4/4 - 4/14
Jalgaon to Varanasi, the place where all those pictures of the Ganges come from. We found our seats and sat down despite the hostile young madam next to us who tried to convince us we had the wrong carriage! Not the best start to a 22 hour train journey. Luckily I had spotted a Japanese name on the passenger list before boarding, so partly just to be sociable but also to avoid the icy atmosphere in our cabin we spent a lot of the trip chatting with Makoto and Miisha further down the carriage. They turned out to be fun and interesting people, so we stuck together as we made our way to 'Baba's' hostel in Varanasi.
Varanasi was a bit overwhelming at first, as we'd arrived on the night of a huge festival involving lots of light, fireworks, dancing and bushy moustaches. We also had to navigate the winding, tunnel-like back-alleys that I couldn't believe would get us anywhere worth staying, but Baba's was a pleasant surprise.
I don't know whether all Japanese tourists flock to Varanasi or what, but we met at least two dozen Japanese at Baba's during our stay. You know how the Lonely Planet and Rough Guide recommendations always double in price and plummet in quality after featuring in those guidebooks? Well, the Japanese guidebooks usually have a very limited selection of recommendations geared very specifically to their market and there isn't a lot of crossover with the big name English guides. This seems to keep their guidebooks relevant for longer, and results in a lot of Japanese tourists congregating at what are often very good places to stay and eat. One crazy thing about them while I'm on the topic though, I read an entry about India that went like this: "In India there are no fixed prices so many people will try to rip you off, quoting prices way above the going rate. Haggling all the time can be very wearing and may ruin your experience so we recommend simply paying whatever anyone asks of you."
*boggle*
Early morning on the Ganges:
A boatload of tourists from a more salubrious part of town:
Almost every night there was some kind of ceremony taking place at the ghats:
And plenty of people just doing their thing. This guy didn't move an inch for the 20 minutes or so I was in the area:
We also saw the rather grim spectacle of this site where we couldn't take any pictures. Imagine that scene at night with half a dozen shroud-wrapped corpses burning on top of stacked log pyres. Chanting and music blasts at ear-splitting volume from the balconies of the buildings where hundreds of people are waiting to die, some of whom had travelled across India to be there, so they too can be burned on the banks of the Ganges. It's hot, dark and you're breathing in corpse smoke. Pretty intense.
Just walking around Varanasi is really entertaining. Squeezing past cows in narrow alleys, with food being fried and cooked in black pots on either side. Strange religious observances going on at all hours... just a lot of tradition, history and energy in a cramped space.
We celebrated my birthday with a fancy curry that we could barely eat a third of, and later in a(n illegal) rooftop bar with friends:
The Hive set I'd been carrying all this time finally saw some action, and many evenings were spent playing that and chess with Makoto, Ryo and Kazu:
Varanasi is also famous for causing the shits, and we weren't immune. I survived for two days on nothing but bottled water and rehydration salts, and our departure date kept being put back because we were in no condition to travel. In the end we figured we had to leave in order to recover so we said goodbye to the tangled chaos and calm of Varanasi and all the friends we'd made there.
Lots of love for Varanasi and our time spent there.
Varanasi was a bit overwhelming at first, as we'd arrived on the night of a huge festival involving lots of light, fireworks, dancing and bushy moustaches. We also had to navigate the winding, tunnel-like back-alleys that I couldn't believe would get us anywhere worth staying, but Baba's was a pleasant surprise.
I don't know whether all Japanese tourists flock to Varanasi or what, but we met at least two dozen Japanese at Baba's during our stay. You know how the Lonely Planet and Rough Guide recommendations always double in price and plummet in quality after featuring in those guidebooks? Well, the Japanese guidebooks usually have a very limited selection of recommendations geared very specifically to their market and there isn't a lot of crossover with the big name English guides. This seems to keep their guidebooks relevant for longer, and results in a lot of Japanese tourists congregating at what are often very good places to stay and eat. One crazy thing about them while I'm on the topic though, I read an entry about India that went like this: "In India there are no fixed prices so many people will try to rip you off, quoting prices way above the going rate. Haggling all the time can be very wearing and may ruin your experience so we recommend simply paying whatever anyone asks of you."
*boggle*
Early morning on the Ganges:
A boatload of tourists from a more salubrious part of town:
Almost every night there was some kind of ceremony taking place at the ghats:
And plenty of people just doing their thing. This guy didn't move an inch for the 20 minutes or so I was in the area:
We also saw the rather grim spectacle of this site where we couldn't take any pictures. Imagine that scene at night with half a dozen shroud-wrapped corpses burning on top of stacked log pyres. Chanting and music blasts at ear-splitting volume from the balconies of the buildings where hundreds of people are waiting to die, some of whom had travelled across India to be there, so they too can be burned on the banks of the Ganges. It's hot, dark and you're breathing in corpse smoke. Pretty intense.
Just walking around Varanasi is really entertaining. Squeezing past cows in narrow alleys, with food being fried and cooked in black pots on either side. Strange religious observances going on at all hours... just a lot of tradition, history and energy in a cramped space.
We celebrated my birthday with a fancy curry that we could barely eat a third of, and later in a(n illegal) rooftop bar with friends:
The Hive set I'd been carrying all this time finally saw some action, and many evenings were spent playing that and chess with Makoto, Ryo and Kazu:
Varanasi is also famous for causing the shits, and we weren't immune. I survived for two days on nothing but bottled water and rehydration salts, and our departure date kept being put back because we were in no condition to travel. In the end we figured we had to leave in order to recover so we said goodbye to the tangled chaos and calm of Varanasi and all the friends we'd made there.
Lots of love for Varanasi and our time spent there.
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