Before we had to be on the road the next day ahead of the sun coming up, we had a nice dinner.
I bought the tunic in the gift shop for $10.
This was a tiny temple. They were everywhere along the streets.
Before daybreak, we took the bus to the same place we were the night before. We didn’t need cabs because the bus could make it through at this time of the day. It was like a different place, without all those people!!
As soon as we arrived at the river, the sun came up and the bells started to ring, as they do four times a day.
The sunrise was beautiful and the performance by this holy man with his bells and incense was very interesting.
Ashna bought some sacred beads and took a blessing for her and her family from this holy person. This guy can blow this conch shell for 5 minutes!
The dog sang along.
Click the video.
The colors on her forehead were from the holy man who blessed her.
View of Varanasi from our boat.
I thought this picture showed monkeys chasing each other on the top of the steps. And then there were the bathers getting blessed in the River Ganges.
These were our floating blessings. Note the man bathing in the river. The stainless steel closets on the beach were changing areas for the people dipping in the water.
We drove through the Banaras Hindu University where Sameer attended.
This is how close we were to the happenings on the street! Those were wheels from two different vehicles.
Sleeping cows. Sleeping people. All in a day’s walk in India.
Dogs and construction.
Walking down a street, taking our life in our hands. Construction with hardhats this time.
This was Bharat Mata Temple with a marble relief map of India. We pretty much stayed in the center of the country on the flat part.
I was impressed with our city walks.
Several times, we took our giant bus and made a U-turn, stopping all traffic in all lanes.
This picture still makes me a little naseous. It was a sample of all things vegetarian Indian. I could barely eat anything, since most had some spice to it, but it turns out I was getting sick and Indian food would not have been good for me.
The service and food was very impressive.
A hospital.
Some Indian coins. An Indian couple on our tour brought a bag of them to put into the donation box at the Mosque.
A large Stupa in the background. Ruins of an area where Buddha lived and prayed.
There was a ceremony going on while we were there!
Click go hear the chanting.
I like the Buddhist philosophies.
There go the coins.
This is a large tree that was planted as just a sapling when Buddha taught here.
Little kids entering the temple.
I was none too pleased when I arrived at the Indira Gandhi International Airport at 6:30 PM for a 9:30 PM flight only to eventually find out we wouldn’t leave until 1 AM.
The best part about it was meeting Vinay (pronounced Bin-A). He had his 19-year old son and his brother with him. They hung out with me as we listened to our departure time get pushed back and pushed back.
They were Hindu, living in Liverpool, England. The third brother had joined them in India, but was a doctor and had to get back to his job early.
They were all in India to take their father’s (and grandfather’s) ashes to be placed into a holy River. Since there are four major holy sites to deposit their loved ones, it was not Varanasi where they placed him, but another holy site. Then they stayed to see some of their aunts and visit the Taj Mahal.
Next to the river is a temple where they keep the records of all those bodies deposited into the river at this spot. He showed me the book which dated back to the 1200’s!! I was all hand written and on a type of paper that didn’t age — papyrus, maybe? He showed me the half page they had written about their father and all the information about who was present, etc. Amazing!
Binay’s grandfather left India for England when England ceded it’s reign over India. England invited Vinay’s grandfather to come to England because he had the skills they needed. He took only his sons with him and left his wife and daughters in India.
Vinay’s father was only 12 years old when he arrived in England. He remained in England, grew up, settled in Liverpool, and had 3 sons and 2 daughters. Vinay was one of the sons.
Vinay’s sisters and daughters were not invited to be a part of the burial ritual for their father/grandfather. It appears woman are not considered peers of the men. Hmmm.
They were going to have to run for their next flight. I hope they made it home safely.
I originally had a 3 hour layover and arrived one half hour after my 16 hour flight to Orlando had left. AAUUGGHH!
It was 3:30 AM when I landed in Dubai Airport. We were shuffled to a bank of Emirates desks and 100 people got in line. The line was moving about 25 minutes for each person. Just miserable. And I asked myself if I wasn’t too old to be traveling like this.
When a man behind the counter five lanes from me said “I can only take the people who are leaving on their same flight but 24 hours later.” I raised my hand, but someone got there before me and I decided I was better as being fourth in my line, than leaving my spot and pushing through the throng.
He called it again and finally by the third time (and my line had not moved at all), I hauled my stuff over and got behind one woman.
The desk clerk explained I would leave at 3 am on Sunday night instead of Saturday night and they would put me in a hotel until midnight the next day and give me free breakfast, lunch and dinner. That was fine by me. He told me all I had to do was to get outside the airport to the Emirates Hotel Desk and a shuttle would pick me up. Did I want my suitcase? Or would I do without it.
Well, I know enough NOT to ask for my suitcase!! It would have taken them an hour or two to find it for me!!
The plan sounds simple, right? Wrong! I didn’t see that hotel room for three more hours!
First I had to get out of the large Dubai airport. That entails standing in a long line to show my passport. (And I asked myself if I wasn’t too old to be traveling like this.) Then through several terminals until I saw the Emirates Hotel room — where I stood in line for awhile just to get into the holding room. Then they let us sit down in a certain section for an hour. Then they called our section and we waited for a shuttle bus and got transported to the hotel. I was in the back of the bus (was the last one to board), so I was the last to get into the hotel line to get my key. (And I asked myself if I wasn’t too old to be traveling like this.)
Woo-hoo! 6:30 AM in a 3-star hotel room. I’m not complaining. And I had everything I needed for an overnight except a change of clothes.
I did indeed eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. And this was no longer India! It was Dubai; and they had delicious food!!
I ate this exact same thing for both lunch and dinner. Salad, salad, pasta salad, coleslaw and olives. I was ecstatic.
I slept a couple times and sat outside near the pool to read awhile; although, the air quality didn’t look very healthy here, either.
I was to be picked up at midnight. I arrived at the desk 5 minutes ahead of time and was too late to catch the shuttle.
Thankfully, another was along soon.
The 16 hour flight was uneventful. I slept one hour toward the beginning and one hour toward the end.
I sat next to a black woman and her 16 year old son. I asked the woman if she had seen the movie Oppenheimer because if not, she should watch it at the exact same time the Academy Awards were being presented in Los Angeles.
She said she had seen it already and that her husband (up in the front of the plane) would be someone I would want to talk to. Apparently he is a physicist and they live in Florida’s panhandle (Tallahassee, I think). I assumed he is a professor at the university there. She said he had worked with one of the actual people who developed the atomic bomb and who I watched in the movie. Wow! I’m impressed! She had all sorts of froo-froo shopping bags because they were in Dubai for a week.
Here is a larger than usual trip haul. The coffee mug and pashmina, of course. But I was given the 2 orange scarves and the 2-pound marble picture frame from Agra. (What tour guide in their right mind gives a TWO POUND gift on a tour!!)
I also bought a book called “Holy Cow”. It’s India. Cows are sacred there. Get it?
And the little stickers I bought for $5 from a poor young boy selling them on the street.
I gave each of my trip mates a pack and have no idea what to do with the rest.
I also bought a book of pictures of myself in front of the Taj Mahal — never to be looked at again.
It was a grueling trip, probably not good for my lungs, but it was an experience not to be missed.
As usual, the trip convinces me that no matter how screwed up our politics are, with rabid believers on either side, THE UNITED STATES IS STILL THE BEST COUNTRY TO LIVE IN!
Happy travels.
Linda Jeanne
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