Varanasi

Our trip to Ajaigar and Kalinjar ended unexpectedly. The day we left Khajuraho on a motorcycle was really cloudy, and it seemed like rain was about to begin. We reached the Kan river, put the motorcycle on a boat, and went to the other side. That was fun :) Than it began raining, we stopped in a village where Govinda's (my Indian friend) relatives live. The people in this village have never seen tourists, so after I took out my camera, the whole village gathered around. For them, taking a photo is a big (and expensive) event, and developing it takes much time, so they were very excited seeing the result right after shooting. The Indian hospitality is really amazing, in many houses people asked us to stop, sit, drink chai and so on. We spent the night in the village, hoping the rain would stop in morning... but it didn't, it only became stronger. This is really bad for farming there, people are very dependant of the weather. We decided to go back, because climbing the mountains in this weather was impossible. Riding the motorcycle in rain in rural roads was not a pleasant experience, but a few times we just stopped in villages, asked people to sit by the fire, get some heat. In these moments it really became obvious how little a man really needs... Sitting by the fire is really great :) We returned in evening to Khajuraho, and the day after took a bus to Satna, from where there's a train to Varanasi. It's really great travelling with Indian people. After arriving to train station, we went to eat dinner, so they just went into some place, that doesn't look like a restaurant at all, no sign or anything, but the service was really fast, and the food was delicious. The train left at 21:00 (a hour late), so we arrived at Varanasi in 6:30, went to a really nice guest house, nearby the Ganges. Varanasi is a big city, one of the most holy places to the Hindu religion. The Holi festival is going to take place here in the 14th of March, meanwhile we'll travel around the ghats. There are also supposed to be many Israelis here, so I should expect many talks of the kind "where were you in the army."
Now I'm taking some rest from the trip, took a shower and did yoga on the rooftop, later we'll take a walk on the ghats.
Have a happy Purim and take care!