Varanasi: Holy Cow, We're not in Nepal anymore!

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  Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
Friday, November 18, 2011

Madness.Beauty.Filth.Spiritual calm.Loud, racous chaos. Brilliant colors. Awful smells. Overwhelming humility. Beggars and touts. Mother Ganga. Sadhus and pilgrims. Families, locals, tourists. dogs and cows everywhere.Life in every sense of the word. Unflinching death and the reality of mortality.
Varanasi was incredible. And it was hard. It remains one of the most moving experiences of my life.
I was sick the entire time we walked the streets and ghats of the city, often finding the sights and smells washing over me and consuming me. Perhaps it was the sickness, the fact we came here straight from Nepal, but either way, I was moved.
A quote from my journal:
"You had to mentally prepare yourself for the streets, the contradictions and opposites ( the serenity of floating on the Ganges at sunrise with the colors of the puja and saris, and then the funeral pyres, black smoke and smell of burning bodies, a young mans' body floating next to the boat, white and decaying, hands bound, face in a pained and terrified expression). Garbage piled outside ornate/colorful temples"..."Mother Ganga draws you to her. I am lured to the experience and power of it all. I did not say goodbye until after I was gone".

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First Meal in Varanasi	Puja	Mother Ganga	Sitting at the ghats
Eric and Little Goat	Our First Friend	Puja	Many Puja
Along the ghats	Graffiti Art	Vishnu in the form of Krishna	Cows everywhere
Small temple	Along the Ganges	Art	More cows
preparing puja	Views of buildings along the ghats	Looks almost Mayan	More Hindu Murals of Vishnu and other gods
The Main ghat	Vendor	along the ganges	just before the first "burning ghat"
wood for the funeral pyres	Swathed in silver and gold	The "old" city behind the ghats	Friends for lunch
Hindu Puja Ceremony	Enjoying the evening	Bollywood	Indian Sweets
Sweet Packaging	Rickshaw ride	Shiva	Shree Vishwanath Temple
Shree Vishwanath Temple	Shree Vishwanath Temple	Rama Temple	Varanasi
Durga Temple	roadside home	Mafia Dee   Comments!	Mother India Temple
3D relief of India	The Himalayan Range View, with our guide	Silk Factory	raw silk
Intricate details need little hands	doorway	cool lookin goat   Comments!	silk trendle guy
weaving in silver thread	details...	finished products	so colorful
The fabrics for my tunic   Comments!	the seller   Comments!	heeheehee	mosque
statue shop	streets of bussling Varanasi (away from the ghats)	streets of Varanasi	Varanasi
pedestrians only!	back at the ghats	evening prayers	Eric watching a boat "refab"   Comments!
puja sellers	contemplation	sadhus	so many boats
Old Varanasi at night	Ganesha	Watching the nightly Hindu ceremony	late night dinner
Sweets!	Sunrise on the Ganges   Comments!	Sunrise on the Ganges	Views from the boat
Varanasi	Varanasi	The masses gather on the holy river	colors
views from the boat	ghat view	morning puja	precarious...
Views from the boat	morning puja	ahhh, so beautiful...	Views from the boat
swimming...no drifting down the ganges	Eric takes a go at it	too cute	washing
Varanasi	Views from the boat	Puja and colors	Varanasi
Varanasi	Varanasi	Views from the boat	nothing but India
Small Shiva temple	puja	colors	colors
more colrs	views from the boat	Varanasi	Varanasi
sleepy but so amazed at the beauty	Varanasi	Varanasi	Varanasi
Varanasi	Varanasi	more stunning graffiti art	colors
temple view	lingams	veg vendors	A reminder of home

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