Flight to Kathmandu. Quick visit to a Buddhist temple called the monkey temple due to the many monkeys that live here. Apparently Buddha preached against the caste system, and the worship of statues. I think he would turn in his grave to see that his followers have made statues of him. He valued deep prayer, meditation and contemplation, yet his followers spin prayer wheels full of prayer mantras rather than spend the time actually praying. They say spinning the wheel is equivalent to actually praying the mantras that are written inside the wheel. Same goes for the prayer flags. They’re nothing but a bloody shortcut for real prayer. As for the Hindus, they reckon the Elephant god is the god of prosperity, yet it seems that only the poor villagers worship it. When are they going to wake up and realise that after several thousand years of poverty, the elephant god ain’t working? Anyhoo, after that we went into the centre of Kathmandu’s old city. We saw a girl they call the living Goddess. They say she is the incarnation of Vishnu, but she is chosen from a list of hundreds of girls somewhat like a beauty pageant and then when she is 12 or 13 she loses her living goddess status, goes back to her family and normal life, and a new living goddess is chosen, also supposed to be the incarnation of Vishnu. Oookaaay. The architecture in this part of the city is awesome. There are monuments everywhere and history oozes from every brick. It feels so different to India. I bought a traditional Nepalese violin thingy, got ripped off. The guy asked for 8000 rps which I couldn’t justify so I just said no. But he pressed and pressed, “whats your lowest price sir?” he kept asking. I finally said 2000 which I felt was an insult to him. He looked at me with forlorn eyes and reluctantly handed over the instrument. I felt bad. I caught up with Kaz and the guide who had left me alone to barter with the guy and when I told the guide I paid 2000 he hit the roof. “That man offered the same instrument to me for 1300rps” he said. “I am your guide, he has insulted me asking you for such a price!” So off he went to find the guy, who sheepishly handed me 700rps and walked off with a little smirk on his face. Pete
Saturday 2nd February 2008
Up at 5:45am for a sunrise row boat ride on the Ganges River. People bathe here at sunrise to cleanse themselves of sin. The steps leading down to the river stretch along 6½ kms of the river bank. Hindu pilgrims try to come here to bathe once a year. The pilgrims walk an 84 km circuit and pray at 786 Shiva Temples on the way which takes them 5 days to complete. They cremate people on the banks with fires that are lit from the “eternal fire”, a fire that has been burning for 2000 years, then they throw the ashes on the river. They believe that if you die in Varanasi, you don’t get reincarnated again, you go straight to heaven, unless, that is, you are a child, a pregnant woman, a leper or have died from a snake bite. If you are one of those 4, you haven’t completed your life cycle, so they don’t cremate you. Instead, they tie a rock to you and sink your body in the middle of the Ganges (about 20m deep).They cremate about 1000 people a week, not sure how many they sink, but hundreds of people do bathe here every morning – eww! Incidentally, they also sink sadus (holy men) because they believe the Ganges swallows them up, no need for cremation. After brekky we went to the birthplace of Buddhism. Buddha was born near the Himalayas, left his cushy life as a prince (and left his cushy wife too incidentally), and started on a journey to Varanasi. On the way he found enlightenment after 36 days of meditation under a tree (with spiritual attacks & temptations to boot), and then came here where he preached his first sermon. From here, Buddhism spread to the rest of Asia. There was a temple which the Muslims destroyed when they came, but a replica was built which we visited. We also visited the ruins of the original one. We saw some Japanese Buddhist artists painting chakras. These guys were the least pushy people we have met so far. Their work was exquisite, the detail microscopic. Next stop, the Varanasi museum full of ancient relics and statues. Then it was onto a glass bead shop. Kaz and the girls went crazy. They all made funky necklaces. At night we went along to a ceremony to “Mother Ganges” by 7 Brahman priests. We hired another boatman to view it from the river. They do this ceremony every morning and night, but the real eye opener was rowing down river a bit to witness the cremations. They use 300kgs of fire wood for each body. The family buy the wood with whatever money they can afford (no fixed price) and there are now tears allowed, therefore there are no women allowed. The bodies are wrapped in extremely bright coloured cloth with tinsel and heaps of flowers to mark that this is a celebration. We got a rickshaw ride back to our car which was also very cool. Kaz saw a massive brahman bull in a sari shop – seriously. Unfortunately we didn’t get a photo. Pete
Up at 5:45am for a sunrise row boat ride on the Ganges River. People bathe here at sunrise to cleanse themselves of sin. The steps leading down to the river stretch along 6½ kms of the river bank. Hindu pilgrims try to come here to bathe once a year. The pilgrims walk an 84 km circuit and pray at 786 Shiva Temples on the way which takes them 5 days to complete. They cremate people on the banks with fires that are lit from the “eternal fire”, a fire that has been burning for 2000 years, then they throw the ashes on the river. They believe that if you die in Varanasi, you don’t get reincarnated again, you go straight to heaven, unless, that is, you are a child, a pregnant woman, a leper or have died from a snake bite. If you are one of those 4, you haven’t completed your life cycle, so they don’t cremate you. Instead, they tie a rock to you and sink your body in the middle of the Ganges (about 20m deep).They cremate about 1000 people a week, not sure how many they sink, but hundreds of people do bathe here every morning – eww! Incidentally, they also sink sadus (holy men) because they believe the Ganges swallows them up, no need for cremation. After brekky we went to the birthplace of Buddhism. Buddha was born near the Himalayas, left his cushy life as a prince (and left his cushy wife too incidentally), and started on a journey to Varanasi. On the way he found enlightenment after 36 days of meditation under a tree (with spiritual attacks & temptations to boot), and then came here where he preached his first sermon. From here, Buddhism spread to the rest of Asia. There was a temple which the Muslims destroyed when they came, but a replica was built which we visited. We also visited the ruins of the original one. We saw some Japanese Buddhist artists painting chakras. These guys were the least pushy people we have met so far. Their work was exquisite, the detail microscopic. Next stop, the Varanasi museum full of ancient relics and statues. Then it was onto a glass bead shop. Kaz and the girls went crazy. They all made funky necklaces. At night we went along to a ceremony to “Mother Ganges” by 7 Brahman priests. We hired another boatman to view it from the river. They do this ceremony every morning and night, but the real eye opener was rowing down river a bit to witness the cremations. They use 300kgs of fire wood for each body. The family buy the wood with whatever money they can afford (no fixed price) and there are now tears allowed, therefore there are no women allowed. The bodies are wrapped in extremely bright coloured cloth with tinsel and heaps of flowers to mark that this is a celebration. We got a rickshaw ride back to our car which was also very cool. Kaz saw a massive brahman bull in a sari shop – seriously. Unfortunately we didn’t get a photo. Pete
Friday 1st February 2008
Arrived in Varanasi, the Hindu’s holiest city. It’s right on the Ganges river, or “mother Ganges” as they refer to it, their holiest river. There are over 1 million temples in Varanasi, most of which are just like little statues or shrines. They are everywhere. We met our guide and our driver for the next couple of days, Ashok & Babloo, who took us straight to the Mother India Temple which houses a complete, to-scale relief map of India. Very impressive really. Ghandi came to the opening and frequented this place afterward. I saw a Sadu (Holy Man) who had supposedly taken a vow of silence (except for the word “tip” evidently). The KFC lettuce was taking its toll on the kids by now so we took them back to the hotel to rest and use the loo as much as they liked while Kaz and I went to the world’s finest silk manufacturer (according to them). They still use the traditional weaving method, 2 guys, 1cm a day. They also use the method the French introduced which means they can weave 3cms a day. Their work is extraordinary. Too nice NOT to buy something - 4 cushion covers, 1 silk tie. Ashok and Babloo then took us to the Varanasi university which they were clearly proud as punch over. In fact Ashok assured me that Indians are the most intelligent people on earth... mmm, obviously. I couldn’t believe the history behind the swastika that is prevalent throughout India. I asked our very knowledgeable guide (India has the most intelligent guides on earth) why Hitler chose that symbol for Nazi Germany. Apparently the Vedic Aryan people (Germans) actually invaded India 3500 years ago. They came through the Khyber Pass (as did the Muslims) and introduced the concept that some people were born superior to others. They were to be called Brahmans. Soldiers were the next in the pecking order (they needed them to protect their fortresses and wealth gained by exploiting the ignorant masses), and so on. Hence the caste system was created. These people used the swastika as their symbol. So in fact, Hitler didn’t borrow the symbol from the Hindus, HIS ancestors brought it to THEM. And after 3500 years, Hitler still propagated the same Aryan belief that they were superior to all other races. The amazing thing is that so many Hindus still submit to this belief even though it is now evident it was a man made system designed to keep THEM under control. This is why both Buddha and Ghandi pushed so hard to remove the caste system. Went back to hotel and watched TV with kids. Pete
Arrived in Varanasi, the Hindu’s holiest city. It’s right on the Ganges river, or “mother Ganges” as they refer to it, their holiest river. There are over 1 million temples in Varanasi, most of which are just like little statues or shrines. They are everywhere. We met our guide and our driver for the next couple of days, Ashok & Babloo, who took us straight to the Mother India Temple which houses a complete, to-scale relief map of India. Very impressive really. Ghandi came to the opening and frequented this place afterward. I saw a Sadu (Holy Man) who had supposedly taken a vow of silence (except for the word “tip” evidently). The KFC lettuce was taking its toll on the kids by now so we took them back to the hotel to rest and use the loo as much as they liked while Kaz and I went to the world’s finest silk manufacturer (according to them). They still use the traditional weaving method, 2 guys, 1cm a day. They also use the method the French introduced which means they can weave 3cms a day. Their work is extraordinary. Too nice NOT to buy something - 4 cushion covers, 1 silk tie. Ashok and Babloo then took us to the Varanasi university which they were clearly proud as punch over. In fact Ashok assured me that Indians are the most intelligent people on earth... mmm, obviously. I couldn’t believe the history behind the swastika that is prevalent throughout India. I asked our very knowledgeable guide (India has the most intelligent guides on earth) why Hitler chose that symbol for Nazi Germany. Apparently the Vedic Aryan people (Germans) actually invaded India 3500 years ago. They came through the Khyber Pass (as did the Muslims) and introduced the concept that some people were born superior to others. They were to be called Brahmans. Soldiers were the next in the pecking order (they needed them to protect their fortresses and wealth gained by exploiting the ignorant masses), and so on. Hence the caste system was created. These people used the swastika as their symbol. So in fact, Hitler didn’t borrow the symbol from the Hindus, HIS ancestors brought it to THEM. And after 3500 years, Hitler still propagated the same Aryan belief that they were superior to all other races. The amazing thing is that so many Hindus still submit to this belief even though it is now evident it was a man made system designed to keep THEM under control. This is why both Buddha and Ghandi pushed so hard to remove the caste system. Went back to hotel and watched TV with kids. Pete
Thursday 31st January 2008
Today is our last day with Govind our limo driver. We’re going to be with him for 5 hours in the car on the way back to Delhi which should give us enough time to say good bye. When we arrived in Delhi we had KFC for lunch which I know sounds a bit weird when in India but we were a bit over having curry for breakfast, lunch and dinner. After lunch we went straight to the train station. Our train was 4 hours late, 4 hours of Sudoku yippee! The train arrived at 7:30pm (supposed to arrive at 3:30pm) we got on the train and went to bed. Dad woke up at 2:30am in the morning to find two men looking through our bag and thought he had chased them off before they had stolen anything, WRONGO! 2 minutes later he found that they had stolen the phone. Found that us kids came down with a bug. Probably the lettuce in the KFC burger. Starving bug out now. Mahalia!
Today is our last day with Govind our limo driver. We’re going to be with him for 5 hours in the car on the way back to Delhi which should give us enough time to say good bye. When we arrived in Delhi we had KFC for lunch which I know sounds a bit weird when in India but we were a bit over having curry for breakfast, lunch and dinner. After lunch we went straight to the train station. Our train was 4 hours late, 4 hours of Sudoku yippee! The train arrived at 7:30pm (supposed to arrive at 3:30pm) we got on the train and went to bed. Dad woke up at 2:30am in the morning to find two men looking through our bag and thought he had chased them off before they had stolen anything, WRONGO! 2 minutes later he found that they had stolen the phone. Found that us kids came down with a bug. Probably the lettuce in the KFC burger. Starving bug out now. Mahalia!
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