Varanasi, the holy city on the banks of the Ganga

by Vincent

People preparing the daily aarti celebration

A lot of people watching the aarti

The aarti show: 4 or 5 guys doing strange movements/dances with instruments and fire. Nice but a bit always the same after 20 minutes.

Colourful women in the audience

Indians chilling out at a tea shop

Boat ride on the Ganga. You can't leave Varanasi without doing it!

Varanasi ghats viewed from the Ganga

People washing

People doing strange religious things (quite usual in India)

A cobra charmer. Since I saw a photo in our guide, I was hoping to see one. Better not to stay too close...

One of the various sadhus we met on the ghats. This one is a "competition one".

Our daily food in India: curry with rice and Naan. Delicious!

After another night in a train from Haridwar, we arrived in Varanasi (also known as Benaras), our last destination in India. We had heard of Indian trains being 15 hours or even one day late but we have to say that our experience was really good (and probably a bit lucky too). All of the trains we have taken were on time! For that one, we had to be told by our neighbours that we were in Varanasi whereas we were expecting to arrive 3 hours later!

Located on the banks of the Ganga and famous for its ghats, Varanasi is probably the holiest city for Hindus. A lot of them come there for their last pilgrimage, to be burnt on the ghats and have their ashes thrown in the Ganga, which is the best end you can have in Hindu religion. The cremation ghat is a very strange experience. During all day, a dozen of bodies are constantly burnt. Dead bodies, rolled in a white sheet, are put down on a first layer of wood logs. Then, they add one more layer of logs on top and start the fire. All around the cremation ghat, there are tons of wood waiting and I don't describe you the smell... For the respect of dead people and families, it is not allowed to take pictures.

The cremation ghat is just one among many along the Ganga. All of them are different and some have their speciality: temple, evening celebration (aarti), etc... It is really nice to take a walk and pass all of them, watching all types of activities: buffalos having a bath, people washing themselves or some clothes, kids playing cricket (and losing the ball in the water every time), people praying or having Chai, etc...

When you walk on the ghats, every 50m you have a guy proposing you a boat ride. They always say "Boat, mister?" or "Boat, madam?". However, it is not clear for everybody. We saw a German traveler who was telling to one of them: "But I don't want a goat, what do you want me to do with a goat?". Hehe :)

On our second day, we wanted to go to a cafe recommended in the Lonely Planet. Its name was "Brown Bread Bakery". After some troubles looking for it, we eventually found it and had a breakfast there. As described in our guide, the cafe was also running a NGO called "Learn for life" to help poor children of the city. When we went off the cafe, we walked 10m up the street and saw another cafe called "Brown Bread Bakery". When we entered to ask if they had a NGO called "Learn For Life" (in order to check if it was the real one or not), they told us "Yes" and they added that their cafe was the original one. We had the same speech from the other cafe. Today, we still don't know which one is the authentic one. That kind of things happen only in India. This is India. Incredible India!