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I started my 2nd day in Varanasi early to catch the sunrise but I hadn't quite figured out when it happens and must have missed it. I had a quick breakfast of a vegetable omelette (with some greens that resembled courgettes and peas) and then went to meet my driver who would take from A to B so I could visit the temples in the area. While driving through many crowded villages and markets the driver asked if I liked Indian music, I said yes and he put on some Indian hip hop style music followed by a song where the woman was mainly wailing in a hi pitched tone, then to my dismay he changed the music and played Aqua's hit Barbie Girl full blast, it is fair to say I was humiliated, van driving through suburban Indian village, windows down, 1 western man sitting inside blasting out barbie girl, embarrassing!
First stop was Sarnath a village 13km outside Varanasi also said to be the place where Buddah gave his first sermon to his disciples after enlightenment. I had a very helpful tour guide who showed me around explaining everything in English as we went (although I couldn't help giggling inside a little as he replaced all his f's with b's) it was also very useful to have someone to tell me when and when not to take my shoes off when going around the various temples in the village (many other nationalities have built buddhist temples in they're architectural style eg. Japanese and Thai). Afterwards he took me to I think my 4th Sarree emporium to try and get me to buy their goods. Everyone will try and take you to these shops selling everything from sarees, pashminas, carpets and jewellery where they perform a funny ritual of taking you from room to room making you sit down saying "be comfortable, be comfortable" getting out various goods to show you, they are however a little pricier as commission is passed on to whoever takes you there and they are very pushy sellers trying to convince you to buy a giant carpet which "we send to you country no problem!".
After Sarnath it was all a bit of a blur as I must have visited about 5 different temples in the space of a few hours and I couldn't tell which was which although I the monkey temple did stand out (full of monkeys allowed to roam free inside and another temple where I went up to bow at the alter and a man sitting there tapped my head with a stick with peacock feathers at the end as a type of blessing I guess but I'm not sure of the true meaning but too me by surprise anyway. Not as much as later on though.
After all the temples the driver dropped me back in town and told me the guest house was straight down the lane (the streets and lanes are so narrow that only bikes can fit through) however I got completely lost but rather enjoyed wandering around the lanes and alleyways, it is far more peaceful here and you get hassled far less than in Delhi. I managed to find my way to a Gaht leading to the river and decided to walk along the front toward my guest house which is on the river. As I passed the main Ghat where they had the Aarti the night before I was approached by a man who asked for my hand, no harm in shaking hands bit he started to knead my palm with his fingers and worked his way up my arm until it turned into a full on Chinese burn on my arm. He said it was a Ayurvedic massage to improve circulation, I resisted at first saying no thank you etc but he was already onto my other arm so I let him continue. He then cracked my knuckles and started massaging my head and wrapping his feet around me and pulling and twisting while every bone in my body cracked one by one, by the way this was all rather painful and I tried to pull away but he had me in what I will call call a full body headlock! After all this I gave him a little money (at his request of course) and I received a Tilaka (a Hindu mark worn on forehead as third eye similar to a bindi) from the old man sitting beside us. I asked another man to take pictures of my torture but clearly photography was not his strong point but I got one ok one.
Later on I had some lunch at my guest house and a nap until about 5 where I ventured to the balcony to find a very familiar sky, it was all very grey and too familiar and before I knew it started bucketing down with thunder and lightening, one thing I noticed though is the raindrops are very spaced out but they are huge, chubby rain!
During the brief rain shower everyone from the rooftop restaurant came down to my balcony area to sit there and I was joined by a german woman and an English woman. After they had eaten I was invited to go to the music ashram with them for a little concert. There we sat with an intimate audience of 8 people and listened to a man playing a sitar and another on the drums. They only played 2 pieces of music each lasting about 40minutes but I shut my eyes and found it really relaxing. After the concert they introduced me to a very typical Indian treat called Lassi at the 'Blue Lassi Shop'. Lassi is made with curd, sugar and different fruits depending on what kind you get. It tastes yogurty and can have the same benefits as an activia or yakult in the UK I had a mango one, was yum! One of the women got a "special" Lassi ;-)
By this time it was way past my bedtime 10:30pm, so I made my say back to the guest house to find all the doors locked. I forgot about the 10pm curfew (no idea why) and had to call to get someone to let me in. As I write there has been a power cut so the fans not working and I am getting super hot even though there is a nice evening breeze through the windows. Off to sleep now, early start again and need to check out by 10am, so early!
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