Hey, how many of you people out here are a national monument, raise your hand, please? - Ghostbusters 2 (1989)

Finally! Have arrived in Kolkata! Got here yesterday and it's good to be somewhere where we can actually unpack and have a proper base for a few months. We did 6 cities in 12 days and over 1000km via trains and taxis. We are a little bit tired! So before we begin on Kolkata (and it's awesomeness) I'll recap over the last few days...

Bank of the Ganges

Varanasi - India's most Holy city.

Varanasi is built on the Ganges which is the holiest river in India. People come here to die as dying in Varanasi is thought to release them from the reincarnation cycle. So when they die, they are wrapped in bright cloth and carried through the streets to the Ganges where they are placed on a pyre, set alight and then the ashes are scattered on the river. You can go to the ghats and pay to see this. We did not.

In fact we didn't do much of anything in Varanasi. We were knackered from travelling (and the train) and the streets were a labyrinth of identical lane ways which we kept getting lost in. So in the end we stuck to a 20 min radius of our hostel and chilled out. A waste of one of the worlds most interesting cities? Perhaps - but we enjoyed doing nought.

Can't touch this!

A less complicated street

And besides we didn't do nothing! Patrick bought 2 pairs of pants. Not just any pants - MC Hammer pants. In gold and red. If he were to wear them at home Cork would come to a standstill of raucous laughter, but here in sweaty, humid Asia - they work. And come Halloween all he'll need is a cummerbund and an eyepach. Arrggghhh!

Whilst enjoying our laziness we found the best little cafe (ok not found, we read about it in the lonely planet book - but I'm sure we would have found it on our own at some stage!) called The Brown Bread Cafe. And it served - you guessed it - brown bread!!! It was so good that I, Elaine Kingston, even ate mine with butter. Anyone who knows me will get how big of a deal that is... But back to the cafe - it was a great place with big cushions and little tables where you took off your shoes and kicked back. It's was a little bit more expensive than other places but was part of a charity  that works to provide free education and medical assistance for the poor of Varanasi so no one seemed to mind paying that bit extra.

Buffalo in the Ganges

We left Varanasi and headed to Bodhgaya - the birthplace of Buddhism. We were there for 1 night and we saw LOADS of temples. Countries who would have a large population of Buddhists would build a temple in Bodhgaya in homage. There were temples from China, Japan, Tibet, Nepal etc. Most where build in the last 20/30 years or so and it was strange to see such ornate(ness) and detail in something built so recently. The highlight of the trip was the 90 foot stone Buddha that was unveiled by the Dali Lama himself. As you can see it's really serene and was very peaceful to walk around. Or at least it was, until we had images of it coming to life as in Ghostbusters 2 and started singing "your love, is lifting me, higher and higher". We weren't asked to leave, but felt in was implied in peoples glares. 

Elaine (5th October 2010)