OUR FAMILY HOLIDAYS
9204 KHAJURAHO & VARANESI
Our stop
in Khajuraho was pleasurable for a number of other reasons. When we arrived the
town was thronged by thous
ands of people attending a big market -- or at least
that's what we thought -- though the following day we realised that it had in
fact been a festival. Whatever the reason, it was fascinating walking through
the crowds and seeing what was being sold. We're also taken the following day
to an Indian school. Our fellow tourists were shocked by how basic this was but
to us -- having seeing the one in Ethiopia -- it was almost luxurious.
The nicest thing about this location was that, after days almost continuous traveling, we were able to relax. It was a modern hotel, but quite simple. The rooms lay around courtyard in which there was swimming pool. It very refreshing, but the water was almost icy. Even so it made a relaxing change.
The
most interesting part of this stop was where our British Airways courier
arranged to take us to an abandoned hunting lodge in the jungle. Incidentally,
she was a very good courier. She was British, but actually lived in Poland! We
reached the lodge itself by hiring some jeeps. The standard of Indian driving
was much the same as usual. We discovered our driver was chewing a narcotic and
his driving accordingly got more adventurous as the day wore on. Fortunately
there was almost no traffic on the roads and we survived.
Our
last stop in India was Varanesi. We managed to fly to this city which is on the
banks of the Ganges, and is the holy city. Accordingly, we had to see the Ganges
with the sunrise over it. It meant beginning very early, but I had to admit it
the Ganges at sunrise was beautiful. We were on board boats which were drifting
down the river. We were accompanied, in the morning mist, by hundreds of candle
floating down the river. It was a lovely spectacle.
It
was also the best way seeing the gatts where the bodies were burned, or rather
cremated. Or at least that was so for the bodies of those who could afford to be
cremated in this way. Despite all the rumours, we were not inundated with body
parts floating around us. The cremation was good as any western cremation.
However, the boat did bump into the bodies of cows which had died and fallen
into the water -- of course being India these had been allowed to go their own
way.
The
cows were a problem in the city itself, since they wandered everywhere unchecked
and deposited their excrement wherever they felt like it. This meant that the
narrow alleys getting to and from the gatts were something of a minefield.
We also went to see the first stupa built in honour of Buddha. Like most such stupas, though, it was very simple, just a conical mound, but the very simplicity is why I respect the religion.
The hotel itself was okay, except that the air-conditioning was not too good. This was unfortunate since the outside temperature was approaching 100 degrees. However, this was in midwinter. In summer the temperature outside rocketed to 120 or 130 degrees!
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