Sunrise on Kanchengjunga, third highest mountain in the world (from the roof of our hotel).

After our relaxed time in Varanasi, John and I continued east to Calcutta briefly, and then north to the Himalayas where we are now. Calcutta is a bustling city filled with crumbling victorian architecture. It was an atmospheric place that deserved more time than we were willing to commit. John is working on a freelance article about the tea industry so we were in a hurry to make our way north to Darjeeling and the tea estates.

I did spend an afternoon wandering around the city though, and found an old colonial cemetary where I took a few pictures which are included here.
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Some more shots from our week in Varanasi. We got up early one morning and took a boat ride up the Ganges, taking advantage of the morning sunlight to get some good photos.
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We’re in the ancient hindu city of Varansi now, aka Banares, Kashi, The City of Light. It’s by far the most atmospheric and alien cities I’ve visited in my lifetime, with Fez in Morocco and Gureme in Turkey close contenders. I’ve had a great time exploring the labyrinth of alleys in the old city, so narrow that the occasional cow causes a major traffic jam.
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We made our obligatory visit to the Taj Mahal and made a quick exit. Agra is a dump. Mix in some of the most persistent and annoying touts we’ve seen in India so far and you have a destination worth passing through quickly.

The Taj itself was amazing. We stayed a nice hotel in Taj Ganj, the tourist ghetto just south of the monument. There was a fabulous view from the rooftop restaurant.
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John and I arrived in Delhi yesterday by overnight train. We spent the day wandering through the old city towards the Jama Masjid mosque in the center. The old city is predominantly muslim and we arrived right at the end of Eid, the muslim holy day that corresponds to the stoning of the devil in Mecca for the hadj pilgrimage. According to the rules, everyone who can afford to do so must sacrifice a goat to Allah. The result of this was very visible in the maze of streets and alleys of the old city, with goat pelts, meat, and random goat parts visible pretty much everywhere. Most people were butchering the animals in preparation for the feast. A few merchants were selling the pelts, although i’m not sure what people use them for.
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I wanted to post a couple of pictures I took thursday before John and I left Bombay.
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I wandered off by myself after John and I visited the train station this morning. We had quite an experience trying to get reserved tourist tickets for the train to Delhi but that story will have to wait. Let’s just say I’ve had my first experience with Indian bureaucracy and it ain’t pretty.
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I’ve arrived in Bombay. It’s an overwhelming place and it should take me quite a while to come to terms with it. I’ll make my first unaided venture out into the unknown tomorrow. Up to this point I’ve been able to tag along with John and Liza without doing too much navigating myself. It’s pretty imposible to actually learn the layout of the city, the streets are a maze and everything is written in sanscript. I’ve been told to learn some basic landmarks and to wander around until I see them. I’ll have to see how that works.

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We’ve had a fantastic time in Edinburgh, good enough for Elyse to insist on another day. We spent a week here in all, taking in the sights and celebrating the new year with the Hogmanay winter festival.

When we first arrived the weather was bitter cold but that quickly changed as the light snow was replaced by rain. You’d think the combination of dreary weather and the cold and gloomy atmosphere of the old city wouldn’t be exactly welcoming, but it was exactly quite the oposite. The air here has been alive with the excitement of the festival with large crowds and events on the main streets. Whenever we were cold there never a shortage of mulled wine or pubs with fireplaces to duck into.

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