Varanassi
Trip Start
Jun 14, 2005
1
57
60
Trip End
May 30, 2006
Varanassi, India
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Unfortunately, our initial experience of the City was with pushy rickshaw drivers. On leaving the train station there were scores of them and we literally had to fight them off as they were trying to take our bags and pull our clothes. As the hotel was quite a distance from the train station we reluctantly agreed to go with one, at a set price, and we asked him to drop us off at a restaurant nearby the hotel we were hoping to stay at. As we've said before, this was in order to avoid having to pay an inflated room price at the hotel because the rickshaw driver will get paid commission if they bring guests to the hotel - the hotels in Varanassi had a reputation for this.
Realising that we had not had a proper meal for over 24 hours (gasp !), when we got dropped off, we took the opportunity to refuel before walking the short journey to our hotel. Whilst we were eating our lunch, the Manager of the restaurant informed us that our 'driver' was still waiting outside. We informed him that if it was the same driver who had bought us to the restaurant, that we had already paid him and had told him that we did not require his services anymore.
An hour or so later, we finished our meal and exited the hotel whereupon we were greeted by..... the rickshaw driver !! After a brief discussion with him, along the lines of "we do not want / need you - please go away !", we set off on the short walk to our hotel.
Within a few steps a rickshaw pulled up along side us - low and behold - it was HIM again. This time we just ignored him and continued walking but he would not take "No" for an answer. After 10 minutes of comedy capers trying to lose him (literally hiding behind trucks, ducking into shops, doubling back, taking deliberate wrong turns and evasive manoeuvres), the psycho-stalking rickshaw driver remained hot on our tail. This had gone beyond amusement and we were both starting to get concerned for our safety. Thankfully R's experience in covert operations with Jenny at University had paid off and the 'double Jedi mind bluff' that we tried, worked well enough for us to get out of sight and then use the back streets to get to our hotel.
We got a good deal at the Hotel Buddha - the room (about 4 pounds) was spacious, spotless and overlooked a tree filled garden, complete with monkeys and flowers. Using the hotel as our base, we spent a couple of days in Varanassi, the highlights of which were:
- an early morning boat trip along the Ganges to view the many ghats (river steps), temples, scenes of bathing and funeral pyres smoldering. Varanassi, is the main Ganges cremation area for the Hindus. Corpses are bought here to be cremated and those that can't afford a pyre, are cast into the river; in fact we were pre-warned that there may be bodies floating in the water but the only thing of similar proportions that we saw was a dead pig. We watched a beautiful sunrise as we quietly journeyed up and down the river.
- the 'Monkey Temple', devoted to Hanuman the Hindu Monkey God. In a similar way to the Rat Temple in Bikaner, monkeys are worshipped and bestowed with food and offerings, in this way the monkeys are encouraged to interact with worshippers. The adult monkeys are still very protective of their young though, so when R saw a baby monkey sitting on a fence at head height (yes, she still wants one !), and went to try and touch it, all hell broke loose. A number of the adult monkeys ran at her, pulled her dress and slapped at her feet and ankles (all this was done with a lot of noise and fang showing) - she was terrified by the incident and was very lucky not to have been injured.
- the final highlight had to be food ! A bakery/cafe called 'The Bakery of Life' owned by a Canadian businessman and his English air-hostess wife. The place is a little oasis to the Western traveller, serving up delights that tickle the taste buds and were straight from Momma's kitchen. Deprived of 'Western' style food for so long, we gorged on French onion and minestrone soup with parmesan and homemade garlic bread. Other items that made us salivate on the menu included lasagne, cottage pie, jacket potatoes with tuna-mayonaise, hot fudge brownies, chocolate chip cookies and the piece de resistance - Earl Grey Tea !!!
In conclusion, we found Varanssi to be an urban sprawl that we never quite got to grips with, although that's not to say that it hasn't got a lot of character. To us, it was unnavigable and all the dirty and badly maintained roads looked the same, but to some it will be the India that they have been looking for.
