Monday, March 05, 2007

Varanasi

Jordan and I just finished a very nice and relaxing week up in Varanasi. It was great to see some old pals and to make some new ones. We walked in on a very unsuspecting new G-LAB group during a group meeting and gave Tracy quite a surprise. We also surprised my old tabla teacher Kailash and I was able to start taking lessons again. I spent most of the week playing tabla in the morning, relaxing in front of the ganges, and cooking food in the kitchen at Kailash's guest house. We where also lucky to be in Varanasi for the Hindu holiday Holi. It is the celebration of color and basically consists of a HUGE bonfire at night, which take place in the street all over the city (right under the electric lines). Then the next day there is a country-wide colour fight. It's a pretty fun holiday, only it can get a little dangerous for the womanfolk. All in all the whole week was really fun; it was great to end my time in India on a high note. It's wierd knowing that I'm leaving India and that I won't be back for at least a long while. I've had a great time here and I'm sure I'll make my way back to visit again. Tomorrow morning we fly to Bangkok on GMG Airlines, yeah, I haven't heard of them either, but they sure are cheap.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad to see you guys surprised the crew in Banaras and witnessed a bonfire that Tracy claims was even bigger than the ManDay blaze in the Markha Valley. Is this possible?
Regardless, Holi just might be the best festival around.
Sikkim and Darjeeling are pretty great, too, eh?
Hope you have a great time in Burma and watch out for those totalitarian dictators.
-Galen

Anonymous said...

haha. the shirt
love
Ray