Malti Hotel Varanasi

... bathing, drinking, brushing their teeth, washing clothes and selling their wares on the Ganges was fascinating to watch. It is said that water safe for bathing should have less than 500 faecal coliform (that’s a fancy way of saying poo measurement) per litre. The Ganges has 1.5 million!!!! Gross! One man has dedicated his life to cleaning it up... but we don’t hold many hopes of him achieving it in his lifetime anyway. On the sunset ride we watched a series of religious ...

Well a whistlestop 36hr tour of Varanasi followed a sleepless night on another sleeper train - really thought we would be used to it by now but the threat of missing our 4.40am stop meant I was pretty awake most of the night! We were met at the station by a very efficient man from our hotel who took us to our room in yogi lodge, around 3 pounds a night and with a communal toilet that turned even my hardened nurses stomach!<br>Anyway after a quick few hours snooze we had a walk ...

... him to write down our instructions for us on how to get there!! cycle riskshaw was fun :)<br>the ghats themselves were beautiful!! seing the holy place whihc ivve leant about since i first ever learnt bout hindusism was pretty cool<br>the expeirenced Thali for the first time ver yesterday!!!!!!!!!!! amazing meal<br>like a buffet but vegetarian or meat rice, dhal,chipati, pototao in s asauce and ...

... concept we had.<br> Saturday 10th October. We lay tossing most of the night and at 5am were again awake but just too weary from lack of sleep to get up so as happened yesterday grabbed our best sleep from 5.30 to 9am. Guiltily we admitted that nearly10 months on the road has taken its toll on our energy and eagerness to bound out and explore. We have not explored as much of Varanasi as expected and resigned ourselves to this today as being a symptom of travelling so ...

... The small villages we passed were made up of houses constructed from the materials of our earth. Mud huts had reeds thatched for roofs and there is a medieval feel to it all. Unfortunately this apparently simple life still does not appear to manage one of the biggest visible problems, waste and pollution. There is no escaping the piles of consumer debris, plastic bottles, bags, rubbish and general **** that forms piles at every turn. This is clearly a ...

... photos of the temple because cameras are not allowed.<br><br>On our last night in Varanasi we took a boat cruise at sunset on the Ganges. We found a boatman who rowed us up and down the river in his boat and he gave us lots of info as we passed by the banks and the different ghats and huge buildings that line the river. He was a really nice guy and very friendly so we really enjoyed his company while we cruised the river. We both had a go at rowing ...

... over us whenever we came in or out asking us for toffees and clapping their hands. We gave them our play time and once we bought them wooden spinning tops. These kids have absolutely nothing and most of them have an illness or diseases of some kind, their heads are shaved because of lice, their teeth are rotten and they have cuts all over them. Their families are large and they all share a very small and dirty living space. They all sleep on the rooftop together and for ...

... to check out what all the fuss was about. As I watched the young girls hand out lotus garlands and the many people pushing candles for loved ones out into the Ganges, I was overcome. I said a silent prayer and pushed a candle into the river in remembrance of Anita at the Dashashwamedh Ghat, and I was finally convinced of the beauty of India. Through all the bedlam and the mayhem, the stench and utter constant confusion of the locals, there is a peaceful and ...

... be many bodies burning at once in separate places, but all have the fire coming from the same place. This fire burns all the time, 24 hours a day. Each body burns for 3 hours before they put the remains in the river. They burn about 300 bodies every single day just here in Varanasi. There are other, smaller burning ghats along the Ganges in other towns.<br>There are a few men whose job it is to be in the river, sifting through the ash for any ...

... are swimming and drinking in. Little boys are even diving to the bottom to get the jewelry off the burned up bodies. ****in crazy! It has such a sense of finality it makes me never want anybody I know to die. A visual ashes to ashes. Utter proof they are gone forever. <br><br>Thats it for Dave, now I'm going to be taking over in order to drop some knowledge on your dome piece......<br><br> Varanasi is a holy city in ...