02/09/2010

Woken by more than a nudge . . .

Someone was shaking me, I checked the time it was 5mins before my alarm was due for Lucknow, well there was this guy, at first I thought he was trying to help. He was speaking Hindi and I just kept asking Lucknow, he pulled my shawl off me (being used as a blanket) so I jumped up and he started pointing for me to lie back down, so I was saying I don't understand, so the train was still moving, I popped my shawl back on, and went to go back to sleep, the guy kept saying something and grabbed my arm, I pushed him off, he went to put his hand under my shawl so I jumped up and started yelling at him, he lay down, so I turned my back and started gathering my things, when I turned back round, he had put a handkerchief over his crotch and was w*nking, can you believe it, I went ballistic and left, where talk about timing the train pulled up to the station. So I hoped off where I was going to spend the day but as all the guys were so harassing I turned back to the station and got the 7am train to Varanassi. I'm just living on my continuation of fried street food, my healthy diet just doesn't exist at present.

The Varanassi train was so cool with the a/c I had to wrap up, to warm up I went out the carriage and sat hanging out the door on the steps watching the scenery whizz by, at every stop the little selling people run up with water and street food etc, which I'm more than happy to buy, how long 'til I'm next ill do we reckon?

A Californian couple were on the same carriage, when we arrived the train hadn't quite a stopped at the platform, but we didn't want to wait, so off we hopped and walked along the tracks, we probably would've waited hours to move a few hundred metres. We grabbed a taxi and headed off to Asi ghat and got some cheap accommodation, a quick cuppa on our rooftop then off I went on my way walking the winding streets, I kept getting lost and walking round in triangles where the kids kept laughing and helping me.

But it is so dirty here, lots of flies and rubbish and live killing places, cows, dogs, goats and harassing guys, the rickshaws just don't let you be, so I've become very rude b**** here, a sweaty one at that. There are two dogs that are weirdly connected, they look different but it's almost as though one of the dogs waggy tails has been surgically inserted into the other dogs arse and they can't separate, it made me feel sick!

These dogs are copulating Vic (dad).

I watched the preparing and burning of bodies at one of the Ghants and the dumping of dead babies in the Ganges, while a guy talked me through it, tip-people do this to get you to visit their shop afterwards, which of course I'm going in the complete wrong direction to and will visit at a later date. But it was great getting a break down of it all.

I wandered more, of course lost, and retired to my room and treated myself to a shave. It's been at least a week. It took me ages to avoid my boils, which I decided to pop, and the chemist hit today I got some antiseptic cream. It didn't work, they just filled right back up, I'm growing attached to them now. Plus I've been attacked again tonight so more for the collection. xx