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Published: January 14th 2007
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Holy Sadhu
Surprisngly nobody minds if you just go up and take a picture Our first train ride in Varanasi was surprisingly comfortable and clean. It took just 12 hours from Calcutta and was only 40 minutes late. In India time that means the train was pretty much on time.
We met a an older couple on the train who have lived in India all their lives. They were really interesting to talk to. They were really concerned that we had no hotel reservations. I explained throughout our trip in SE Asia we never reserve hotels in advance and never had any problems, not even during Christmas. I quickly realized that it's different out here. There's no real tourist area packed with hotels and restaraunts that we're used to. The nice couple gave us a ride to the hotel they're staying and pretty much took care of everything we needed.
We soon realized without them we could've been screwed. The traffic here is INSANE. Shocking really. I can't really put it into words. There's not to many motorized vehicles. But the ones that are come roaring through without braking, and we have to get out of the way and quick! Mostly jamming the streets are rickshaws, herds of cows, and people......people everywhere! Findng
our way around in this chaos would've been impossible. We're just not ready for it yet!
They also gave advice on what to see in the 2 days we are saying in the ancient town of Varanasi. Told us to book our train tickets in advance through the hotel and we were on our way.
The city of Varansi is the 2nd oldest continually inhabited civilization in the world, 2nd only to Babylon. It's history and traditions haven't changed in literally 1000's of years. It's the Hindu's holiest cities where they come to die. To my surprise it's also a holy city to the Buddhists. Our first rickshaw tour brought us through all kinds of temples, particurly one stupa where Buddha's buddha's ashes are said to be spread. People from around the world come here to bow and pray. Not just simple praying but they looked as if they were in a trance. Hard to explain really, but this is one of Buddhism's holiest sites. In this area there was a temple for all kinds of buddhist countries, all slightly different. Was definatly interesting to see, however we were excited to see more hindu religion and temples. Simply
Dead body water
Only 10 meters away bodies are being burnt and sent into the river. Kids are sifting through the mud, looking for valuables. No photos are allowed of the burning bodies, kind of like taking a photo at someones funeral. Just not respectful because buddhism is all we ever saw in SE Asia. We also took a tour through the Hindu univercity grounds. It's actually really nice and modern, and somewhat peaceful!
Luckily our hotel had roomservice for food. There's no restaraunts here, no traditional ones anyway. We were really confused and had no idea where, what or how to eat. I've never felt this way before, and it taks time to get used to. There is food all over the streets in streetstalls, but they're just not safe and would make us sick. We had breakfast lunch and dinner in our hotel! Really good Indian food and meals are les than a dollar!
Our train tickets we ordered through the hotel were promised in one hour. Then 30 more minutes, then 10pm at night. At night we got a knock on the door saying they would arrive at 10am. At 10am he said 2pm, which is only 3 hours before we had to leave. Needless to say I was getting nervous. Things run on Indian time here.
What makes Varansi so famous is the ghats along the great ganges river. The river that flows from Shiva's feet. The Hindu's
Varansi Traffic
This picture doesn't do it justice. It's crazy and each time we cross the street, we pray for our lives. It NEVER stops and there's no such thing as people stopping for you holiest river where they usually come to die. I'll have to repeat, Life here on the river hasn't changed in literally 1000's of years. We took a short walk and then a 2 hour boat ride for $2.00 along the ghats. The ghats are like stairs to the river.
What we witnessed was just incredible. I'm not to sure the photos and video can do it juctice. It's just 100% completely different from life in Canada. Hindu's come here to enjoy and celbrate life. They bathe and take holy dips in the water. You can usually see them drinking the water. They swim and wash their clothes. On the ghats they give massages, pray, practice yoga, play cricket, sleep, meditate and just simply hang out. Although it's filled with 1000's of people, it's very peaceful here.
Rowing along the river we arrived at the burning ghats. This is what makes this place so surreal. Public creamations ar performed on the side of the river all day and all night. You can see the bodies being brought first to the river for their last holy dip and then to the fire. As the bodies are burning, beside them is
The ghats
I've seen a lot travelling and this has got to be the most interesting place I've ever been to. Not to sure what would top it a child flying a kite. People are gathered around, and then the ashes and the body parts are sent down the river.
People down stream are still drinking and playing in the river, seemingly not bothered or caring that it's full of dead bodies. Furthermore the Ganges is the most populated river in the world. With 1 in 13 people of the entire world living along it's banks. Billions of tons of raw sewage are pumped into the river everyday. Along with factory waste, it's simply just not safe to even touch. I wonder how these people survive. After, I heard many get very sick with disease because of all this pollution. It's unfortunate becuse they've been doing this for 1000's of years and modern pressures are changing things. Surprisingly it's not a stinky place not visit (maybe a little bit)
All this sounds quite morbid, but witnessing it is rather peaceful. Thatis until you get to the incredibly chaotic Varansi town. Getting back to our hotel we've got 2 hours before the train was to arrive. Tickets finally show up, and the guy wonders why I was so worried! Only 28 hours late!
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Jenn~
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By the way....
So got lucky and saved by nice people once again....good to hear....BE CAREFUL......i know im probably worrying about you more then i should be,lol. By the way, you know how paranoid uncle mike can get, and with good reason most of the time......He is very worried about your journey and told me a horrible story about someone traveling without health insurance......Im not sure if you two have health insurance or not (although it seems like a smart idea), but I told him you did, so stick with that story if you ever talk to him about!.......ok well be safe and have fun!......love ya! MUAH!