There is a song from “Vico Torriani”, called “Kalkutta liegt am Ganges” (”Calcutta is on the Ganges river”).

This is not true! Calcutta is not on the Ganges, it’s on the Hoohly River.

Varanasi is one of the oldest and most spiritual cities in the world. Varanasi is famous for burning Hindu people next to the Ganges when they died.

I had a walk the whole day on the ghats of Varanasi. Ghats are places, where people can bath in the Ganges or where Hindu people are burned after their life. I went up and down and was breathless.

In the morning I first went to Manikarnika Ghat and saw many people getting burned. Impressive and cold shower on my body. Impressive. This was the place, where life ends. This was the place, where Hindu people are “reincarnated”. I have not seen this before and have to digest the seen things. Very interesting… Very different.

I went through all ghats, saw people bathing in the Ganges, people washing their clothes, cows bathing, many small boats, saw ash flying in the dirty, dirty Ganges and a lot of other things. The water in the Ganges is at the moment very very low. You can see it in the pictures, that it looks like a “desert”. In July, when the monsum is coming, the water rises up to 12 meter (!) and everything gets flooded.

Lonely Planet says, that there are 1.500.000 bacterias on 100 ml in the Ganges. Everything, which is above 500 bacterias/100 ml is dangerous. Ganges is really a dark soup and very, very dirty. Very dirty.

In the evening I went by boat to a ceremony on one ghat. It was very interesting - also did Pooja. Will see if I will get up tomorrow at 5.30 AM to have a morning boattrip.

Everything is fine… Weather is quite hot, it’s about 40 degrees Celsius. I drunk about 7 liter of water, good so.

Ok, I am focusing on a more defined route. I will focus on the northern part of India and will join parts of Nepal:

Delhi - (Agra) - (Jaipur) - Rishikesh - Bareilly - Kanpur - Varanassi - Patna - (Darjeeling) - Kathmandu - Delhi

The idea is starting from Delhi. I am not sure, wether it’s a good idea visiting Taj Mahal and the palace in Jaipur. I will make my decisions in Delhi. My plan is going north - where the Ganges has its source. Going to Rishikesh and going further into east by following the Ganges: Bareilly, Kanpur, Varanasi, Patna.

Depending on transport, time and my personal condition, I will decide in the area of Varanasi/Patna wether I will travel to Darjeeling or directly to Kathmandu in Nepal. If I am visiting Darjeeling, then I will travel to Kathmandu via Darjelling by jeep and bus. Should be an adventure. Crossing the borders…

Yesterday I succeeded in the second part of my rabbies vaccination. Same symptons as last time: A little bit cold, a little bit hectic and a “hot” night, which means, that I felt, that my body was struggeling with some side-effects of the vaccinations. Interesting, as it was the same last week after the first rabbies-vaccination.

Interesting stories, which Albert and Anna-Maria are telling about India. Very valuable infos and tipps.

The planning is now focusing on Dehli and the North-West to the source of Ganges and this area. Depending on some things, I will decide following the Ganges fast to arrive in Darjeeling. Something like this…