Our first several days in India were, as we expected, a bit overwhelming. We arrived in India via Sunauli, a quintessential border town: dusty, hot, congested, full of seedy characters, and utterly chaotic. We moved on quickly to Gorakhpur by bus, the nearest town with a train station, where we found things were no less frenzied. At the train station, nothing was posted in English (little was posted in Hindi, either), there were no employees to be found, and every square inch seemed to be covered with weary travelers sleeping: the platforms, the overpasses, the walkways, even where people should have been queuing for tickets. We were confused and speechless, and we got out of there as quickly as we could.
In keeping with these first two cities, Varanasi lived up to its reputation as an intense and chaotic place. One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, it is also one of the holiest cities in India because the sacred waters of the Ganges River run through it. Lined with ghats, the river’s western edge teems with life, providing a setting for mundane daily rituals like bathing and washing clothes, as well as for sacred ceremonies like weddings and funerals.
Our time here began with a ride from the most aggressive and manipulative rickshaw driver of our entire trip, who followed us into our guesthouse and tried to show us his Facebook page to “prove” that he was a good guy until the management had to escort him out. We then explored the narrow, maze-like streets of Varanasi which were packed with people, cows and other stray animals, and often littered with trash.
In our two days here, though, we mostly explored the ghats along the Ganges River. We saw holy men dressed in bright orange robes supply blessings to eager tourists and locals, people washing clothes in the river, young boys playing cricket, Hindus of all ages bathing and drinking from the waters, offerings being set afloat on the Ganges, countless water buffalo (and their excrement), wedding parties celebrating on boat trips, and families paying their last respects in front of raging funeral pyres. The city engaged all of our senses with the bright colored robes of pilgrims and holy men, the smells of burning incense and urine-soaked alleyways, and bells and chants emanating from temples. It was a fabulous, if crazy, introduction to India.
Click on the photo below for our Varanasi album.
In keeping with these first two cities, Varanasi lived up to its reputation as an intense and chaotic place. One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, it is also one of the holiest cities in India because the sacred waters of the Ganges River run through it. Lined with ghats, the river’s western edge teems with life, providing a setting for mundane daily rituals like bathing and washing clothes, as well as for sacred ceremonies like weddings and funerals.
Our time here began with a ride from the most aggressive and manipulative rickshaw driver of our entire trip, who followed us into our guesthouse and tried to show us his Facebook page to “prove” that he was a good guy until the management had to escort him out. We then explored the narrow, maze-like streets of Varanasi which were packed with people, cows and other stray animals, and often littered with trash.
In our two days here, though, we mostly explored the ghats along the Ganges River. We saw holy men dressed in bright orange robes supply blessings to eager tourists and locals, people washing clothes in the river, young boys playing cricket, Hindus of all ages bathing and drinking from the waters, offerings being set afloat on the Ganges, countless water buffalo (and their excrement), wedding parties celebrating on boat trips, and families paying their last respects in front of raging funeral pyres. The city engaged all of our senses with the bright colored robes of pilgrims and holy men, the smells of burning incense and urine-soaked alleyways, and bells and chants emanating from temples. It was a fabulous, if crazy, introduction to India.
Click on the photo below for our Varanasi album.
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