Where do we even begin.
We left Amritsar on our very first sleeper train ride. We spent much of the early evening together in our little nook of our train car. To paint you a little picture, there were three bunks stacked on a wall, the middle of which swung up from the back of a seat cushion to become a hanging bed. All in all there were 6 bunks tucked away, plus two on the wall along the hallway. There was some napping and talking, and chatting with other passengers we met on the train (including part of a regional basketball team and the owner of a jean company) plus the usual stares before we assembled our beds and drifted off for the night. Some with earplugs, some wishing for a pair, most of us slept pretty well. The main exception would be poor Avy, who was awoken midsleep by an aggressive older Indian woman so convinced that Avy was in her bed that she began pushing Avy out of it with her bags – in the end though, the woman was mistaken and moved on, leaving Avy in peace again. We woke pretty early to the chai man calling out chaiii, chaiiiiiii up and down the hallway.
Arriving in Agra, we negotiated our way to our hostel where we were given a few hours to rest up and explore our local streets for lunch. That afternoon, the group traveled around to a garden across from the Taj Mahal, where we got to watch the sun set over the magnificent Taj and the river between us. That night was our first of several trips to Joney’s, a restaurant passed down through a family, a traveler’s haven (cheap Delicious food and notes on the walls from past visitors) – and one that Grant had discovered on his first trip to India over a year ago. Back at the hostel, we had a lovely typical Carpe circle ceremony before it was off to bed for our early morning! We woke hella early (it felt) at about 5:30 am to stand in line waiting for the gates to open to the Taj Mahal for cool, sunrise wanderings of the beautiful Taj and it’s grounds. We were all amazed at its incredible size! At different points that morning, we all managed to make it back to Joney’s for a delicious and filling breakfast before moving on for a long walk to the Red Fort and some time spent in the gardens there journaling and enjoying more group activities. Back in town by our hostel, we had a farewell-to-Agra dinner at Joney’s before walking through/in a parade to get to an open road with tuktuks to take us to the train station once more. Unfortunately this time, our train (scheduled to come through Agra at 11:30pm) didn’t come til close to 1am, so we hung out in the station for several hours before boarding the train (finally), stashing our bags, and passing out soundly (for the most part – there was some noise and smells throughout the night that woke us, plus an aggressive breakfast man) for our long journey to Varanasi.
The downside in the delay was that we spent much of our train journey awake during the hot day rather than asleep. Nonetheless, we arrived safe and sound in Varanasi in the early afternoon. While Lilia, Jake and Grant stayed back to book future tickets, the rest of us went to our hostel for our first lunch homecooked by “mamaji,” a sweet woman that we’re still working on conversing with (with the help of our Hindi lessons here). It is now our last day in Varanasi, and while some plan to return in the future, and others determinedly won’t, everyone has certainly had quite an experience here. From daily 2 hour Hindi lessons, yoga classes, ayurveda and meditation instruction, a sunrise boat ride on the Ganges (Gangaji), walking along the ghats to Mother Teresa home, Guria (a school for the children of prostitutes in the red light district), and alllllllll the way up to fire dancing (!!!!!!!), it has been a full and tiring week for all. Not to mention the ongoing festival of the 9 durgas lasting most of our stay here and a few illnesses (stomach and cold/pollution allergies) being passed around the group. Despite all this craziness, we are all fine and well (or on the mend) and ready to head off to a relaxing, free-flowing couple of days in Bodhgaya!!
Love to everyone at home,
Lilia and Julia (and the extended Shiva fam)