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Published: February 7th 2012
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We extended our stay in Hampi by another 4 nights. We had met so many nice people that we didn't want to leave. We also changed our plans to go to Kanha national park as it was too much effort to get there and very expensive. Hopefully we will see some tigers somewhere else.
When we booked our tickets to Varanasi everyone told us that it's winter in the north and that it will be cold. I asked the agent how cold and he told me European temperatures. We did get a bit worried because we don't have any suitable clothes. When I checked the forecast online it said it will be around 25C during the day and between 15 and 17C at night. It seems that anything under 35 is cold for Indians. The locals here walk around with winter jackets, hats/earmuffs and scarves - it's really not that bad - a jumper will do.
The journey here was very long and we left on 3 February by sleeper bus (9 hours) to Hyderabad and then took a train from there to Varanasi (28 1/2 hours). We arrived in Varanasi on 5 February. I was really worried about
the night bus as I am not a fan of them and I try to avoid them by all means due to previous experience. This one was acutally quite good. It was a proper sleeper with beds, pillows and blankets and we did get some sleep. The train journey was good. It's long but we never get bored. The night was horrible though because two of the windows near our beds wouldn't shut and it got really cold. Everyone was wrapped up in their blankets trying to shut the windows and trying to sleep. We are still exhausted from the travelling.
We found a lovely room in a guesthouse with a balcony overlooking the Ganges. Exactly what we wanted and it was the first room we looked at. They only have one room and the restaurant that's above it is one of the best in Varanasi. Very handy! And we have wifi!!!!!!
Varanasi is a holy city for the Hindus and people all over India travel here to die and be cremated. The cremations are done at the ghats. The ghats are the stairs leading down to the Ganges. There are two burning ghats - a smaller one
that's near ours and then the big main burning ghat. You have to be prepared to see things you might not want to see. Corpses get burned here 23 hours a day, every day. The people get burned on different levels with the higher casts on the top one and the lowest by the Ganges. They bring the dead down to the ghat, put them in the Ganges for a short while so they are covered in the water and then prepare them to be burned. The wood for this will be weight up on big scales. Some of the corpses are being brought down with their feet and heads not covered so it can be a bit of a shock. It is interesting to see though how openely people deal with the death and the cremations here in Varanasi. Only men are allowed at the cremations because women cry too much (so I was told) and in previous years the women threw themselves onto the fires out of desperation of losing the main breadwinner. The interesting thing is that the family members hardly show any emotions - there is certainly no open crying. Not everyone gets burned. Children, pregnant
women and people who died of snakebites are put in the Ganges straight away. The ashes of all the burnt people also go in the Ganges. People try to make money out of it though. You can watch the procedures but it's very likely that a 'guide' will approach you and ask you to follow him to a place where you are 'allowed' to watch. You will get a little talk and then they ask you to make a donation in US dollars. This donation so they tell you (and the Lonely Planet says the same) goes towards the wood that the family has to buy for the burning. I don't quite believe this. You also shouldn't take any pictures, which is obvious but if you pay 10 Euros then you are allowed. Some of the 'guides' get quite agressive and ask you to move on because you already spent too much time watching or come up with some other made up story. If nothing works then they will try and get you to donate to one of the hospices where the people come to die. If that fails then they'll try the thing about the silk factories. It's pretty sad that people try and make money out of this.
I was glad that I went to the smaller burning that first - it's not as 'commercial' there and I did get some interesting information there without paying. This could be because I had to make a quick exit after realising that the wind started blowing ashes all over us.....
As you can imagine, the Ganges is very polluted but people still bath in it, wash their clothes and brush their teeth. At one place dead people swim around and in the other people use it for washing. It's pretty cross but they believe that because it is a holy river it will wash away a life of sins. Our guesthouse guy offered to wash our clothes but I declined his offer..... I am also avoiding the chai sellers on the river.....better save than sorry.
Once you walk away from the river you get to a maze of alleyways called 'galis'. It's very interesting to walk around them. They are like a bazaar but you don't get hassled like in Egypt or Morocco and you see all sorts of shops. It's very easy to get lost there and you end up walking in circles or in the completely wrong direction.
The first night we decided to go to McDonalds at the IP Mall. We really fancied one - but a McDonalds without beef just isn't right. Anyways, we ask an autorickshaw to take us there and he wanted far too much money so we took a cycle rickshaw. They are clearly not made for western people as we couldn't fit our bums on the seat next to each other. The guy also seemed to struggle quite a lot. We decided to walk back from there as it isn't very far but got hoplessly lost!
Varanasi is very interesting and it was one of the places I really wanted to go and I am very glad we did. It is very dirty though and the smell can get too much at times. You have the usual animals roaming the streets and the ghats and they just pee and poo everywhere but so do the people. I thought that the smell of the burning people must be horrible but you don't smell that at all. They put some powder in so it doesn't smell.
I can highly recommend to everyone who wants to visit India to stop over in Varanasi! Just don't get ripped off!
We are here until 9 February when we will take a train to Delhi for our last 3 days in India.
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