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Here's a small glimpse of our 'mini adventure' to the Kumb Melah Festival.jpg)
, one of India's largest holy festivals which takes place every 12 years 140km north of varanassi... and what an experience it was!!! Cindy and i were bundled onto a train at 8 o'clock in the morning along with the other hordes of people all heading out to bathe in the holy waters where the 3 rivers meet. We then spent the next 8 hours (no joke!!) crammed in a carriage on extremely uncomfortable wooden benches, as the train crawled along to it's final destination...!!
Talk about a day in the life of a local - how to travel trains in true indian style! The only things missing were the chickens and the cows!
So, we finally arrived at the festival, making it just in time to see the pilgrims bathing at sunset, pretty amazing huh! It was well worth the adventure to get there.
Only having enough time to spend a couple of hours there we then made it back to the train station (which was a mission in itself!), in time to get the last train back to Varanassi. Little did we know (although i guess we should've presumed), that we were going to be crushed in the crowds getting onto the platform, only to then sit huddled in a cage(literally!) freezing cold, completely shattered and absolutely desparate for a pee for the next 5 hours(!). We were then shuttled out of the cage and back onto the manic platform as our train finally pulled up at 2 o'clock in the morning! And still the worst part was yet to come - Cindy and i were completely separated by the swarms of people literally fighting, pushing, pulling to get on the train - everything being passed over our heads, elderly people being crushed, my head was nearly taken off... I then shouted out the window to cindy so that she at least knew which carriage i had been bundled into so we were together again for the next painful 6 hours back on the wooden benches and still needing a pee but not able to actually move once we had our spot on the train. Even if i had wanted to risk it i would've been very unpopular climbing over all the peopl that covered every inch of the train...!!! 9 am we were finally safely back at our hotel in Varanassi after our biggest adventure so far we reckon! It really was an experience.... and although it was pretty amazing, and certainly an eye-opener, maybe not one i would repeat in a hurry!! :-)
, one of India's largest holy festivals which takes place every 12 years 140km north of varanassi... and what an experience it was!!! Cindy and i were bundled onto a train at 8 o'clock in the morning along with the other hordes of people all heading out to bathe in the holy waters where the 3 rivers meet. We then spent the next 8 hours (no joke!!) crammed in a carriage on extremely uncomfortable wooden benches, as the train crawled along to it's final destination...!! Talk about a day in the life of a local - how to travel trains in true indian style! The only things missing were the chickens and the cows!
So, we finally arrived at the festival, making it just in time to see the pilgrims bathing at sunset, pretty amazing huh! It was well worth the adventure to get there.
Only having enough time to spend a couple of hours there we then made it back to the train station (which was a mission in itself!), in time to get the last train back to Varanassi. Little did we know (although i guess we should've presumed), that we were going to be crushed in the crowds getting onto the platform, only to then sit huddled in a cage(literally!) freezing cold, completely shattered and absolutely desparate for a pee for the next 5 hours(!). We were then shuttled out of the cage and back onto the manic platform as our train finally pulled up at 2 o'clock in the morning! And still the worst part was yet to come - Cindy and i were completely separated by the swarms of people literally fighting, pushing, pulling to get on the train - everything being passed over our heads, elderly people being crushed, my head was nearly taken off... I then shouted out the window to cindy so that she at least knew which carriage i had been bundled into so we were together again for the next painful 6 hours back on the wooden benches and still needing a pee but not able to actually move once we had our spot on the train. Even if i had wanted to risk it i would've been very unpopular climbing over all the peopl that covered every inch of the train...!!! 9 am we were finally safely back at our hotel in Varanassi after our biggest adventure so far we reckon! It really was an experience.... and although it was pretty amazing, and certainly an eye-opener, maybe not one i would repeat in a hurry!! :-)
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