Drinking, Dumping, and Dieing in the Ganges

Hey there,

The morning after the bombings we trained to Varanasi. We were six hours away from experiencing the "craziest" place in all of India. Varanasi is located on the Ganges River and is one of the holiest cities in all of India. Ghats (stairways) line the river and are the main tourist attraction. There are three major types of ghats: bathing ghats, cloth washing ghats, and of course the burning ghats. Varanasi was really a perfect place to start our India adventure!!!

I felt like I was in a dream walking along the ghats. From our hostel we walked one minute towards the river. I was taking pictures when an Indian man started yelling at me to put my camera away. I quickly realized when I saw the fires that we were at one of the burning ghats. Indians from all over the country come to be burned in Varanasi. I watched the ritual for over an hour in amazement. 200-300 bodies are burned every day. 24 hours a day, sometimes even more...

While burning bodies aren't something you see everyday, this city gets even crazier. For those of you who enjoy some quality people watching Varanasi is the place to be. 100 meters away from the burning ghat, hundreds of Indians are bathing, drinking, and brushing their teeth in the river. This is the same water that workers are shoving human ashes into every second. All the sewage in the city flows directly into the water. Dead babies and lepers are sunk with stones in the middle of the water (because they can't be burned). And trash lines the entire perimeter of the river. I'm positive if I even stuck my toe in this water it would fall off within minutes. It's funny, because everyone uses lonely planet and shares the same facts from their reading. The most commonly quoted fact from the guidebook is as follows: "There are 1.5 million fecal coliforms per mL in the Ganges. The safe amount for bathing is 500 fecal coliforms per mL."

One of the easiest (and most creative) scams to fall for near the ghats is the "handshake." An Indian comes up to you and holds out his hand. When you grab his hand you are instantly put in an Iron grip and the tout starts massaging. It actually feels pretty nice, but soon after he will charge you for his service. It's pretty funny watching them go from tourist to tourist.

I've decided the time spent outside in Varanasi is directly proportional to the amount of strange stuff you see. For example, one afternoon we were hanging out at one of the ghats and a cow starts pissing all over a guys sandals for about a minute. Soon after, the man put his sandal back on without hesitation and continued his conversation with the man next to him... I think he may have actually been quite happy about his good luck.

After 3 days of walking around the ghats, eating street food, getting stomach aches, and seeing weird stuff we were ready to head to our next destination: Agra and the Taj!

More posts coming soon,
Sam

ENTER INDIA

Hey Everyone,

Our India adventure started on November 26th from the Sunali border. The ride to the border was a thrill in itself. We saw a bus that had rolled off the same cliff our driver raced around seconds before. Soon after, our tire blew out delaying us for an hour or so. Then we passed a smoking truck on its side. When we made finally made it to the border we ran into another minor problem. The one extra day in Pokara eating steak cost us $33 (for a 1-day expired visa) and an hour of hassle before the officers would let us leave their country.

The second we crossed the line from Nepal into India I knew there was something that I loved about the country. I'm just can't quite put in words what it is. Perhaps this feeling has something to with the non-stop chaos I'm so unaccustomed to. Cows roamed everywhere, horns honked without reason, people crowded the roads, beggars grabbed my arms, and the combination of incense and poop made me nauseous.

Instead of taking a car to the train station in Gorokpor like the typical westerner we opted to save a few dollars by taking the local bus for 3 hours. We counted 52 Indian people (and us) packed into the 26 person bus. I was crammed against the window on my left with Ari squeezed against me on the right. Ari had it worse... Not only did Ari get constantly elbowed in the head, but he had an obese Indian lady straddling his right thigh...

MY FIRST NIGHT IN INDIA

When we arrived at Gorokpor train station that night, we were too pooped to try to find a night train to Varanasi, our first destination. Instead we stayed across the street at Hotel Elora (arguably the worst hotel of all time). I had to wear shoes inside our room, because the floor was so dirty. I woke up to the sounds of banging on doors in the middle of night. I didn't think much of the obnoxious sound and tried to go back to sleep. I was initially more concerned with the twenty fresh bug bites I had acquired in my sleep and the buzzing mosquitoes around my head. The rapping continued and kept moving closer and becoming louder. It was 1 am. Ari and I were now wide awake and turned on the TV. Every station had the same breaking news: Bombings in Bombay. Our minds started to churn a little bit and before we had time to put the puzzle pieces together the knocking started on our door... No voices, just knocking. I didn't even think to get up to get the door. With a hard knock our deadbolt popped out of place and the door swung open. There were several policeman and our hotel manager standing in the doorway. "Routine police check, go back to sleep." There were other tourists standing outside the door irritated and asking "what the problem is." We asked the manager if this check had to do with what we were seeing on TV and he answered "yes." The knocking continued for another 30 minutes, and eventually I managed to go back to sleep. Strange first night...