Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
after a 27hour train journey we arrived in varanasi, holy hindu city on the river ganges. we got to the small lanes of the old city and walked with heavy backpacks for what seemed like hours, trying to get rid of our rickshaw driver who was trying to find us accomodation, for which we pay his commission! we found shanti guest house and the rooftop restaurant was packed wioth travelers! they have a pooltable and just about everything you need, including free boat trips on the river, which is lovely! iv never met so many boat men in all my life! walking along the river, it seems as if boating is the only source of income here! but we joke with the locals and purposely mistake boat for goat, which they find hillarious once they realise we`re taking the mic. iv learnt a bit of hindi now, which the locals love! the river is terribly poluted though, and people do everything from drinking the water and washing in it to throwing ashes in it! there are famous burning ghats where bodies are cremated in the open and they burn about 200 bodies a day! some sadus (holy men) are not cremated but just sent into the river with weights (sometimes the bodies rise and are eaten by animals but we havent seen any luckily). they have delicious jabelis here which are like koek sisters but thin and stick-like. we are loving the local food and there are festivals everynight! there are a lot of yoga classes and fortune telling gurus! the priests need donations for puja (prayer) in which the larger your family is, the higher the donation! candles are lit for puja and float along the river which is beautiful! the city is famous for its silk, but we`ve managed to avoid all the silk shops, as its not too high on our list of prioritys. on wednesday night we take a train south to hyderabad, another 29hours, arriving at 2:00am! we had to upgrade to first class due to availability, so it was 4times more expensive, but will be an experience nontheless. anyway wil keep you posted love to all xxx
- comments