Varanasi - It's all Lies...Lies...Lies...

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Another 'TOURIST CITY' high on 'TOUT ALERT' to contend with... just what we need eh!! Well... our determination not to be fooled was as strong as ever as we marched into Varanasi on the offensive. We hopped on a rickshaw which was way too small for us and our evergrowing baggage and clinged to it all the way through town to the restaurant (not hotel) we told our driver to take us too (to avoid being followed into our hotel and having a hefty commission added to our bill). 20 mins into the bumpy ride and still no sign of the restaurant we wanted to go to, to our dismay we were delivered straight into the hands of his friends (touts) who led us through a maze of Alleys and lanes supposedly to the restaurant... no...i t was a feckin hotel we didn't wanna go to!! Does nobody listen in this town... best of it is, you have to pay the rickshaw driver to take you to the wrong place!!!! We refused to go in and after a few bad manners being exchanged on both sides, during which Aaron in particular excelled himself, together we tried to retrace our steps through the maze feeling like an extra in the movie 'Labyrinth'...hoping 'Hogwart' would come and save us!! Eventually we suceeded in finding the hotel we wanted to stay in, however, before we even had the chance to pat ourselves on the back... a mysterious man appeared from nowhere, followed us into the hotel, hung around like a bad smell telling us how great it was (Tout Alert) and no doubt got his commission... too tired to fight anymore we went with it.

Despite the greater than normal concentration of liers in Varanasi, it is a pretty interesting city and we did end up liking it alot. Part of that was due to the 'Brown Bread Bakery'...what a treat, chilled out little place with low tables and music some nights that serves up great juices and something we havent had since we left home....sausages. We hadn't really eaten much meat since we left home and our energy levels were a bit down we settled ourselves down for a bit of a meat feast... and we werent the only ones...joining us was the greatest concentration of backpackers we've seen in any one place yet. So that put the smiles back on our faces, Indias up's and downs are amazing, you can go from angry and frustrated one minute to blissed out and content again in one swift swoop!!

Varanasi is one of the oldest cities in the world and has alot of religious importance for Hindu people, it's pretty interesting wandering along the Ghats. We took a sunrise and sunset boat trip alongside the Ghats(steps down to the water), our rower 'Peter'...actually it wasnt 'Peter' we can't remember his name, but he was great and explained to us what happened at the burning Ghats. He told us how many older Hindu's come here to live out their final days, hoping to die, be cremated at one of the burning Ghats and have their ashes sprinkled into the Ganges which apparently gains them instant enlightenment...not sure what that involves...but it must be good, it's constantly burning and is a very public and quite a haunting sight, for us especially, but very much a priviledge for Hindu people. In between are the bathing Ghats, which are a hive if activity and colour especially at sunrise as locals and pilgrims alike bath in 'Mother Ganges' amongst herds of buffalo, body parts, and trillions of bacteria....jeez...fancy a dip anyone???

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