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Published: April 1st 2007
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Now I understand why India's tourist season ends at the end of March! When we arrived in Varanasi after having flown in from Khajuraho, the temperature was a sweltering 40 degrees Centigrade -- or about 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Our bus from the airport had small fans attached to the windows to boost the air conditioning, and we were still pretty miserable. Fortunately, our tour guide Raj Deep keeps us well supplied with unlimited quantities of bottled water so we can keep from getting dehydrated.
My first impression of the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, which was settled 5,000 years ago, was that it was even more traditional than the other cities we had visited. Bicycle rickshaws seem to be the predominant mode of transportation, followed by auto-rickshaws, buses, and trucks. We also saw a few curvaceous white sedans called Ambassadors that look like something out of the 1940s.
Upon entering our hotel, the Hindustan International, we were warned rather ominously not to go out at night alone because "anything might happen." The hotel staff greeted us warmly with traditional Indian music, broad smiles, mango juice, and marigold leis, but our rooms were not nearly as nice as our
rooms in the other cities. In fact, in the middle of our first night here, the water pipe from the bide-like sprayer that Indians use instead of toilet paper burst in the bathroom of one of the rooms burst out of the wall and spewed water forth for about 40 minutes. As a result, much of the hallway rug on the second floor was very squish the next morning. Also, on the second night of our stay, when we had dinner with local Indian families, the electricity went out, so we were completely in the dark for a short time. Eventually, the hotel's generator kicked in, but we were told that power in Varanasi is extremely unreliable.
Varanasi is the holiest of Indian cities, where Hindu pilgrims come to wash away their sins, to die, and to cremate their dead. At 5 a.m. on our first morning, we left our hotel in the darkness to go watch the sun rise on the over the city. When we arrived, people were already out sweeping the dirt sidewalks, lighting candles, and moving about. Cows were abundant. There were no street lights but there were decorative lights that looked like Christmas tree
lights. Within minutes, we ran into a group of about 30 people singing and chanting and beating drums like and making their way through the city.
We followed our guide down narrow passageways to the steps leading down to the Ganges and about 20 of us got one of several large rowboats. Powered by two tiny Indian men, our boat took us a short distance from the shore, where we watched the sun come up as a beautiful red orb and softly caress the crowded buildings on the river bank (kind of reminded me of Cinque Terre in Italy). We all lit candles on a little basket of flowers and put it in the river as a prayer. That was beautiful. Afterwards, we watched men and women bathing in the river, bodies being burned in the fires, women with shaved heads who had offered their hair as an offering to the gods, and monkeys clambering on the rooftops. It was one of the most surreal and memorable experiences I have ever had in my life.
Our guide led us back to the bus through a narrow warren of alleyways that reminded me of the casbah in Marrakech, Morocco,
except that people were not just selling things. They were basically living in public, praying, washing their clothes, carrying water, cooking over open fires, and brushing their teeth and urinating. It was really very medieval. We had to squeeze by cows, goats, and dogs. A leprous woman with bandaged stumps for hands followed me all the way up begging for money. It was quite intense. One funny thing I saw, though, was a shop selling rolls of toilet paper with the words "HELLO, soft toilet paper" embazoned on the front. That's the first time I've ever been greeted by a roll of toilet paper.
That's it for now. I could go on and on about Varanasi, but I'm out of time. I'll add more pictures and comments when I get back home. Tomorrow we fly to Nepal!
Love,
Kerry
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Linda in DC
non-member comment
loving your postings
Hi Kerry, just wanted to let you know you are being read. Great descriptions of what you've seen and where you've been. Thanks! Tomorrow is Easter and we had a half-inch of snow last night. Freeze warning for two nights running. So you're not missing a thing here (cept the cherry blossoms were quite nice pre-freeze.....) Stay safe! Beware of ice cubes! Linda