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Hello everyone, I hope you are all well. (Sorry I should say Nameste)Again I have been slightly poor at updating my blogs, however due to the Internet being so cheap here I will try to get back on the ball. Pete and I left Brisbane, Australia on the 19th September and headed for Malaysia for a 12-hour stop over on the way to India. We arrived at Kuala Lumpur's International Airport and quickly had to adjust to the heat and humidity. It was early in the morning and due to sleeping on the plane we didn't feel the need to get a hotel for that short amount of time, Instead we decided to get a taxi into the heart of the city and do the tourist thing for a few hours. The taxi took around the streets for around an hour and we saw some great things along the way. The taxi pulled up to the Petronas Twin Towers, which are the second largest building in the world and the tallest twin tower in the world. After venturing inside and checking out a few of the shops, we were informed that the tour up to the adjoining path way was free of charge and included a film about the history of the building and also the construction. I will add the photos when I can. The tour itself lasted around 1 hour, so after that we still had a bit of time to kill. We looked in some of the shops and it was like London, they had everything from Armani, to Marks & Spencer. Very Weird. After getting something to eat we wandered around for a while and then jumped on the monorail for a tour of the city. We jumped off and had a look around one of the markets and by that time it was time to jump on the train to the airport. The flight to India (Dehli) wasn't very long and to be fair even if it lasted two weeks, that still wouldn't be enough time to prepare us for the culture shock that we were about to experience. After visiting South America, we kind of thought that it would be similar, and in all honesty, first impressions weren't that far off until we got driven further into the heart of Delhi. It was around half past nine at night so not really an ideal time to arrive as most hostels close their doors at ten. We gave our prepaid ticket to the taxi driver and thought that we would be taken right there, however there was a huge drama in getting to our hotel, where the taxi driver told us that he did not know the exact location of our hotel. He then pulled up to a local tourist office, which we found out is a fake and they get directions, but also while we were there they called up to confirm our reservation. Everyone is in on the scam and they told us that the hotel had double booked our room. The long and short of it is, they work on commission and want to take you to the hotel that they recommend at an inflated rate. We had no choice due to the look of the area we were in, so checked into the hotel and just learnt a lesson from it. This will certainly not dim my view of India and it was a good lesson to learn, as it goes on here quite a lot. The next day we checked out of the hotel, tried to find a hotel that was more suitable and in a slightly nicer area. We achieved this feat after yet another drama. There are allot of people in Dehli, that are working on commission and they try taking you to unauthorised tourist offices that will book a room at an inflated rate. Clearly our eyes were open to this, so we managed to get to the area we wanted to be and it all worked out well. While we were there we met a girl from Australia who gave us some great information to help us get around and also stay safe. That day we did the tourist thing and went to the largest mosque in India, which we will be going to again as our friend Leon is coming out and will want to see it. I cannot describe just how crazy this place it. There is such poverty and although I thought my eyes were opened in South America, this is a whole new level and experience. I could go on all day, but it would be best if I just put the pictures up as they will do it most justice. We then headed to the red fort, which is a fort that was built in the 1600's and then taken over by the military in the 1950's and used up until 2003. This was a great place with good views, but fairly hard to enjoy seeing as we were losing possibly 2lb's an hour in sweat. It was so hot and was even hotter a couple of months ago I was told. After this we headed back on an auto rickshaw, through the streets of Delhi. This is another totally crazy experience. Driving over here is mental and something that I want no part in. I have never seen anything like it, there are just no rules, and it's an absolute free for all. I will try and get a video of it and post it on the site. We had a bite to eat that night and then off to bed. The next day we decided that we had seen enough of Dehli for the time being as we were going to see more with Leon. So we booked a train to take us to Varanasi, which is the religious capital of India. The train ride was also quite an experience; it was a huge busy train that took us 14 hours to get to our destination. India is nothing but experiences.We arrived in at around 7 in the morning, and decided it would be best to call the Hotel to come and pick us up, as this is the way to avoid most of the touts and taxi drivers. We jumped in an auto rickshaw and it was a 20-minute drive to the hotel, which was pretty crazy. There were animals everywhere, from cows, dogs, Monkeys and bulls. Quite strange. Once we arrived to the hotel and after climbing about seven sets of stairs to get to our room, it was a fairly rewarding view. Our room was at the top of the hotel just above the open roofed restaurant and had a view over looking the Ganges and also just a little way from the main burning Ghat (I will get onto those shortly)In total we spent four days in Varansi and met some really good people there. We met a cool couple there and also a guy called Charlie from Colorado who chilled out with us for a couple of days. In varansi, the rickshaws can only take you so far into the town as the town is made up of a labyrinth of alleyways that are fairly hard to navigate if you are not use to them. Not only this, but as you are trying to navigate, you have to avoid, people, cows and motorcycles. All good fun. The weather wasn't great and for a couple of days it rained really hard so we were limited as to what we could do outside, so it was just a case of getting to know some of the people in the hotel. We did however get caught in the rain and this wasn't good. I thought the streets seemed dirty when it was dry. Raining takes it to a whole new level as stuff gets washed down hill and everywhere. I wont go on, but I am sure you get what I mean. The Ganges is the holy river and is the place that thousands of people come daily to bathe themselves and also cremate loved ones. The reason for this is it is seen to stop the circle of life and afterlife. The river is lined with Ghats. There are bathing Ghats, which are platforms that people will go to to bathe and then there are burning Ghats, where people will go to be openly cremated. The cremations happen 24 hours a day and are completely open for people to see. It is fairly expensive for someone to be cremated there and they have different tiers for levels of importance. It is fairly strange to whiteness and even stranger when you are walking down the street and a funeral precession walks past with a body wrapped in materials and silks. There are so many daily and even happen if the weather is bad.We were taken to a high building with a view of the main burning Ghat and given some information about the process, which was really interesting. It was fairly tough as we were right above the Ghat and the smoke was too much to bear, but to be given an understanding from a local was very worthwhile. We were told about the service, which is only attended by men. The body is burnt for 3 hours, although when a female is burnt, the hipbone is too strong and with the male the rib cage is too strong to burn, so they have to put this in the river along with the ashes by the eldest son. It is frowned upon to take photos in an obvious tourist manner, however I did get some when we went for a boat ride down the Ganges.The streets of Varansi are extremely crowded and very noisy, but we have come to expect this of India and it would be very disconcerting to walk down a street here with no one on it.In our 4 days, we saw some amazing things and experienced some true Indian experiences that will stick with me forever, however I do feel that I will not truly be able to sum up my experience until I have left the place as there is so much to take in all the time. The other highlight in Varansi was the sunset boat ride down the Ganges and also the sunrise boat ride. This was a great time to be on the water and was included within the price of our hotel. We sailed past the most popular Ghats and got another glimpse of the open cremation and also the rituals that go with it. We also saw the daily celebration and dance ritual where the local pray to the river and have a big ceremony that I have some pictures of.Just a little information about the Ganges for you from the Lonely Planet guide book: The Ganges river is so heavilty polluted at Varaasi that the water is septic - no dissolved oxygen exists. The statistics get worse. Samples from the river show the water has 1.5 million faecal coliform bacteria per 100ml of water. In water that is safe for bathing, this figure should be less than 500. With this fact in mind it was astonishing to see people washing themselves by fully submerging their heads and also cleaning their teeth and clothes in the water. It was however not surprising to see a dead cow float past our boat during of boat ride. What an amazing place. From Varansi we also went to the temple where Buddha gave his first public speech after finding true enlightenment. This was a very quiet place and the locals seemed very friendly. We left Varanasi and intended on heading back to Delhi that we were using as a kind of base to travel to and from. There was no train so we headed to a place called Lucknow, which even writing this brings back memories of Chaos. We arrived at the station after a fairly good train ride to be greeted by more than 15 taxi drivers and rickshaw drivers trying to get our business. We had previously booked the hotel so we knew kind of where to go, however it was raining and we were being hassled so thing became complicated. Everyone we turned to for direction tried to sell us something or get us to come to their hotel. We got there in the end to find out they had moved the goal posts and increased the price for a nights stay (By 50 pence - But it was the principal)We decided to kindly tell them to stick it and went to find another hotel in the rain. We were turned away by hotel after hotel and probably spent more than triple the equivalent of the 50 pence just looking for somewhere, let alone actually finding a place to stay. In the end we gave up and spent double on a room for just a few hours as we were leaving that night to head to Delhi. I was not going to let that spoil my experience of Lucknow. Pete and I were with a bloke called Charlie, who kind of persuaded us to say no to the first hotel. He was a great guy but had some quite radical ideas. Charlie and I went to some local temples and building of attraction to see the sights, while Pete rested. Charlie and I spent the afternoon looking around and seeing the sites and then it was time for another one of his ideas. He wanted to flag down a local biker and for both of us to get a ride back. I wasn't keen and to my fortune neither were the bikers. So he had another idea. Bearing in mind that we had reached the temples on an auto rickshaw, which had taken us 15-20 minutes, it was probably best to take that mode of transport back. That was my logic anyway. Charlie on the other hand had a different idea. He thought the most logical idea was to get an eighty five year old Indian man with less muscle than Elijah Wood to peddle us back on his manual rickshaw. Needless to say, they guy didn't make it and we had to hop off and jump on a bus. I felt so sorry for the old man, but he gave it his all. What memories. Thanks Charlie. We ate in Lucknow and then boarded the train heading for Dehli. In Delhi we met up with a couple of girls that we had met in Australia and decided to chill out with them for a few days. We all decided to go to Ranthambhore National Park to see some tigers, so we boarded another train and enjoyed a ride there. Also as our friend Leon is coming out we booked up a driven tour around Rajas than that the girls will be joining us on. It was the start of the safari season, so there was not a great chance of spotting one as they are not tracked and they are purely located once the rangers have figured out their movements and this generally takes a couple of weeks after the park opened. This was a great place as the locals were so friendly and hardly harassed any of us. We did not get the chance to see any tigers after two three-hour stints on safari, but it was a good experience and we did kind of see a Leopard (Up on a hill a mile away) It was also nice spending time with some other people and having laugh, although I wouldn't tell the girls that. They may get big heads. Pete and I headed back to Delhi and left them on their way to Agra. We arrived in Delhi and spent one night there and then headed on to a place called Amritsar, which is home to Sikhism Holiest shrine Golden temple. The middle part of the temple is aid to be coated in 750kg of pure gold. It is an amazing site and one that I will do no justice writing about. (Pictures will come soon I promise)We stayed in Amritsar for three days and during that time visited the temple twice, once mid morning and then a second time at sunset, which to me was by far the best time to see it. Amritsar is half an hour away from a place called Attari, which is were India borders Pakistan and every evening at half past five they have a border closing ceremony where the soldiers of each side do military rituals prior to close the border. It is similar to a stadium on both sides and people come to watch the ceremony. There were thousands of Indian people there but Pakistan's side remained quiet, as it is Ramadan.It was quite a site and something that I will be able to explain better in person. We are now back in Delhi and will be here until Leon arrives and we will start our Tour on Sunday 14th October.
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