Varanasi, India

  As I mentioned, we crossed the border into India on the 30^th, on foot. After all the acrobatics with the visa, the paperwork was checked in an office that looked like a lemonade stand, with a generator that blew all the fumes straight into your face. But done and done. 

  Crammed like sardines, we took a jeep with some other tourists to Gorakhpur, a city some 3 hours away, from which we intended to get on a train to Varanasi. The city was a shock, even after the experiences in Nepal. Crowded, dirty, smelly, full of traffic and cows. But the difficult part was getting the train tickets. After being sent around three different counters, the women of the group stood in a women-only line (3 times shorter than others) to try to get the tickets. That didn't work, as we were told this counter didn't do reservations, right after we got to the front. We split up, half to guard luggage, while the other half went to a nearby agency to see if we could get tickets. The commission fee was exorbitant. Finally, we were told that if we waited for 2 hours, people would be selling back their reservation tickets, so we could, just maybe, be able to get something. Thank God for Walter, ½ of a Belgian couple from Leuven (!), a railway logistics operator by profession. Only his tenacity, or as he called it his pushiness, got us the tickets, as he got in behind another counter with the bureaucratic employee, and kept putting our application for reservation on top of his paperwork. It took teamwork, and you cannot imagine our relief, after 5 hours, at having the tickets in our hand. The train was relatively on time, although it took us a while to even find the appropriate wagon. After such an exhausting day, we slept pretty soundly in our sleeper seats, arriving in Varanasi at 8 in the morning, our first rail experience behind us.

  After searching around, we settled in at Puja Guest House, which has a rooftop restaurant with a great 360 view of the city. 

Varanasi ghats at night

 What's more, the place is a favorite stay for Martyna Wojciechowska, a well known travel journalist, as we were enthusiastically informed when the owners found out we are Polish. 

 The hotel is located in the northern part of the Old City, amid a maze of disorienting narrow streets, full of people, bikes, cows and garbage.

Daily congestion

 Determined and usually with a held breath to keep out the stink, we explored the streets and the nearby ghats, or stairs leading into the holy river of Ganges. Varanasi is an ancient living city, venerated in the Hindu religion as a place where people come to die and be cremated, which thus releases them from the cycle of reincarnation. Aside from the two designated burning ghats, where the cremations occur (I personally could not watch, although Pawel got an explanation of the whole procedure), other ghats drum with life. 

Burning ghat

Pawel even got a full body massage on one of the ghats

When in Rome...

Evening puja ceremony (blessing)

 People come to bathe and do laundry, cows sunbathe, touts try to sell you anything you desire, fake sudhus, or holy men, beg for money or try to pick up women, while the real ones perform their religious duties. 

Sudhu - P wasn't sneaky enough

Sudhu

 As different as they were, and as unaccustomed as we were to them, the ghats of Varanasi were an interesting experience. We took a boat on the Ganges, both at sunrise and sunset, to see the riverfront in the various lights. 

Lotus candle on Ganges

 We took a trip across the river to Fort Ramnagar, for a view of an eccentric maharaja's various artifacts, such as old cars, weapons and clothes. 

 We also finally had the chance the try some of the Indian food staples, such as delicious chai, dosas and lassis.  

  Most importantly, we found a quicker way to book train tickets, via a Foreign Tourist Office, and took advantage of it by getting tickets both for Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) and down south to Trivandum in Kerala, where we plan to spend Christmas. After four days of exploring Varanasi and saying a proper goodbye to our fellow Aussie travelers (with us all the way from Nepal!), we took an overnight train in a basic sleeper wagon to the surprisingly charming Kolkata.