Arriving about midday at Varanasi Junction we booked our onwards tickets before leaving the station on a rickshaw. After bargaining the fare down from 50 to 40 rupees we wedged our big bouncy butts into the back-seat and watched the poor guy sweat his way to our destination, we ended paying him the original 50 deciding half way through that anything less than his original asking price would be plain cruel. Jumping out into the melee are bottoms resumed their natural shape and we jumped into the maze made up of the backstreets of this religious city. Getting very lost and very hassled we eventually found our way to Shanti guest house, our home for the next couple of nights. We had lunch on the rooftop restaurant which was the first mediocre meal we've had since arriving, previously I'd come to the conclusion that it was impossible for the Indians to cook a bad meal, and left to walk along the ghats.
I'd left my camera behind to enjoy the walk unencumbered but hogged Djalma's little Panasonic to take pictures of the little puppies we saw along the way. It took us quite a while to find our way to the Ganges because the back streets were like rabbit mazes but when we eventually found our way to the main and most touristy ghat, Dasaswamedh, which was crawling with boat tour touts, the wait was worth it. Our first view of the Ganges, the mother of India, was impressive just like seeing the Nile in Egypt. The ghats (steps down to a river/water and the area immediately around) were dotted with people bathing, washing clothes, swimming, talking, praying, flying kites and walking. We turned and walked right along the river passing through lots of different ghats, I think there are around 80 all joined to each other on the west bank of the Ganga, there was nothing but the flood plains on the east bank which was impressive in itself.
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| From Varanasi, India |
We sat and watched puppies follow their skinny mother trying to get milk in-between her wandering off and twisting round to scratch her fleas, then we joined a group of people watching a small game of cricket (played with a tennis ball like most small games, a cricket ball flying into the crowds would have done considerably more damage) and eventually got back into the maze to try and find some dinner which turned out to be snack-a-thon rather than a proper sit down meal.
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| From Varanasi, India |
The next day we slept in, forgoing the sunrise boat trip to recuperate after the sleepless night on the train. When we did decide to get up it was because our stomachs were calling, a quick cold shower and a change to a cheaper room and we set out with direction to a repair shop for Djalma's trimmer and to the ghats. We had masala dosas for breakfast and the best sweet lassie I've had since arriving in India and found a gentlemen's hairdresser who undertook the repair and cut Djalma's gorgeous locks into a very smart tidy crop.
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| From Varanasi, India |
We wandered through the streets where it was shady and cool, stopping to buy some very bright very green bangles which I was so happy to get to go along with my new set of anklets and my grey woollen shawl both bought the previous evening. We got Djalma some warm long Johns for Kashmir and then walked along the ghats having turned left.
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| From Varanasi, India |
I cannot overstate how beautiful, chaotic, dirty, colourful and wonderful the place is, the more the walked the quieter it got and the less we had to fend off the boat touts, we stopped to sit in the shade several times along the way, it was a very peaceful (until small children came running up to ask for rupees/chocolate/fudge/my watch) and enjoyable way to spend the day.
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| From Varanasi, India |
We wandered back to our hotel to join the free sunset boat tour which was really nice although the sky was so hazy and the sun set behind the city so we couldn't really see it from the river.
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| From Varanasi, India |
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| From Varanasi, India |
We walked back through the streets which were becoming slightly more familiar and stopped at a restaurant which had free live classical Indian music ever night. The food, veg chow mein (of course) and veg fried rice were delicious but nature shouted in a very loud, persistent and slightly alarming way so we rushed back through the streets struggling to find our hotel (funny how you can find your way when there's no rush but how nothing looks familiar when you're trying to get back in a hurry).
We spent the evening reading and working on pictures talking about our lovely day and how much we like this place and India in general, the more I see of it the more I love it and with different options for eating I find I don't mind having curry for two out of three meals.
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| From Varanasi, India |
We killed the next morning at the hotel, emailing and working on pictures and went out in the afternoon to send some flower garlands down the Ganges for our friends and family. We got a rickshaw back to the train station and were soon on our way to Agra, home to the Taj Mahal.
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| From Varanasi, India |
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