The Last (but not least) Leg - India

Locals, Jodhpur
from the fort walls

The blue city, Jodhpur

The market and fort of Jodhpur

The Golden City of Jaisalmer

Walking to somewhere...

Village woman collecting water

Camel back view

The great Thar Desert

Camels resting
Giving our behinds a rest in the desert
The fort in Jaisalmer

The start of the dishwashing chain
Early morning worshippers at the Golden Temple
Feeding of 500 people in under 15 minutes
The Pakistani-Indian border closing ceremony
The head priest of the Golden Temple
Sunrise
The Golden Temple in Amritsar

Me being force fed by Indians on the train
Spice transporter, Delhi
A salt merchant at the spice market in Delhi
Young Muslims at a mosque in Delhi

Maybe he should have shared his lunch!

Delhi at its' best

Sunrise behind the Taj Mahal, Agra

An Indian bus station

Boy cooling off, Old Kajaraho Village

The erotic temples of Kajuraho

Art lessons

Morning prayers and wash

Prayer candles floating on the river
Boating construction

The holy buffalo's getting a scrub

Clothes washing
Locals washing in the Ganges River

The Ghats of Varansi
A late night stop near the Nepali border

Leaving Nepal on an seemingly endless 26 hour bus journey we reached Varanasi. Life revolves around the Ganges River which supports life in every way! Bodies are burnt by the hundred a day after being dipped in the holy water of the river. Those that have died of certain illnesses or while pregnant are just weighted and dropped into the 40 m depth of the water. Watching bodies disintegrate in the fire while the family (males only) look on and the ground ashes beside are first sifted for valuables before a new fire is prepared for the next body makes this a most unusual place. Watching is hard work!
Next to all this people are washing cloths and bathing just next to the outlet of the city sewage system and the inlet to the town water supply! It is a sight that is hard to believe!
Heading South to the erotic temples in Kajuraho one wonders what these people were up to when they carved these most bizarre temples out of stone!
Next stop, the Taj Mahal...really one of the wonders of the world!
On to the Golden Temple and the centre of the Sikh religion near the Pakistani border in Amritsar. This place is such a contrast to Agra (where the Taj Mahal is located), everyone is friendly and helpful without expecting or even asking for money! The accommodation puts up Indians and foreigners alike for free as well as providing good free food to 30,000 people per days! That is a lot of chapatis! At the Pakistani border, a strange tradition entertains the crowds. The flag lowering ceremony is carried out in a comical manor on both sides with a screaming and cheering crowd of 10,000 looking on. It is a shame that this camaraderie is not shown a few hundred kilometers to the north in Kashmir.
It was time to move into the great Thar desert and to mount a trusty camel to visit the remote villages and temples that still support life. The golden city of Jaiselmer rises from the sands with the huge fort still supporting 2000 people. Heading back towards Delhi I stopped at the beautiful blue city of Jodhpur where the unique colour of the buildings was once a sign of caste but now is widely used as an insect repellent.
As usual time has flown past, India is a huge country with so many extremes! The surface has only been skratched, I will be back...but for now I will return to New Zealand to contemplate my next move and enjoy my own beautiful country! Until the next adventure...