Varanassi Day 2

---

We woke up after a good night’s sleep and went down to meet our guide for our included sunrise boatr ride. The boat trip last night wasn’t included, but was only something like 300 Rupees extra, so just about everyone went. We strolled down to Assi Ghat again and saw the sunrise ritual taking place at Assi Ghat as we climbed into our boat, this time motorized. The main sunrise ritual was being held at Dashashwamedh Ghat, so we headed that way, stopping briefly to observe the sun rise and take photos. It is supposed to be good luck to be on the Ganges when the sun rises. We then arrived at Dashashwamedh Ghat and observed their ritual for a bit before returning to Assi Ghat. After another good breakfast in the hotel, the five of us that had opted for the Sarnath optional tour, grabbed a couple of tuk-tuks that our guide had arranged for and headed out. He told us that we would need to pay 600 Rupees for the tour, per tuk-tuk, at the end of the tour, so the 3 other ladies got a bit better deal. Sarnath is supposedly the birthplace of Buddhism.

Besides a couple of interesting more modern temples, there are fairly extensive ruins and a very cool tower, that I think was originally covered in gold. They even have a sign next to it stating “Please do not attach gold foil to the monument”! We got to the area a bit early, so the tuk-tuk drivers left us off a bit further up the road so we could visit the more modern Mulagandhakuti Vihara temple which was already open. Of course, as it seems to be with all temples, we all had to remove our shoes before entering. They had an “attendant” who made sure we did, and placed them in the rack for us. This temple was quite small compared to most of the others we’ve visited, but it was quite ornate, with a large gold Buddha statue, and apparently a Buddhist priest in attendance. After a brief walk around inside and some photos, we went back outside to check out the “Tree Temple” next door. Here we saw a series of 27 Buddha-style statues with a different name, title, attribute or whatever under each one. There were also a whole row of “prayer rolls”, or so one of the ladies with us said, made of brass that you could spin around. I think the tree temple was more interesting than the main temple.

We’ noticed an old, very large building next door to the newer temple, but apparently the gate to there was closed, so after retrieving our shoes we continued back down the road towards the main ruins. The n ext gate down led us to another small Buddhist temple, but again, the gate to the ruins was closed. After a quick look inside this second temple, we continued down the road and found the main entrance to the ruins. You have to buy a ticket from the building next to the entrance before going in. Our tickets cost 200 Rupees each, and I think they are good for a number of sites around India, or at least that is what it seemed from looking at them. Anyways, by this time it was getting quite hot, so we toured the ruins in stages, pausing periodically under trees for the shade. I won’t say the ruins here were extensive, but I found them interesting and worth the entry fee. I just wish they’d given us a booklet or at least put signs with explanations on them. All they had were simple signs stating the name of each set of ruins.

When we left the ruins, after about half an hour or so, we continued down the road and found the Standing Buddha. This is a statue of Buddha, standing versus the normal sitting position, about 85 meters high! It is made of stone, not gold like most of the other Buddha statues, but was quite impressive due to its size and the fact that it was standing. By now it was getting quite hot (we found out later it was a record hot day at 111!), so after grabbing a bottle of soda we walked back up the road until we found our tuk-tuk drivers, and headed back to the hotel.

When we arrived at the hotel, it was well after noon, so we paid our driver the 600 Rupees and a couple hundred extra, and took a small nap. Several of the ladies from our tour decided to go shopping, so off we went. After the long walk down the road to the main market area, Manoli and I went our separate way from the ladies to do some shopping. Strangely enough, even as big as the market area is, we bumped into them two or three times. The third time, we all agreed to go looking for the Blue Lassi Shop again for lunch. It took a while, but we finally found it. After a filling lassi, we found our way out of the market to the Ganges and started walking along it, looking for the rest of the group that would be observing evening prayers. We finally found them, but I wasn’t particularly interested in sitting there for an hour and headed back to the hotel, leaving Manoli with the group. They finally showed up fairly late. I’d finished the previous blog and posted it before hitting the hay.

Tomorrow we have a short day with nothing planned, so I probably won’t do a blog for that day. We head to the train station at 3pm to catch our overnight sleeper train to Agra and the Taj Mahal.

---