Blogs from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, Asia - page 2

The fact that I was stuck in a middle seat did not bother me, because my Air India flight could not have been any nicer. The seats were a good size, the sari-clad stewardesses were kind, and although it was only a two-hour flight they served us a decent lunch. America might think of itself as first world, but our domestic air service is strictly bottom of the barrel. It wasn’t until we landed that a little bit of India broke out. The passengers began pushing and shoving to get off of the plane almost from the moment it touched down. But once they got down to the pavement outside all they did was stand around and take selfies. After which they ambled slowly toward the airport terminal. Back home if someone pushed his way off ... read more

Proud to be up, dressed and ready to leave at 0530 this morning our timeliness for the boat was thwarted when we discovered we were locked into the guest house! Another couple soon joined us, also wanting to leave for a boat ride and our noise managed to wake the owner up so we were soon let out. Our boat guide was waiting for us just outside. Walking down to Munshi Ghat we were surprised to find it already very busy, full of people washing in the Ganges. The Ghat we started at was full of Brahmins (high class Hindus) washing, and there were quite a few women as well as men. Our boat was a rowing boat, complete with bamboo oars with planks of wood attached to make the blade. Being rowed up the river ... read more

Woolly says – By the time we had surfaced from our beds the Ganges had already been given its morning blessing and breakfast, which was more than I had managed. We’d ordered some food at nine o’clock and by ten I was getting a little bit restless, having annoyed Jo as much as I could and been told to sit for the fortieth time I decided to trot down and find out where my scram was. Finally arriving at the bottom of the four flights our host looked a little surprized, and having asked when we were going to eat I wasn’t best pleased to be told that the chef wasn’t working today, I plodded back up knowing this wasn’t the answer the girls would be expecting. We weren’t impressed and having shoved our ... read more

'Look over there,' said Raju, pointing with his chin in the Indian manner to some indistinct letters and numbers painted on a building. 'Would you believe that the Ganges reached up to there in the monsoon of 1978?' We looked down to the river flowing serenely beside the stone steps of Varanasi’s ghats today, a dizzy, mind-boggling 74 metres (242 feet) below. Ahead and beneath us, left and right, as far as the eye could see, everything would have been covered in a fast-flowing, brown inland sea. The vast sandbanks stretching to the horizon, the ghats, the temples and streets throughout the city would have been flooded, flushing away the grime of decades and adding to it with the detritus from towns and villages upstream. It seemed almost inconceivable that this remarkable city could have survived ... read more

The past few mornings had been cool, clear and crisp. Today was positively freezing, foggy and soggy. But, at last, we'd be travelling by boat on the sacred River Ganges and arriving in Varanasi like proper travellers - providing we didn't freeze to death along the way! I'm not sure what type of boat we were expecting. A typical wooden boat, perhaps with a pretty awning, colourful cushions and rugs on which to while away the hours, a mast and sail to speed us on our way...? Well, correct on one point at least. A typical wooden boat awaited our arrival at the foot of one of Mirzapur's ghats, next to an old chap casting a line out into the calm water, more in hope than in anticipation of catching a fish for lunch on a ... read more