Hare Rama Guesthouse Varanasi

... Let's just say I didn't get any rest until I had thrown up in the early hours of the morning!<br><br>02/11/09<br>Feeling a little better today but just decided to take it easy and relax in my room. Couldn't eat much so spent most of the day watching movies and trying to recover.<br><br>03/11/09<br>Woke up and gave Kishore a ring to arrange a day of touring around Varanasi in his rickshaw.<br>Went to Sarnath first (a popular Buddhist pilgrimage place with ruins/temples), followed by the Durga ...

... a day where there are constantly 8-10 bodies being burnt in public. Bodies get carried through the old city, doused in the Ganges and then unwrapped and burnt on wood fires in full view of everyone, then their ashes are put in the Ganges. The Hindus believe being cremated in Varanasi is a path to heaven. We saw two dead bodies floating in the river, as if they are unmarried or children then they just get put straight in the river without being burnt as they are 'pure' as ...

... with Mulu along the Ghats. These are the steps to the river that the Hindu people use to perform their morning "Puja" welcoming prayer to the day. They also wash themselves, and their clothes, perform Yoga, and even wash their water buffaloes. <br><br>There are at least two burning Ghats, where the Hindus come to burn their deceased relatives soon after death. Mulu, our guide from the hotel, explained some of the funerary process to us.<br>Soon after death ...

... the fire &amp; the eldest son lights the fire from the blessed/holy fire (which is constantly burning for the last 5000 years). After 3 hours the chest bone &amp; womens hips are removed &amp; laid in the river. Priests, young children &amp; pregnant women aren't burnt, they are brought out the river to be buried. After all this we headed for dinner &amp; called it a night!<br>After a sleep in, the next day we went on an adventure to the post office! its mad ...

... in the open, then 2 yards up from these a man was taking a pee in the open gutter!!!Not even using the basic facilities provided!<br><br>Instead of giving money to the people that beg we give food but they still ask for 10 rupees. Poverty is all around you in India but everyone is still looking happy. We even have to bargain for stuff like I did today to buy some little henna powders and a Buddha statue to pray with. The first price the man gave ...

... a motorbike hit in the narrow alleyways. We wondered for awhile about how we could kill it and end it's suffering but didn't know how to deal with it. Did we ask someone to do it, put it's little body in the Ganga to drown it or what? We just weren't sure what to do and neither was anyone else because we saw it later still lyimg there. We should have acted but didn't want to offend anyone. <br><br>We'll also miss Aklihesh and Assis from Jyoti Dresses who i've done all the ...

... of a long series of these all spread out in cosmic positions along an arc of 6.4km, our hotel is right in the middle of the arc. Over 60,000 people come down to the waters edge every day to take a dip in or drink from the sacred waters of the Ganges. Unfortunately it's not very clean with the river being used for many purposes. There's water buffalo being bathed, dozens of sewage pipes, laundry being washed, pilgrims bathing and apparently the odd sunken corpse. Some ...

... bald spot, draw on some sideburns and color his remaining hair. Its hard not to stare-bless him. Especially if they have black ears, neck and comb lines on the forehead. I saw him pre-shower and post was not much better. What is wrong with these peeps? Right I'm going bald do I shave it off, buy a wig, comb it over or put my head in a bucket of tar. And while we are on the subject. Gentlemen of Varanasi you are foul, vile, vain, disgusting creatures ...

... and begin tossing the scraps of metal and the dead and dying onto the side so cars can pass. No difference in treatment for human or machine, just rubbish being cleared from the road. Welcome to India. We spent four days in this city. At first it's a little scary. The tiny windy cobbled laneways are full of people, cows and filth. Everywhere people come up to you trying to sell you something are bring you somewhere. You have to be ...

After our day long tour of the sights of Agra, Ragga, Claire, and I headed on an overnight train to Varanassi. All the trains from Agra to Varanasi were sold out so we had to take a train from Tundla, which we had been told was an easy hour bus ride from Agra. We weren't too thrilled about having to add an extra mode of transport on top of our overnight train but it turned out to be one of the best parts. For some reason the road to Tundla was closed ...