Varanasi, Gangees, Ghats and some R&R

Well hello fellow readers, i am now revived after a good 8 hours sleep, which is probably the most i have had since my trip. I am now in Agra, home of one of the seven wonders of the world the 'Taj Mahal'. We have a free day today which is good as we  have been pretty much non stop for the last 4 days. I ended my last post on the way to Varanasi, deemed the most holy place in India and the river Ganges, so we'll pick it from there. So after our last disastrous hotel, we were all hoping for something with a little more class, though to be honest, that wouldn't be hard. We were not to be disappointed, we pulled into the Hotel grounds, yes that's right it actually had grounds, we drove up the drive way and I suddenly felt we were no longer in India. The hotel looked modern, the staff all wore matching uniforms, there was no rubbish blowing round, the grass was green and flowers blossomed. Every one's face lit up, the long drive and the nightmares from the previous hotel were soon a distant memory. The mood soon got even better when we found out there was a pool, priority then was binning the bags fishing out the swimming gear and getting down to the pool. Pool was clean but water wasn't as cold as we all hoped. still it was heaven. After a an hour or so in the pool we retreated to the rooms, they were clean and tidy, nice bathroom and hot and cold running water, this was luxury and on par with probably a 3* hotel in the UK which for India is pretty good. We all met in the bar at 7ish, the bar was cool, low lighting and and sheesha's if you wanted one. Most went to the restaurant for food myself, Caroline, Joe, Fred, (Goon bag as we now called him) Warren and Kate stayed in the bar, ordered bar food, cocktails and Sheesha's, everyone was up for a few drinks. Few hours past and the usual suspects were soon left, the party gang as we have now been named. So Joe, myself, Caroline and Kate. The Sheesha bar was closing at midnight, so we moved to another bar on the hotel grounds, we were the only ones there, more cocktails, whiskeys and beers followed and the barman 'Sanjay' was cool and loving the westerners got wrecked. At this point we had already decided we were going to stay up all night as we had to be up for sunrise meaning a 5am start to get down to the Ganges to watch the locals bathe in the Ganges, a every day ritual for Indian's to wash away sins, and purify themselves in the sacred water of the Ganges. So we all thought that we would feel worse if we went to bed and had to get up at 4am to get down to the river, all night drinking and fun was the plan.

4.15 came, think we must have dropped off for all of 20mins, so awoke still pissed. showered and got down to reception. Rickshaws had been ordered and 3 per rickshaw we headed down to a Ghat on the Ganges to witness sunrise and the locals bathing in the Ganges. What an awesome experience, Even for 5am it was busy, people everywhere, lots of tourists too, come to watch and experience this everyday morning ritual. Sunrise was amazing over the Ganges and got some amazing pics. Joe was probably the worst of the 4 of us that stayed up, he clearly was still hammered and made the morning amusing with some funny comments, he would pay later, ha ha. We then headed to where the dead are cremated in public on the edge of the river Ganges. This is a Spiritual Pilgrim, The body is put on a pile of burning logs, and has to be kept there until it completely burns.Hindu's believe that once you pass the body is not required and that only the spirit is needed to live on. This was a strange experience, our guide lead us to one of the 84 ghats that are spread out on the river Ganges, we were going to watch a body burn. I hear some of you say that's a little morbid, perhaps you are right, however these are public cremations and something i really wanted to experience. As we approached ash filled the air, it suddenly hits you that this may contain particles of a human, freaky or what. The guide lead us up to the Ghat, luckily a cremation had already been started well before we arrived, the fire was now just simmering and you couldn't make out that a human had recently been cremated, however that didn't take away the eery feeling. We walked around the simmering Ghat, people were now dousing the flames with water, what was the most freaky thing was, was that a dog stood in the middle, gnawing away at something, I dismissed any thought of what this may have been. It was a surreal one in a life time experience, one that I am glad i saw and though it may have not been right, perhaps being still a little bit pissed may have taken the edge of the experience, the whole morning had been an amazing and so glad i got to see and experience these Hindu rituals.


We were back at the hotel for 8am for breakfast. The party gang had brekkie and then headed back to bed for an hour so before we got picked up at 10 to visit a Mosque, Silk factory and Carpet factory. We all made it for 10 apart from Joe, he decided that bed and sleep would be more interesting, I remember thinking lightweight and i'll give him siome shit for not making it out later. I was soon having to retract that thought as in all honesty the Silk and carpet factory was just about them trying to get you to buy goods, not being funny but how the hell will i fit and carpet in my backpack for the next 5months! Joe for sure had the right idea, we did however find a macdonalds, of course minus any beef burgers as the cow is sacred in India, so it was all chicken, Veg and fish burgers, still perfect hangover cure. After stuffing our faces the pool was calling, the sun beaming and what better way to spend the day when slightly hungover. We chilled for the rest of the day. The evening there was a pool party, tables were laid out next to the pool and a DJ pumped out some tunes, we ate and then swam and drank some more, of course usual suspects attended though Goon bag was replaced by Claire, she was loving the pool. We all had an early night ready for a 5am start as we had a long, long day the following day, 13 hours in total.

Varanasi had been amazing, not just the experience of the Gangees and Ghats but nice hotel, good laughs and maybe a little kanoodling ;o). Keep well peeps.