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Hello,
We stayed a couple more days in the mountains, the highlight being an English conversation class with some Tibetan refugees and some Indian-born Tibetan monks. Katie had some pretty deep discussions with monks about life, death and the shape of her chin. I on the other hand had some pretty shy refugee children who had obviously been through a lot and understandably weren't that chatty.
We went back to Amritsar for one more night at the Golden Temple then caught the train to Delhi. Saw some sites and met up with a friend, Andy, for a night which was nice - great to talk to a familiar face. Also spent a day with a Sikh family we'd met on the train from Amritsar which was so special. Went to their house and the Mum cooked us a delicious lunch while we chatted via one of the daughters as an interpreter. The things we learnt about their life were just fascinating and they were equally fascinated by us. We hope to stay in touch with them. Delhi was just a big city though, nothing of that much interest so we left for the small town of Khajuraho to see the amazing temples there. They're famous for their carvings, some of which are rather rude. We certainly won't be uploading any of those photos. We bumped into an English Indian guy on a bus who turned out to be our Travel Angel. He has saved us SO much money and hassle as he speaks the language and he enjoys travelling with us as he pretends to be our guide and hears what people say about us behind our back in Hindi! Legend.
Next stop was Bandhavgarh National Park where we planned on spending five days to try and see a tiger. We saw three in our first half an hour of our first morning safari! It was absolutely incredible to hear the roar and see them so close. One walked so close to the Jeep and even the guides were amazed saying it was a very special sighting. There was no way we could top that so we left in the afternoon and started our epic two day journey to Varanasi. This is the holiest Hindu site where they come to be cremated by the Ganges. It's a crazy and fascinating place. We took a sunrise boat trip this morning which was stunning, this place is definately the most photogenic site on our trip so far. We'll be here a few days and then we go to Bodhgaya - the place where the Buddha was enlightened. That will make our tour of Indian holy sites complete - Sikh, Hindu and Buddhist!
Matt and Katie
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