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Hello again from Varanasi. Soo, when I booked a train ticket from the hotel a few days ago. I told the guy to book it for the fifth. He said there was one emergency seat left, which was lucky, and booked it for me. I double checked that I was going to the right station, that the name of the train was right and came to the right platform, actually it moved, but someone let me know, which was good.
Oh, I was also basically swarmed by crickets while waiting in the train station. Only a couple jumping on me every few minutes while I sat there, but then when I picked up my bag I realized that apparently every cricket that had jumped on or near me had apparently decided that my bag was a good place to stop, all over it and in every nook and cranny. Pretty hillarious, but strange.
Anyway, back to the station. So then I bought a bunch of fruit for my long train ride and some other snacks and finally the train comes, about an hour late, and I find the right car and then finally the right berth. There's someone already in it, ready to argue, I say, "thats my spot," but he insists its his. He asks to see my ticket. Studies it for about a minute, and casually says, this ticket is for June 6th. Crap. So I double checked basically everything on the ticket but the date. Now I have to get all the way back to the guest house, which is much more horrible than leaving because everyone thinks I have just arrived and wants to scam me all over again. Not to mention its now almost 12 and hot as hell. So I get a rickshaw who suspiciously right away offers what I have previously deemed to be the correct price. Then he finds out I want to go back to my guest house which doesn't pay scamming members of the rickshaw mafia commision and says, oh yeah I meant its double the price. I call him out and he goes back to the original. Then we drive around for a while and I keep noticing crickets on his back, which I find rather hillarious and assume are still pouring out of my bag, but he doesn't seem to mind. Then he takes me to some terrible little hotel in some alley no where near where I want to go and tries to talk me into staying there. Again I kindly ask him to please take me to where he told me he would. He then drops me off an extra kilometer away from a convenient spot that would cause me less extreme perspiration, but its not so bad because I'm tired of dealing with him. So then I have completely lost all of the bearings I developed since I've been here because I had driven in two rickshaws without paying attention to which way they were going, and have to keep asking people which way to my guest house. Along the way my bag was 'checked' by some police who also happen to be carrying around some sort of heavy rifle, but it was the slackest bag check ever and just wasted time for both of us. Finally made it back and got the same room and took another shower and cooled off. Hell of a morning.
I don't really mind being stuck here because I've realized that I really love this city and sort of regret staying here for a short amount of time. I made some good friends here and had some good times with them, I love wandering around the labryinthine alleys without ever really getting lost because the river is always on one side and the main road on the other. Well, I guess I can't say I love this city as I've sort of only experienced a few seperate smaller parts of it. But once I accepted the heat, which I did quickly or it would have been miserable, I really enjoyed myself.
I've done some good wandering and seen many of the really interesting and beautiful ghats on the side of the river and even went to the Muslim district to see where they make most of the silk they sell everywhere. I also experienced some good bargaining in a way I hadn't really thought of with a friend in which the key is patience, and always seems to work in the end. I wanted to do some more shopping today but decided to take an hour nap at about 3 and it ended up lasting until 6:30. I guess because I was so exhausted from the morning.
Washed some clothes by hand today for the first time ever with a bar of laundry soap I bouth for 6 Rs. It wouldn't have been so bad except my bathroom is so humid and hot that the ceiling was seriously raining.
Alright so I head out to the train station again tomorrow for a 19 hour train ride from here to Haridwar which arrives there at 4 in the morning, or if I don't get off because I sleep through the stop, then to Dehra Dun, which wouldn't be horrible because its only an hour further. An then a short bus to Rishikesh. I'll probably update from there. Night!
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Mom
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laundry
I'm glad you are learning some useful things like how to hand wash your laundry. I am drinking one of your good home brews and reading all your messages. I had gotten behind after I stopped worrying about you getting there. It sounds like a very interesting and exciting trip except for the heat. It has just gotten very hot here-96 degrees today. I guess that seems cool to you. I can't wait to see some photos. Be careful, Love, Mom