Somehow we've managed to make it to Varanasi. As predicted, our train journey was long and drawn out, with the train arriving at 2.30am, 3 hours late. We'd managed to kill a few hours earlier in the evening in the lobby of our hotel, and they arranged a car for us to travel the 30km to the station, which was great... but we were still lucky enought to sit in the absolutely freezing cold for 5 hours! Lovely!We passed the time shivering, eating sensational potato fritters and attempting conversation with some other indian travellers. Our cross cultural communication skills are improving (I think!?) and the little bengali we learnt in Melbourne has already been useful, even with Hindi speakers.
Eventually our train arrived, and we went straight to bed, sleeping well. We arrived at our station 5 hours late (although our western minds are slowly geting around the fact that there is not late in India!), having met some Canadian travellers (Michelle and Magic) who we decided to make the 30km trip to Varanasi with. We were suprised to be found by a contact from our hotel who agreed to drive all of us to varanasi as part of the hotel cost. The dramas began when the driver attempted to stop at "the office" which was a travel agent, as an attempt to organise our hotels, travel and tours. We protested, and luckily the boss was not there, so we escaped.
We dropped Magic and Michelle at their hotel, and then on the way to our hotel, we were informed that we were going to another hotel. We again emphasised our booking, and miraculously "the boss" drove by on his motorbike and gave the driver some instructions. When finally dropped at our hotel, I was handed a mobile phone by the driver, and his boss informed me that the hotel was fully booked so we could not stay there. I said we'd go in anyway and he hung up. Followed closely by the driver, we checked in, although the driver informed the porter we were checking out in attempt to get our bags back!!
After all this we settled in our comfortable room, ordered a big lunch, and relaxed and slet for the evening.
Varanasi is the city of Shiva, the Hindu God. Hindu pilgrims flock to Varanasi to wash away their sins in the Ganges. It is also where Hindus come to die as it offers moksha - liberation from the cycle of life and death. It is home to many ghats (baths) where many hindu rituals and ceremonies occur, particularly connected to dying. We're taking a sunrise trip along the ghats tomorrow, so we'll include some photos soon. Unfortunately Varanasi is also known for it's darker side, including massive levels of pollution in the ganges, crime and scamming.
Upto this point we've been pretty lucky to escape these elements in our travels, but were warned in broken english by locals in Agra to "Remain Alert" So we shall!
Today we'll take it easy and wander a bit, before a full day of touristy things tomorrow. We're looking forward to it. Hope all is well downunder...we're not missing the heat...though these nights are pretty bluddy cold!
