Varanasi --> Agra --> Jaipur

It's so freakin hot here in the city of Jaipur, but we are having so much fun! I didn't get a chance to update you sooner, or fill you in on more Varanasi details, because we have been busy - going from one place to another, meeting all sorts of people, seeing wonderful things, and just enjoying life out here.

I'll keep it short, even though there's just so much to say. Varanasi was our favorite city so far. The hotel we stayed at, The Ganga Yogi Lodge, which we were taken to against our will by our friendly Auto-Rickshaw driver, Pappu, who claims he honestly misunderstood when we asked to be taken to The Ganga Fuji Lodge, actually ended up being an awesome place. We had a simple, clean, AC double room for 400 rupees a night (less than 9 bucks), but the best part was the staff. Though they appeared like people we would never normally feel safe around much less talk to, they were such a fun and quirky group. From watching the India vs. England Cricket match with the cook one night, as he explained the rules to us, jumping up and cheering madly every time India got a point, to spending the afternoon with one and taking him out to dinner at a very nice, extremely cheap local restaurant, to just lounging around and chatting with the manager at the rooftop, we had the best time. We also made another tourist friend, Kengo, a japanese dude who barely spoke a word of english, yet was very happy to join us walking around the city and eat meals with us, rarely being able to understand each other, but always very cheerful. I wish him safe and fun travels on the rest of his solo Indian adventures.

As for Varanasi itself, I'll quickly just tell you my impressions of some of the temples we visited, as it is a city based almost entirely around religion. The monkey temple was almost scary, almost cult-ish. The cool part was all the monkeys doing their thing everywhere, pulling on peoples shirts everytime they wanted food. The temple itself was dark and dirty, with fat priests of some kind lying providing eager worshipers with some sort of holy water into their cupped hands which they would drink. There was also this orange paste that was everywhere, some people had it all over themselves, their faces, their hands, and it covered many of the walls. Everyone was chanting and walking around clockwise, some praying quietly and some loudly, but all giving us dirty looks as though they didn't like the fact that us foreigners were there, disturbing their rituals. Another temple we visited that I forget the name of was very different, very clean, and full of light, and covered in white marble, with young, fit looking priests sitting by strange idols that people were worshiping. Only thing is, the strange idols looked more like cartoon figurines, with bright orange skin, round eyes, and exagerated, big thick mustaches. Very interesting, very different than anything I am used to.

Now Agra, which was amazing. The Taj Mahal is incredible and regardless of how you've seen it in photographs or videos, the real thing blows you away. We woke up early and saw it at sunrise, when the bright white marble had a beautiful glow to it that grew in intensity as the sun rose higher and higher. WHat an amazing building, created by one Mughal emperor as a symbol of his love for his favorite wife (his two other wives have puny little domed enclosures for them at corners of the property), who is buried with him in the middle of it. I wish I could build a building like that for the girl I love... haha

We also watched it at sunset from a very nearby rooftop with a new friend we made, Kim. She just came back from a month long, NOLS backpacking trip in the himalayas, which sounded amazing. She's from the same area in New Jersey as Mike, and was awesome. Hope to see her again in the city when we're back.

Now we're in Jaipur, "the pink city". I'll tell you about it later. Cya,

NPW