Hotel Elena Varanasi

T*day, it was back t* p*v**ty because I decided t* leave the expensive h*tel and g* t* a guest h*use I have been rec*mmended sev**al times - Shanti Guest H*use. I t**k a bike and *nce again the guy tried t* change the price half way. T* be fair it was a l*ng way and it seemed a l*t *f eff*rt f*r the guy s* I gave him a bit m*re than what we'd agreed but he still did n*t seem t* happy.

I am n*w paying 100Rps as *pp*sed t* 1200Rps bef*re!! The ...

... on Caste..The wealthy at the top, poor towards the bottom and closer to the river. No women are permitted to take part in the ceremony as crying can stop the spirit from reaching Moksha (Nirvana). Generaly the eldest living relative (Male) lights the funeral pyre. We were shown to the side of one of the cremations on a high level which was something to see. The family did not seem to be concerned about our presence at ...

... 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.

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.
Soon after death ...

... were built. In saying that, we never felt threatened and found the whole Ganges experience and religious Sadhus (the men that devout there life to the gods) very uplifting and inspiring.

As the time came to leave we had another travel agent moment. He had obviously had to put us on waiting lists and gambled that tickets in Aircon class for our train to Haridwar would free up. They didn't. I made a trip to the station to see if we could do anything ...

... walking in both directions taking in the diversity of the Ghats. Aside from Buffalo's and cows, we also caught glimpses of goats and a collections of monkeys. Desaswamedh Ghat was a sea of colourful parasols, where men sat cross-legged in prayer in the shade. Harischchandra Ghat was where we sat and whitnessed a live cremation ceremony for those who died by unnatural/accidental means. All done by men, prayers are sung, and cricles are walked around the ...

Varanasi is as hot and dusty as Agra and Dehli and has the same level of chaos. We had the usual and annoying touts trying to lead us to hotels where we would end up paying more than the going rate so they would get a commission. This actually worked in our favour, because as one of them was showing us the way (unprompted, they just leach on to you) we passed a lodge and ducked in to have a look (and to hide from the tout!). It ended up being a ...

... He was giving three Indian pilgrims sitting opposite him some teachings and dismissed them with a wave of his hand when we walked in the door. The guy automatically assumed we were going to pay his huge fee of 2300rupees for a consultation about our past, present and future lives using our birthdates, hand writing and fingerprints. Nobody earns that much in Varanasi. At the same time as showing us old photographs from the eighties of Goldie Hawn at the dinner ...

... Flugzeug dann.... freie Platzwahl ! Fliegen naemlich mit einem Airbus A320 fuer ca. 200 Passagiere - sind aber nur 17 ;-) - wird jedenfalls ein ueberaus angenehmer, kurzer ( 45 min. ) ruhiger Flug. Kurz nach dem Start noch ein Blick auf den Himalaya - die Anapurna ( 8000 und ein paar mehr Meter.. ) ist genau zu erkennen..

Die Prozedur nach der Landung ( von wegen Schweinegrippe und ...

... I have included a handful or more of my own photos here but I regret that, due to continuing fatigue from being sick, I didn't take as many as I would have liked of this visit. The link above offers more info and a much better look than what I could provide.) A short walk west is the Dhamekh Stupa, a large cylindrical structure made of stone and brick originally dating back to the 3rd century B.C. and commemorating the very place where Buddha ...

Go to this blog to see the photos and read about my time in Varanasi.

Can't say I wasn't warned. It was so hot in Varanasi that I did not sleep for 4 nights. I couldn't bring myself to pay the huge extra charges for AC. Especially since I had lost my debit/atm card before leaving Rishikesh which really sucked. I had to have my folks wire me some cash. The only way I managed some ...