Varanasi

On wednesday night the train left for Varanesi. At 20.00. Or at least, that was the plan..... in the end it left at 00.30, to get a little more delayed on the way, and we arrived with a 6,5 hour delay. Our first train experience was special :) We booked one of the best classes, giving us two beds on top of each other that were comfortable enough to catch some good sleep. However, privacy is not an issue in India.... While alseep people came to sit on my feet, probably people that had their own beds.... You got woken up for chai,chai,chai ( weather you wanted some chai) or by ine of the other 20 people that want to sell you something. But the weirdest thing is that you have no clue whatsoever where you are. There are no announcements in the train, and if you ask someone, they always answer "next". So now ready to get out on the next station, the only indication weather that is correct is a small board at the plaform. It took a while to find out that "next" means nothing more than " not now". In the end we got there, and as the train stops for at least 20 min, there is enough time to get off....

We immediately got apporached by twenty rikshaw men, all wanting to give us a good time in Varanesi. It is not so much about the ride to the hotel, but much more about then trying to get whole day tours with you, which will always include visiting some factories, on which they probably get commisions. They warn you for them in the hotel, but meanwhile the hotel will offer you the same packages just a lot more expensive....We quite liked our tuctuc man, so we decided to go with him for the rest of the day. 

The thing to do in Varanesi is visiting the holy river ganga, where the 60.000 children of king Sagar where burnt to ashes by Sage Kapila. Ganga then descended to earth, helped by Lord Shiva, to wash the ashes away by creating the river Ganga. Now it is believed that the Ganga river will wash away the sins of all beings, and every day thousands of hindi people come here to wash them selves, or to cremate a beloved one. At the bank of the river there are several holy fire places where you can burn a family member before throwing the ashes in the river. Only babies, pregnant woman, hermaphrodites and peole that died by snake bites are not allowed to be cremated and are thrown in the river after making them more heavy with stones... sometimes the stones get detached from the bodies.... 

We rented a little boat and a boatman and were rowed to a place where they perform holy rituals during sunset. The whole river exhales a special athmosphere, that was more breathtaking than the holy services, that looked a bit set up for tourists. 5 men on stage made a performance with fire with indian singing on the background. 

Still a nice experience though :) We lit a little candle and released it on the river to bless our families, so hope all good has come to them :) 

The following morning at 5.00 we went again to see the sunrise from the river. This was even more special as all men and woman were doing their bathing rituals. 

All was covered in morning dew, which gave it some mystical appearance. We made a small stop at a musical performance before heading back. Afterwards we went for a massage in the special indian way.... it was a bit cold, and she contineously was trying to convince me to have other treatments too, so a bit less relaxing than a normal massage, but still pleasant. 

Our train left at 1600 and left on time, although on the way to Agra we got 6 hours delayed, arriving at 12.00 the folowing day...