Holy [read Crazy] Varanasi

....13 hours on a train with nothing but a curtain separating you from everyone else was LONG. We tried not to touch as much as possible and we were even in the best class possible on this train. I couldn't imagine was the other ones were like.



The bathroom was disgusting. Unfortunately on a 13 hour train ride you can't avoid going. I seriously gagged when i went in there and thought I was going to throw up! This pretty much sums up our thoughts of the ride...


Actually I got a lot more sleep than I thought I would. We survived it. It wasn't THAT bad. But I wouldn't want to do that very often. That's for sure!


OH...Varanasi. Holy Varanasi. Where do I even begin. This place is crazy! Dirty and crazy. We were only going to be there for a day and when we arrived, we almost wanted to turn around and go back right away. We had a rude guide. The people on the street hounded us even more. And we couldn't even go on a boat ride on the Ganges because the water level was too high! Had I known that was going to be the case... I never would have gone there. That was kind of the one thing we wanted to do.

We saw a couple of things and had to put up with a horrible guide...but I guess it was cool to see the craziness of this city. We walked through the streets of the old city to go to some ceremony (which I know nothing about because our guide was so horrible).








At some Buddhist temple thing called Sarnath.






How I felt driving around the city. Driving here is intense. There are really no rules except to honk to let someone know you are coming so that they get out of the way.




Men are very affectionate with each other here. They hold hands a lot.







Water Buffalo are everywhere too. They just roam the streets like they are stray cats and dogs or something. You'll be driving and a big ol' Buffalo will be walking right in front or beside you.






The Ganges - where we would normally be able to go on a boat ride and see a lot more of the city. This is where they had some ceremony. Apparently they have it every day.



At the ceremony we received blessings from some guy. Of course he wanted money for it.



At the end of the night we were both hot, sweaty, tired and ready to be out of the city. I wish we had had a better experience here. Next time I know: 1- No guide...and 2 - Don't go in Summer when the water level is too high. So, if you plan on going to Varanasi anytime soon... make sure it's a better time of the year!


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Location:Varanasi, India