Having "done" the Hoogly River on the Pandaw boat , the Boyzz were ready to explore India a bit more.
It got off well in Kolkata, where they were upgraded to the Presidential Suite in the Taj Bengal - It was bigger than their hone in Moraira
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| The suite was more than just a big bed .. | ..it had a sitting room .. | ..a dining room .. | ..and access to the Club Lounge |
We flew then from Kolkata to Bodhgaya, where Buddha obtained enlightenment. We looked for enlightenment but failed to find it. He must have tried harder or hidden where he put it
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| The place is full of Buddha statues | We caught this chap doing his WhatsApps when he should have been banging the gong | Bad news here, she has put us on a "healthy" breakfast | Buddha's enlightenment tree is here but enlightenment is now gone |
A drive to Varanasi where, confusingly, they are all Hindu
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| We stopped half way to Varanasi to see this mausoleum - a bit like the Taj Mahal without the crowds | We were quite impressed with is place | Then we got to Varanasi. Not an auspicious approach to the hotel | ..via narrow dirty alleys and a boat trip.. |
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| But when we got there , the hotel was an ex-palace | ..it was very impressive, right on the river | .. and even had had a lift added for access from the river | As you'd expect, it had the poncy extras like the umbrella man |
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| There was trouble with our allocated room - it had no window. But we went to reception and we were upgraded to the top suite | All sorts of places to eat, from the roof tables .. | ..to the afternoon tea venue .. | ..to the ten course Indian tasting menu |
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| There was a lot of entertainment. From nice lady here .. | .. to, what shall we say, a real "gentleman" dancing.. | ..to a priest reading a holy book out loud .. | ..but when he got bored with the book, there was his WhatsApp |
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| Really odd this. They cremated about 100 bodies a day on bonfires beside the Ganges | There was a whole forest's worth of wood used every day | ..the bodies kept coming, and they kept burning .. | ..burning till far into the night |
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| They got us up to see sunrise over the Ganges at 05.30. Pollution meant we could hardly see the sun. Should have stayed in bed | Our guide was so exhausted at the early rising that he fell asleep | Thousands of people came to Varanasi to wash away sins .. | .. and some came just to do the family laundry |
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| Every night they blessed the Ganges with a candle waving show | ..These fellows must have practiced hard .. | ..as there were eight of them waving burning things around .. | ..in unison for over an hour |
From Varanasi to Allahabad - Mr Modi has now changed its name, because Allahabad is to Muslim for him. But they all continue to call it Allahabad locally
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| The deal here is that you swim at a spot where three rivers meet | .two rivers you can see the third is imagined. You row out to | where you find lots of boats waiting. You pick one for your swim, | .. and in you go. Result sins gone, maybe we should try it |
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| In the busy season, there is not much room to swim | Then we went to Mrs Gandhi's house .. | ..quite a nice pad, with .. | ..all the original furniture |
Then on by car to Lucknow and Taj Lucknow. The Presidential Suite must have been occupied, because they did not put us in it
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| The Lucknow Taj is in the range Low to Medium poncy .. | ..not sure what Diwali is - they brought us some sweets for it | ..and the doorman, from central casting, was quite spectacular |
Street food probably wasn't us
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| We had a food tour of the "in" places for street food. Certainly | .. authentic but we were not so keen on it, Sort of curry & chips | This chap was clearly expecting lots of customers.but we stuck to | ..the local ice cream , called Kulfi here if you want some here |
Then we did the sights and met the Nawab
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| You could get templed out in Lucknow | ..temple | ..another temple | ..this one is not a temple, but the remains of British Residency |
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| They washed these in the dirty river. Yellow and pink underpants? | Then they took us to another school. Perhaps they will enrol us | We got distracted by this fine gun | When the Nawab heard we were in town, he wanted a photo |
After we had done Lucknow, there was a flight to Rishikesh. Where there was more people in the water of the river, washing sins away. We wonder if anyone else bathing, catches other people's sins
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| A bit poncy, but it is personal service. "Another cake Sir/" | and we cannot complain about a laden three tier cake stand | They are all smiling, probably they were glad to see the back of us |
Haridwar was nearby, another Hindu pilgrim spot
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| As well as (more) temples, | ...it had a cable car .. | ..and we got to go in the yellow gondola |
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| Looking for coins that pilgrims have thrown in to the Ganges | ..but most of the people just washing their sins away | And we had a ride from a hard working man on a rickshaw |
Down memory lane at the Beatles ashram for the padres. Us young bears have no idea who the Beatles were. That is "famous for fifteen minutes" for you
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| Anyway we posed outside the Beatles rooms .. | ..shared their sayings .. | ..while the madre lapped it all up |
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| We risked our lives on an overcrowded ferry to see the men .. | ..in yellow pyjamas waving lighted candles around. | ..but it was very spectacular |
A long drive to Shimla where we stayed with a maharaja, no less. Quite low key fellow, he did not wear all the regal gear, and in fact worked for the Indian Tax Office.
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| This is the Maharajah's house, where we stayed in Shimla | ..he keeps a low profile in Republican India .. calls himself .. | ..Mr Singh, works as a taxman, and wears normal clothes |
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| This is the room we moved to after we pointed out that the .. | ..windows in the first room were opaque. | Quite a fancy dining room table |
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| We saw and real bun shop, and went inside where we enjoyed .. | ..real gooey buns .. | ..washed down by a milk shake | This stern lady policeman was controlling traffic |
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| We went to the military museum, which had tanks and guns | We wanted to join the Freemasons, but we had no trouser legs to roll up | The ViceRoy used to sit here, but it was a while ago. We are not sure who Roy was, that this man was vice to. | This is his seat inside, and we were not allowed to sit on it |
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| The English built an English church here | Suburbs of Shimla look as is built from Lego | Where the staff park their motorbikes in the Anti Corruption dept | ..and we did see distant Himalayan mountains |
We had been looking forward to the Toy train, but it was a bit of a disappointment. Dirty windows we could not see out of, and jam packed with suitcases
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| Shimla station waiting for the train | ..ready to start | The windows were completely opaque | ..and we could not move for suitcases |
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| We bribed the ticket collector and he moved us to 1st Class | The windows were still dirty .. | .but they opened more and we could see out. we would not quite | ..go along with "Deluxe 1st Class", but it was better |
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| We enjoyed the scenery | ..and leaning out the window to see the engine ahead on curves | ..there was the occasional bridge to cross.. | and this heffalump was on the platform when we got off |
Big disappointment coming up. We set off from Shimla for Dharamasala with high hopes of seeing the Dalai Lami. but we later found out that he only "sees" people who bring a TV crew with them. Our crew was back in Moraira, so we never saw him
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| Along the way we say hundreds of lorries waiting to pick up | ..cement from a factory | We had the occasional stop along the way | |
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| And an overnight at this place that was perfectly good .. | ..but somehow one short of poncy | Madre had a swim .. | ..and we bounced on the bed |
We arrived at McLeod Ganj, where himself hangs out. We were in a hotel that overlooked the monastery. But there the good news stopped - or room did not overlook the monastery (just over tin roofs). And anyway, himself did not see you unless you were (even) more important than us
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| The room itself was very "Tibetan" | ..and there was the chance to enjoy buns and milk shakes .. | ..from a table that did overlook himself's lodgings | And on a good day we could see the Himalayas |
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| Himself had indulged in a bit of overkill here. | His sayings are everywhere. | Even pictures of him as a younger man | .and even a photo of him in the main seat of the temple |
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| Even though he was not around .. | ..hundred of Buddhist monks were to be seen | and in Dharamasala he had another more traditional temple | ..where we stopped for Orange Juice and cakes |
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| From there to a tea garden.. We found that the tea bushes are | .. quite prickly and we do not advise sitting on them | We got a good view of the Himalayas, but its not Everest | Tiger boxes being made . We were not allowed to buy one. |
And to Amritsar, our final stop
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| We settled in at the Taj Amritsar, not the best Taj for us | We took this of the padres, with the compulsory headgear .. | .. at the very beautiful Golden Temple at night. The ceremony | .. literally wraps up their holy book and puts it to bed |
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| This was serious stuff where a British General ordered his .. | ..troops to fire on thousands of Indian civilians, and many .. | ..hundreds died from bullets or the crush of panicking people | There is a memorial there today |
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| The daytime visit to Golden Temple saw the headgear go back on | .. And there were masses of these fierce guards to enforce it | World HQ for Sikhs | and the Golden Temple by day |
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| The madre posed for us again in front of the temple | A curiosity was the production of 40,000 free meals a day .. | ..for pilgrims. The cooking, serving and .. | ..washing up of all those meals was on an unbelievable scale |
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| And our final outing to the Pakistan Border at Wagah Gate .. | ..was really impressive. Fierce looking ladies twirled rifles.. | ..the two commanders looked bored. | ..then the main act arrived. |
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| ..they had particularly striking headgear. And were very fierce. | But individually they showed a softer side. Pembroke just missed out on getting the soldier's autograph | Pembroke kept an eye on the border gate to ensure no Pakistanis | sneaked into India |
Next day we had a long trip back to Moraira. We know a lot more about India now, than we did a month ago.
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