Honeymoon day 42: Varanasi and train number 14863, India. Early start this morning for a boat trip along the Ganges at sunrise. Great to see all of the elaborately carved and coloured ghats from the water and the people bathing in it and chanting on its edge. I did dip my hand in, ironically after touching something unsavoury (my early morning brain hadnt woken up to the fact that whatever it was I accidentally touched on the boat was probably as bad as what I was now using to wash it off) but the bottle of handsanitizer hopefully went someway to correcting my error. Also saw the bloated corpse of a goat floating in the water which only serves to reinforce the message that getting in the thing is a bad idea. The boat was a ramshakle wooden affair, with oars made of bamboo which our rower seemed to be having a lot of trouble with. The rest of the morning was spent wandering around the numerous alleys to the north of the town, in particular to find the sunken temple we had seen from the boat. The alleys in the early morning are a pleasant, quiet place, most unlike the bustle that comes later in the day. We were also quite surprised by the few shops open throughout the day; we note that it is a Sunday, but all the same we were expecting most things to be open. Perhaps Sunday is also a day of rest for Hindus. We also enjoyed what is my favourite Indian breakfast dish: dosa. Dosa is a thin, crispy pancake, rolled over and filled with a paste or vegetables, and accompanied with a couple of dips. Tasty. Made our way early to the train station. A cycle rickshaw was keen to take us, which seemed optimistic given the size of our bags, and so it was. We just fitted on but it was a pretty unpleasant ride across town. Next time, an auto I think. Our train takes 24 hours to reach Jodhpur but fortunately were in 2AC (air conditioned two tier bunks), which does provide a decent level of comfort. Slightly concerned by the presence of an armed guard who gave us a warning pamphlet regarding the tactics of people on the train out to rob us (including lacing food/drink with sleeping pills) which put us off purchasing anything from the numerous vendors offering snacks and drinks (mostly masala chai) going through the carriage. In hindsight not buying anything from them, when the Indian passengers were doing so happily, seemed a bit over the top, but I guess its better to be safe than sorry. Met a nice couple in our compartment from Windsor, who were travelling half the distance to Agra and who we enjoyed swapping travel tips with, before getting some sleep.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 04:43:09 +0000
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