. Chris had great fun helping out.

Chris helps out at the paper factory

We then had to catch the overnight train from Jansi to Allahbad. This was an experience to say the least. The bunks were 3 high and we had top ones which were about 7-8 feet of the ground and had a rather precarious ladder to climb up. They were quite hard and the train rocked and shuddered alot. We did not get much sleep but just dozed. We were glad to get of the next morning!.

Top bunks on the overnight train

When we got off the train we had to carry our bags up and then down a massive flight of stairs with hundreds of people around us. Some how we managed it!!. After breakfast we drove for about 2 hours and got our first sight of the mighty Ganges.

First glimpse of the mighty Ganges

We then boarded our boats for our camping trip down the Ganges. A word about our bags - we had been really concerned about the size of our bags in India. The only difficulty came in carrying them up or down steps. On the flat its fine as we can wheel them. On the trains our guide was fantastic and managed to find space to fit them in and he always helped us with them. On the boat the bags did prove to be slightly large as the picture below shows but they got them on.

Loading our massive bags on the boats

So 2 days sailing down the Ganges. Very relaxing and peaceful and interesting to see the small village on the sides of the river. We did not appreciate quite how wide the river is and it has a really strong current so not much rowing was required to get us anywhere. Mostly we were just floating along. At one point both the boatmen fell asleep!. We arrived at our camp site which was a sand bar in the middle of the Ganges. The support boat put up some small tents for us and we had a sleeping mat and a sheet. They also dug a hole for the toilet and put up a toilet tent around it. For breakfast, lunch and dinner we were fed the most amazing food cooked freshly on the boat in front of us.

Our bed for the night

When we arrived on the island a load of children from the village on the opposite bank rowed out to us. They were really interested in us and initially asumed we were filming a movie. Chris managed to find some of them who were fishing so of course had a go. Another one to tick of - fishing the Ganges (did not catch anything though!!)

Camping on a sand bar in middle of the Ganges

Chris helps out the locals with the fishing

The toilet tent - a hole in the ground

We slept really well in the tents (mainly because we were really tired from the night before). We were woken up quite early by the sound of howling dogs (there were some feral ones on the island). At this point we were dying for a shower as we had not had one for 2 nights and were very very sweaty. We eventually got to Varanasi mid afternoon.

Our boats

Amazing, Outstanding Orchha

We were told by the guide that to get to the next destination we would have to sit for 5 hours on a non air conditioned carriage on the train where we would get alot of hastle from the locals. He said the place where we were staying in was a communal tent with one toilet and shower and not to worry as the village was nice. Naturally we were not really looking forward to this. It turned out he was having us on. The train pulled into the station and he directed us to the air conditioned carriage much to everyones relief as in the other carriages people were hanging out of the windows and doors.

We arrived in Orchha after an hours bumpy tut tut ride from Jansi station. The place we are staying is beautiful. We have lovely individual cottages and there is a swimming pool, bar, restaurant and wifi. The place has gorgeous gardens and backs onto a wide river (the River Betwa). The guide said he always prepares people to accept the worst then they are really pleased.

Orchha itself is a true Indian hidden gem. The word Orchha means “hidden”. It is a small village surrounded by jungle (with lots of monkeys). What makes it outstanding is that the village contains about 30 stone palaces and temples.

In the morning we walked around some of the palaces and they really were incredible. Extremely large decorative buildings with wonderful paintings some 4 stories high containing 150 rooms. We had the place to ourselves as there were few other tourists. I would rate the area as one of the most incredible places I have visited the shear number of palaces and temples and the architecture was staggering. It definitely compares to Angkor Wat in Cambodia but with less hype.

The village itself is small but has lots of shops to buy souvenirs and unlike other places we visited it is very safe to walk through the village (avoiding the cows and cow pats) without getting any hassle. For lunch we went to  the house of a lady in the village who cooked us some wonderful food and was really friendly. Even Chris managed to eats some though the dish containing the aubergine was really spicy. She then painted my hand with henna.

So tommorow night we are doing the over night train then the camping trip and sailing down the Ganges. We are having a fantastic time, it is go go go, very tiring and so hot and sweaty but so worth it.