Palace on Steps Hotel Varanasi

A 90 minute plane flight and 40 minute cab ride later, Benji, Rachel, Fuj and I arrived at our Palace on Ganges hotel in the Holy Hindu City of Varanasi - on the Banks of the Ganges River aka "Mother Ganga" aka "Mother Ganja" aka "River of Ganja"...We're ...

... ) is officially the national river of secular India, but more importantly, it is an absolutely central element of Hinduism. The Varanasi stretch is holiest because the otherwise south-flowing river loops and runs north (ie, toward heaven) here. Also, in ...

... 's worth of dirty, skinny kids begging and collecting bottles at the train station. By the way, there's nothing like the Varanasi train station- cows were sleeping in the waiting area when we arrived! In town the ubiquitous cows block ...

This is a fascinating place. It stretches for about 6 miles along one bank of the Ganges. All along its length are 'ghats' - steps down to the river, where people bathe, swim, wash their clothes and cremate their dead. Actually, there are 5 types of person ...

... to try to get to Varanasi seemed to lead us in the wrong direction. But, 30+ hours later we are here in Varanasi and what a crazy, strange, disorienting city it is. Varanasi's principal attraction is the string of ghats that line the Ganges. The ghats ...