O.k.!

So we reached Varanasi yesterday morning at about 7 a.m. Let’s just say the trains are one of the most interesting places I have spent 17 hours. We got a sleeper class but forgot to mention the 2nd or 3rd sleeper class with ac. Yeah big mistake but real healthy! It was supposed to leave at 1030 but left at 1230. During the trip I was asked buy anything from “fresh” lemonade that a guy created with lemons, two huge ice blocks a bucket of water and some shaker cups……..that took up about 1/2 hour of my time watching him manuever around the train cutting lemons and almost his head off? I had a one Indian try and sell me a big ass keyboard and a suit……….seriously what kind of business are these people in? Like I am gonna start a band on the train with my new keyboard when I do not even have room to scratch my nutz?! Toys to every type of food you can imagine and enough chai to drowned a buffalo!! People on the floor hanging out of the train……shew. Let’s say I had way more friends then I needed actually got creepy at times and def not trusting anyone. All and all Safe though……just a little trying on the nerves. It’s a whole new world man… I tried to sleep and stretched out on my little sleeper bed on the middle bunk. there were 6 sleeper beds per area in bunk bed formation. So I am about to pass out for about 6 hours before we reach our dest with my gangly chicken legs and a guy comes out of no where and decides that my bed looks like a great place to take a nap…..damn it. You know I snuggled with that son of a bitch for 6 hours with one eye on my bag, one on Bimala, one eye on the 30 Indian dudes around us and the rest of the time trying to devise a plan to get the skeazer the #$#* out of my personal space and of my bed that went from 3 feet to actual 3 feet in my face. Gonna do a little upgrading on the next train to say the least. No more of that action…….no no.

Who knows how old this city or which city is the oldest in the world cause who really knows right? It’s up there though. A real good feeling about this place. This place is amazing! It has so much character………the most religious place for hindus and I can see why. It sits upon a huge river named the Ganga and I mean massive. Yesterday I went to the largest temple for Hindus. It was on the grounds of a college and the architecture everywhere on campus plus the temple was awesome. Went to the monkey temple and watched monkeys high diving into a big pond of mud from trees above. After went to a silk factory that makes Saris (Indian dress bedspreads etc by had and old wood stitching. At night Bimala and I went to a Pooza (worshipping to the Gods) with a French couple I met the same day. It was very large set right on the edge of the river with boats filled with people lined up all along the shore to watch and take pictures. Hundreds of people on the steps leading down to the water (Ghats). They used a hell of a lot of fire, flowers, smoke, bells, singing over loudspeakers, offerings into the water with flowers and a candle set in a little leaf boat that floats into the river. So the river was coved with floating candles hoping for wishes to come true. Plus holy bathing etc. etc. It lasted about 2 hours.

This morning I went on a 1 hour boat ride with an Argentinian guy and an Israeli at 530 in the morning to watch the son come over the River and see the Ghats and people holy bathing, doing yoga, meditation on the shore and worshipping. It was nice and cool this morning. Good time to do it. Now I am back and am going to 2 more temples………one cultural temple, Maybe a place called Sarnath that is 17 kilometers away (first stop for buddha after reaching enlightenment). Maybe not though it is only special to Buddhist followers…….. It’s proabably not a lot to see? We will see……I am taking a motor bike with the Indian guy that owns this hotel so he invited to show me some cool places. A very nice family that runs this hotel. Ha ha ha oh yeah this morning I tried to explain and teach the indian kid cook how to make a breakfast burrito for me……turned out tasty.

We are leaving tommorrow on a night train (that I can sleep all night in without the sweet Indian lovin from nasty guy) to Agra at 1030 p.m. and will reach the Taj Mahal at sunrise then probably on to Hiridwar and reshekesh 8 hours (North)…….it’s a rough plan anyway.

Adios amigos

Camen