Varanasi our last stop in India

---

This time two trains to catch to get to Varanasi.. Our final destination in India! After an early breakfast with Heather and Nik we took a taxi to Ajmer to take the 11 o'clock train!! Easy peasy.. We where thinking this would take 2.5 hours, but instead looking out of our window we see the signs of Jaipur already after an hour and half. Jumping out of the train into the madness of Jaipur station. Yeah, we had to wait till 15.20 to catch our last long destination train. All good we found a spot just under the timetable sign not realising it at first and just thinking that this time EVERYBODY was staring at us!! Hahahahahahaha....
Unfortunatly we didn't get seats next to each other, cause we where waitlisted, but atleast we where on the train and direction Varanasi!

Varanasi

Varanasi is said to be on of the most blindingly colourful, unforgiving chaotic and unapologetically indiscreet places on earth. Also known at different times in history as Kashi (City of Life) or Benares, this is on of the world oldest consistent inhabited cities and one of the holiest places in India.
Hindu pilgrims come to the ghats to wash away a liftime of sins in the sacred waters of the river Ganges or to cremate their loved ones. Here the most intimate rituals of life and death take place in public and the sights and sounds in and around the ghats are overwhelming.

Arriving in Varanasi we got a pick up from our hostel! Nice one, cause we got dropped off just before the maze of crazy little streets leading up to the Ganges. We had to follow our driver through it all!! And on our own we would never ever have found it!

In the afternoon we met up with Mariano (our Argetinian friend from Mcleod Ganj) who's been in Varanasi for a week already! So we had our personal guide. Really handy cause without a hassle we found our way through Varanasi... He showed us Manikarnika Ghat, also know as the main burning ghat. Both of us where just completly overwhelmed with the burning ghats... It's weird to see burning bodies in piles of wood. Sometimes you see feet sticking out, sometimes a head uncovered!
It's the most auspicious place for a Hindu to be cremated. Dead bodies are handled by outcast known as doms, and are carried through the alleyways of the old city to the holy Ganges on a bamboo stretcher wrapped in cloth. The dead body is dipped in the Ganges before the cremation. Huge piles of firewood are stacked along the top of the burning ghat. Every log is carefully weighed on a giant scale so that the price of cremation can be calculated. There is an art to using just enough wood to completly burn a body.
Of course we couldn't take any pictures but this will always be in our memory.
In the evening Mariano took us to the "Ganga Aarti" (river worship ceremony) at the main Dasaswamedh Ghat. Here is where all the lotus flowers candles are lite and are given to the Ganges.

The next day we spend our morning with Mariano before he took the train all the way down to Mumbay (36 hours.. yes not easy).
The rest of our time we spend "People watching" along the ghats.. There are 80 ghats along the Ganges. So many spots to sit down and take pictures..to see the fascinating mixture of people who come to the Ganges not only for a ritual bath, but also to wash clothes, do yoga, offer blessings, sell flowers, get a massage, play cricket, wash their buffaloes, improving their karma by giving to beggers or simply hang around!
We've been really lucky cause the boat men where on strike so the first two days we didn't get hassled for that! But our last day the sounds around us where: Yes, you need boat, Yes you need boat..

We easily could have spend more time in Varanasi.. We where one of those who fell in love with it!

---

Photos

Man attending Ganga aarti
river worship ceremony that goes every evening