First Night Train: Varanasi

I took my first sleeper car train from New Delhi to Varanasi. It wasn't quite like I had imagined it to be. Instead of cabins of 6 or so the entire train car was connected by a single walk way. On one side of the walkway there was two hanging beds against the way and on the other side there was six hanging cots perpendicular to the walkway. The middle beds of these folded down so that six people could sit on the two bottom beds before it was time to sleep. The train left from New Delhi around 6:30pm and we arrived in Varanasi around 7 :40am.


Our hotel is called Hotel Surya and it is a really nice place. It is located a little ways from downtown Varanasi and the Ganges which means it is a lot quieter than the Hotel Grand Godwin in New Delhi. It was raining when we got off the train and for the first few hours of the morning. We ate breakfast at the hotel and then a few people got massages while others rested a bit some got on the internet. At around noon we all gathered to go on a guided tour of Varanasi. We took our group of ten people, a driver, and a guide and headed towards downtown. The first place we went was to the Ganges and we got a boat to paddle us around. The Ganges is flooded this time of year so some of the places we paddled over there was normally a street. The Ganges is an huge river, the Mississippi pales in comparison. One side of the Ganges is not developed and the other side is lined with concrete buildings. There are hundreds of ghats (stairs to the Ganges) and at all of them people are swimming/bathing in the river. There are also what is known as burning ghats which are crematoriums that take your ashes and put them directly into the river. There are electric ones and then there are ones that use wood. We saw several of the wooden fires burning in several locations. At one point we watched as a wrapped body was rowed out about 100 feet into the Ganges and then shoved overboard. He/she sank like a rock. Some people don't have to be cremated before going into the river.



The next part of the trip we visited a Hindu temple in the middle of the Banaras University. This university is one of the biggest in India and has around 35,000 students. The temples are so bazaar to me. Of course you have to take off your shoes before entering and then people are praying in front it life size dolls that are very decorated. Also, it didn't help that our tour guide was not the most useful person. When talking about the age of certain religions he said that Hindu was "millions of years old". This was one of many things that I felt like was a pretty inaccurate statement. At the end of the tour he took us to see a "weaving school" which ended up being some persons weaving shop. We were then ushered into the area where he was selling the silk. This had obviously been set up before hand and the people were not very happy that we left without buying anything. Oh well. We then toured around town on our own for the rest of the day. The was a ceremony for the Ganges that we went to at 7:30 pm. It was fun to watch but I really didn't know what was going on. There was a lot of waving fiery things around in the air and many offerings of what looked like spices and vegetables. There was also some sprinkling of the water on their heads as well as a few sips out of the river. That night we had reservations for this place that was recommended to us by another person on our trip that was called Banga something. We got there about 8:20 and he said that he held the table for us until 8:15 (ya right). So he recommended another place called Phulwari which ended up being really good. The highlight of this place was for me the "Mocktails". These are various combinations of juices that were really good. I had one called the Banana Rama that was made with yogurt, peanut butter, bananas and topped with ice cream. There were many more delicious combinations.

The next morning we left the hotel around 4:30am to get out to the Ganges to watch the sunrise. It was mostly overcast but we did get a glimpse of the sun at one point. The was a special time of day because the people come down to the river to bathe. Today we saw an unwrapped dead body floating near some boats. We also got a up close view of the burning ghats. You could see body parts, skulls, and shattered burnt bones within the ashes. It was strange being there because I felt like it was too intrusive on the families watching their deceased family members burn. It was a strange strange site.