Into India, Varanasi and the Shiva Festival

On Saturday afternoon, with only 12 days left of our 13 month trip, we arrived in Varanasi airport after a short 45 minute flight with... gulp... Air India from Kathmandu. There were only 16 people on the plane! The airport is in a very rural area 20km from the city so the border formalities were surprisingly rapid. As we had half expected, our arranged transfer was nowhere to be seen so after searching around the airport we took a taxi for the 1 hour transfer. The taxi was fantastic, it was a white Ambassador and a real throwback to the days of the British Raj. As we drove towards Varanasi we were surprised at how quiet and rural it was but the peace did not last long... as we came into Varanasi it became sheer madness with traffic (mostly rickshaws and tuk tuks that paid no attention to the correct sides of the road!!) choking the dusty, dirty streets, cows stood in the middle of the road or roaming along as if they were living the life of a human and ad hoc roadworks causing even more disruption... it was definitely a big welcome to India!

Our taxi driver dropped us off somewhere on the edge of the old town about 10 minutes from our guesthouse as vehicles cannot enter the small windy streets near the Ganges river (and our accommodation) as they are too slim. So we had to walk the final leg of our journey through a labyrinth of narrow, filthy streets, including passing through a metal detector which was rather disconcerting. It felt as if we might get lost inside forever. We were bombarded with hotel touts and other supposedly 'just being helpful' individuals (we were told to trust no one) as soon as we let one leg out of the taxi in all the chaos we finally had to give in and put some trust in a young man who claimed to know the way to our hotel and had an official hotel card... we followed him with caution!

We were safely delivered to the correct hotel, situated on the banks of the Ganges River at one of the many ghats... ours was Meer Ghat. Jeremy, Ash's best mate and best man at our wedding was sitting in the internet room waiting to meet us. It can be frazzling and totally chaotic when you arrive somewhere new so we have never been so happy to see a familiar face. We checked into our room then went straight to the balcony area which overlooked the Ganges. Words cannot describe the sight and the riot of colours and activity that lay before us; it left us speechless.


We set out to explore and first stop was a local Chai tea served on the street in a small clay pot which you smash on the ground afterwards. There we sat on a wall, side by side with the locals and cows enjoying this sickly sweet tea! We wandered down steep steps and walked along the Ghats by the Ganges trying to take in the activity around us. The river is wide and lined on one side with hotels and millions of people just sitting around, getting a shave, having their hair cut, doing their washing, women standing and holding up their saris to dry in the sun like human washing lines, street sellers selling pappadums and snacks and small children trying to sell candles to set afloat on the river. The women wear exceptionally bright Saris which provides an amazing burst of colour everywhere. The streets of Varanasi and along the Ganges are absolutely filthy, with human and animal faeces in plentiful quantities along the pavement in some areas. It can only be described as insane....total madness...total chaos... with people and cows everywhere!

We climbed back up from the Ghats and wandered the streets of the old town which are exceptionally narrow and lined with local food stands selling sickly sweet Jalebis, Galub Jamun, savoury Samosas and Pakoras, shops selling cheap cotton hippy clothes, glass beads, sitars and silk and local eateries. Dinner was a Vegetarian Thali for 40 pence... a bottle of coke costs 12 pence....oh we were cautious but so excited to be able to afford to eat BIG again!! In the evening, we sat the big balcony of our hotel completely mesmorised by the activity along the Ganges below us. Varanasi is a wonderful and fascinating place and not somewhere we will ever forget; it is full of life, energy and colour and is a very spiritual place to visit. We love it!

We started day two (Sunday) with a dawn boat ride along the Ganges river. We were a little eager and ended up out of bed and dressed before the boatmen themselves. There was no need to look for a boatman, as they will definitely find you first! We bartered our price for an hour long ride and climbed into an old wooden canoe. It was an amazing and unforgettable experience. All the locals were bathing in the holy Ganges river and making a racket; Hare Krishnas were sitting in a circle on pillars and chanting; a holy man was taking what looked like a yoga/meditation class; the first cremations were being set up at the burning ghat. We soaked up the atmosphere and the sunrise before heading back for breakfast... Paratha with Subji (curried vegetable) and curd which was delicious.


Our main task for the day was to get to the train station and buy onward tickets to Agra and then Udapuir in Rajasthan. There is a tourist quota for tickets each day and we didn't want to miss out or get lumbered with cattle class seats on a 12 hour journey. We negotiated with a rickshaw to take us the 4km journey. Rickshaws are a fantastic way to see a place and and provide such an good insight into everyday life as they weave in and out of all the backstreets. Outside of the old (and touristy) quarter, the streets were madness and jam packed with constantly tooting bicycles, rickshaws and tuk-tuks, lots of cows (which seem to live off a diet of left over food and garbage and fruit and vegetable carts where the owners are sat on top, in squatting position waiting to serve! The streets are lined the most decrepit looking dwellings and shops and fruit and vegetable stalls. Tickets in hand, we headed back to the old quarter but not before a brief scuffle between rickshaw drivers had taken place as they fought each other for our custom.

We had a vegetarian Thali lunch then spent the afternoon chilling around the town; Bi doing a spot of clothes shopping. If they don't have your size or colour, they'll make it for you within a few hours! Late afternoon we walked to the cremation ghat of Manikarnika which closely resembled the site of Pashaputinath in Kathmandu. We watched the burning pyres from a respectful distance and saw many bodies being brought down to cremate in the open and have the ashes scattered into the river. Between 200 and 300 bodies are brought here every day. Almost as interesting is watching the 'so called guides' and con merchants pounce on the most vulnerable tourists and extract money from them for 'good karma'!!

In the evening, Bi decided to take some time on her own to chill on the balcony at the guesthouse and have her dinner of dahl and paratha overlooking the Ganges. Ash headed out for dinner with Jeremy. On the way home Ash encountered the first of the Shiva celebrations getting underway..... a large religious crowd making their way down the Ganges all insisted on shaking his hand and throwing rice over him as an offering!

On Monday we awoke at 5am to prayer calls and the noise of music and chanting, signifying the beginning of a Shiva Festival in Varanasi. We gave it a few hours before heading out for our Indian breakfast (chapati, curd and Subji) on the balcony, overlooking the action. Poor old Bi was not in good form having been covered in over 45 bed bug bites on her ears, face, neck and arms (which we think she picked up at the last teahouse we stayed at in Lukla) and had to douse herself with antihistamine cream! It was not pleasant and she was not impressed!

The Ganges river and riverside was packed with people and wooden canoe boats so we got ourselves down to the river quickly to soak up some of the madness. There was music everywhere, enormous queues for the temples, millions of people were bathing, immersing themselves fully in the filthy Ganges river, men and women were having their heads shaved (so there was hair everywhere), faces were being painted... it was a riot of colour and frenetic activity, a real bombardment of all senses. We spent the morning fighting our way through the crowds on the Ghats... the atmosphere was unbelievable, overwhelming. There is no way to describe the place and do it justice.

Our hotel was full for the night due to the Shiva celebrations so we gathered our bags and moved down a few Ghats to another Guesthouse which was very pleasant and only 3 pounds 50 a night for us both. We had a big lunch, relaxed a little and then in the afternoon to escape the crowds and madness we took another walk south along the ghats towards Assi Ghat. On the way we passed another burning ghat which this time was really quite grisly. On one pyre a burned, charred head, shoulder and arm was clearly visible (until the man attending the fire pushed it back in with a stick). Bi was disgusted! On our return, we bought a small floating candle from a local boy and fought our way down to the bank through a huge swarm of moths to set it on the Ganges river. Jeremy said he would say some 'puja' (Hindi prayers) but before he could manage them he promptly slipped on the bottom step in the darkness and fell into the river! Instead of Puja we had instant prayers of "oh my god please don't let his head go under the water!". It was hilarious and fortunately he only fell in as deep as his waist (thus avoiding full immersion and the possibility of a nasty stomach upset!). Ash took the opportunity to rib him deservedly as he walked home soaked in the River Ganges, reminding him that there are apparently 1.5 million fecal bacteria per litre of water and that the normal safe bathing amount is just 200!!! It was rapid walk back to the guesthouse for a shower followed by an another Indian feast of a dinner.

Today, Tuesday, is our last day here in Varanasi. Bi and Jeremy took an early morning yoga class and we spent the rest of the day just mulling around and doing lots of eating in the old quarter which is rather quiet after yesterday's festival. The food has been really good here in Varanasi and they have been cooking everything fresh to order. At around 5, we said goodbye to Jeremy and Varanasi and headed to the station for our overnight train 12 hours west to Agra, the site of the Taj Mahal. We had a lot of trouble finding a tuk-tuk and when we did find some and they saw our bags they all ganged together and quadrupled their prices thinking we would have no choice. As a matter of principle we refused to let them win and ended up piling us and our bags onto the back of a small rickshaw and some poor man peddled us to the station!