Brett and Kiersten's Travels: April 2012

We've been in Thailand for a couple weeks and I have been slacking off a bit on this whole blogging business. Anyways, from Darjeeling we made our way to Varanasi which would basically be our last stop in India (other than Delhi) before heading down to South-east Asia. I spent yet another shitty night aboard a night train, which might actually take the prize of all-time shittiest sleep in India (hard to say though). After arriving at the train station and short verbal battle with the rickshaw driver, we were on our way into the city. We got dropped off a significant distance from our chosen accommodation because it was located in the old part of the city where the alleyways are much too narrow to handle rickshaws. Fortunately we were able to pay some random man 10 rupees to show us the way through the maze. Our hotel was right on the edge of the Ganga less than a 10 minute walk from the main ghats. I spent some of the day recovering from my non-sleep aboard the night train and the rest of the day exploring the ghats.

After a brief nap, the rest of day was spent roaming the waterside. One the first ghat we roamed to was the main cremation ghat. They burn bodies there 24/7 and if you're a Hindu this is the most auspicious place to get yourself cremated. They have tons of wood piled everywhere and all the buildings surrounding it are dark with soot. It was a pretty dark place to visit but very interesting at the same time.

In general there isn't that much I feel like saying about Varanasi. It was an amazing place to explore and that's what we spent all our time doing. The ghats were filled with people praying, washing clothes, swiming, playing cricket, hanging out, rowing boats, etc. etc. The alleyways of the old town were filled with chai, silk, food, cows, shit, shops, temples, and everything else you'd expect with India. Like the rest of the country I fucking loved it. India is a place I'm returning to. Everyone in North America should be forced to go at least once. It really just gives you a new outlook on things.