Ganges Voyager II Postcard #10 – The Ganges, Khusbagh

The early morning Ganges is a gift that keeps giving. At first light there is a mist that blankets the ground then as the sun is rising, it starts to burn off and the effect is absolutely stunning.

Although today was mainly a river day, we did have the opportunity for a pre-breakfast walk to Khushbagh (“Garden of Happiness”). It is the garden cemetery of the Nawabs of Bengal and about a 10-minute walk from the river bank. Here we were shown the graves of the Nawabs of Bengal from the Afshar dynasty along with some of their family members. It was an interesting experience and nice to have a chance for some pre-breakfast exercise.

As the rest of our day was spent onboard, I will show you around the boat a bit. Apart from the cabins, there are essentially 3 large public areas, the dining room, the bar/lounge and the sun deck. All three are well furnished and facilitate their purpose perfectly.

You can walk a complete lap of deck 4, as it has an outside walkway both sides of the lounge. From these you can access the wheelhouse at the front and also the small but very busy spa.

Nicole along with many others has made good use of the very reasonably priced treatments available. The water out of the taps isn’t drinkable and we have an endless supply of bottled RO water which is processed onboard. After every excursion, we have to take our shoes off which are then cleaned and left outside our cabin.

This morning, there was a henna tattoo session and most of the ladies succumbed to having one. I was very impressed with the artistic skills of the two crew members providing the service.

I have enjoyed just sitting on the sun deck watching the world go by, you pretty much see everything from fisherman, farmers men bathing, women doing the washing, the wildlife, small children shouting and waving as we pass and even the occasional funeral pyre.

 

At 5:00 we arrived at Mayapur where tied up at the bank for the evening. We have been told to expect a surprise tonight so I will reveal all tomorrow.