Towards Goa

Probably the least said about the train trip from Lucknow to Delhi the better.

We were on a mid-afternoon train that delivered us the 700 kilometres to Delhi in seven hours. There were earlier trains but they travelled at a much slower speed and would have had us arrive at about the same time. The train had about 2,000 passengers and just like a plane, they had trolley dolly’s (blokes though) working the length of the train. Everyone first received a tea bag and a small thermos of hot water and a litre bottle of drinking water. Then out came a tray with a carrot sandwich, a samosa, Himalayan popcorn and some other strange nibbles. This all sustained us for the daylight section of the trip.

Travelling at about 110 kilometres/hour, we got a good look at the countryside and at times along the route we would stop at junctions for a minute or so. Most of the stations we just whizzed straight through and we just got quick glimpses of the bewildered dogs and people lying and standing on the platforms.

Everyone was treated to an evening meal of (you guessed it) a curry dish and naan bread. A small tub of ice-cream was the highlight of the tucker!

For those poor buggers who needed to visit the toilet, they will have a memory indelibly engraved in their brain. For the lucky ones like us who avoided it, we feel permanently scarred by the look on the faces of those who did exit it.

We were lucky to have a midday flight to Goa on Wednesday so that gave us plenty of time to enjoy breakfast before heading to the airport. Some of the group needed to be up at 5:00 am to start their travels home.

We had an hour drive from Goa airport to our beach side accommodation at Varca on the mid-west coast of Goa state. That gave us a couple of hours of sunlight to check out the local area and enjoy a cold one in Cosmo’s beach shack that was in its first day of trading of the tourist season. It was still receiving final touches having been reconstructed once again following the monsoon season.

Fresh sugar cane drink anyone? No added sugar!

Goa is a strange place. You drive through narrow village roads for miles without seeing water through the thick scrub. It has a population of about 1.8 million and relies heavily on tourism. Russians and Brits are attracted here and most signs and menus are in Russian as well as English.

Thursday morning we were picked up for a tour of Old Goa, about an hour north of Varca. Portuguese India is certainly different to the northern states of India. There is a real Christian influence here and while we did visit two wonderful Hindu temples, it seemed strange to also be visiting 400 year old Basilicas and Cathedrals built by Franciscans and Jesuits. Our guide for the morning was Stanley Fernandez (named because his father thought so highly of the Stanley tool brand). His knowledge of the local history was extensive to say the least.

Our guide Stanley showing us around Old Goa.

What would a pulpit like this bring in the trading Post? Or am I dreaming?

Our free afternoon had us walking along the beach before taking the plunge into the Arabian Sea. The water was every bit as warm as the Pacific in Hawaii and the sunbeams were severe, even at only 34 degrees.

Guess which way the monsoon winds come from?

What would a beach be without cows?

Friday was golf day! After breakfast we ventured about an hour south of Varca by taxi where we hired clubs and played at the Lalit golf & spa resort. What a resort it is. The golf course is in great condition and the scenery, especially on the beach side of the course was spectacular. Like everywhere in India, whether it be on the beach, in a market or on a golf course, cows have right of way. We enjoyed frothies and late lunch at the resort before venturing back to Varca to watch another sunset on the beach.

We’re in safe hands on the beach

Ruling please. Can you get relief from pups on course?

What about cows?

So today is Saturday and we fully intend to vegie out on the beach. We have a 1:00pm pickup tomorrow for a flight back to Delhi and a night at a hotel. Monday we head home and will be back in time for the running of the Cup.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this bog.

Cheers.    

Lucknow

We left Varanasi behind and have both vowed never to return. The road to Lucknow was reasonable and quite a bit of it was backtracking where we’d come from on Friday. The road did narrow considerably after we took the Lucknow turnoff though. It seemed like we were never going to get there and it still baffles me how it can take a full days driving to only cover 300 kilometres.

The last ten or twelve kilometres took us an hour as traffic became heavy from the outskirts of Lucknow. We were led to believe we would be walking the last few hundred metres to the hotel because of the difficulty gaining access with the bus on the narrow suburban streets where it is located. Mr Singh and the driver of bus 1 had other ideas though. Bus 1 ploughed and pruned his way through the low hanging tree branches and Mr Singh followed in the wake! Mr Singh used his extra loud horn every time Bus 1 became entangled in the overhead wires. Chorty, our assistant driver would fly out of our bus and scale the back of bus 1 like a monkey with his trusty cricket bat in hand to deal with the offending cables. I’m not sure what surprised me the most; the fact that we weren’t all fried in the bus or that power and internet was still available when we did reach the hotel!

For the first time in over two weeks, we had a choice of meals other than Indian food. We flocked to that Italian restaurant at the hotel like bees to a honey pot!

Monday morning we didn’t need to be on the bus until 9:00am so we all took plenty of time over our breakfasts. Once we did hit the road, it was to do a Mosque run. There are a couple of pretty impressive ones here with one built in the mid-19^th century as a miniature replica of the Taj Mahal.

Bus number 2, complete with driver, assistant and guide at the Imam Bargah.

Our guide Vivek with Mr Singh and Chorty.

A Mosque in the form of a mini Taj Mahal.

Muslim Turner

Lucknow, is the capital of Uttar Pradesh State and appears to be a bit more organised than most of the big cities that we’ve been to in the last fortnight. There are some traffic lights and cows are kept out of the city centre. They must still sneak in from time to time though as there is still plenty of cow dung about. There are also lots of horse drawn carts ready to take locals where they need to be or tourists to the sights around town.

Peanuts. Just like the guy at the footy years ago. (Not)

Tomorrow we have a lazy day. The pool is bound to get a work out as we enjoy our first RDO of the trip. We don’t board the train back to Delhi until mid-afternoon and that should deliver us there by midnight. Wednesday morning we fly down to Goa for a bit of sun, golf and seafood.

The next blog posting won’t be until we’ve experienced a bit of what Goa has to offer.

Cheers again.

What we can expect tomorrow heading back to Delhi.

And we thought we were ready for this!

It was absolute bliss to drive from Allahabad to Varanasi on a nice flat piece of road compared to the bumpy old tracks we’ve been on for the last couple of days. It still took a long time (like over 4 hours) to do the 130 kilometres though, as they are widening the road so there were plenty of diversions along the way but at least they were flat and smooth. Once again, there was plenty to see out the window.

 I was glad to see these kids make it safely across the road.

Could this become part of the KFC franchise in India?

We had some free time on arrival to have a feed and a bit of a rest as we weren’t heading out on the river until about 5:30 to catch the sunset.

As soon as we got to the bank of the Ganges, it was fairly evident why this place is referred to as the Holy City and India’s holiest meccas. It is a sacred Hindu pilgrimage site and one of the oldest. We could hear chanting from the other side of the river as one of the early ceremonies kicked off.

The river bank is sand and there are sand bars visible from the shore. Along the bank where we boarded the open boat, fishermen were cleaning and selling their catches. I couldn’t believe that they could catch such good fish in this extremely polluted holy water. The river is wide too; probably about as wide as the Murray at Midura and fairly fast running.

Catch of the day.

Within a few short minutes, we were on board the 30 odd foot boat and the captain (for the want of a better name) had the crank handle out and with a few quick turns had the smoky diesel engine firing away with a low pithed but loud chug. As he steered from the stern and operated a crude throttle with his foot via a long piece of rope, we joined in what seemed to be a procession of similar boats making their way downstream to Daswamedha Ghat.

As we sailed, our attention focused on the far bank where three large fires were burning. These were the funeral pyres of three individuals who were soon to make a grand entrance into a new world somewhere downstream in the Ganges.

On the way, small paper mache bio-degradable bowls were being prepared by being lined with flower petals and a small candle lit in each. These were distributed amongst us and the boat stopped briefly so we could all lower them overboard to watch them drift off into the now darkened distance.

Little floating candles to be set free in the Ganges.

On arrival at the Ghat, we were initially amused by the monkeys running around the tops of the two story buildings having a ball playing chasey. It was evident though that this was a serious event. Every night after sunset, regardless of the weather, this ceremony takes place. Dozens of these large, robust boats played humpo- bumpo to all eventually form a mat of boats and people connecting to the river bank. Loud music, clashing of cymbals, beating of drums and a fire ceremony was taking place while hundreds more of these candles were free to drift around between the boats while a much larger flame was passed from boat to boat where Hindu’s scooped smoke from the flame and blessed themselves with it.

 The Hindu Aarti ceremony

At the end of proceedings, all of the boats pushed off each other and we were on our way back to the hotel for the night. As we passed the funeral pyres, we were surprised to see there were six now burning. This is a 24 hour operation at Varanasi and they cremate up to 200 bodies every day here.  

      

Saturday 27^th October.

We thought we were ready for this but today was still a real culture shock and extremely confronting. As a bit of a warning, don’t look at the photos at the end of this blog if you don’t think you’re up for it.

We had an early morning call at 4:45am this morning to get us back to the river before dawn. When we did arrive, in the dim light we saw familiar scenes that we’d noted last night. Cattle and dogs were still sleeping in depressions on the river bank and the chickens in a cage were waking and wondering if they’d survive another day. Looking down at the chopping block with the cleaver still there from yesterday, I have my doubts. The geese that were asleep on the bank last night were happily having their first swim of the day.

Sunrise on the Ganges

As we boarded the boat, we hardly disturbed the group of men and women who were modestly bathing in front of our boat. They had incense sticks in the sand and they were praying whilst showering themselves with water from the Ganges. We crossed the river and sailed downstream observing the activities taking place at every set of Ghats (steps) as we went. Men and women alike were bathing in this holy water just like they did yesterday and every day before that. The funeral pyres had burnt out and the site had been cleared and ready for the next arrivals. We ventured way past where we stopped last night at the site of a much larger outdoor, do it yourself crematorium.

We were dumbfounded to see the amount of timber that was stacked. More was being unloaded and family members were carting it down to fuel the pyres that would see their relatives progress to another life. Out of respect, we took photos of the timber supplies but deliberately didn’t take any shots of the funeral pyres burning. We went ashore near this spot and spent ten minutes or so capturing images both with the camera, and directly to our brains that we will never forget.

Firewood for the 24 hour a day funeral pyres.

Once we all met up again, we proceeded to climb the stairs that would take us up to the market area. The stairs were lined with beggars all holding cups out in the hope that we would contribute. Some followed us and persistently begged while grabbing our arms. As we dodged the cows, dogs, beggars and cow dung that was everywhere along the road, we were confronted with some truly horrific sights. One beggar lay on his back with no legs, ringing a small bell. We simply couldn’t walk past him without giving him money.

While this was all going on, a family of monkeys were using a shade cloth roof as a trampoline and having a wow of a time. A large soup kitchen was preparing dahl in a monster of a pot while beggars were beginning to line up, desperate for their share of it.

Just another Saturday for this young bloke.

One of the final images we saw was a dog eating cow dung while her hungry pups fed from her. Again, don’t look at the shots below if you’re not up for it.

Heading back upstream was slow going against the current. We stayed close to the bank and watched the bathers as we motored past. There was a large group banging washing against rocks in the muddy water and I just hoped it wasn’t my tee shirts that I’d dropped in at the hotel reception this morning to be washed!

The only way to hop in the bath!

We had been warned that we may witness a body strapped to bamboo sticks or a dead cow floating downstream this morning. For various reasons, some people are not cremated. Pregnant women, holy men or people who had been snake bitten for example. Fortunately, we didn’t get to see a body but we did see a dead cow floating in the same water that locals were bathing in and cleaning their teeth using small sticks designed for this purpose. It was a pretty solemn trip back to the hotel I can assure you.

What you can expect to see if you look up from the Ganges River.

Mid-morning we set off from the hotel, some in mini buses and us in a taxi to visit the site where Lord Buddha preached his first sermon in religious language, thus kick starting the Buddhist religion. Ruins of the monasteries that were raised between the 3^rd century BC and the 11^th century present the most expansive ruins amongst places on the Buddhist trail.

Buddhist monastery remains 

One thing is for certain, we’ll never come back here but we’re certainly glad we’ve experienced it. It’s one of those places that really impacts and influences your worldly views.

Catch you after Lucknow.    

 Don’t look below here unless you’re up for it.

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We couldn’t walk past this guy without giving him some money.

A dog eating cow dung while feeding her pups.

The roads in hell!

We're gradually working our way through this golden triangle of northern India. Today we are heading further east to Allahabad but with very slow progress due to the road conditions. We have 340 kilometres to travel but we'll only achieve about 40 km/hour.

We ventured down through a dozen hairpin bends on a section of mountain road this morning that was obstructed by a couple of broken down trucks carrying way in excess of their legal limits. Mr Singh got out and carefully assessed the situation before tentatively proceeding to overtake and negotiate the next hairpin bend that was partly obstructed by one of the trucks. Achieving success involved several manoeuvres of the 45 foot bus and the filling in of a couple of giant pot holes with rocks to avoid the bus chassis from grounding out. Mr Singh was the recipient of hearty applause for his skilful effort conquering the challenge. 

Narrow crappy roads to be bounced around on for 10 hours.

Yesterday was wonderful. After breakfast and checking out of the hotel in Orchha we walked only a couple of hundred meters to two Cenotaphs that had vultures nesting and perched up on the parapets and spires. These large ugly birds are attracted to this place. India has two types of vultures and these were the wooly neck species. We then walked a bit further on and through a market area to a palace. We had a specialist local guide take us through Jahangir Palace. 

Vultures

The zoom lens on at the right time.

Jahangir Palace was built in the 16th century and could best be described as a "renovators delight" as it is in original condition. In a strange way, it was a delight to see it in it's original but somewhat dilapidated condition and made us appreciate the time, effort and rupees that must have been invested in all of the forts, castles and palaces that we've visited that have been renovated and constantly maintained. From the main entrance, we were blessed with some impressive elevated views looking down at the Betwa river in the distance. 

Jahangir Palace

The front entrance to Jahangir Palace

Once back on the bus, we proceeded to Khajuraho for a late buffet lunch. Across from the restaurant stood eleven Hindu temples that make up the western group of temples that tourists like us flock to each year. These sandstone temples display the most ornate and descriptive carvings and statues that you will ever see. Most surprisingly, many are erotic while others reflect the sense of humour of the artists who sculptured them from the 9th to 11th centuries. Thankfully, about 90% of the thousands of carvings here have survived. 

 Khajuraho Temples

Amazing sandstone carvings.

All of the temples in this group sit proudly on acres of beautifully maintained gardens to walk around at your own pace to photograph and take in the serenity of the place.
According to local belief, there once stood 85 temples in Khajuraho of which 25 are still standing today. 

Erotica

Humour. All of the other elephants were looking straight ahead.

Kinky 9^th century Indians!

As we hopped back on the bus to head to our hotel, we stopped and watched in amazement as a cow devoured a cardboard box by actually taking large bites out of it.

It's been a big journey today and we've travelled through some villages and towns that appear to be even more third world than what we've encountered to date, if that's at all possible. We racked up eleven and a half hours with two 20 minute breaks and an hour for lunch. There were plenty of times we would only be doing 5 kilometres an hour on the dusty, broken down road.

Tomorrow we hit Varanasi and a two night stop that we're all looking forward to.
Cheers