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21 June - India - Varanasi
Oh dear ... Border woes!!!! We leave at 5.15 am & everything goes smoothly until the last person through & the Nepalese authorities notice that one girl has an Indian visa that says 'special condition; arrive by air & of course we have arrived on foot!!!! So .. We wait .... & wait .... & wait..& wait. We watch the shops slowly come alive & of course are a source of entertainment to the locals.
2hrs later & we can leave but Andrea has to fly!!! She has to fly from Lumbini to Kathmandu to Delhi to Varanasi arriving the next morning. Bureaucracy at its best or worst !!! We are now 2 hrs late into a 10 hour drive so off we go. 2 jeeps in convoy. One of the first things you notice is the rubbish!!! Everywhere !!!!! Then you notice that its being swept into piles & set alight-plastic, paper polystyrene ... Everything which of course lets off black acrid smoke which burns your eyes & throat. Then you notice the mass of humans... Lots & lots of people everywhere. We hurtle along fighting for our place on the road amidst the big trucks, the motorcycles, bicycles & cars pedestrians, cows & water buffalo & of course stray dogs.
I swear that a 2 lane road expands to accommodate 3 lanes of traffic. The road is truly terrible with huge potholes & ruts. The roadside views are fascinating .. Where do I start....we pass rural communities where the family, cows & water buffalo live in mud houses- usually one room or in some cases people are sleeping in their beds covered by mozzie nets outside. There are little stalls selling everything under the sun, lots of foodstuffs being cooked on the roadside , sweet meats for sale covered on flies as its hot & the piles of rubbish & lack of any type of sanitary system encourage swarms.
The wider countryside is covered with agriculture & half finished buildings . I am never sure if they are half up or half down. We travel for hours & hours as fast as the road allows which is about 40km an hour. The traffic is heavy, coming from all directions & there is much hooting & tooting.! We are passed or assaulted from the front by motorcyclists with women on the back encased in jewel coloured saris covering their faces & heads.
I spot a goat hanging from a branch covered in flies with a line of customers awaiting their turn. We also start to see women wearing full black burkas.
We arrive in Varanashi in the dark and as tired & hot as we are it's fascinating in its craziness. Our hotel is very near the Ganges & not too bad. After checking in the first chore is a visit to the ATM. Our guide came with us & we treated to an on the ground experience of dodging the cows, piles of dung, piles of rubbish & lots of curious people who stare at us, especially the young ladies in our group.
A welcome meal, shower & the good news that we only have to meet at 10am the next morning.
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