travelling since leaving pushkar

travels: pushkar-agra-oracha-khajuraho-varanasi

after leaving pushkar we (that is still manu from portugal, tzur from israel and me) went to agra, just to see the taj mahal. most disenchanting moment so far, was not impressed by the taj AT ALL. by a postcard or go to a restaurant nearby and enjoy the roof top, save a fortune and are better of. anyway, so left agra the same day to jhansi and then further to orcha, ugly city, polluted, crowded. long trip with a train and rickshaw...arrived at night.
orcha: ever so lovely, beautiful temples from the 16th century. picturesque and very peaceful. got sick on the last day though. just barely survived the horrible bustrip to khajuraho. claustrophobic busseats, 30 degrees, no fun at all. khajuraho was fun, small town as well, a bit more hassle than in orcha but still quiet enough. met an australian woman again that we saw in orcha. spent a lot of time with her. interesting life, raised 7 children, 3 adopted, lived in so many countries. very inspiring conversations.
then trip to varanasi. got up at 3:30 in the morning, worried a lot about our driver showing up, eventually he did. we left just 50 minutes late. everything is possible in india. it really is. even though we started to late AND had a flat tire on the way we still made it to the trainstation in time.
varanasi: much less crazy than i expected. busy city but very spiritual. walking along the ghats (the steps that lead down to the ganges), watching the pilgrims, the sadhus, the buffalows bathing--you have entertainment enough. i can just spent your days sitting at the ghats watching life. sadhus are holy men who (very much like monks) own nothing, life off what people give them and dedicate their life to studying the holy texts...and smoke up, a lot. they dress in orange (holy color), have dreads, long beards, and most of them are really friendly and like to talk. they invite you to their little home- which is a fireplace underneath a plastic sheet and then their roll a joint and share their wisdom with you. watching the ganges is amazing with the changing lights during the day. at night people go down to pray (puja) and send of little bowls with flowers and candles in them as an offering to the gods. then the little burning boats float down the river and it is an absolutley stunning sight.
expexted the water to be really disgusting and smelly but for india it is not so bad (considering what kind of things happen at the river banks all day you expect it to be much worse). the cremations of the bodies take place directly at the ghats (not all of them, just a few burn bodies) and you can watch while they stack the wood, then bring the body that is covered with cloth...and then they light it on fire.
we are all a little sick (there seems to be a thing going on, loads of travellers we talked to are and were sick) and i think tomorrow we might rest and plan the next days.