It was time to leave India, not only was there a terrorist attack earlier today, it also just being reported on CNN that there’s been 4.2 magnitude earth tremor in New Delhi! As for us moving on, I’m not sure whether the epic train journey from Varanasi back to Delhi played its part, but I was ready – for the first time ever, Delhi was starting to overwhelm me; too much noise, the constant beeping of horns, people barging past or pushing in front of you and general grime synonymous of India – it was beginning to wear me down.
Don’t get me wrong, this time around was probably my most favourite time in India – we certainly got to see a few more different places with Ladakh and Kashmir being truly memorable and riding the 1st and 3rd highest motorable roads in the World will live long in the memory. Seeing Amritsar and visiting the Golden Temple, to witnessing the Border Crossing at Wagah – a couple of days following both Pakistan and India’s independence. Varanasi was amazing – having heard so much about the place I really was expecting to be whisked back to the 15th century, true, the place was absolutely filthy (but so is every other old part of any Indian city) but the spiritual side was amazing and getting to swim in the Ganges was a great experience.
But there comes a time when you actually stop seeing what’s around you, losing the motivation to drag yourself out to experience something new – after ten months on the road there’s always an excuse to pass something by and over the last few weeks our thoughts are starting to return to friends we’re missing (and a particular cat,) food we wish to cook and eat plus getting back to the ‘real-world’ and the rat race!
Having no plans since being away, we made the decision to fly to Europe; choosing Greece as our stepping stone back to London, flying from Delhi via Bahrain before arriving in Athens – the difference between India and Greece is marked, whereas India has growth of 7%, Greece is having a nightmare with huge austerity cuts, protests almost every day – there’s tough times ahead for everyone.
We’re here for a good few weeks (no doubt adding lots of euros to the economy through quaffing lots of great wine) and planning to visit several of the Cyclades Islands. Tomorrow we take a ferry from Piraeus to Sifnos, a tiny little island with just over 2000 inhabitants. The holiday season is pretty much over and we’re hoping for a relaxed couple of weeks and seeing one or two more places before returning to London…
CraSh Williams' Blog 