Shanti town

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I think today was my earliest rise of the trip so far - 3:20AM. I managed to keep things reasonably warm in the bathroom by pointing the heater at the open doorway. The taxi to Umaria was actually a very comfortable Chevy SUV, so the fact I paid probably 50% more than I should have was less of a sting.

I was the only resident of my 2AC cabin for the journey to Varanasi, and slept for about half of what turned out to be a 13 hour ride. I ordered a veg lunch but it never arrived (nor did I see again the guy who'd taken my order), so my sole sustenance for the trip was my last Fruit Tella.

There are a variety of scams perpetrated in Varanasi that travellers need to be aware of. One of the most common relates to hotel names. Once a hotel becomes popular, a whole slew of similarly-named hotels will spring up, hoping to steal custom from visitors who don't check carefully that they really are in the hotel they intended staying in. With many rickshaw drivers complicit in this scam, an unwary traveller can be none the wiser that he is in the wrong hotel, simply because everyone he speaks to will tell him that it's the right one.

My intended hotel, the Shanti Guest House, has spawned a selection of imitators, as it's listed in all the major guidebooks. The RG had said that the Tourist Information Centre at Varanasi Station would be able to book the accommodation for me, and then the hotel would send someone to pick me up from the station, thus ensuring I did get to the right place. Unfortunately the RG's trust in the TIC was misplaced. Even after I'd told the guy there that I wanted to stay at the Shanti, he tried to suggest another hotel. Then he said that he couldn't book accommodation for me. This seemed less than helpful, so I whipped out my mobile phone, intending to call them myself. On seeing this, he said he would speak to them (on my phone). I asked him to ask them to send someone to meet me, but when he'd booked a room and ended the call, he said that that wasn't necessary and I could simply get a rickshaw to the place. This seemed to be setting me up for the scam I was specifically trying to avoid, but I figured maybe things had changed in the time since my guidebook was written.

The rickshaw dropped me off at the end of an alleyway down which I could clearly see a sign proclaiming "Shanti Guest House". I suspected something was wrong when the young boy behind the desk was completely unable to understand (my) English. With a sinking feeling, I took out my phone, redialled the number, and sure enough the person who answered was not in this building. I explained what had happened, and they said they'd send someone to get me, but it would take half an hour because of the traffic. I was seething by this point, but there wasn't much I could do.

So for 30 minutes I paced up and down in the alley with a herd of cows, watched with interest by the young boy who was clearly quite relieved that he wouldn't have to check me in to his hotel but was wondering just what I was going to do next. I extracted 2 morals from this story - i) do all planning yourself, as even the TICs can't be trusted, and ii) don't let the rickshaw guy leave until you've confirmed you're in the right hotel.

After I'd been met by someone from the real Shanti, I was transported back to the hotel first by auto, then cycle rickshaw, then finally on foot through some very narrow winding alleys that at times were a mere 1 person wide. All the staff greeted me jovially, and sympathised with my hard-luck story that they must have heard many times before. I took a room on the 6th floor - hardly convenient for the street, as that equates to 6 flights of steep stone stairs, but just 1 floor away from the rooftop terrace. The terrace looks great - sweeping views over the Ganges and most of Varanasi, an enormous menu catering to every taste, a pool table, Internet access, a travel agent and money-changing booth, plus a couple of TVs. The place also looks to have quite a few residents, mainly Korean.

After dining on the terrace, and generally feeling pretty good about the fact that I'd managed to get to the right hotel albeit with an unwanted diversion, I repaired to my room for an early night. On closer inspection, the bathroom was not in a great state. The toilet lid and seat were not attached to each other or the toilet bowl at all, and had instead been carefully stacked on top of the bowl. When I removed them, I was greeted by the sight of the previous occupant's turd bobbing about in the water below. And the reason that it hadn't gone on its merry way to the sewerage system of Varanasi was that the toilet wouldn't flush, due to the fact that there was nothing connecting the handle to the rest of the flushing mechanism. I was able to flush the thing manually by hauling on a chain in the cistern, but I don't fancy doing this for the rest of my stay. Reported this to the front desk, and they said it would be fixed first thing tomorrow. There were also mud stains on the floor but I figured I could live with those. At least there's no water geyser, which smacks of the possibility of unlimited hot water.

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Comments

[Morrissey family]

Snap Happy
Stunning photos John, we're really enjoying the diary, we'll expect an illustrated lecture when you come home to Saltburn!