Varanasi

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It's terribly nice here. We arrived a little scheptical because it is renound (in lonely planet and these two random dutch people) for being dangerous. Indeed these things may be right, but not for us so far...Very Nicey Varanasi.

Upon arrival we were hassled, as expected, by men offering a rikshaw ride to varanasi. This was about 5:30 in the evening and it would be getting dark pretty shortly so we wanted to find and get into 'Hotel Alka' as recomended in the guide book. As we found the area where the rikshaws were we also saw two girls from Lithuania who we had seen before bording the train. One of the girls was speaking Hindi to one of the drivers and asked us if we wanted to share a ride. The men refused and said we had to take seperate rides, this was acceptable so we got in one behind and said 'follow them'. The man did not start up his engine and did not follow them as they sped off round the corner. After hearing that rikshaw men often take passengers to random places to either mug them or to just leave them we at this point were a tiny bit worried. The guy kept on telling us that Hotel Alka was no good and we should go to another hotel that was much better (more like a hotel that gave him comission to bring guests). So we told him no and to take us to Alka. Eventually we got going, experiencing two nervous moments when he just stopped and got out, he also started to tell us the history of varanasi which i guess was nice of him but we just wanted to get to a bed!...As we came into old varanasi we actually saw the two girls getting out of the rikshaw so we told our guy to pull over so we could follow them. We thought of nothing better than being with someone fluent in the language in a new and apparantly violent city. Their rikshaw man offered to take us through the labyrinth of the slums that makes up most of this city. Now it was dark and he continualy told us that Alka was full and he knew a better place. We said no and eventually got to Alka...it was full. So we left and found Hotel Puja...not full but overpriced rooms to the max. So we ditched our guide and went looking for ourselfs. Varanasi is a strange place at night as its more of a lottery as to whether there is going to be power and therefore light. Also the streets are alleyways that do not have names and the plaec is best described as a massive slum. As if by a complete miracle we found a small sign saying 'Suraj Guesthouse. Family run guesthouse with a home feel and rooftop view' So we went inside and met the owner who had a room for us.

The guesthouse is an open air rooftop living space with 8 rooms in total and 2 floors, 2 shared bathrooms and a seperate rooftop that overlooks the Ganges. Everything is out in the open air and to access our living area we had to go through the families house. At only 200 rps a night it was perfect, even though the bed is wood and the room is small, the toilet just being a hole. This is all compensated for by the people who are staying there. As we arrived some people were setting up the floor for a sitar and tabla concert. Small and personal there were a number of japanese people from somewhere else that had come to watch. Suddenly all there were was travellers in the room. After the concert we sat with the other people who were staying with us and chatted into the night feasting on oranges. There was one guy from england, another from isreal, one italian girl, and one russian girl. All had been travelling non stop for atleast a year if not more. This instantly made me feel so much better about the length of time we were away as in comparison it was nothing.

The next day we did as recomended by the others and just walked along the ghats lining the ganges. Everyone here is so nice and friendly, also used to tourists as there were no strange looks or hassle. Most conversations have been with young kids who just want to practice there english. Appart from that there is the endless sound of someone offering us a boat or every drug there is possible. We have learnt now that there are (apparantly) alot of different types of LSD. Yesterday was a first as we were offered herion as a finally to a guy basically listing everydrug that is known to man. But this is all easy to ignore as they are not too persistant, so just say 'no thanks, i have diarrhoea' (works everytime for every occasion). The travellers here are so laid back and all anyone seems to do is eat and drink chi on the ghats...reading or playing music. Another observation is that everyone has dreads and a beard. We bumped into the english guy (Sam...from surrey) along the ghats and he kindly offered to show us around as so we dont waste our time getting lost, which is damn easy to do. That evening we had some lush Thali and chilled out on the roof. Oh yes i must not forget...as we are staying on a rooftop guesthouse with an open plan we are there for subjectable to the massive population of rooftop monkeys. Who are not shy to come knocking on the door or bang on the rooftop at 5 in the morning. Ali actually went on the rooftop to view the sunrise and was surrounded by atleast 10 of these critters, one of which happily jumped on his back.

On Thursday we met up with Ilna (the russian 30 yr old who left her job and fiance to come travelling around india) who told us we must go for a swim in the ganges. Oh yes, again before i forget, earlier that day we had wondered to one of the burning ghat in which people are cremated by natural fire and some of there ashes are pushed into the ganges. Added to this all sewage systems run pretty much directly into the ganges. Also any rubbish people have they just throw it in the ganges. And this is meant to be a sacred river?...so anyway we thought 'why not?' as thousands of people wash in it everyday and are fine. Luckily the spot which Ilna recomended was on the other side of the river where it is basically all sand, like a beach. So we took a boat accross and chilled out for a bit as the sun went behind the clouds. Here there were a few chubby men wearing fairly nice clothes, here if your chubby it means your rich. hahaha. But more importantly is that one of the men was casually waving around a handgun, magazine (gun magazine) held in the other hand. And as they got back into a boat he popped the bullets back in and shoved the gun down his trousers...mafia style. This was now two firsts for Ali and I: first was seeing a dead body at the burning ghats and next seeing this civilian with a real gun. oh...the power has just gone...thankfully its clear that we are connected to a personal genorator. So as the dun came out we dived into the river off one of the boats. Suprisingly the water is a perfect tempurature and feels clean. It was exremely refreshing to be in water again as that is one thing i have missed the most. After a light swim out into the water we hoped to stumble across a dolphin. They swim freely in the river, blind although they are, and on occasion can be seen coming up for air. Unfortunately we did not bump into one. So we climbed out and dried off in the sun relaxing and reading our books. It was only as we left that i noticed some dogs nearby fighting close to the water. And as some left one remained and appeared to be chewing violently at something lying on the floor. Curiousity grabbed me and i went over to investigate. There lying before me with a hungry dog going at it was a half burnt corpes of a human body. Face still visable with no arms and legs. Shocked, the only thing i could think of doing was to take a picture. Hohoho. We then learnt that sometimes at the burning ghats some of the bodies dont burn completely, so they just push them into the river where they happily float to the other side and rest. Float in the river we had just pleasantly swam in. A bit gross i must admit.

So anyway, Varanasi is a beautifull place. Goats dogs cows and monkey roam completely freally among the people. With cows very often blocking the alleyways so that we are forced to perform a jacky chan esq stunt over them. All people do here is sit around in the peacefulness making friends and reading books, and obviously drinking chi (just like milky tea but with a hell of a lot of sugar). In two days i read the Da Vinci Code, something i could never do at home. It is very easy why many people we have met have been here for 2 months or more and don't want to leave. Today we went to surnath where Buddha gave his first talk to his disciples after achieving enlightenment. We have now covered 2 of the 4 main places on the Buddha pilgrimage. We are gona go get some Thali and mabye a Masala Dosa for dinner, and ofcourse a 2 month out of date cola...naturally. Until next time!

p.s. i must appologise throughout this entire blog and other blogs for any spelling mistakes. I know i am terrible but i can't be bothered to strain my brain to correct them. Cheers x

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Photos

The Place
This is a rough picture of Varanasi. Here you can see the river Ganges and lining it is all the Ghats (steps that lead down to the river where people to their puja every morning/night)

Ice cream man
This is the most common icecream sold in India...it made us giggle.

Holy Cow!
A nice little picture of all the cows/ox/wilderbeast things bathing in the Holy River.

Space Invaders?
The city seams to have an obsession with the Space Invaders logo. Here is one of many paintings that scatter the ghats.

How can they be homeless?
These are a small group of pups that lived in a hole by the river. Homeless and with a starving mother we did not wait around to give them some food. Awwww

Lovely Chi
This is by the puppies and where we sat on a daily basis drinking chi and talking to random people. The guy on the phones name was Dave...a little strange concidering the common names of the people.

Handy Helper
On preparing for the Prime Ministers arrival the people asked us to help out with moving this massive box. And apparantly Ali and I were very 'Powerfull'. In this picture you can just see the top of Ali's hair in the crowd.

Beach?
This is us just before plunging into the Ganges. It was quite pleasant actually.

The Body
Well this is what we saw as we came out of the river...