Day 573 - A pink power-walk

For the first time in a number of days we woke up refreshed because our hotel is tucked away down some alleyways away from the constant honking and revving of the Indian traffic! By the time we made it out and about it was much closer to lunch time than brunch time, and with no muesli in site we settled for some papaya and a massive creamy lassi served out of the clay cups we love so much!

We entered the old town and set out for a day of exploration. We zig zagged down alleyways and peaked into marble workshops where workers chiselled in a cloud of white dust. As we made our way through town, we zipped into a few unmarked places and found these to be the treats of the day. The first one was a rocky pyramid-shaped Hindu temple raised above the streets. From here we got great views over the pink city and the chaos that reigned below. We finally made it to the major sight for the day: the City Palace where the Maharajas (previous and current) of Rajasthan live. Here we were transformed into classic tourists, as with our ticket came a free audio guide to the palace. Thus we walked around with our funky headsets on listening to a man telling us this and that about the palace, while visually absorbing textiles, art, weaponry, and architecture. The Durbar Hall was a highlight, with murals on the ceiling painted in elaborate colours and real glistening gold.

We then found ourselves in another unmarked spot, where we had total solitude amongst the marble floors and pillars, as light bathed the walls of this special find. Over the months we've been travelling, we've developed a sense for exploration beyond the main tourist traps, even if the traps are amazing too.
Finally we entered the Hawa Mahal, a huge temple dedicated to Krishna, modelled to look like the a crown. Here we slowly climbed level by level to get great views over the city, and spent a while watching a family of monkeys play together - the kids doing leap frogs over mum and dad, and playing a game that looked to us like tag!
Our eyes almost exhausted from the day we blitzed through the market lined streets and at 4pm, finally got some real food to fed our weary bodies.

We celebrated another New Year's Eve on the road in true Grandma and Grandpa fashion having a quiet meal at our favourite restaurant, chilling in front of the tube (we hardly ever get a tv in our room), and watching fireworks from our balcony with a few other travellers. This is the first sober new years Adam has had for as long as he can remember - is that a health breakthrough or what ... ?

Quietly adlibing in the new year!

Day 572 - A pink entrance to Rajasthan

This morning was spent motoring along on a public bus despite countless people and rickshaw drivers trying to convince us it was too "uncomfortable" for us, but for a fraction of the price of a tourist "Luxury" bus we made the call that price was more important than comfort!! After spoiling ourselves for Christmas (thanks all our mums and dads!) we're back to our budget adlibing ways!

It turns out that the trip and bus was pretty good - we even had some four-legged company along the way:When we arrived in Jaipur (the capital of Rajasthan state) we had a bit of a mission to find accommodation, with everything seemingly out of our budget - and by a lot! After finally giving in and getting a rickshaw driver to take us to a cheap place he knew (and would get commission for - which normally drives up the price), we found a place we could afford, and after some hard bargaining finally dropped our packs for the day.

We found a great eatery for some much needed food and set off into the Old Town that has made Jaipur a major destination on the India Trail. The main reason it's so famous is that the entire old town is painted a pinky red colour, giving the town the nickname of the Pink City. We wandered around through the bustling markets, where people sell anything and everything, while the town slowly fell under a pinkish glow below the setting sun. Adlibing it into the Pink.

Day 571 - Baby time

We made up for yesterday's early start by sleeping in this morning, well as best we could with the constant noise from outside: blaring horns battling with merchants yelling, while the loud speaker at the Mosque called people to prayer at the same time street dogs made their presence well and truly felt.

Having seen the Taj yesterday, today we made comparisons of beauty by searching out the riverside mausoleum nicknamed the Baby Taj because of its resemblance to the real thing. With the sun shining we took an hour and a hald amble through the city of Agra, because as we found yesterday walking to these wonderful sights gives you a different picture of real city life. We wandered along the murky riverside that has totally given up its battle for purity and allowed its rubbish heaped banks to sink into dispair.

Scattered along the river barber stalls tended to the hairy needs of Indian men, and were probably baffled by Adam's lack of interest in their service! With a heavy industry focus along this road many cafes, whose tables were the ground we walked on, served cheap Indian fare to their hungry customers.

Eventually the ambling experience was over and we were staring at a truly stunning baby. Although smaller in size, it made up for this with its colourfully tiled walls of patterns and Arabic writing, both inside and out. The atmosphere here was different too - much more peaceful with only about 20 people there with us, compared to the thousands viewing the Taj with us yesterday!!

While sitting under the shade of one of the buildings we met Trevor, a volunteer teacher from the UK working in Delhi, and afterwards caught a ride in his hired rickshaw to a lesser known mausoleum hidden away down an alleyway lined with trees. This was a complete contrast to both of the "Tajs" - while they sported perfected marble exteriors, this mausoleum was made of crumbling red stone with only small fragements of its original tile remaining.

We joined Trevor and his rickshaw driver back across the river, where we marvelled at the rainbow of colours of freshly washed saris and sheets lining the riverbank - how they could ever become clean from being washed in this river is a mystery to us!We got dropped off a few kilometres from our hotel and wandered with the calls of touts following us where ever we went, finally finding refuge in a good restaurant!!

Adlibing Baby T.

Day 570 - Marvelling at the Marble

In case anyone hasn't caught on from our previous blog posts, we tend to hate mornings that begin with an alarm - we're supposed to be on a travelling holiday for goodness sake! Despite this, we've managed to place ourselves at the site of one of the world's most famous monuments, and therefore dragging ourselves out of bed this morning was a manageable task. Plus we needed to get there early to miss the crowds of people, because we chose the national week-long winter holiday as the time to visit the most popular place in India!

Unfortunately we rose early only to find a blanket of cold, grey fog over the entire city but by the time we finished brekky a tinge of blue was starting to enter the skyline. Even though we had seen the Taj from the distance yesterday afternoon, seeing it close up this morning was breathtaking. Even the crowds of hundreds of people didn't take away from the magnificence of it, even though it did mean getting that perfect photo with no one in the way was near impossible!
We spent nearly 3 hours wandering around, treating ourselves to different perspective and coming full circle to repeat some of them again and again as it was impossible to absorb the magical detail of the intricately carved white marble beauty. After taking in as much as we could we went out for food and then made the walk to the Agra Fort, declining offers of tuk-tuk and cycle-rickshaw rides every 100m along the way! As is often the case, the walk on our way somewhere is just as interesting as the site itself. As we walked we laughed in amazement at the rickshaws driving past so packed full that men clung to the roof while standing on the bumper; grandmas in saris with their grandchildren sneaking under a hole in the fence to avoid buying a ticket; 3 kids on one bike screaming out hello to us as they battled with the traffic; peanut, fruit, tobacco sellers all selling their goods from their wooden trolleys they roll around on rickety old bicycle wheels; and many more wonderful and intriguing things! Even with all there is to see we still manage to keep an eye on the ground to avoid the piles of crap that dot the path.
Having seen the Taj only a few hours earlier, it took us a while to see the fort for the amazing World Heritage sight that it is, but soon we were lost in a world of dusty red stone and white marble. The elaborate carving throughout the fort was more fitting for a palace and the age of the fort was openly displayed in the scarred walls that had shed their outer skin. Ironically the highlight of the fort was looking out over the Taj from a distance, just like the Taj's creator had done after imprisoned in the fort by his own son.

After a big day of sight seeing we returned to the busy, noisy streets that surround the Taj complex where enjoyed our favourite pastime of munching food and slurping chai.

Adlibing the TAJ MAHAL.

Day 569 - Love at first sight

As we expected yesterday, the overnight bus ride was extremely uncomfortable - lucky for Liv she probably got a combined hours worth of sleep, while Adam spent the night bracing himself to avoid slipping off his broken seat! After 12 hours on the bus we arrived on the outskirts of Delhi and the hassle attacked us at full force, with rickshaw drivers surrounding us, all wanting to take us somewhere for ridiculous prices! In the end we managed to bargain the price down for a ride to the bus stand where we caught a much cheaper local bus to the station.

As if the 12 hours of pain wasn't enough, we pretty much immediately jumped on another 5 hour bus to take us to Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal, and the beginning of a love affair. All the effort was worth it when we climbed the stairs to our hotel rooftop, had some food in our empty tummies, and got phenomenal views of the pearl of India. When our adlibing tour began there were a few destinations that we were really looking forward to, and in a sense they provided the fuel to keep going when our spirits or energy were low, and the Taj is one of those places. We feel privileged to be here, and our eyes can hardly cope. We're not sure how we're going to feel when we get a close up view at dawn tomorrow ...

Adlibing views of the pearl.

Day 568 - Laxing out

In true Boxing Day fashion we spent today totally lazily - a late brekky, reading on the balcony in the sun, lunch on the rooftop, another yummy dinner before jumping on our overnight bus to take us on a likely painful journey back to Delhi. The only difficult thing we did today was the necessary packing of the adlibing backpacks that contain our lives.One of the things we've enjoyed the most here in McLeod Ganj is seeing monks and nuns join in everyday life: surfing the net, chatting on their cell phones, and dining with each other in nice restaurants.

Lazily adlibing it.

Day 567 - Kinda Christmas

We can't quite believe that on this 'kinda' Christmas we had to set an alarm, but it was a necessity if we wanted to talk to our families back home in New Zealand who had begun celebrating Christmas about the time we went to bed last night!! With no sign of Christmas here in McLeod Ganj it was nice to talk to our families and hear their voices full of Christmas joy.

Other than the wonderful few hours spent talking to home, the rest of the day passed without much Christmasness, though we did indulge in some Christmas spending, purchasing a small present each and attempting to match the bulging bellies we usually have at this time of the year!!!Our major excursion of the day was to the Tsuglagkhang complex that houses a couple of temples, the Dalai Lama's official residence, and a Tibetan museum. We spent a while ambling around, watching the goings-on of temple life - both calm and full of energy simultaneously. Afterwards we enlightened ourselves at the museum where the touching exhibits display the plight of the Tibetan people. We fought back tears while reading stories of nuns and monks "re-educated" against their religion; fathers and daughters making death-defying journeys over snowy passes to find refuge in India; and of the new lives being made here in India, Nepal, and throughout the world.
We then made a kora (ritual circuit) around the temples, peacefully passing prayer wheels and prayer rocks, trailing the faithful, and all the time having amazing views out over the valley.
For dinner we totally splurged thanks to a Christmas deposit from our families back home and dined on Italian ravioli, pizza, real coffee, and even waffles and chocolate brownies for dessert!!! To make sure we finished the day in Indian style we made a stop of the way home at a street stall for a glass of chai before retiring to bed!

Adlibing a Holi(ness) Christmas.

Day 566 - An energised exploration

The day started with us forcefully dragging ourselves out of bed, fighting the urge to laze under the blankets that threatened to crush us while we slept!! Eventually we found breakfast at a small Tibetan restaurant, and relaxed there until the sun had adequately warmed up the mountain environment outside. With the sun in full force we made our way through the bustling town and suddenly we found ourselves transported into a peaceful forest and on a winding road that led us to the sacred Dal Lake.

The lake was more of a murky brown pond and we questioned why people would take a sacred dip here, but the sun still enticed us to sit here a while and read our books under the shade of the trees. A group of Tibetan monks had the same idea, and were cheerfully sitting beside the lake chatting and laughing away with each other. We debated with ourselves whether to return to town for lunch and then drink the afternoon away while waiting for an appropriate time for dinner or walk another few kilometres up to Nadi village. In making the decision to go up to Nadi we were rewarded with stunning views from this small village that has yet to be overcome with tourism. Towering above the colourful houses the mountain range stretched through the bright blue sky, not yet dressed in a full blanket of white winter snow.

It was nice to see groups of Indian tourists out and about and having a great time - it amused us to think of the similarity between Chinese and Indian tourists: zipping about in their cars or taxis and seeing as many different sights in a day as possible!

Back in town we sat on the roof and ate a delicious Tibetan meal of noodle soup and bread until the sun went down and forced us back to our room to put on more layers of clothes!

Later on we wandered through town and were just in time to see the amazing colours of the setting sun forcing its last rays of light through the forest trees. As the curtain closed on our daylight we did what we do best, and found somewhere to eat some more food, before strolling the evening streets and browsing through the local shops.

Adlibing a sacred lake and surreal sights.

Day 565 - Touring the town

With Christmas drawing near, we're settling into a chilled out holiday frame of mood, and so we spent the greater part of the morning soaking up the sun on a rooftop cafe.

From here we enjoyed the views out over the lush green hills, grey and white mountains, and the colourful buzzing town of McLeod Ganj. McLeod Ganj is a predominantly Tibetan town, flourishing with Tibetan refugees who fled the Chinese invasion of their country and followed their leader, the Dalai Lama, to safety in India. Buddhist prayer flags float in the free air, and monks and lay people alike wander freely unafraid of being persecuted for their religion. At the nearby temple, prayer wheels are almost constantly creaking, creating their own kind of music accompanied by the quiet murmurs of prayers.

We spent hours aimlessly wandering around town, soaking in the atmosphere, and eventually found ourselves on a scenic road that led to Bhagsu village and a peaceful waterfall in the hills. Here we sat and sunned ourselves on the rocks while looking out over the green valleys where the river flows and locals joyfully go about washing.

In the evening we did what most others do in this chilled out town: relax over good food and drinks, before making the perilous descent down the steps to our hotel, avoiding the snaking water pipes that seem to attack in the darkness then finally snuggling into bed under a pile of blankets.

Adlibing a Tibetan town.

Day 564 - Heading home ... the Dalai Lama's, that is

Our morning started with a relaxing breakfast and a much easier wander through the now familiar streets that lead to the bus station. Once there we had a long wait until our bus to Dharamsala left, and we filled the time people watching, eating samosas, and surprised surprise, drinking chai. We came ultra early because there is only one bus a day to Dharamsala and we didn't want to miss out, but it was interesting watching the daily goings-about at the station: bag men clambering up onto the roofs to tie down bags, and conductors yelling out the destinations of their buses, blowing whistles and generally creating a lot of noise. Eventually we got on the bus and began our bumpy 7 hour bus ride. As darkness fell we got our first taste of Christmas as we neared Dharamsala and overlooked the vast valleys with their lights sparkling below and above us. A friendly Tibetan couple informed us of the local bus to take us up to McLeod Ganj, which only cost us 9 rupees each, instead of the 130 fare for a taxi. At the bus stand coincidence struck as the owner of the hotel we were going to search for was there waiting to take customers to his hotel!! The Sharma Cottage was recommended to us by Shane and the Canadian boys, and suits us as it's not in the guide book and therefore not expensive!!!

After dumping our bags and making sure we had enough blankets for the chilly night, we set off through town to find food. That task complete we made our way back through the empty streets to our hotel and escape from the wintry night.

Adlibing it at the bus station.

Day 563 - A Golden Day

We woke up this morning and prepared ourselves to disembark. When Liv went to get her shoes she found ... well, nothing! Her shoes had been stolen during the night! WHO STEALS PEOPLE'S SHOES?!!!! This turned our moods to the dark side - we lived and travelled in China for 14 months and never had anything stolen, but after a week in India we've already lost a pair of shoes!!! We often get sales people or touts asking us "why don't you trust me", and this is the reason why!

Anyway, it was lucky we had sandals in the pack (which Liv wore with style, complete with socks), as we had to get our walk on to find a hotel in our new destination: Amritsar. After an hour or so of searching we found a place to dump our packs and didn't return until dark.

In that time we were blown away by the magnificence of the Golden Temple - a Sikh Temple that is literally covered in gold. The temple appears as if it was floating in the middle of a crystal like pond that reflects and intensifies the golden beauty. It was a calming experience to walk bare-footed among the masses who have come to show their devotion in this truly spiritual place. After this we spent hours looking at plastic-fantastic shoes - this is the main reason we're so annoyed at the stolen property: not only are the shoes here crap, we also hate shoe shopping with a vengeance!!!

We found lunch and set off on a wild goose chase for the bus station, with people sending us in opposing directions! Despite being frustrating we eventually found it and got the info we needed, and were soon bound for the India-Pakistan border.

(Here is a snippet of one of the many travel warnings we get from the NZ government:

The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has reviewed its travel advisory for India. There is 'extreme risk' to your security ... ... along the India-Pakistan international border and we advise against all travel to these areas. Terrorist activity, political violence and violent crime pose an extreme risk to security.

We didn't get this warning until a few days after we went to the border, but with all the machine guns around we felt ironically safe!)

When we arrived at the border we made our way through the intense security and then made a rush with all the hundreds of other people running for the border. Before you start thinking we were making a side trip into Pakistan, the real reason for our border visit was to watch the border closing ceremony.

The ceremony is an extremely loud and showy event with crowds on both sides of the border cheering, waving flags, and chanting as guards perform the in-your-face marching antics! We were surprised that some guards didn't dislocate joints with the force of their kicks! It was quite a hilarious and exciting half hour ...

To get back to Amritsar about an hour away, we expected to retrace our ride to the bus stand and then catch a local bus back, but our tuk-tuk just kept going and we ended up going all the way sitting out the back of a tuk-tuk. Back in town we had a slightly more upmarket meal than we're used to, but we felt we deserved it after a bad start to the day and accomplishing so much in one day!

Adlibing it shoeless.

Day 562 - Chilling and trains

With our train departure set for late tonight we had the whole day up our sleeves and little we wanted to do. Thus we resorted to chilling out in cafes and drinking tea to fill the time! Just to mix things up we moved between 3 different cafes during the day, each with their own vibe, the funnest being the one where we sat overlooking the river and the monkeys playing in the trees next to us. A couple of sneaky ones even made a grab for Liv's scarf wrapped around her neck!!!
Finally we made it to the bus station in perfect time to get straight on a bus to Haridwar, a city about an hour away from where we were catching our train. Once in Haridwar we ate dinner at a small restaurant opposite the station, and then did some more chilling with chai until our train came in at 9.30pm. Adam even had time to make a pit-stop, ever so convenient with public (and we mean very public) urinals on the streets!
After a hard day of relaxing it was time to rest, and once on the train we got into bed - this time we were much more prepared than the last time, as we bought a couple of woolly shawls to keep us warm!

Adlibing away a day.

Day 561 - Waterfalls, chai, and snacks

Although the wind was much less windy than yesterday, we were slightly disappointed that it was overcast when we woke up today. Yesterday was such a beautiful clear day, and we were hoping for the same today as we planned to go out to some waterfalls and to the riverside beach for some lazing in the sun!

After brekky, we headed out to the waterfalls despite the cloud, and had a lovely time walking through the forest and following the small path that led the way. The waterfalls were pretty, though not necessarily impressive, but it was good to be out and about and the waterfalls gave us something to aim for.

On the way back into town we stopped off at a sandy beach, where we read our books and were kept company by a cute dog who just wanted to sit down and have some pats! As it started to drizzle, Adam decided to jump in the river, but only stayed in long enough for a photo as it was freezing!!! It's impossible to leave India without having the experience of swimming in the Holy Ganges ... according to the crazier member of the Adlibing team.

As we walked along the beach our new four-legged friend followed us, and loved playing fetch with a stick - bounding up and down the sand in his excitement!

We stopped off for chai and snacks at a street side stall, and then back in town we stopped for more chai and snacks!! It really is a hard life sometimes ...

In the evening we managed to book our train tickets online for tomorrow night - we're heading to Amritsar for a few days, and then we plan to go up to McLeod Ganj (the home of the Dalai Lama) for Christmas.

Adlibing a cloudy day.

Day 560 - A relaxed roam of Rishikesh

Last night we slept so well in the comfort and warmth of our bed, until we woke up in one of those wizard of oz dreams where you've been hurtled up into the sky by a tornado - we were deposited right back home in windy Wellington!! We wish ... but seriously, the wind outside was so strong it was rattling our door to the point where we were convinced someone was trying to break in!

After sitting out the wind reading in bed, we finally got up and found a place to have brekky overlooking the river. We spent some time on our guesthouse rooftop absorbing the view of the hills that shadow this chilled out town perched on either side of the flowing Ganges. With all the looking we'd done, it was clearly time for more food so we found the Little Buddha Cafe recommended to us by some friends, and enjoyed a totally relaxed arvo there.

Later on we walked through town and along the river to the other end of town where the huge temple complex sits. We wandered around looking at shops and absorbing the religious atmosphere created by the many sadhus (holy men) and devotees milling around. A particular special moment was watching a sadhu chatting away to a cow and wiping off the sleep around its eyes- it was really nice to see this holy animal receive such special attention.

Afterwards we made our way to the opposite end of town where we found ourselves walking in a forested area that revealed a track down to the river's edge. Here we walked along the sandy and rocky shore watching rafts pass by and scouting out some beaches for relaxing on tomorrow.

In the evening we went out in search of some good curries - which isn't that hard when you're in India!!

Adlibing it around Rishikesh.

Day 559 - Delayed

At 6am we both got out of bed (even though it was still dark and our train wasn't due to get in for another hour and a half) mainly as we hadn't slept at all during the night because of the cold and the chorus of snoring that echoed through our carriage.

Once up Adam spoke to another passenger who informed him that our train was over 6 hours late, so we sat in for some more hot chais and snacks whenever we could find them!

Eventually 8 hours late, we rolled into Haridwar and quickly found a bus to take us the extra hour of travel time to Rishikesh: the home of yoga, ashrams, and a much cleaner section of the Ganges river. It's in Rishikesh that the Beatles and other rock stars came in the 60s to seek spiritual enlightenment, and the same things everyone else in the 60s was looking for: peace, love, drugs and rock'n'roll.

We happened to arrived on the day the rickshaws and taxi drivers were striking and had to walk an hour to the nice part of town, where we quickly found a cheap but pretty nice place to stay!

As we had only been eating snack food and chai all day, we immediately went in search of a good curry, which we found and ate in a restaurant overlooking the river below. Not a bad first night in relaxed Rishikesh - made even better by finding butter cookies cooking over a fire in the street for dessert! mmm mmmmm

Eventually Adlibing it to Rishikesh.

Day 558 - Training out of Varanasi

After our last breakfast on the amazing rooftop of Puja Guesthouse, we were sad to say goodbye to the view out over Varanasi and the Ganges. As we sat up there we felt lost in the atmosphere of the ancient city, and found ourselves wondering if a lifetime here would ever unlock the secrets of thousands of years gone by.

At the train station we asked at the Tourist office for help in finding our platform and Adam was told: "see that long of people at the office, go around them, find the side door, go in and ask the man in charge what platform your train leaves from." That's exactly what Adam did and seconds later we were wandering towards our train, found our names on the paper hanging beside the door on the train and marvelled at how organised it all was - something we never thought we'd say about India.

We got on the train for our 19 hour ride and after a few cups of chai our train finally left, only 10 minutes late. We were surprised at how empty the train was and kept waiting for the crowds of people that never came. At each station Liv would panic as Adam jumped off to search for food or chai - he managed on several occasions to return with delicious, cheap treats that sustained us for the journey.

Around 10pm we finally got into our beds, and set in for a night of shivering away in the freezing cold, with only our cotton sleeping sacks for cover! This cold is something we were totally unprepared for, and think we might have to get a blanket for our other train journeys in the North.

Adlibing trains and chai.

Day 557 - Rummaging around the Ramnagar Fort

Today we ventured back out the to hospital to see a doctor (typically a 10.30am appointment was changed to 2pm), and while waiting we went out to the 17th Century Ramnagar Fort and Palace. To get there we had to cross the Ganges, which we achieved by clinging to the edge of a pontoon bridge that rattled and rolled as rickshaws, motorbikes and people moved their way across. Once safely across we made our way past boat builders and fishermen resting at the riverbank and we launched an attack on the perimetre of the fort!! The view looking up from the shoreline to the fort that's crumbling in places and intricately carved in others, was breathtaking. The negative side of our adventuring was the fact that at one point we found ourselves literally walking through an open air toilet, with "remains" carpeting the sandy shore. Needless to say Liv marched us away pretty quickly after that - even though we found it rather disgusting it didn't seem to worry the boys and men doing their washing (clothing and themselves) and yoga just metres away.

With hours to kills we decided to go into the front entrance of the fort and into the museum, which although disappointing it meant we were able to climb to the top of the palace and get some good views out over the Ganges.

After we finally finished up with the Dr Lowell Stoltzfus (a great American doctor based at the Heritage Hospital ph. 05422506788, email drstoltzfus@swissmail.org ) we made it back into town and went straight to our favourite restaurant for some more delicious Indian curries and people-watching.
In the evening we did some more wandering along the riverside ghats, winding our way through children fighting each other for air space for their kites, holy men meditating in this sacred place, and sellers begging us to buy boat rides, jewellery and food. Here we had our first chai in a terracotta cup - even though it feels weird to smash your tea cup after you've finished a cup, it's also quite disturbingly fun and better for the environment than plastic cups!

As darkness fell small candles floated down the river, placed their by the faithful and tourists alike, and boats cruised the mirror-like surface of the Ganges.
Eventually we came across the Manikarnika Ghat, which is the main burning ghat in Varanasi. As the Ganges is such a sacred river in India, it is the most auspicious place to be cremated: it is believed that if you die and are cremated in Varanasi the cycle of life and death is ended. The bodies are first doused in the river and afterwards their ashes are returned to the flowing river that drew them to this holy place.

We were not expecting to come across this sight of several bodies being burned at the same time, and only watched for a few moments before making our way back to Dasaswamedh Ghat for the nightly Ganga Aarti ceremony. During this ceremony young men move in a series of segmented rituals - dancing gracefully to music and lighting incense and candles that left them shrouded in a layer of smoke that created an almost unearthly atmosphere.
Afterwards we stopped in for a snack and then made our way through unfamiliar alleyways, absorbing the colours of the stalls: billions of bangles sparkling under the lights; herbs and spices fighting a losing battle against the stench of the streets; silk scarves, clothing, and saris; copper and brass products for home and temple; and a multitude of other Indian wares.

Adlibing forts and riverside ceremonies.