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Published: September 29th 2018
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We finally managed to get to Varanasi about midnight last night, only 12 hours later than planned. Our tuk tuk driver from the station didn’t seem that confident as to the exact location of our guesthouse and we found ourselves wondering down the narrow alleys somewhat unsure of where we were going. Fortunately a couple of nice locals en route reassured us we were going in the right direction and we soon arrived. Well locked up they fortunately answered the doorbell and were extremely kind and welcoming. Our room is small but clean and tidy and we were soon fast asleep.
This morning we decided to do our usual wonder around. After a rooftop breakfast (with view of the Ganges) we walked down to the nearest ghat (munshi ghat) and then headed south along the river. The Ghats are extremely interesting with lots of different things happening at each of them. We saw lots of boats, people swimming, fishing, card games, kite flying and even a photo shoot as we walked along. Just before lunch we saw one of the burning Ghats, Harishchandra Ghat, with the fires still burning from that mornings cremations. I have to admit that we find
Cleaning the Ghats
Power hosing the mud off the stairs it strange people choosing to swim in the river next to the pyres as they get covered in other people’s ashes.
Being just after monsoon you cannot walk freely between all of the Ghats. Even those you can walk between you need to be careful as the mud is extremely deep in some areas (we saw one chap go knee deep in the mud and his mates had to pull him out). This meant that we intermittently went up and walked down the narrow streets behind the Ghats. I enjoyed wondering around these tiny streets and looking at all the stalls.
After lunch we saw a herd of water buffalo cooling themselves in the river. Unusually one of them was an albino. Going back into the streets to try and find a way into the next Ghat we met Ajay. A young man who grew up in Varanasi and now works in Goa. He gave us lots of recommendations about where to go and then showed us around the silk factories where they use the hand looms to make the silk and where they add the embroidery and make clothing. I found it really interesting, especially how they
make patterns in the silk. Unsurprisingly we were then shown the shop that sells the silk and may have been persuaded to part with some cash for a beautiful hand woven pashmina.
Leaving the shop Ajay rejoined us and took us to a local Shiva temple - I’ve already forgotten its name. But it has steep steps down to a small pool of water where women from across India come to bathe if they’re struggling to conceive.
We then headed over to Assi Ghat (where the river Assi meets the Ganges) where they do daily yoga in the mornings and have an evening Ganga aarti ceremony. He then left us to go back and relax (and cool down) in our hotel for a bit.
In the evening we headed North to the Dashashwamedh Ghat to see the daily Ganga Aarti ceremony with music, puja and dancing. Despite having a reputation for being very busy with hawkers and tauts we decided to see this one as it’s closer to our accommodation than Assi Ghat. Being off season it wasn’t actually as busy as we’d expected and we managed to get a seat on the steps with a reasonable view.
The music was soon interrupted by a power cut (I’m not entirely sure the singing isn’t all pre recorded as there was nothing other than bells once the power went out).
Power back on we soon got chatting to a pleasant local boy about his life in Varanasi and where he should travel to in India as he’d never left this area. It wasn’t until after the ceremony had finished and we were walking out that we had to pass huge numbers of beggars but nobody was aggressive or unpleasant.
After a yummy dinner we opted for an early night as we have yet another early start tomorrow to see the Ghats from the river at sunrise.
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