picture

The old temple

Now we are in Nepal

People were carrying huge loads, from young boys and girls to old people

We could not go on a bus from Raxaul to Kathmandu, so we took the plane. Exciting, our first time on a plane. It cost only a bit more than the bus. Magic to fly over the mountains and see in the distance rows upon rows of snow covered mountain ranges

Another image from Baba Steve

what a beautiful atmospheric picture from Baba Steve. An ancient city, maybe the oldest surviving one

a contemporary image of Varanasi

This is a photo from Flickr, the photographer is Baba Steve.

It is a view towards the burning ghats, where the dead are being cremated

holy cows and other beings

you have to be careful not to be trotten on your foot by a massive cow in the narrow lanes leading down to the river

colorful scenes on the Ghanga

India

we spend whole days just sitting on the steps and absorbing the happenings

Varanasi never sleeps

It did not matter when we visited the ghats, there was always some chanting, praying and ritual cleansing

beautiful smiles

sitting under the bamboo umbrella, a woman and a young girl are reciting from old scriptures

holy men

some holy men sit on the ghats, chanting all day

the ghats of Varanasi

the steps down the river Ghanges were always busy with pilgrims, doing their morning baths

in deep meditation

This Sadhu sat like this in front of a small shrine in the morning.

When we came past in the evening,  he still sat there in the same position.

We wondered what was going on here?

Sadhus

The many Sadhus on the banks were quite a mystery.

Varanasi

I had to get one of those beautiful scarves. India was working on us, 

and we got a bit more colorful

Werner on the river Ganges. We loved this place and made lots of

drawings and watercolors sitting on the steps down to the bathing places, where always 

lots of pilgrims performed their pujas 

The sun just glinted on the marble

I always remember this day

The Taj Mahal was just unbelievable beautiful

Stepping through this gate was like entering a place from a fairy world.

Blue skies on a clear cool day and some elegant Indian visitors

A merry go round went all day

The children had a great time on this hand operated merry go round

the famous pink palace

I heard now there is a massive amount of traffic roaring past this palace.

In 1966 it was a rather quiet place.

kirtans and bajans

Werner was busy taking photos

kirtans and bajans non stop

The music was entrancing

We stayed for hours. We had never seen anything like it.

The devotion was so wonderful

a colourful festival in Jaipur

The next stop was Jaipur. This city was vibrant, with red and pink colors and the women were wearing the most colorful saries. We stumbled upon a festival for woman. Music chanting drumming and cymbals. Monkeys jumped from walls and snatched the offerings of fruit.

Old Delhi Magic

after crossing the border from Pakistan to India by a horse drawn buggy through noman's land, with soldiers popping up behind bushes, we took a train to Delhi.

Stayed in Old Delhi. What a magic place this was.