Day 12 (1/12)
When we awoke the next morning we freshened up and shared some fruit we had brought along for the journey as well as a protein bar I had brought from the states.We had noticed someone standing in the doorway with the door open to the outside of the train near the bathrooms so when they were done we claimed the spot for the majority of our trip:) We each had an ear bud to my ipod and we just sat in the door way with our feet on the first step out of the train…at first it was a little scary but soon it became the best thing ever! To be able to sit and watch the world of India go by as if it was a show on the Discovery Channel, with the wind in my hair, and all the amazing smells…so fabulously wonderful! We were prepared to spend about 11 hours on the train if my mind serves me well and as it got closer to the "time of arrival" everyone kept saying that Varanasi was still 4 or 5 hours away! What!? Oh well…we had each other to keep company so again…make lemonade! We played a few rounds of HangMan and Tic Tac Toe then back out to watch the world go by:) Are journey ended up being 17 hours…but honestly it didn't feel that long at all. We both enjoyed the experience very much. I believe we arrived in Varanasi around 4:30 or 5 and headed out to figure out how not to get ripped off by a tuk tuk driver!
 |
| Shanti! (peace) |
As soon as we started walking towards the stairs that would lead us out of the train station this Indian man wearing a red polo shirt and a leather jacket with jeans started to follow us and ask us if we needed a tuk tuk. We kept telling him no thank you because we wanted to get outside just to see what the situation was…maybe we didn't need one, maybe we could get to the guest house we had chosen out of the travel book by foot. We got outside, and he continued to follow us, explaining that he would give us a fair price, pre set price, and to top it off his name was Shiva:) We got to the main street outside the station and it was CRAZY! We didn't even know if we would be able to cross the street and get to the other side alive so we accepted Shiva's offer and walked back to his tuk tuk~his persistence paid off:) We told him where we wanted to go and he kept trying to convince us to stay somewhere else…somewhere he would most likely get a commission if he arrived with guests…we stood our ground and he finally agreed to take us to where we wanted to go. So here we are, in what is know as one of the holiest cities in India (this is where Indians like to be cremated by the Ganges) and its hard to believe that it's "holy" because of all the craziness! The streets are just as bad as Delhi…I had imagined a holy city as peaceful and serene. I have to remind myself to not have any expectations…ok, I threw them out the window~again. We arrived at an intersection where we stopped…the rest of the road to the hotel allowed only those on foot, the driver let us use his cell phone to call the guest house to be sure they had a room and to sent someone to pick us up and show us the way to the guest house. They only had a room for the night but we were tired and wanted a hot shower so we took it even though we had planned to stay longer. They said they could transfer us to their sister guest house tomorrow if we would like. Shortly after I hung up and said goodbye to Shiva a man showed up to walk us to the place we would sleep for the night. This man was very nice and walked through the chaos very casually, as if he was taking a stroll through the park. Brenden and I were still not used to it so we were on our tip toes! We took a left down a very narrow alley and were suddenly in a maze of very narrow alleys filled with shops and eatery's, places to stay, tons of people, dogs, cows, Shiva Lingam's, it was so cool. It was already dark and I just remember thinking…how in the heck will I ever remember how to get to and from this place! As we arrived at the Rashmi Guest House there was a beautiful tree with a lovely little shrine decorated with fresh flower offerings…as we enter our bags were kindly taken from us and we were offered each a beautiful necklace of fresh flowers! They smelled so heavenly. As we were checking in and filling out paperwork I would forget that I had the flowers around my neck and think…"What smells so good?…Oh! Its me!:)" After check in are bags were carried up to our room for us where we found a small but cozy room, comfy bed, and after some figuring out…a hot shower and a space heater:) We had a lovely dinner at the rooftop restaurant with a view of the Ganges and then retired for the evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment