Arrival in India - Varanasi

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After being frisked 5 times before boarding the plane (due to some high profile guy being on our flight) we arrived in Varanasi.

Having been here once before I can still describe it as an "interesting sh*thole", no visit to India is complete without it however.

We were told to just walk "straight" to find our guest house, which is common advice given by most Indians. In fact a couple of boys wanting baksheesh guided us through narrow alleys of urine, faeces, cows, rats and scooters to our guesthouse on the Ganges.

The guys at Ajay's guest house were massive rip off merchants so do not stay here! This actually started a trend when we were travelling through North India which actually became tiresome...Anyway!

The location was great, being right above Raj Ghat (one of the main ones)

The next day we explored the various ghats (including the burning ones, nice smell) It was very cold and foggy but we took a boat ride with a sweet young boy who earned his baksheesh well.

We learnt that there was a hierarchy for bodies in the river.

Pregnant women, children and sadhus are not burned but are tied to rocks and then sunk to the bottom. Snake charmers are also not burned but they don't get rocks tied to them, they are simply dumped in the river...

We also saw a strange dancing ritual with men eating money celebrating their inheritance!

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Photos

Where we stayed
We stayed in a room up the top, away from the urine soaked path below

Caged in
The restaurant we ate at had a lot of monkeys around it

Guli Gundra
Kids playing a game where they flick up a sharp piece of wood and hit it before it hits the ground. "Very dangerous" they say to passing touirsts

Celebration dance
Men dancing with money in their mouths to celebrate their inheritance