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Published: April 24th 2013
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Aboard the night train to Varanasi
Aboard the night train to Varanasi 19/04/2013
Our train from Delhi to Varanasi was meant to arrive at 11 am however as the train was five hours delayed leaving Delhi it was given low priority which meant every train behind us we had to let past. Our train therefore took an ironically ungodly 16 hours to reach Varanasi.
The train itself, once we were finally aboard was quite pleasant. We were in class AC2 with the majority of people being tablet and mobile wielding Indians. It was only when the train finally left the station that we began to relax. We met a friendly man who used to work for a Irish cafe who was keen to know where we were going and to tell us where we should be going. Andrew and I slept soundly in our bunks despite the train constantly stopping.
Unfortunately when we awoke in the morning we were many miles from Varnasi in the Indian countryside. We whiled away the journey watching House on the Netbook (thank you Smelly and Cat!) and catching up on our diary entries.
When we did arrive in Varanasi it was dark and we were at the Mugal Surai station some 40km from
Tuk-Tuk to the Ganges
Tuk-Tuk to the Ganges Varanasi. After bartering for a fair price with a tuk-tuk driver we headed towards the Ghat. Our slightly crazy tuk -tuk driver had installed a strobe light in the back and enjoyed driving to extremely loud hindi music. He dropped us 'very near to Lalita Ghat' where our hotel was booked as tuk-tuks are not allowed down the narrow alley ways. We wandered down narrow alley ways constantly asking for directions but to no avail. We eventually bumped into a lovely American tourist who suggested we stay at her hostel. It being fully booked, we instead checked into the hotel next door being Shiva Guesthouse. It seemed clean and the owner gave me a cold bottle of water on arrival and showed me their stunning rooftop restaurant overlooking the Ganges. We paid the 700 Rs and headed off for a much needed shower and bed.
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20/04/2013
For all those who constantly tell me that Andrew is grumpy in the morning - I can now give you proof that he can be a morning person when he wants to be for his girlfriend strongly requests him to be. At 5.10 am this morning our alarm went off
Sunrise over the Ganges
Sunrise over the Ganges and we headed down at the crack of dawn for a boat ride down the Ganges. The reason I wanted to go to Varanasi was to see the Hindu religious ceremonies for the dead and the morning bathing rituals in the beautiful but very murky Ganges.
Unfortunately I seemed to have jinxed the weather by saying we would not see any rain until Australia. When we boarded the rowing boat with our newly made Japanese friend from the Hostel it was drizzling; by the time we turned around it was that sort of rain which drenches you to the bone. We rowed up and down the Ghats watching the men, women, children and holy men bathe and swim in the supposed healing waters. It was an amazing sight but altogether striking.
I had hoped to go by boost to the burning Ghat to see where the Hindus bring there dead for cremation but as the rain was coming down quite heavily and we rather worryingly began to feel cold, we instead headed back to the hostel.
We slept soundly for 3 boys before waking up to get to get breakfast. the hostel made us fresh pancakes which
we thought was a nice safe option although I did order a banana lassi which, although Andrew was unsure about was absolutely delicious.
After breakfast we headed out along the Ghats for what I can only describe as a bizarre experience caused by following the when in Rome principle to it's extreme. As we were walking we met two young boys who started taking to us about the history of the Ghats. The taller boy's English was fantastic so Andrew and I subtly agreed to give them some rupees if they showed us the way through the alleyways to the Golden Temple. Before we knew it we were winding through the streets with the awful racket of Justin Bieber being played loudly on their phone to amuse us. Under instruction we logged our passport details, left our bags in a locker and bought flowers to take into the temple. Andrew and I had a serious concern that we were in over our heads but didn't know how to proceed. We both realised we were definitely in over our heads when we were reciting marriage blessings to Shiva. Not wanting to be disrespectful we left as soon as we could.
The Ghats
The Ghats The temple while beautiful seemed a way of forcing people into giving money for blessings which reminded me of the pre-Lutheran church.
The alleyways were so muddy and dirty that we were caked with mud. So in a real state of culture shock both at the abject poverty and the experience in the temple, we cleaned ourselves off, leaving the outside outside while we sat on our bed and watched Hugh Laurie do the doctoring he does best. The only interruption being the call of the monkeys, the fighting of feral dogs from nearby rooftops.
Amelia
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