Varanasi, the holiest of all holy cities in India. A city that I missed out on last time I was here. I had heard different accounts from other travellers. Either they loved it or hated it so was not sure what the verdict would be for us. The initial impression was the usual= crowded, dirty and congested with traffic, but the guesthouse that we had set our eyes on was located in the area closer to the ghats (stairs that lead down to the Ganges river) consisting of cobble-stoned, labyrinth-like streets or alley ways. Beacause the streets were so narrow only cows, people and the occasional motorbike could fit, which I liked better. The only trouble was that we had no idea where we were and how to find the guesthouse. We walked for a while and luckily by asking people in every crossing which way we needed to go, we finally found our guest house. Now the issue was to find this place again once we had checked in and went out for a stroll. Amazingly, we only got a little bit lost the first few times, but soon figured out the easiest way to the main ghat.
Although we were constantly asked if we wanted to go on a boattrip or asked for "donations" by holy men (Sadhus) Varanasi was really an interesting place to be. One of my favorite past times is people-watching and there was plenty of it to do in Varanasi. Not everyday you can watch people have a dip in the river Ganges that supposedly washes away your sins and will break the circle of reincarnation. (in my opinion the only thing that you most certainly will get in the Ganges is a douche of E. coli water:) or being in the middle of 4 weddingparties. Not sure if we were a bit lucky with seeing so many weddings or if that is "the thing" to do in Varanasi. Nevertheless it was interesting to observe entire wedding parties of at least 30 people get onto a small boat all in their best and most colorful saris. In contrast, on the other end of the spectrum, a few ghats upstream there were several corpse burnings and funerals. We saw several bodies, which were prepared for the cremation and it was intriguing and fascinating at the same time. This is it! The end of the road for these people and one last public burning before becoming part of the river....that people swim in and sip from. Hmmm it's a bit bizarre if you think about it. To add to the weirdness of the situation, we were told that Sadhus (holy men), children and people with leprosy were dumped in the river without burning since they were already considered pure. Yepp, that really did it for us and we decided to skip our well-needed bath after all:). Despite the apparent need for some hygiene upgrade on the city and the river, I absolutely loved it and consider Varanasi one of the highlights of India so far!
Although we were constantly asked if we wanted to go on a boattrip or asked for "donations" by holy men (Sadhus) Varanasi was really an interesting place to be. One of my favorite past times is people-watching and there was plenty of it to do in Varanasi. Not everyday you can watch people have a dip in the river Ganges that supposedly washes away your sins and will break the circle of reincarnation. (in my opinion the only thing that you most certainly will get in the Ganges is a douche of E. coli water:) or being in the middle of 4 weddingparties. Not sure if we were a bit lucky with seeing so many weddings or if that is "the thing" to do in Varanasi. Nevertheless it was interesting to observe entire wedding parties of at least 30 people get onto a small boat all in their best and most colorful saris. In contrast, on the other end of the spectrum, a few ghats upstream there were several corpse burnings and funerals. We saw several bodies, which were prepared for the cremation and it was intriguing and fascinating at the same time. This is it! The end of the road for these people and one last public burning before becoming part of the river....that people swim in and sip from. Hmmm it's a bit bizarre if you think about it. To add to the weirdness of the situation, we were told that Sadhus (holy men), children and people with leprosy were dumped in the river without burning since they were already considered pure. Yepp, that really did it for us and we decided to skip our well-needed bath after all:). Despite the apparent need for some hygiene upgrade on the city and the river, I absolutely loved it and consider Varanasi one of the highlights of India so far!
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