Hotel Clarks Varanasi

... I saw - she was off like the preverbial with a small scar as a momento....<br><br>Outside the temple it started to drizzle and so a auto-rickshaw back to base.<br><br>Varanasi is mad, absolutely bonkers. We have been to many parts of India and we can say without doubt that this place is the noisiest we have visted. There so many peole going in so many different directions to so many different places and all with their ...

... br><br>------------------------------- ---------------------<br>Of course the city isn't all just burning ghats. There are some 72 Ghats and only two (really just one that regularly that does the cremations). For most the city is the the place to bathe in the holy Ganges and offer Pujas to Durga. <br><br>I wish i had more to say, and while I do... I don't want to write it all out. All I will say is that it is an amazing place to see. <br>

... to release the person into their next life. The crematory is privately run and costs a staggering 5000 ruppes (£65) which is a huge amount for the locals. For those that cannot afford this there is a concrete electric cremation building just about next door which does it for 100 rupees and carts of the mish mash of ashes elsewhere. There was no wailing or tears at the site as the people believe that you need to experience death to understand life.<br><br>We also ...

... created specifically for students whose parents are illiterate, called the Asha Deep Vidyashram. I'm totally exhausted here trying to get this blog out before Varanasi fades from my memory (we leave at noon tomorrow) but I have to briefly descirbe how incredibly touching this experience was. The principal is a woman originally from California- her efforts to expand the school from K-5 to K-8, her strength and courage to initiate ...

... the river with folded hands and pray to the sun. It was an absolutely insane flurry of colour and movement. Unfortunately there was a stampede during the event and an elderly lady was crushed to death by the crowd and many others injured. Luckily we were not around for that part but apparently this is common at such huge gatherings. We returned to the Rana Ghat and relaxed then went to the trusty Mona Lisa for breakfast where we watched trendsetter hippies do Reiki on ...

... weird and wonderful faces pass us by. <br><br>We headed to the Brown Bread Cafe, a traveller's haunt that was a good find in the back alleys. We sipped on coffee and lounged around on the chill out cushions, Nadine's coffee was super-sized and served in a soup bowl with a spoon?? Then another trip without the LSD moment occurred. A 7 year old child from Arizona in the US joined us at our table and announced that he was Rumi, named after the famous poet. Rumi had ordered a ...

... I found myself strangely inspired. Mish had differing emotions and found the whole process a little harder. It's a strange thing to see something normally so hidden away. I was compelled to return to this ghat on a number of occasions, to watch again and again, this unfamiliar process, this strange, open acceptance of life and death. Those bodies that aren't burned are wrapped in cloth and sunk in the river. Occasionally they float back to the surface as we were to ...

... needed but since things were still a bit tender he suggested I limit my movements for at least a day or two and that is where I stand as of this entry. Other than the initial discomfort of cauterization I feel fine though I'm still not entirely convinced that I didn't contract some kind of parasite and that is something I will certainly follow up on when I return to the U.S. (NOTE: my belief persisted about my parasite theory through my return to ...