jennynordmans

We spent about a week in Nepal; a little less touristic, a little friendlier than India, definately as interesting. Kathmandu was not quite as I expected (after spending time with the village people in the mountains), but it's definately got character; the buildings are very old and beautiful, and it feels a bit like being in a fairytale wondering the narrow streets and having picnic breakfast at a rooftop garden. We even found a place called 'the Garden of Dreams' which was a very peaceful garden with a little cafe where we spent ours reading and talking about everything and nothing.

After Kathmandu we continued further south to Chitwan; a wildlife sanctury, where we went for a jeepsafari and managed to spot deer, crocodiles, peacocks, kingfisher birds, wild hogs and (best of all) rhinos! In the evening we had nepalese buffe and got to watch twelve young boys preform traditional nepalese dance, which, at the end, we also got to join! But the best part was easily going for an elephant shower, which meant sitting on top of the elephant while it stood in the river and splashed water on himself. He didn't seam to like having us on his back, so he tried to push us off and succeded very well indeed, so we all ended up in the river!

Before we got back to India we visited the brithplace of Buddha; Lumbini, and got to see the very stone where he was said to be born (however someone would remember that...)

And things happen fastly now! Yesterday we were in Varanasi; a popular destination for pilgrims who come there to swim in the holy (and extremely dirty) river, Ganges. The view from the roof of our hotel at sunrise was incredible; the usualy busy town is very quiet, all you can hear is the birds and the many monkeys, and a lot of people go for a boattrip and hundreds of fires are burning on the surface of the water.  We, too, went for a boat trip on the river and got a close view (far too close) of people burning corpses and spreading the ashes in the river...

And today, after a long over night train journey, we got to see the beautiful palace of Taj Mahal. Incrediby impressive; definately one of the most incredible things I have ever seen.

And we still have so many adventures ahead! Now lies before us a week in Rajastan before we eventually get to Delhi; our final destination...