We’re here…..
We arrived in Delhi safely on Saturday night, 3 hours later than expected due to a ‘mechanical’ difficulty. Don’t you love hearing that before heading out over the ocean for 19 hours 🙂 Contrary to popular belief, there were no noxious fumes (it did not in fact smell like ass), no cow lined streets and there was even tp in all of the bathrooms. I have to say, we were a little disappointed! Our 2 day stay in Delhi was, overall, uneventful and allowed us the opportunity to adjust to the 10.5 hour time difference.
This am we flew from New Delhi to the holy city of Varanasi. We were pleasantly surprised that we had 1st class tickets (how much did we pay for this trip, anyway?). So far, Varanasi is worlds away from civilized Delhi. It’s a city of 2.5 million crammed along a stretch of a polluted, I mean holy, river. The Ganges is where an estimated 45,000 uncremated bodies are laid to rest (thrown in the river) annually. This afternoon, we are headed to the river for ‘arti’, a candle lighting ceremony and maybe for a swim (just kidding). Tomorrow morning we have a sunrise boat ride down the Ganges, some more sightseening and then an overnight train to Agra to see the Taj Mahal.
Grant is anxious to tell everyone that we have not experienced any ‘Delhi Belly’ yet although there was a bit of a scare at breakfast this am (He actually wanted me to say that we have not yet involuntarily released any excrement from any orifice. This joint authorship may get a little tiresome 😉 Grantman claims he’s providing the next journal but we’ll see. I may have tossed him in the river by then…hee hee).
We’re off now to check out the city and maybe get some lunch, I don’t know, maybe some Indian?
Great to hear you guys made it! Have an awesome time – fyi Mexican stand-off was over just this past weekend.