A guide to India 2007 (Delhi, Allahabad, Varanasi, Agra)

[wind30]

I really enjoyed your writeup as much as your pics. Very interesting.

I also have a weak stomach so I never tried any street food in all my overseas trips. My top choice of food is always Mac Donalds followed closely by KFC Glad to know you survived without eating any street food. Makes me feel I can survive India too

But your trip sounded REALLY FUN from your writeup. Where are you guys going next?

 

[zoossh]

Thakfully, the sun began to shine and shutter speed can be increased for a sharper pic.

i just did a copy of mine. i think there is indeed a rim to the sun. mine is red in color, not too sure if it is the color cast on my GND that makes it red while yours is whitish.

anyway, just thought that if you want to be playful, you can add leica's symbol onto it.

i kind of like leica and billingham..... for their designs.....

 

[binbeto]

wind30: Thanks for your kind words. Glad your enjoy the writing.. Ya, it's a rather fun trip. The resturant food should be ok as all of us came back well. About the next trip, probably have to wait for next year. Thinking of doing China, maybe Lijiang area as can only go for 1 photography trip each year.. haa haa

zoosh: The rim in your pic is not too obvious. Maybe it is the way the sensor is picking up the image due to high contrast? Afterall, we are using the same brand.. So, moving to leica next? hee hee

Continue...
We are back to where we started, Meer ghat. Our 2 hours Ganges river ride ended sooner that we expected. We haven't got the time to see all the ghats and we promised to take the boat ride again to cover the remaining ones.

Meer ghats bustling with people when we are back there... Imagine East coast park on a sunday, multiple by 10. hee hee

We haven't had our breakfast but seeing the beautiful morning light, we can go hungry for a while more. Meer ghat seem quite safe so we decided to spilt up and do our own shooting and meet up 1 hour later.

Devout buying float offering from a hawker.

More bathing.

Doing laundry and drying them.

Shaving seem like a big business. We ran into a "shaver" quite frequently.

Not sure if it's the sun, the people or the excitment of all these. The thick clothings I am wearing has to go off.. Enjoying my first suntan in India at Varanasi.

 

[maddyks]

Nice shots again.

Yea the neem twig can be broken off any where, its kind of public property. But since I'm quite sure you haven't seen it Singapore, here is a link - NEEM. The babool is a thorny bush and so im not sure if you would be able to find what you want. You can buy them off any roadside hawker for 1 or 2 INR (~ 0.03 SGD).

Enjoy your trip.

 

[scanner]

Cool! Ah bin when you going to held your exhibition huh?

 

[binbeto]

maddyks: Thanks for the info.. These are things we couldn't asked the locals there.. Sound a bit rude to be asking what they are brushing their teeth with.

scanner: Not everyone can hold an exhibition like you.. Dun suan me leh.. Would love to hear your critique if you have time to spare some.

Continue...

As with Allahabad, the local are very comfortable with me pointing my camera at them. Most acknowledged with a smile or nod.

These 2 boys deserved special mention.. haa haa
After walking and shooting for about 45mins and 10 mins away from the meetup time, I reckon I have enough before-breakfast photography. I found a place to sit and watching the whole of Varanasi difting pass me.

I found a comfortable space at the one of the many steps at the ghat, under the shade *of cos*. I found that if you are under the sun, it get quite warm eventhough it theorically winter at Varanasi.

These 2 boys approached me and tried to sell me postcards, seeing a tourist in me.. I pointed to my camera and said: " My pictures better." Haa haa

Despite knowing that I am not interested in their wares, they still hang around me. Probably wondering why is a tourist sitting at the steps among all the locals trying to achieve.. We have a short chat and they told me they are just "business partner" not brothers which I thought they were. What a young entrepeneur!! They speak pretty good english and I enjoyed their company while waiting for others to show up..

 

[binbeto]

Took our breakfast at the top of the Rasjmi guest house, the dolphin resturant. A beautiful place to start everyone's day. Good view, nice and affordable food. There's quite a few rooftop resturant in Varanasi and this is the best amond those we patronise.

When we are all well-fed, we had the mid-day sun. The one that they keep warning people not to take picture under. Cos it will turn our bad.. haa haa

We walk thru the small alley back to our hotel. These alley are quite narrow, barely enought to allow 2 person to walk side by side. The alley are so narrow and building built so close together that the mid-day sun can really shine in..

There is a small school hidden among one of the alley and there's shops selling all sort of beads. This is where R told us he need to get 5 sets for all his different girlfriends.. haa haa. Remember to bargain.

I like the small alley maze a lot cos we get really close to the locals. Best is if we can get lost in it.. Plenty of time to burn so no worries.

And real close to the animals..Sometimes too close.

There was one incident when the locals started shouting and we realised that a bull has gone crazy and started charging along the alley.. Luckily we managed to avoid it in time..
There was anothe time when a cow came too close and graze her mucus nose onto my camera bag.. errks!! Luckily, it's water-proof.. else, .....

Occasionally, motorcyle will be zoom by and we have to make way for it.

Certain alley are wider and families will setup small stall selling drinks and food.

 

[LOTUSfairy]

erhh...the cow din come too close actually...
me and zoosh were shouting at u that this cow came behind you, and u and the other biker were blocking her way!
the cow had no choice but to use her nose to push her way thru...it (she) cannot say 'excuse me' mah. :bsmilie:

 

[maddyks]

Ha ha excuse moooo... ;p

Anyway lucky she dint try to chew on something..

 

[binbeto]

Lotus: Not I dun wanna siam the Miss cow but no place to siam liao.. haa haa

maddyks: Ya, luckily it didn't take a fancy on my hair or ear.

I must say again that the alley is very conducive to street photography. One main reason is they have no way to hide.. hee hee If you have a chance to visit Varanasi, you must spend time doing this.

Just outside our hotel, Ganga Fuji whom the owner spend 12 years (if I remember correctly) in Japan. Thus, the fusion of ganges and fuji in it's hotel name.

A small shrine among the maze of alley.

A stall selling tea for 10 ruppee (about 3 singapore cents).

Kids are my favorite subject as they loved being photographed. Some actually asked for money or "bum bum" (which later I found out is bubble gum) but I flately turn down to the request for money.

Later, I did took some picture of old folks and I actually don't mind treating them to some tea but giving money to have photo taken is not something I wanna encourage. So, for those going to India, maybe get ready some biscuit or sweet for them. Hopefully, they used their Neem religiously.

 

[maddyks]

10 rupees for a cup of tea?? Hmm I still remember I used to pay 2 rupees when I was working some 3 yrs back. Interesting....

Yea the kids are always nice around there if you don't mind being pestered a bit. Old folks have stories to tell if you can understand them

 

[binbeto]

maddyks: I guess I must have been charged some "tourist tax" together with the cost of the tea.. well, it happens.. But not a lot to me, so it's ok.

We always look over the Ganges river ad wonder what was at the other side if it.. Z checked his compass and we reckon we the sun will set behind the ghat. Maybe a good shooting opportunity.

When we reached meer ghat, we saw the same boatman who ferry us in the morning.. Hmm.. dun they have other boatman? Being a repeated customer, we start to bargain for a good price just to go to the other side.

The other side was just some sand dune like landscape, probably made up of river sand and silt.

Met this wise old man who speak rather good english. He was wondering why 4 chinese was roaming the other side of the river.. hee hee.. He told me that this part of the land will be completely flooded come the monsoon river and all the steps you see in the background will be under the river water. He was to attend the khumba mela the next day when there will be another "mass bath". Guess he's doing his warm-up here... When I ask to have a pic taken of him, he gamely posed for me.

There is some horse ride for those more adventurous, run by smart boy..
R has a go at the horse run.. Must say I pity the horse as he quite a big fella..

While R was enjoying the ride, I look around for good spot for a sunset behind the ghats.. A chance to use my GND filter.. hee hee

While we are at the sand bar, our boatman was busy retrieving fallen kites from the river.. Kite-flying is very popular among the local kids and they are always chasing fallen kite.

 

[superbeng]

binbeto - these pics are beautiful! i'm looking forward to the next instalment.

 

[binbeto]

superbeng: Thanks.. Nice nick.. hee hee

Last day in Varanasi.. A bit sad. A very nice place to be in, with or without photography. One annoyance about Varanasi is the ration of electricity. There is no electricity from 11am to 3pm for everyday that we are there. According to the hotel owner, it's a daily occurences. So, for those intending to charge your battery, remember to do it when you have the chance. You never know when there's a power cut. hee hee

We haven't really got a chance to walk along the ghats yet. All the sight so far are from the boat. With a night train to catch, we decided to go slow on our last day. We haven't got over the probia of train ride from the last ride.. haa haa

We started our day on yet another rooftop resturant (Have I mentioned that there's a lot of roof top resturant? I think I have.. Just repeating..la la la) After using quite a lot of my 12-24mm, think it think to restrict myself with a 50mm on my last shoot at Varanasi.

Met a old folk hanging around outside of a temple. Notice the brown beads around his neck? Those are rudraksha bead, also known as tears of Lord Shiva. Folks wear them to get rid of all the sins and attains supreme goal of the human life. Bought him a cup of tea as it's pretty cold when the day breaks. Hope it warm him up.

Women doing laundry. What an array of colors!

Washing is the duty of the wife. Guess the husband's job is to dry them.. hee hee

 

[binbeto]

More or less the same activities. Bathing, washing, praying and shaving. When they told me the life in Varanasi haven't really changed since BC, I have my doubts.. Now, I am starting to believe it's true.

 

[zoossh]

More or less the same activities. Bathing, washing, praying and shaving. When they told me the life in Varanasi haven't really changed since BC, I have my doubts.. Now, I am starting to believe it's true.

this 4 shots are especially excellently done and very beautiful. i noted i have a tendency to like anything that shows some onion pink though.

 

[binbeto]

zoosh: Thanks. Noticed that (the pinkis color) in your some of your pic too.. hee hee

Met more animals on the way

More children.

More old folks.

and a group of acrobatics... wow!!

They took turns to perform the jump-off-the-ghat trick for us a couple of time. We are at a loss of words..

 

[binbeto]

Took this while the old lady is boarding a boat. Beside ferrying the tourist, the boat is a public transport for them. SOme of the boat look a bit over-crowded though .

We covered quite a fair bit of distance and we are too lazy to walk all the way back to the hotel.. haa haa So, we found ourselves a boat to ferry us back..

Last boat ride is especially unforgetable for me. One last chance to view the majestic ghats of the Varanasi.. Good bye...

We caught a non-A/C sleeper night train to Agra which proved to be the last straw for us..Our train was slightly late and we didn't slept well due to the freezing temperature. No more train ride.. haa haa *We took a car from Agra to Delhi*

At night, the non-A/C sleeper proved to be colder than the A/C ones eventhough we have closed all the windows we can. The cold is too much to bear even with my thick clothings and didn't sleep well at all. No wonder the locals brought their own blanket!! **A set of very thin bedsheet is given on A/C sleeper and the temperature is definately lower**

Z and L tried the "in-flight" meals on this train while I hold my hunger under control with a few dosage of PSP games.... But I must say the curry potatoes, which is served in a disposable cup looks delicious.. But only left 1 serving.. So, Z and L have to share.. hee hee or L ate all of it?

Here's a glimpse of the night train ride.
[vid]3YlPaaAlfv8[/vid]

 

[scanner]

Wow! I see the super star in action...filming himself :bigeyes::bsmilie:

 

[LOTUSfairy]

yes hehe..i finish the whole cup of potato cum egg in the cup...
the entire on-board full meal is only 30rupees (ie. S$1.20). yum yum...
cold weather, hot meal, wat to ask for...:bsmilie: