The Road To Kathmandu

Phew! It's been a while but every time i've tryed to post a new blog the dodgy Indian power supply has thwarted me. We have finally made it to Nepal after a mammouth journey from the south of Inida which took more than 80 hours in total on train and bus.

The Indian rail system is pretty efficient (maybe becuase it was built by the British?), and the overnight trains are pretty comfortable in AC (air conditioned) class. With calls of 'chai', 'chaiaaaa', 'coldrink' and even 'chocolate' every 5 mintues we did'nt go hungry or thirsty.

Arring in Mumbai (old Bombay, see top left) was like being transported into the future a few years with it's western shops, cafe's and colonial architecture. A quick stop of only 2 nights was more than enough to take in a Bollywood flick (Euklavia!!!!) and recover from the long journey.

Another 30 hour overnight train, this time in a compartment with 4 other (mostly annoying) Inidan people. It can be difficult to sleep with plastic bags rustling, people snoring, farting, snorting and hacking!

Varanasi is reputed to be the oldest city in the world and it's certainly an incredible place. The Ganges river flows around a bend which provides the setting for the old city which is lined from one end to the other with bathing ghats. The city is a crazy mixture of sadus (holy men), suicidal buffalo, cycle rickshaws and tourists. Hindu's from all over India flock to Varanasi to worship, bathe in the holy (and extremely polluted) Ganges and strangely enough..... die. Bodies are publicly cremated on a 24 hour basis all year round on the banks of the Ganges and the ashes are washed away downstream. Hindus that if you die in Varanasi you will achieve 'moksha' (the end of the cycle of reincarnation), and to be cremated on the ghats is very auspicious.

Yet another mammouth bus journey of more than 20 hours took us north over the border to Kathmandu. In the week since we've been here we've already been effected by 2 strikes and have been pelted with water balloons containing dye as part of the 'Holi' festival. We love it.