Varanasi

I'm on my way out of Varanasi this evening and following a 13 hour train ride, I'll be in Agra.

Varanasi has been...well, a bit off to be honest. I had a hellish time getting here from Kathmandu. I had to take an 8 hour ride to a shitty Indian border town, where I hid in my (wildly over-priced) hotel room, watching CSI:New York with Hindi subtitles. Then I had to take a 6 hour train ride to Varanasi only to arrive at 5 am. I got to my hotel and passed out until 11 am.

Now, here's where I did something stupid. I decided to go out right then, instead of waiting a bit to avoid the noon heat. No smart. I went to Sarnath, a town about 5km north where the Buddha preached his first sermon. It was great but I nearly fainted from the heat and had to go back to the hotel to rest for the rest of the day. It was lame.

The next day, I planned much better. I got up at 4:45 and hauled ass to the Ganges so I could get on a boat and see the sunrise. It was absolutely beautiful. People, mostly men, were doing puja in the river. Puja is the Hindu show of devotion, offering something to the gods, ringing a bell to let the gods know the offering is there, saying a mantra, and in this case dunking themselves in the holiest river in India.

I also saw the body burning ghats but I didn't notice any bodies or anything. I wasn't searching too hard, though, so maybe there were.

After checking out some temples, I went back to my hotel to wait out the 11-3 hours when the sun is hottest. I took a nice refreshing nap and headed back to Old Town and saw the Muslim quarters where they make silk products. All by hand, yo! It was pretty cool to see and I bought a gift for my hosts in Ghent.

I went back to the ghats in the evening to see the evening puja ritual. It was ok but not nearly as beautiful or spiritual as the morning. It's hard to appreciate the spirituality of a moment when small children are trying to sell you fans, bindi dye, etc.

Varanasi was nice but I am eager to move on.