Sat 04/01/14 01:10

The next morning was another boat cruise down the river but this time at sunrise. It was cold but very cool to see and I think I got some good photographs as the sun came up. There were a huge amount of boats filled with sightseers already on the water which made it even more interesting.

Later we had a free day to explore on our own. It was kind of funny, and a moment that I got teased for most of the trip. The story starts when everyone decided to go get a lassie (sp), I think it’s something like a yogurt milkshake and to me looks really slimy and gross, but I guess it’s the thing if you’re in Varanasi and have a chance to go the shop that sells the best lassie in the world… yeah, right. After taking about 15 minutes to find the place, everyone dove in and ordered, that is except for me. I mean I was there to see the river and all the things that I’ve heard about, but decided I’d rather go with the group so I hung out at the lassie shop. Thirty minutes turned into forty-five, and forty-five turned into about an hour. I was so bored and couldn’t understand why the group was so interested with the slime drink. Little by little I started to get irritated so after about 20 minutes I went to stand outside with the hopes that everyone would get the idea that it was time to go, but no luck they just kept sipping away at the best lassie in the world. I mean who names a yogurt milkshake after a tv dog? As I was standing outside waiting about every 5 minutes a dead body would be carried through the alley towards the river, in a weird kind of way it is cool to see 4 or 6 people carrying a stretcher with a wrapped body. So anyway, the group gets done with the best lassie in the world, and then has to fulfill a promise to the person who guided us to the shop nearly an hour prior. At this point I was, and I’m sorry to admit it, angry. Eventually we made it to the river and I decided that I would split up from the group and explore at my own speed. Being in a group is 90 percent great most of the time, but that 10 percent when the group seems to hold me back can suck. So I spent the next 6 hours or so just walking along and taking photos.

Thu 02/01/14 20:42

The last few entries, or maybe I should say the last few chances I’ve had to write about my vacation have been hurried at best. It seems the only real time that I’ve had to write is when we’re actually moving from one stop to another. Unfortunately though in most situations it can be difficult to write on a plane, bus, or train, which is where I am now. I am in a sleeper car going from Agra to Varanasi. It so difficult to try to concentrate while people are milling around and as the train is slowly chugging along.

So the night on the train was pretty good, and I use those words loosely. When you haven’t showered, you have no space to be alone, and everyone around you is in the same boat, it can’t really be “pretty good.”

We arrived in Varanasi relatively late, I think it was about 2pm when we were supposed to be there by 12. I don’t know if anyone knows about Varanasi, but it is the city in India that is on the Ganges River, and may be best known for the dead bodies being floated down the river, or being cremated. Or at least that was about all I knew about it. I had seen many photos that showed the building with the stairs leading down to the water. So of the photo were so impressive that I was pretty excited to be seeing it for myself. Unfortunately I was a slightly let down. First there are cremations along the river, but they don’t float any bodies down the river anymore. Then I couldn’t seem to recreate the some of the photos that I’d seen that got me so excited in the first place. I’m not exactly sure why, I walked the whole riverbank and took a ton of photos, but for some reason couldn’t get “the” photo.

The first day (after the train ride) we went for a sunset cruise on the river to see some of the lights and a festival that was going on near the cremations. I really shouldn’t call it a festival; I guess it is more of a prayer, but the chanting, the people watching, and just the spectacle of it all sure made it seem festive.

Thu 02/01/14 20:39

The last night at Agra we celebrated by first going to see a Bollywood movie. It was the first time that I’d seen one so I appreciated the experience more than the movie itself. We saw the movie Dhoom3.You know, the movie really wasn’t that bad, just kind of corny. There wasn’t any plot development and it had gaping holes in the storyline, good fun though. Plus the staring woman was really pretty and that will always make a movie better for me.

After that I decided to have a pizza from Pizza Hut. I know, so American but I don’t have pizza very often and some of the people were going so I indulged. I have to admit it was probably the best pizza that I have had in some time. We ate dinner outside in a garden and later one of the guys from the tour lit fireworks to celebrate New Years Eve.

Thu 26/12/13 06:08

Today we went to Agra Fort and the Baby Taj. Neither of these two attractions were really that great, but both were worth the trip. One of the best things was the view of the Taj from the fort. It was also a free day so we all decided to go together. Although we spent much of the day seeing the two sites I can’t say that I thought the day was that production.

I’m now hanging in the lobby of the hotel waiting for our train ride in a few hours. We will be heading to Varanasi on an overnight train ride.

Thu 26/12/13 05:58

Merry Christmas. Today we got to Agra at about 3 and headed to the Taj Mahal shortly afterwards. The Taj is one of those places that I’ve always wanted to see and something that I felt that I “must” see before I die. I don’t really know if I can explain how absolutely awesome it is either. If you think it looks great in books or magazines, you would be happy to know that it looks even better in real life.

As I was making my way around taking photos I ran into an old guy that waved at me and signaled for me to stand at a particular spot that he was pointing to. So I went to the spot. He then pointed at the taj and told me to take a picture. The whole thing sounds very much like the old guy at Angor Wat. The thing is, is that they usually know the best spots, and this guy did show me some great locations for photos. I wandered around the Taj for about 3 hours and finally headed out with the rest of the group for a warm coffee.

We ended the night having dinner in a rooftop terrace and playing some Christmas games… you know, musical chairs, charades. By that time it was so cold out we were pretty much freezing.

Thu 26/12/13 05:27

We got into Jaipur this afternoon at about 1 and it’s been a blast since we’ve arrived. First we had lunch and then headed up to one of the most beautiful castles/forts that I’ve seen. The one thing that I did though was had my camera set on the lowest setting for photos so I don’t really have any quality photographs. I don’t know why or how I managed to change the settings for high quality to low, but when I went to look over the pictures I noticed that all of them were tiny.

After our trip to the castle we headed back to the hotel to rest up before dinner. Most of the talk was about the traffic and the tuk-tuk drivers. I don’t think that there is anything that I can say that would adequately describe the pure chaos of the traffic. There are cars going in all directions, some heading right toward you and others moving the same direction as you. There is a kind of rule going on, but for the life of me I don’t understand it.

Yesterday was a free day for the group. This means that there isn’t anything officially scheduled and we are free to do whatever we want. This morning we decided to take off and see an ancient observatory and a fort. Neither was that impressive but I am glad that I went.