Last night we went on a boat ride on the Ganges at sunset, which was very pretty. After the sun had set, a Hindu prayer ceremony started on a ghat and dozens of other tourist boats piled up to watch. A bit further down the ghats were public cremations. The equivalent of funeral services had happened earlier, and women are seen as too sensitive to cope with the cremation of the bodies, so only men were present. I'm not squeamish (I've seen plenty of dead bodies, and can deal with the smell of burned or decomposing flesh), but I felt uneasy watching this. These bodies were someone's son, daughter, mother or father and we were intrusively watching their grief... some even took photos. If a boatload of Asian tourists with Nikons rocked up at a funeral of someone I love then I'd happily tell them where to go, and possibly try to capsize them.
After we got off the boat we took a tuk tuk to a nice looking restaurant, and our driver hit a man on a bike. At the restaurant, they were very efficient at taking our orders, but we waited about 45 minutes for the drinks to arrive. Most of us ordered cokes, which still come in glass bottles out here, and they were brought out one by one. Those that didn't order cokes got their drinks with their food, which came out in staggered batches over another 45 minutes. Most of us were sharing rice and naans, but it was awkward to start if your partners curry hadn't arrived yet. After we'd all finished (some had finished before I'd started), we asked for the bill which took another half hour and seemed to be causing tension amongst the waiters. By this point we were all tired and grumpy, aware that we had a stupidly early start this morning, and wanted our beds.
This morning we got up at 4:30 for a sunrise boat ride on the Ganges, but you couldn't see any sun because it was raining so hard, and the sight and smell of burning bodies was still there. Also this morning the clothes of the dead from last night were being burned which wasn't an overly uplifting sight. You'd think the rain would be a welcome break to the heat, but all it did was add an extra layer of moisture to your clothes without altering the temperature at all.
Grumpy and wet, we headed back to bed at 6:30 and woke up around midday to go and look at some Buddhist temples, and the place where Buddha gave his first sermon which was quite interesting but probably not worth sweating your balls off for.
We then had lunch and went shopping. We asked to go to the Old Town market, which the tuk tuk driver agreed to, but it soon became clear he didn't have a scooby where he was going. We cut our loses and asked him to stop on a main road far away from any market, but avoiding dodgy back alleys and near shops where we could get everything on our shopping list - flip flops and a salbutamol inhaler. I found an inhaler pretty quickly, was told it cost 2400 rupees (~24 quid) which I was willing to pay, and was over the moon to find that the pharmacist didn't speak great English and actually only wanted 240 rupees (£2.40). I took two. Most shops here are sensibly named, unlike in Ghana, but I did have a little snigger when I saw 'Gaylord Tailors'. Clare and I bravely chose to take a proper rickshaw back to the hotel, and are both surprised to have survived!
We've got a 3:30 start tomorrow as we've got a long train ride to the Nepal boarder, so by 20:00 Clare and I were in our PJs, watching the Indian shopping channel and ordering room service... aka living the dream!
Love Emily x
After we got off the boat we took a tuk tuk to a nice looking restaurant, and our driver hit a man on a bike. At the restaurant, they were very efficient at taking our orders, but we waited about 45 minutes for the drinks to arrive. Most of us ordered cokes, which still come in glass bottles out here, and they were brought out one by one. Those that didn't order cokes got their drinks with their food, which came out in staggered batches over another 45 minutes. Most of us were sharing rice and naans, but it was awkward to start if your partners curry hadn't arrived yet. After we'd all finished (some had finished before I'd started), we asked for the bill which took another half hour and seemed to be causing tension amongst the waiters. By this point we were all tired and grumpy, aware that we had a stupidly early start this morning, and wanted our beds.
This morning we got up at 4:30 for a sunrise boat ride on the Ganges, but you couldn't see any sun because it was raining so hard, and the sight and smell of burning bodies was still there. Also this morning the clothes of the dead from last night were being burned which wasn't an overly uplifting sight. You'd think the rain would be a welcome break to the heat, but all it did was add an extra layer of moisture to your clothes without altering the temperature at all.
Grumpy and wet, we headed back to bed at 6:30 and woke up around midday to go and look at some Buddhist temples, and the place where Buddha gave his first sermon which was quite interesting but probably not worth sweating your balls off for.
We then had lunch and went shopping. We asked to go to the Old Town market, which the tuk tuk driver agreed to, but it soon became clear he didn't have a scooby where he was going. We cut our loses and asked him to stop on a main road far away from any market, but avoiding dodgy back alleys and near shops where we could get everything on our shopping list - flip flops and a salbutamol inhaler. I found an inhaler pretty quickly, was told it cost 2400 rupees (~24 quid) which I was willing to pay, and was over the moon to find that the pharmacist didn't speak great English and actually only wanted 240 rupees (£2.40). I took two. Most shops here are sensibly named, unlike in Ghana, but I did have a little snigger when I saw 'Gaylord Tailors'. Clare and I bravely chose to take a proper rickshaw back to the hotel, and are both surprised to have survived!
We've got a 3:30 start tomorrow as we've got a long train ride to the Nepal boarder, so by 20:00 Clare and I were in our PJs, watching the Indian shopping channel and ordering room service... aka living the dream!
Love Emily x
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