Varanasi
Trip Start
Oct 04, 2008
1
3
38
Trip End
Ongoing
Varanasi, Bihar, India
Friday, October 24, 2008
But it is a big crowed city with shops and touts. There is a Ghat (stone steps down to the river) where they cremate bodies. People do bathe in this disgusting water every morning. So many upstanding Hindus do it! To purify themselves. The concentration of human excrement in the water is thousands of times beyond recommended Western safety limits.
The Yogi Lodge is nice. Lots of backpackers to meet. It's got a cheap dorm ($1.50/night). The Ghats are quite pleasant to stroll down. I did the obligatory sunrise row-boat trip along the Ghats. It was nice. I did it with a backpacker, Andrew, from Calgary! (I don't meet Canadians every day and they are almost always from either Toronto or Vancouver) He has a stuffed monkey he puts into his pictures since he can't be in most of his pictures. The stuffed monkey has a facebook page.
The burning Ghat was something to see once but was rather morbid. They had dead bodies on wooden stick stretchers covered in orange cloth and decorations. They piled on just barely enough wood to burning the body. (it is expensive for them) It takes 3h. They sink pregnant women, children under 10 and holy men into the river tied to stones because they are pure (no sex, alcohol, etc).
Oh, and I took a "General Class" train ticket from Bodhgaya to Varanasi! It was a fun experience. It is cheap and crowded. I could have upgraded from the "Tittie" (ticket man) but I wanted to see General Class. It is not always bad - only if it's crowded (depends on the train route). I only was going 3.5h so it's not as bad as a night train for being crowded. I met a guy in Kolkata who always goes General Class. He likes to meet people or read. He can just sit on his pack rather than the dirty floor. And really the best part is that you can just go - no waiting 1 week or something if the train is all booked up in other sections. Also, you can buy the ticket from the regular window at practically any time - no coming in daytime hours for train foreign tourist offices. However for long train journeys, sleeper compartments are rather necessary. I got a seat thankfully but some people sat on the floor or on each other. The people seemed nice. A few spoke some English.
And now onto Khajuraho, a city with famous temples...
