Friends in the right places got us into the Chairman's box to watch the underdogs, The Rajasthan Royal's, thrash the Calcutta Knight Riders. It was SO exciting. It's not like boring old cricket in England (you can tell who's writing this now, Sam loves boring old cricket in England) NO! There are, loud celebration music and lots of shouting and jumping up and down. Not a cucumber sandwich in sight. I'm a convert. Go team Jaipur! (They're top of the league now!)
We then celebrated with the team at their fancy hotel, followed by a Bollywood themed party at a local club. Ya! This is Sam with Manoj and Shane.
And the next day we hung out with them by this pool - before getting on the team bus, for a team outing (followed by the press & army escorts) to the Amber Fort in Jaipur. We felt like we were actually team members of the Rajasthan Royals by this stage.
Sam with his armed guards.
The celebrity sports star life-style had to come to an end at some stage and we packed our bags and headed off to Agra to see THE TAJ.
Needless to say, it's beautiful. You've all seen this picture before... the only difference is that I took this one. We got up at 5.30am to beat the crowds. Everyone else did too, sadly.
Agra itself if a bit of a dive, so we hurried on to Varanasi - which has to be one of the most amazing places I've ever been. Anyone who saw any of the India series on the BBC last year will have seen shots of the Ghats at Varanasi - it's one of the images that we came to India to see. It's the centre of the Hindu world and regarded as holy by Buddhists and Jains, the place where people hope to come to die and have their ashes scattered in the Ganges. The river is worshipped as the giver of life. It is at it's most incredible at dawn and at dusk when the activity and bustle of life along the ghats is quite breath taking. It's like stepping back in time.
'Varanasi is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together." (Mark Twain)
...eat, mingle and worship...
....wash their clothes...
....learn to swim...
....and do yoga (look closely for the rows of meditating bodies.)
We also walked past no fewer than 7 games of cricket. There are also the burning ghats - where 100s of bodies are brought everyday to be burned on the banks of the River Ganga. Cows, goats and dogs swim along side people and rubbish is everywhere. Apparently it's not uncommon to see a dead body float along next to the boats, because a family could not afford a cremation but wanted to return their relative to the Ganges. It is amazing that the river still has any life, it is so polluted. The combination of sights, sounds and smells is quite overwhelming.
We took and evening stroll along the banks and then got up at 5.30 for a dawn boat ride. It was one of the most amazing moments I've ever experienced.
We're off to Nepal next. Peace out.
2 comments:
I can't believe you met Warnie in India. It doesn't get more random than that! Did you party in his hotel room? And where was David Boone?
Beautiful pics once again; from my armchair and reading between the pics it seems as if there are just exorbitant amounts of people everywhere in India. Enjoy Nepal! I've been waiting for those pics...
warne captains the rajahstan royals in the indian premier league. we went to watch the game vip stylee. it was great. free beer!
yes, personal space does not exist in india. people are everywhere. and if you find a spot with no one around chances are someone will pop up out of nowhere and sit right next to you.
nepal is amazing. update coming soon.
hope your well mate.
love, sam.
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