Varanasi (7 - 12 December 2007)
So Eon’s birthday and our fairytale Ritz visit came to an abrupt end. It was like Cinderella realising it is midnight and we are changing back to the real life. We checked out and caught a taxi to Victoria train station. Beyond all believe, we managed to find the train to the following station, Tilak Nagar, without getting lost, robbed or scammed. The trip to Tilak Nagar was the normal staring, pushing and shoving that we have now gotten used to - almost.But nothing could prepare us for Tilak Nagar train station. Firstly, we saw a guy selling locks and chains and we knew that we had to get one of these - the train to Varanasi is notorious for theft. Then into the train station building that looked like an ant nest with people everywhere - people sleeping on the floor, on the benches, even standing up. Eon went looking for the platform from where we had to depart while I waited patiently by the bags. We were about an hour early and had enough time to take in the chaos. A group of men, from some Indian political party, entered the station lead by a deafening percussion band. I had to cover my ears as they were making their way through the station, chanting and peacefully protesting, but the noise did not seem to bother the sleepers in the least
I had to pay Rs3 to use the toilet, and in hind sight, someone should have paid me to make use of this disgusting toilet!
The train arrived and we were on our way to Varanasi. This was a 30 hour overnight train. We new it was going to be a long day and a half, so we came prepared. We had eye shades, earplugs, inflatable pillows, diarrhoea tablets and snacks. The coach was quite comfortable, with three bunkers beds on each side. Eon and I had the middle and upper bunks, the upper bunk always being available for sleep, but the middle one could only be used at night as it made up the back of the bottom seat. We met some really interesting and well-read Indians, we ate some really disgusting train meals and we drank some good chai and some really bad coffee (more like hot milk diluted with too much water and about 1g of coffee powder sprinkled on top). We bought some chocolate cake that tasted EXACTLY like dog food… (lets face it, we all tried in once in our lives) We also had the most annoying man in our coach - he over-dramatises the sounds of all his bodily functions! So the night on the train was serenaded by coughs, sneezes, farts, burps, croooooaaaakkkk spits and snoring. Even his yawning sounded like lions in mating season!
So 30 hours came and went and we were still not in Varanasi. We were so bored! We could not read one more word, play another scrabble game or even sleep for one more minute - we had had enough! Three hours later, we arrived in Varanasi train station. At this stage we have not had a shower for over 48 hours and could not wait to get to the hotel. This dream was yet again delayed by India. Getting out of this train station was a mission of its own - stepping over people sleeping in the street, dodging cows that have way of right in India, weaving through the clogged-up traffic and fighting of beggars and scammers on the way.
We checked in, showered and hit the bed. Varanasi had to wait to be explored until the next day.
Varanasi is a dump! It really is the most disgusting place we have ever seen. But before we go into this chapter, let’s look at Varanasi from a historical view point. This is thought to be one of the oldest cities in the world. For Indians, or more specifically, Hindus Varanasi is a holy city. This city is where the Varuna and Asi rivers meet and join up with the holy Ganges river. The city of Shiva (a Hindu god) is where Hindu pilgrims come to rinse away their sins in the Ganges or to cremate their loved ones. These activities of life and death take place in public on the city’s ghats. A ghat is a building with many stairs descending into the river. These ghats line the Ganges’ riverbanks all along the city.
The city held no religious value for us, so we just saw what the naked eye sees: poverty, filth, pollution, beggars, cows, more filth, and the occasional ‘I am weird and seeking spiritual enlightenment’ tourist.
One morning, we took a boat from where we stayed, Assi Ghat, up the river passed many ghats to the main burning ghat called Manikarnika. It was freezing cold, but worth it. We saw how locals go about their daily rituals, bathing in the icy river waters, praying, selling their goods and just mingling. The Manikarnika ghat was too gruesome for me to look and Eon went ahead on foot. This is where the Hindu’s cremate their deceased. It is a holy practice, but is done in such a barbaric way. They wrap the dead in cloth, dip them in the Ganges River and then burn. More gruesome than this is the fact that babies are not cremated, but their bodies are rather just thrown (offered) to the Ganges.
The morning trip delivered many interesting and striking photos. And the other highlight of Varanasi was the little handicraft shop/restaurant called Open Hands. The owners are South African, so we could have some Rooibos tea and proper cinnamon and sugar pancakes here!
We would have left this place within a wink of an eye - if only we could! By due to flue, bus schedules and the pure hassle of organising anything here, we ended up staying for four nights! At last we could leave and we booked a bus to Phokara, Nepal.
The bus turned out to be a Jeep, as there were not enough people to go by bus. So they crammed nine of us into a Jeep with a driver that had no idea how to get to the border. The Jeep was spotless on the outside, but the inside was another story. There was even, what we think was, puke at Eon’s feet. India traffic is like nothing else I have ever experienced. Unlike in South Africa, there are no stretches without traffic - the traffic is constantly congested. Everyone drives in the middle of the road and when there is oncoming traffic, both sides swerve to the left. It’s almost like playing ‘chicken’. The only exception to this rule is when you encounter a cow - the holy cow ALWAYS wins and everyone else must patiently give way to the herds. After getting lost a couple of times, stopping for directions and a chance for the driver to once again wipe the exterior of the Jeep, we arrived at the Sunauli at the Nepali border. It took us 10 hours to cover about 300km!!!
The driver dropped us somewhere in Sunauli and as we got out of the Jeep, there was about six rickshaw drivers harassing us. They insisted we get onto their vehicles so that they could take us to the border which, according to them, was another 1,5km away. We asked our Jeep driver why he could not take us to the border, but he just instructed us to go with the rickshaws. Eon got into a heated argument with the driver for not taking us to the border and with the rickshaws for charging us a fortune for the lift. I have never seen Eon this upset - every time the driver tries to calm Eon down by putting his hand in front of Eon’s face, Eon would smack it down! I walked across the street to an optometrist. When he saw me, he ignored all his patients and asked how he could help me. I asked him how far it was to the border and he said: “only 500 meters, about five minutes walk.” He then asked where I was from and we talked a bit of cricket and I was on my way back to Eon to give him the good news. Eon laughed-off the rickshaws’ scam attempt and we walked with our heads held high to the border.
Victorious! Well, that was only temporary. Just before we crossed the border, a guy claiming to be from Nepal Guesthouse (the pre-arranges guesthouse where we are supposed to stay the night) approached us and said we needed to change all our Indian Rupees before entering Nepal as it is illegal to take big notes in to the country. And so we changed the couple of Rupees we still had at a bad exchange rate, but were delighted to be out of India.
Of course, when we reached the guesthouse in Nepal we heard that there was no such thing as ‘Indian Rupees being illegal in Nepal’! Uuuuuuuurrrrggghhhhh!!!!
The difference between the Indian side of the border and the Nepal side was like day and night. When we crossed into Nepal, it immediately felt like a whole different world. It was a quieter, cleaner and more honest world
Click on image to view Varanasi gallery: