India travel guide

Varanasi is the holiest city in India. Traffic in town is insane, and you really have to be careful in the vast tangle of bicycle rickshaws, cows, motorcycles and cars. Around two million inhabitants live there, but the city is also constantly visited by approx. half a million pilgrims and sick Hindus, who come there to die. The River Ganges runs through Varanasi, and cremations and Hindu rituals take place along the river bank. At the same time Hindus believe that a bath in the river and a sip of its water is sacred and spiritually cleansing. However, the water is so polluted that 1 liter contains 1.5 million faecal coli form bacteria - usually bath water must contain less than 500 of these!! So don’t go swimming with the Indians, unless you want to experience an Indian hospital as well ...

We've all seen those changing of the guard ceremonies where some traditionally dressed guards perform a simple dance-like show while pretending to guard a building or monument that nobody's going to attack. But the flag-lowering ceremony at the Wagah border crossing between India and Pakistan is anything but ceremonial. These are two countries with a long history of not getting along. Blood has been spilt. Yet every afternoon, around sunset, the 2 sides participate is a show of one-upmanship by graduates of Monty Python's Ministry of Silly walks. The crowds get into it as if it were the World Cup final. It's a party wrapped in a ceremony shrouded in hatred. An absolute not miss!!