Sorry about the radio silence for the last week or so, but we have been in a state of transit for practically the entire time. We left Kathmandu the other day on a bus at 5am, and arrived safely in Varanasi (in India) at about 5am the following day. what a long bus ride...It feels GREAT to be back in India. The food, the outrageously busy cities, the colourful clothes and even the slightly agressive and pushy way that people treat each other have all been missed... by me at least. not sure kate missed the hoards of guys staring at her all day.
Every day here is an adventure. Even short walks wind up being way more interesting than you bargain for, whether because of the new street food you try, or the crazy rickshaw drivers you have to push your way past, or the vast number of cows you have to avoid as they wander the streets, or the beggars and cripples of all ages who simply do not take no for an answer. Every public outing is exciting, noisy and mildly challenging, but always great value and worth bringing along a camera.
In Varanasi we stayed in a crumbling old cement building near the Ganges River, and we all agreed that it used to be a prison. The whole place was solid concrete and the doors to each room (aka - cell) were made of thick steel. Windows had bars in them that seemed a little excessively secure for a low-end budget hostel. It was a heap of fun staying there however, since the rooftop restaurant had a great view of the city and the Ganges, along with a free pool table and nice cheap food. in the morning, it was fun to just sit up there sipping a chai tea, and watch the hundreds of monkeys who live in the city crawl all over the roofs of the buildings and swing from the power lines.
For such a highly populated city, Varanasi is relatively quiet. In part it would be because a large portion of the city is inaccesible by vehicle, since the back alleys are too narrow. But also I felt that there was a certain degree of constant reverence, both towards the river itself as well as the related religious goings on around it. We went out on a boat at dawn and watched people taking their holy baths in the river, making offerings of flowers and floating candles, and chanting and praying on the banks. In one section of the river cremations were constantly taking place, where each body was bathed in the Ganges, dried and cremated on a bed of wood before the ashes were swept into the river as the final parting gesture of respect. Amazing to watch all this consistently holy and humble behaviour, and it helps me to understand that despite the slightly intense impression we get of Indian men, they do also have a deeply respectful, calm and reverent side to them as well.
After a couple of days, we checked out of the dungeon and hopped on a big rusty bus headed for Allahabad (you really do actually have to pronounce it with a little phlegm otherwise the ticket guy on the bus has no idea where you want to go). Allahabad is important since it is the place where the Ganges River (holiest river in Hindu religion) and the Yamuna River (another holy river, and also the one that the Taj Mahal is on incidentally) join up. The point where they actually join is apparently the holiest place for a Hindu to bathe, and every year at this time there is a big festival where the idea is to come on down and have a bath. turns out i wasnt the one who first came up with the idea of annual bathing. Every 12 years there is a major version of the festival called the Kumbh Mela, which in 1997, the last time it was held, apparently attracted over 30 MILLION pilgrims to the town. yeah thats a lot of eager bathers. It is the largest gathering of humanity anywhere on the planet, and we are told that the place is pretty busy around those times. yeah we could imagine it wouldnt be easy to find a room at that time.
We hired a boat to take us out to the exact point where the two rivers join, and wow, there were a lot of people doing the exact same thing. a few of our crazy mates jumped in fully clothed - when they die from some crazy set of water borne diseases i am going to split my sides laughing - but i decided to take a more reserved approach and just dip in my toe for the partial religious experience. when my toe reaches enlightenment and the rest of me is reincarnated as foot fungus, ill know why.apart from our daring dip into the Ganges, the other main attraction here in Allahabad is without question the street food. dont tell me to shut up about the food. this is my darn blog and ill blog all i like about the totally delicious food.
if you dont like it go and start your own blog about stamp collecting or something. Anyway, the locals here are a bit famous for their sweets. They love the sweets, and have got entire shops dedicated to nothing more than hundreds of different types of sweets. My favourite (and i have converted many others) is called Galub Jamun, and it is nothing more than a small, deep fried piece of heaven. it is basically like a round lump of vanilla pudding which is lightly deep fried in ghee, then soaked in sugar syrup or rose water. totally X rated dessert basically. there were a number of other delicacies we sampled during our time here, including fresh chapatis with curry, pea and tomato salad, a tomato based salsa with chick peas made while you wait, and a whole bunch of chai tea for only 3 rupees a glass (about 31 rupees to an aussie dollar).tonight we are back on the road again. well, the tracks actually, since we are taking a train to the famous city of Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. should be a good one next time we find time to update the old blog.
till then!
//Brendan
No comments:
Post a Comment