More stories from Varanasi...

Day 14 (1/14)

I have always felt very grateful to be able to sleep through just about anything. With our room being right next door to the kitchen, and with the kitchen tending to be the meeting place of friends and family(like those working at the guesthouse), this particular room wasn't the most quiet. Personally I tend to enjoy situations like this. It opens opportunities for experience. Experience of another culture, of different people with different ways of life. A chance to embrace all of those differences and the possibility of learning something new, maybe about yourself. Brenden was not seeing things quite the same…all it was to him was noise that was driving him crazy, mad, up the wall. Without question Sanju moved us to a different room. While we were waiting for our new room to be ready, we gathered up our things and noticed many monkey's out and about on the rooftops. With our windows open there were no screens but metal bars of a sort so you couldn't fall out…but you could feed the monkey's! Being the lover of fruit that I am I always had banana's and oranges on hand, so we began to lure the monkeys to our window with some fruit…it was not a hard task to accomplish. Within moments we had monkeys literally right in front of us, eager for some treats. Im sure the locals really look down upon feeding the monkeys…it seems they are alway annoyed with them as they shoo them away. But us on the other hand…I mean, come on. When do you get the chance to feed a monkey out of your hand? To get that up close and personal with an animal of the "wild"? We couldn't resist! It is one of the coolest things, to be able to observe such a creature, the way they use their hands and feet, the way they peel a banana and an orange, the way they interact with each other. Just another opportunity to witness life:) Again, I truly believe that if we had monkeys running around everywhere in the US, people would be watching a whole lot less TV!

No more monkey's jumpin on the bed!

No more monkey's jumpin on the bed!

Miss you Ryker...hugs and kisses from Auntie:)

After breakfast at a local eatery called Spicy Bites, we went to a travel agency recommended to us by Sanju to set up our trains for the next few cities and ended up also booking a car to go to Sarnath (a Buddhist community about an hour from Varanasi). I was very excited to visit Sarnath, it is most famous for the Bodhi Tree where Buddha gave his first sermon over 2,500 years ago after reaching enlightenment, as well as the Dhamekh Stupa which was built A.D. 500 standing 102 ft tall and is said to mark the very spot where Buddha revealed his Eightfold Path leading to nirvana. But we'll get to more of that tomorrow! Once we got our travel plans booked we headed back to the guesthouse to check out Kite Festival from the rooftop. I thought it was magical yesterday! I honestly cannot find the words to explain what I saw before my eyes. I felt like I was in a movie. It was so surreal, so perfectly arranged how could it possibly be real? Literally thousands of kites flying in the air. Every rooftop full of people enjoying the beautiful celebration, laughing, dancing, just truly living in each moment. Again, witnessing life, and so many lives actually living instead of just existing. So inspiring.

Later we decided to walk towards the burning ghats, the main reason why Varanasi is so famous for being a holy city. This is where, to my understanding, almost every Indian in India would like to be taken for cremation. After bathing the body one last time in the Ganges (the same river in which people come from all around to bathe themselves in the 'holy water'…downstream from where the dead bodies are bathed) it is placed on woodpiles and covered with a flammable paste of some sort, incense powder (to cover the smell of burning flesh) and then more logs are placed on top. Considered an honor, the oldest son then lights the body on fire as the family and loved ones gather around to grieve. As we approached the fire ghat Brenden began to follow what appeared to be a tour guide with another traveler to see where he was taking them. We ended up behind the fire and within very close quarters of this burning body. To be quite honest the smell was not that bad and it wasn't as overwhelming as I thought it would be, what got me was the smoke. It was so thick, black, and overpowering I had to cover my mouth and nose in order to bare it wishing I had some sort of protection for my eyes as they began to burn with much intensity. In retrospect, I wish that I would have just kept my distance. Not because it was too much, but because I felt very disrespectful wondering around and through people that were most likely there to grieve the loss of a loved one. I felt like I was intruding. In the moment of it all I had imagined some random person coming into the middle of funeral for one my loved ones, sticking their nose here and there…wondering around trying to figure out what this ceremony was all about. I don't know, it just didn't settle with me very well and I wish that I would have listened to my gut and kept my distance. But, what's done is done. 

The sun was beginning to sink down out of the sky and it was just about time for the Ganga Aarti to begin. We wanted to view the puja (ceremony) from the other side and got a seat pretty close to the front. We were both starving so I grabbed us some chips to snack on and hold us over until the Aarti was finished and we could have some dinner. It was really cool to watch all of the devotees as well as other curious travelers like us. I have to say that this ceremony was the most impressive so far, much more complex and organized. As I watched, and opened myself to this new experience, I was consumed by the massive amounts of incense being burned, the bells, the chanting, the flames of awareness that surrounded me. Then it became very quiet and the sound of a single conch shell captured the attention of all. It was really a beautiful offering of prayer, and love, hope, faith, and devotion to the eternal womb, the cleansing water of Mother Ganga known to purify the soul of all its sins.

By the time the puja was over we were starving! We headed back to the guesthouse to use the bathroom and we had a delightful surprise waiting for us...clean laundry! Hooray! Brenden had found another place in his book that he wanted to try for dinner called the Brown Bread Bakery. It was said to have live local music:) So we were off to explore once more in hopes that we would find this place sooner than later...we both tend to get a little grouchy when we are hungry.  Brenden put me in charge of navigating...which I had been doing pretty well at so far surprisingly! So I start following signs for this eatery and begin to feel like we are going in circles! Which, really, we were. But the sign would tell us one direction and then we would see another sign pointing us in the opposite direction...I would ask people sitting in front of their shops and the same thing would happen! Back and forth, back and forth...I think we were both getting to our breaking point when suddenly, down a very dark alleyway I caught a glimps of a very dirty sign stating the words we had been searching for: Brown Bread Bakery. Thank the food gods...I was about to loose it! We walked up some very dark stairs and found an open door leading us into a cozy little room with low tables and pillows and the beautiful sounds of the sitar an tabla drums accompanied by a mans enchanting voice seducing us in a mesmerizing language. The atmosphere and music were the best parts of this place in my opinion...the salad was delicious but we had ordered pizza and I did not really care for it. Which really, was to be expected...we were in India after all! All in all I would say it was worth the long search and I enjoyed myself very much. This pic explains why it was so hard to find! We probably walked passed a half a dozen times!!!