Devghat Sightseeing

I spent last night with my Australian neighbours trying to play drinking games. I was the only representative of the UK and I don’t think I embarrassed the nation too much 😊 apart from when I had to do an Australian accent….some of you know very well how bad I am at that (“fosters”) 😉

This morning without even a slight hangover I went to an important Hindu area, Devghat, with the rest of the volunteer group. As we drove in we could see the rivers below appearing between the gaps in the trees. You could tell right from the start it was going to be a day full of beautiful things!

First we had to cross a long narrow bridge, I tried to snap a few photos on my phone, but I was also nervous I might drop it and lose it between the gaps underfoot.

Then we walked through several streets to take us to a residential home for elderly people. Often people are cared for by their families as they get older but here are people who, for unfortunate reasons, are without family to help support them. There are 31 elderly people living here and it is given a little bit of funding from the government.

They played some music, sang and danced. We gave out oranges, little yellow balls (that I am not a fan of) and some fried sugar treats. It was quite cold and although they were well wrapped up we bid them farewell so they could go back inside and stay warm.

We continued our walk through the area, which is scattered with homes and many shrines. We walked down some steep steps and peered through the bamboo leaves at the beautiful river below. A small religious area was created from a natural cave like crevice, with cages enclosing shrines and incense.

We all walked further down to the rivers edge and got aboard some little boats to cross to the other side. I was my graceful self and managed to fall backwards off my seat nearly getting my bottom soaked in a puddle. Luckily my other volunteer friends saved me 😁

At the other side we headed back to our bus and drove out of Devghat on the windy roads. Getting stuck at one point whilst a family repositioned the body of a loved one on the back of a tractor. They would be taking them down to the river for a religious ceremony, cremating the body. It was a bit awkward as I don’t think our driver had realised what was going on. He was impatient and quite heavy handed at beeping the horn 😳

The driver (whom we have been referring to as Pooh, due to him wearing a Winnie the Pooh cap) pulled over in a nearby town for us to enjoy some lunch. Spicy chicken, with curried vegetables, Dahl and naan bread, it was delicious!

I have spent the rest of my evening chilling out, drinking too much caffeine and catching up with my blog 😊☕️ Tomorrow we go on a jeep safari where I might get to see a Rhino or maybe even a tiger if I’m lucky!

It’s fun being a tourist X