Varanasi, India 09.05

We arrived in the train station at Varanasi and searched for our drivers. We were told that we would have a driver and a guide at our disposal in Varanasi, and that they would take us on a tour of the city and a boat ride on the Ganges River. We found the guy waving a sign for ‘Ms Loren’, and followed him with our heavy bags all the way back through the busy train station to the other exit where he had parked the car.

They drove us to the hotel, chatting about Varanasi and India on the way. They showed their true greedy colours immediately, when they told us that our city tour would be about 15km from the city, so we could see some temples there, and that if we wanted to go to the city at night to see the festivities, they’d charge 400 rupees per person. We were told that they were going to be our drivers for the whole time, not just for the tour, and we were well aware that we could probably get to the city for about 40 rupees each by auto-rickshaw.

After settling into the hotel, the guide picked us up on his motorbike so we could use the internet at a nearby café. Soon after he and the driver picked us up for our ‘tour of the city’. The driver talked constantly, trying to describe different things about India, but we couldn’t understand a word he said, his accent was so strong. We just nodded and smiled.

Temple Tour
They dropped us off at the Stupa, which is the place where Buddha gave his first teachings. They brought over a guide that was waiting for us, and told us to tip him when we finished the tour. We had the impression that the tip was actually the fee for the tour, and even though we had pre-paid for the whole trip, they weren’t spending any of that money on paying for guides for us. The guide was very old and cute, he knew a lot about the places he was showing us.

After the Stupa, he took us to see a Jain Temple. This place was very unlike the Jain temple we saw in Udaipur. There were naked pictures and paintings of Jain monks, and our guide told us all about their religion. These monks refuse to kill any living organism. They only eat fruit and vegetables that have fallen from trees and bushes, because they believe that picking these things is killing them. They even pull out their hair by the roots to protect any bacteria that might be living there. No razors are used for hair removal, in case they cut the bacteria. They won’t step outside for at least 3 months after the rainy season, in case they step on any organism that has washed onto the ground. Each monk carries a broom of peacock feathers to sweep the ground in front of them, so that they don’t step on any insects.

The guide then took us to see a Thai Buddhist temple, a Chinese Buddhist temple and a Japanese one. The area is very popular for building temples, because of the nearby Stupa. It was interesting to see all the temples from countries that we had already visited. Loren was taking a photo of one of the Buddhist temples when a monk almost walked into the picture. He stopped and moved back out of sight for at least five minutes until he was sure he wouldn’t be interrupting the photo. When he finally emerged again, he smiled and nodded as he passed. It was a shock after being in India for so long. It made Loren remember how kind and generous the monks were in Buddhist temples.

We were asked for money by all the Hindu priests we saw, and if the people of India are a reflection of the Hindu religion, then Buddhism would win hands-down as a better religion.
In India, all the men stare openly at foreign women, and not in a nice way, even if they dress modestly. Women and children are thrown aside by men trying to shove their way onto trains and escalators etc. Indian merchants and drivers do not just try to rip off foreigners, but their own people too. Loren read the newspaper for maybe 3 days on the trip in India, and every day there was a violent murder of a woman. One day it was a woman murdered because she didn’t have her husbands dinner ready for him when he got home. The next day, it was a woman murdered by her husbands friend, it was payback because he and the woman’s husband were having a disagreement.

Muslim Silk Weaving Community

After seeing the temples, we were driven to some little streets where a Muslim association makes silk to sell all over India. Our drivers talked it up all the way there, then dropped us off to have a tour with a local guy. He took us through the narrow streets and told us about how the silk is made. We could hear some machines weaving silk, but he avoided those rooms and only showed us the rooms where people were weaving on manual weaving looms. Apparently it takes months to complete a piece of material. On our way through the streets, little kids grabbed our arms laughing and asking for rupees. They wouldn’t let go and they held on so hard that we couldn’t move. The guide had to tell them to go away, or we would have been stuck there for a while.

Finally they took us to the ‘sales room’ where they got us to sit down on the mattress that covers the floor of the room. Then they showed us bedspreads made of silk, in all different colours. They said they cost 500 Euros each. We said we weren’t interested, so they showed us cushion covers instead, then when we still weren’t interested they showed us scarves. The guy asked us what we wanted, and Artur said, ‘we told you already, we’re not interested’. So he finally got the hint, and we walked out to find our guide listening at the door. He seemed very disappointed, as this was no doubt a commission based operation for him.

The City of Varanasi

The tour was now over, so we asked the drivers to drop us off at the city instead of the hotel. They took us part of the way, then said they couldn’t take the car any further because of the road, even though we could other bigger cars continuing. So we took a rickshaw the rest of the way. This only confirmed how dodgy our guide and driver were. The distance they’d taken us from the hotel to the city was probably 5km, and this was the distance they said they’d charge us 400 rupees for, and they couldn’t even drive us the whole way!

The rickshaw ride through the city was great! This was the first time we’d taken a bicycle rickshaw, not a motorbike one. It was very exciting moving through the busy streets. There were so many people and the roads were lined with shops on every side. Eventually we got off, because the rest of the road was for pedestrians only. We made our way through the crowds and looked at the sparkling jewelry and beautiful dresses being sold by the side of the road.

Ceremony at the Ghat

When we finally reached the water, we saw crowds of people already gathering. Every night, there is a ceremony performed by the priests. We think the ceremony was for calling the spirits in the water of the Ganges, to help guide them on their way. There were big mattresses for people to sit on, just behind the ceremonial platforms, but we wanted to see the ceremony from above.

We found a building with big balconies with tourists already sitting there. They told us we only had to buy a drink, and we could sit there. The drinks were obviously overpriced, but the view was great. One of the waiters took us up to the second balcony where steps led up to a prime, central viewing spot. He said this was the Maharajah and Maharani viewing point. We secured our spots there with a tip for the waiter. Our seats were perfect, away from the crowds with a superb view over the platforms and the river. The people below us were so colourful in their saris and salwar kameez suits.

Finally the ceremony started, and loud music blared out of a huge loudspeaker. One priest stepped onto each platform and began to perform ceremonies with incense and burning lamps. Then they started ringing bells, which were attached to each platform. People by the water lit candles inside of flowers and set them floating on the Ganges river. The ceremony was extremely noisy, I have no doubt that if any spirits had been lurking in the water, they would have been woken up.

Varanasi by Night
After the ceremony, we went shopping at the stalls by the side of the road. We bought some sparkling bracelets to match the Indian dress that Loren had bought. She was wearing it that night, and was thrilled to finally have matching bracelets. She had hoped that wearing Indian clothes would provoke less stares from people, but in reality, it probably ended up provoking more.

A group of women who were thrilled by Loren's outfit.

We started to get hungry, so we went off in search of some safe food for our still fragile stomachs. We wandered through some back alleys that were so tiny it was hard to move past other people. Each side of the alley had stalls selling jewelry and clothes, and the place was packed full of locals. Even soldiers loitered in groups along the alleyways. It was so tight and congested, it was like being in a maze. We found it very hard to get out and very difficult to find the restaurant we were looking for. Eventually we found it, and managed to eat our first meal since we’d had food poisoning. We had been drinking gastrolyte water, and eating only scraps of plain bread since Jaipur.

By the time we were ready to go home, the once busy streets were now quiet. Rickshaw drivers called out to us, offering us their services, but we were hoping for an auto-rickshaw so we could get home faster. One guy finally convinced us to go with him, and told us he’d get us to our hotel in 30 minutes or we wouldn’t have to pay (bicycle driven rickshaw). On our way, a street jewelry seller called out to us, wanting us to buy his goods. We ignored him, and he yelled at our driver to stop. Our driver was on a time limit, so he kept going. The furious seller ran alongside our rickshaw hurling abuse at the driver for at least 300m! We were surprised at his persistence, but our poor driver was scared out of his wits. He complained to the traffic police nearby, then stopped so that he could hide his money further down into his pockets. He said it was a dangerous area.

Boat Ride on the Ganges

The next morning, we woke up at 4.30am and packed our bags to leave Varanasi. This morning, we had a boat ride planned on the Ganges river, then we would leave on a bus for Kathmandu, Nepal. We were taken by our drivers close to the river, then we walked a long way to the Ghat where we would leave for the boat ride. On the way, we saw a huge group of boys practicing yoga. They were all wearing white outfits and performing the same moves.

When we reached the river, we were instructed to tip the boat driver too. No doubt they weren’t planning to pay him with our money either. As we started moving away from the shore, a guy hopped onto the boat. We assumed he was part of our tour, and he gave us each a flower with a candle in it. We were supposed to put it onto the water and say the name of a loved one. Then he told us it would cost us 50 rupees each. Loren laughed and asked if he was joking (well aware that he wasn’t). We told him he was a thief and paid him only10 rupees. He then got off the boat, to go and con someone else.

The Ganges river is the centre of life and death in Varanasi. 60,000 people come to the river each day to wash in the stagnant waters. You can see crowds of them splashing and playing in the water even at 5am. The days are hot in India, so people start as early as possible.

The Ganges river is also very important to the Indian people, because of their Hindu religion. If you have your body cremated, and the ashes sprinkled in the Ganges, the cycle of reincarnation ends for you. Instead of coming back to earth as an animal, you go to either Heaven or Hell. So if people think they have led a good life, and that they will go to Heaven, they go to die in Varanasi. Depending on which caste you were born into, you must be cremated with a certain type of wood. It can be quite expensive, as the wood for the higher castes can be very costly, and you must have enough wood to completely cremate the entire body. The people who can’t afford wood, can have their bodies cremated in an electric crematorium.

The Ghats which are located all along the river, are the place where bodies are cremated. Some Ghats are just used for bathing and washing clothes, but two specific ones that we saw, are for cremation. Others are used for ceremonies such as the one that we watched the night before.

Our boat ride took us past a cremation ghat first, but the only cremations happening were in the electric crematorium behind the ghat.

Most of the ghats that we saw were filled with people bathing and playing in the water, or washing their clothes. We saw lines of colourful saris laid out on the steps to dry. The saris are about 9 metres long, so you can see the beautiful stretches of material, all perfectly lined up, from a long way away.

The platform on the pink building is where we watched the ceremony from.

We also saw the ghat where the ceremony was performed the night before. The last ghat we visited was another cremation ghat, where several cremations were actually taking place. We didn’t get too close, but watched from a distance.

Final Attempts by Our Guides
After our boat ride, we asked to return to the hotel for breakfast. Our drivers said something about our hotel’s food being ‘bad season’, and that we should go to another one. So they took us to an expensive hotel restaurant a few blocks away from our own hotel. We were very sleepy and didn’t quite know how or why we were at this other hotel. We realized quickly that they had brought us to this hotel, because they would receive a commission on anything we ordered from there, whereas if we ate our hotel’s breakfast, they could make no money on us. They were not impressed when we insisted that they take us back to our hotel, where we had already paid for our breakfast to be included.

We could tell for the entire time we were with these guides, that they were hoping for a ‘big American tip’. We are not accustomed to giving tips in Australia, however we do it when we feel someone really deserves it. We were glad to tip our friendly boat driver and the old tour guide from the Stupa. However we were not impressed by our drivers. I don’t think we saw them smile once, and the whole time they acted as though taking us around Varanasi was beneath them. Not to mention the amount of times they tried to make commissions by forcing us into situations where we’d have to buy something expensive, or trying to charge us an exhorbitant amount for a quick ride into the city. We were thrilled to leave them behind and to give them no tip, despite their request for one, as a demonstration of what we thought of their scams and hostility.