The closest we have ever come to death….a taxi ride in India!

After visiting Varanasi India we needed to catch a flight back to Mumbai. The small airport in Varanasi is about 20 minutes outside the city so we arranged a driver from the guesthouse we were staying in to take us (essentially he was a taxi driver). We followed him through the narrow alleys of the old city until we finally emerged at his SUV on the main road. Once we were in the car I remember thinking “this will be a nice chill drive and a chance for me to see some street life.” Nothing could have been farther from the truth. What proceeded next was more thrilling than any amusement park ride I have ever been on. The streets of Varanasi, India are full of everything you can imagine. For example: numerous wondering cows, old women and men, children everywhere, stray animals, rickshaws, bikes, people hauling everything in the world in carts, cars, etc, etc. Honestly I would probably drive through these streets at 20-25 mph tops. Our taxi driver took off and consistently kept around 60 mph as he dodged everything mentioned above. There were so many close calls where Lindsay and I would just close our eyes hoping that we did not have a head on collision with a cow! We spent the entire ride trying not to laugh as we were both being thrown around by the constant swerving and maneuvering by our NASCAR like driver. I busted out the camera to try and film it but it just did'nt do it justice. We finally made it to the airport and were extremely relived (and a little sad) to be out of the taxi. To this day we will never forget the experience.


This picture was taken from the back seat as we cruised through the streets of Varanasi...look at all the obstacles! :)