Varanasi/Sarnath

Last weekend it was off to Varanasi, meeting Sarah and Daniel on the train after their overnight leg from Gwalior to Allahabad. Varanasi has a repution for hassle as well as the dirt and pollution in the Ganges. We were told to expect many touts outside the station, pretending to be from out hostel, who would try to scam us. We waited for out official hostel person to show up and were treated to an exceptionally drunk seeming man urinating in the middle of the station then keeling over hitting his head and rolling in it. This was right infront of the tourist office and surrounded by the tourist police, but they didn't seem to want to know. The man from our hostel eventually showed up and we got in to an autorickshaw and off up the meandering alleys, passed the armed soldiers and to out hostel (the soldiers are there because of a important temple next to a mosque, the mosque having been built on part of the old temple, and a sight of tensions. We then found that despite our booking ahead they hadn't kept the rooms we'd asked for. Obviously "booking" has a different meaning in India. Daniel ended up staying in a triple room on his own (cost 1 pound more than the single room would have) so all was sorted.

We went for lunch in a nearby rooftop restaurant. By now the urge to have non-Indian food when given the opportunity was strong with us all, though I did have some pakoras. The roof top was a great vantage-point and we could see the river and across many other rooftops,, featuring a selection of people and animals including many kite-flyers. The kite-flyers along with varyous whistling and shouting men of rooftops seemed to trying to stop flocks of birds from landing. Very odd.

It turned out the biggest risk on Varanasi was not touts, or disease, or bombings. It was angry (provoked) cows charging through the narrow alleys and along the waterfront! Poor old Daniel got a headbutt in the back. More to the point Sarah was pointing a camera at him at the time and didn't get a photo! We dodged the cow threat as we set off along the ghats to see the burning bodies. On the main burning ghat there were around 15 fires going and you could see the bodies, wrapped in cloth, placed on piles of wood and set alight. I didn't find it disturbing. The only unsettling thing was when you ended up breathing in the smoke. This didn't help my cough which seems to develop when I leave the campus and head into proper India.

We passed round the burning Ghat and continued along the waterfront for a bit, before getting in a boat to head back towards the centre. We ended up with a rather lacklustre rower, who seemed well aware he was being paid by time not distance. As boats with twenty passengers surged past our boat of three, we got a very leisurely different perspective on the ghats.

After disembarking Sarah decided on getting her palm read and horoscope from a random chap. He even threw in a face-reading as well, apparently. I must say Daniel and I were not impressed, but Sarah was happy to find out she'll have a successful cloth or furniture business in 2029. We had a look at some of the shops around town, walked a lot and had dinner in an Israeli-style place. I continued ordering as much garlic as humanl could for some reason.

The next day we took the 40 minute autorickshaw ride to Sarnath, where the Buddha supposedly preached his first sermon. There's a big stupa, an archaelogical museum (only 2p to get in) and various buddhist temples, one including an alleged descendent of the Boddhi tree the sermon was preached under (similar idea to the Newton apple trees in Trinity College really). There was also a deer park with crocodiles and pelicans in, naturally. We returned to Varanasi, had some lunch,went throught he security cordon to see the disputed golden temple mentioned above, some shopping was done and I just had time to sort out my stuff before getting my train home. The river and burning ghats were definitely different and worth the journey.

More photos here.