[And where is the Hotel? -North India]

Our heroes, if you rightly recall, were last seen heading for Varanasi. It turned out to be a rather eventful 5 trip. We stopped in towns to ask for directions and I swear within 2min we had 30-50 people surrounding us, like we just landed from another galaxy. We passed through towns that felt like it was a working heritage museum, the street filled with horse and carts and machinery running on an old fashioned system of fly wheels and pulleys, much alike the steam age. At dusk we had stopped, what appeared on the map as a major town, to only find that there was no hotel at all.

It was a long ride that day and I hadnt the energy to face the risk of night riding. Caught out we obliging accepted the kind offer to sleep in the store room of the telephone exchange office, next to the train station. I was sitting on a hard chair, eating a chapatti the guard ordered in for us, feeling grubby and tired while watching the 100s of insects circling the fluorescent light. Slowly I accepted the fact that we would be sleeping here tonight- one of us on the floor, the other on a hard wooden bed (no mattresses). Unpacked and ready to bunk down for a long night the telephone exchange officer bursts in and says 'come come' and within 45min we were settled in a large comfy room, surrounded by quiet, green gardens 20min outside of town.

It was all abit confusing amidst the broken English but it seems someone was connected to the sugar mill owner which had private rooms, which I can only assume are used for business clients. Put up in there VIP room, which was rather ordinary, seemed like a 5 star heaven sent room to us given our last option. :-)

After being woken for chai at 6am (groan) and soon after breakfast we found a local reporter and his photographer ready to interview us- they also wanted to know how such aliens ended up in their town of Bisalpur! And in true hospitality there was no talk of money, so feeling very rested and elated we started our new day riding day.

Varanasi is as smelly, congested and as ever resonating with dark vibes as I remembered in my last 2 visits. We did see the river dolphins (or Shael did) a few times which is amazing considering how pollution is in and added to the river daily. We probably staid here too long, if only because we couldnt decide what to do next. Continue in India or goto Nepal?

We escaped to Bodhgaya the place Buddha saw the light so to speak. I had a strong urge to get away from it all and in a few days I had jumped in on a Vipassana meditation course and sat in silence for 5 days. It really was a break I needed and it gave me the direction to goto Thailand for a month where we can also renew our Indian visa. The Buddhist energy is strong in Bodhgaya and it felt very comforting for me somehow. It was difficult to leave here as it was for me to leave Tibet.

So on 22nd November, with our bike safely parked in Calcutta, we fly to Bangkok.

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