Varanasi

Varansi aka Benares aka Kashi

After Agra and the Taj Mahal, Ari and I hopped on a night train at 11:00pm headed toward the holy city of Varanasi!
Varanasi is the holiest city in the Hindu religion and for good reason, this place is amazing. Over 5000 years old and continually occuppied since man first walked this region. The Ganges river flows through this city and the Ganges is worshipped here because it is the bringer of life to the region. India has been an absolute whirlwind so far!! We shared our 13hour train journey last night with a very friendly Indian family that consisted of grandma, husband and wife and there little girl. THey shared Indian sweets with us and some fried treats they had, they were on there way to a wedding in Lucknow which is about 5 hours before our stop. We stayed up and chatted with them for awhile and the little girl just loved Ari and they colored in her coloring books while I chatted with the father who was the only other one who spoke english. We will never forget there kindness and trust, it made for an awesome trip. We drank cups of chai from clay cups for 5 rupees each (about 10 cents). I think we had about 20 cups over the whole trip. We landed in Varanasi today at about one o clock! We are staying at a great hotel in a building that is 700 years old... It has been rebuilt a few times and remodeled and looks very colonial british now. It is amazing and has a huge garden surrounding the building. The food here has been BEYOND expectations! We have been eating everything in site! And NO DIARREHEA! So far!! Fingers crossed! Hahahaha.

At about 5:00pm Ari and I went down the the Ghats lining the Ganges river, the Ghats are stairs that lead down the the Ganges and many pilgrims come to pray, excersize, gaze, and relax. We stopped by the burning Ghats which is where most Hindus in India will bring there dead to be cremated and then the ashes will float away down the river. We watched ceremony after ceremony all night and it was incredible. We had a boat take us down the ganges and the moon was full and high in the air. The night was calm and all you could hear was chanting and bells ringing from the temples along the river, the water glowed from the moon and you could smell incense strong in the air.

We are having an amazing time here and this place is more beautiful that I could even try to tell you right now, We are both looking forwarded to being able to share our experiences and stories with our families when we return in hopes to prove to everyone why exactly we chose this place to visit!

Love you all and well post again soon!
-Kyle and Ari

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