India, Incredible India. There is so much more to this country than I could ever imagine. When I last wrote we were on our way to Udaipur. With Diwali approaching, our travel plans got a little jumbled up with no reservations available, so we were able to spend a nice relaxing 6 days in this lovely lake laden town. In between all the somewhat quiet wandering we were lucky enough to experience Diwali, India's biggest, brightest and LOUDEST holiday! Diwali is the festival of lights, which visually looks a lot like Christmas, but audibly sounds like...dare I say it....a terrorist attack. Really, we had no idea there would be any kind of firecrackers, let alone giant deafening explosions that you could feel the force from 10 feet away. Not only that, the kids lighting them were as young as 4 or 5 years old, and would sometimes play "throw the bomb at the tourist to get a laugh". Luckily our hostel owner was nice enough to take us all out together in a group so at least we were all in the same boat. The same boat of horror that is. But once all the noise and smoke cleared (2 days later) it was a great experience. Everyone dressed up in their best, most colorful and glittery clothing, parading around the streets, avoiding crazy kids with bombs. And more fireworks than I have ever seen, from the rooftop of our hotel, all around me 360 degrees. Unreal!
We met two great Danes (not the dogs, people from Denmark) Rune and Jane, and continued on the same route to eventually meet up in Agra and Varanasi. It was great to meet other people on the same wavelength to laugh some of these things off with together. Agra was a brief stop just to see the Taj Mahal, breathtaking, expensively breathtaking. Then we were to catch a train to Varanasi, except the travel agent (Mr. Raj) recommended by the hotel which was recommended by the Lonely Planet ripped us off and we did not have a seat on the train, just a spot on the waiting list. This is not the last you will hear of this. Currently, we are dealing with the hotel to resolve this situation, so lets just say, "Mr. Raj, for someone who believes strongly in karma, you sure do deserve what's coming to you."
We hired a car to Varanasi, which was a luxurious and very fast alternative to the train. Back on schedule. Varanasi was one of the best experiences in India for me. Maybe this is partly because of the experience we gained from all of the previous encounters, or maybe the good Danish company, or it could be that it was the final stop in India and I wanted to hold on to the last moment. I'm realizing now (a week later) how quickly all the filth and pestering and bad experiences fade. Those are never the things you remember, which makes me even glader to have written them down here. But for me, Varanasi holds the most fold memory of India. Waking up at 5 am, walking down past the burning ghat where people come from miles away, to wait in line to be cremated into the Mother Ganges. And at this hour in the morning, nobody is hassling us for anything, our hotel has arranged a boat to watch people come down to the river to celebrate the rising of the sun for Ram Lila. It was absolutely silent, nobody is talking. Our boat is gliding gently past the crowded ghats piled with people in every glittering color of the rainbow. The are all holding offerings of food and flowers, and getting ready for the ritual bathing at sunrise. It was a sight that has been burned into my memory for all time. The crowds of people, the color, the excitement in their eyes to see the sun that morning, the spiritualistic offering to the Mother Ganges, it was beautiful.
A man later told me that "the Ganges must be a miracle because it is so polluted, yet millions of people bathing in it daily don't get sick. The Ganges is their mother, and mothers are never dirty." Believe what you will, but a certain Lonely Planet told me the river was declared septic, and I think the only reason they don't get sick is that they have built up an immunity to it. But it's a beautiful thought...crazy but beautiful. Truthfully, Varanasi was the dirtiest, smelliest, most polluted disgusting place I have ever seen, but that part of the memory is already fading.
We met two great Danes (not the dogs, people from Denmark) Rune and Jane, and continued on the same route to eventually meet up in Agra and Varanasi. It was great to meet other people on the same wavelength to laugh some of these things off with together. Agra was a brief stop just to see the Taj Mahal, breathtaking, expensively breathtaking. Then we were to catch a train to Varanasi, except the travel agent (Mr. Raj) recommended by the hotel which was recommended by the Lonely Planet ripped us off and we did not have a seat on the train, just a spot on the waiting list. This is not the last you will hear of this. Currently, we are dealing with the hotel to resolve this situation, so lets just say, "Mr. Raj, for someone who believes strongly in karma, you sure do deserve what's coming to you."
We hired a car to Varanasi, which was a luxurious and very fast alternative to the train. Back on schedule. Varanasi was one of the best experiences in India for me. Maybe this is partly because of the experience we gained from all of the previous encounters, or maybe the good Danish company, or it could be that it was the final stop in India and I wanted to hold on to the last moment. I'm realizing now (a week later) how quickly all the filth and pestering and bad experiences fade. Those are never the things you remember, which makes me even glader to have written them down here. But for me, Varanasi holds the most fold memory of India. Waking up at 5 am, walking down past the burning ghat where people come from miles away, to wait in line to be cremated into the Mother Ganges. And at this hour in the morning, nobody is hassling us for anything, our hotel has arranged a boat to watch people come down to the river to celebrate the rising of the sun for Ram Lila. It was absolutely silent, nobody is talking. Our boat is gliding gently past the crowded ghats piled with people in every glittering color of the rainbow. The are all holding offerings of food and flowers, and getting ready for the ritual bathing at sunrise. It was a sight that has been burned into my memory for all time. The crowds of people, the color, the excitement in their eyes to see the sun that morning, the spiritualistic offering to the Mother Ganges, it was beautiful.
A man later told me that "the Ganges must be a miracle because it is so polluted, yet millions of people bathing in it daily don't get sick. The Ganges is their mother, and mothers are never dirty." Believe what you will, but a certain Lonely Planet told me the river was declared septic, and I think the only reason they don't get sick is that they have built up an immunity to it. But it's a beautiful thought...crazy but beautiful. Truthfully, Varanasi was the dirtiest, smelliest, most polluted disgusting place I have ever seen, but that part of the memory is already fading.
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