Varanasi

Hello All,

Our time in Varanasi proved to be an interesting one. Overall our experiences tilt the balance towards it being Varanasti rather than nicey (apologies for the cheap puns). However, it is an absolutely fascinating place despite its less attractive elements (Ross?)

Meeting our colleague Ross:

Varanasi is the holy city of Shiva through which the sizeable Ganges (Mother Ganga) flows. It is a site of pilgrimage for Hindus. A site to wash away all your sins in the Ganges or to die which offers moksha (release from the cycle of birth and death). Thus a sunset boat trip offered up a multitude of fascinating sites which took people watching to a whole new level. Our trip was about two hours long but we could have spent hours just watching the daily goings on. However, our daily goings on (i.e. a need for breakfast) forced us ashore.

And so the main question thrown up by our floating tour was "would you have a swim in the Ganges?". In all the heat and humidity a quick dip in this holiest of rivers (certainly holier than the Tyne) would have been greatly enjoyed. However, we weighed the sites for and against during our trip and decided no. Please decide for yourself:

Sites for:
- Multitudes of people swimming in the river.
- People washing their clothes.
- People drinking the water.
- People brushing their teeth in the water.
- People praying in the river.

Sites against:
- 1 dead buffalo floating past.
- 2 human corpses floating by.
- 3 corpses being cremated upon the shore their ashes to be ceremoniously placed in the river.
- Countless amounts of rubbish floating by.
- The odd sewerage pipe pumping into the river.

And despite the latter sites people still continue to bathe etc in these waters. Maybe they are right and the religious powers of the Ganges keep them free from harm. They certainly believed that and they were there to tell the tale.

Thus Varanasi was a fascinating place and unlike any we have ever experienced. As mentioned it had its negative sides: incessant touting, people waiting outside your hotel at 5:30am and for most of the day to drag you to their boat or silk shop, a very real sense of 'we're going to be robbed' after dark (which was almost realised when someone attempted to snatch our bag from a car), and the countless amounts of purving men (but thats just India for white women and Spencer's bar in Norwich). However, it was well worth a visit but not somewhere we'd go back to.

Two tourist mugs: "20 rupees please sir", "But I didnt want paint on my forehead"

Hope all are well
Simon & Emma