Big Contrast...Beautiful and Ugly
Trip Start
Jan 20, 2007
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79
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Trip End
Dec 2007
Varanasi,
India
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
At the train station we met Sergio and Bruno, both from North Italy...they were eating Pizza Hut...we were laughing!!! Good times at the train station.
Our overnight train to Varanasi was ok and we arrived a couple of hours late into Varanasi. After arguing with the rickshaw drivers we took a cycle rickshaw into the old city. we were followed by one guy for over an hour as he tried to get us to go to "his" hotel. which kept changing as to where we were walking. Varanasi is a tough place to travel as there is always someone trying to get you to go somewhere, buy something or make some money off you any way that they can. it is hard to walk anywhere without being approached every two metres..."where are you from? which counry?" (or the best one.." You're sweet as honey and I am sweet poison") in the old city there is no roads - only small alleys which are really neat to see because they are full of people and every kind of livestock and everything for sale
the ghats
. but can be a bit scary too as they sometimes lead to nowhere.we stayed on the ghats by the Ganges river at the Ganpati guesthouse which was cheap and comfortable. we enjoyed the view of the river which was what we came to Varanasi to see.
It is one of the oldest cities in India and is considered the most holy place to die (quickest way to heaven). We watched the burning ghats in fascination. it is where bodies are dipped into the river and then cremated on the banks. we saw about 25 bodies be brought there in about an hour. the fires burn 24 hours a day. one body takes about 3 hours to burn and a man's chest and a woman's hip bones usually arent burnt so they get thrown into the river. it was beautiful to see but also not because of all the dogs and cows and goats picking through the remains and all the garbage in the water. It was not a sad event - no one was crying. just a part of life.
many people come to the river to bathe in the holy water too. there are several temples and many bathers constantly.
there is also several laundry ghats where people are washing clothes.
we enjoyed strolling on the ghats, watching boys play cricket, seeing the puja ceremony in the evening and we even took a 6am sunrise boat ride with Papsi from Austria. It was neat to see the river and city in that light.
We watched a concert before catching the overnight train to Khajuraho. The wait in the train station was a bit unerving because of a LOT of stares and people sleeping everywhere.
