Breakfast was include with our hotel booking. On top of the Indian food we also had a banana and a huge mug of tea!
We spent the day wandering the Varanasi ghats and sitting watching the daily routines of the locals. As Varanasi is such a sacred place for Hindus, it was interesting to watch the Indian tourists too. It was very relaxing and quite hot. At one stage we thought a nice swim in the river would cool us down, then we thought twice. It is not a clean river and in fact we are not sure if anything lives in there any longer because it is so polluted!
We walked through the old city and then sat for a while. There were 3 young children that particularly caught our attention. They were dressed up as Sadhus (holy men) with wigs of dreadlocks and painted faces. They tried really hard to extract money from every tourist by smiling in their cheeky way or having their photos taken. If they were unable to get money they would ask for crisps or a drink from the shop. They seemed to be enjoying themselves and being watched carefully by their mum. They certainly had charm!
There are Sadhus everywhere in Varanasi dressed in their orange robes. They are often carrying a trident, garlands of flowers around their necks and money collection pot.
As we sat we spoke to 2 Swedish gentlemen with huge expensive cameras and lenses. Some of the local touts were talking with them too. Their discussion involved the price of their cameras. We hope they keep them securely as at the last station someone told us they had witnessed the following ... A man was talking on his mobile phone. A little boy ran past grabbed the phone and was gone!
We had photos with a lovely Indian family at the ghats. There was about 10 of them from every generation enjoying their holiday.
We ate and drank lots of different things today from a variety of small Indian dishes to some interesting masala flavoured buttermilk.
We returned to the hotel and collected our bags. Next we took the short walk to catch an auto rickshaw. Once again the price had to be negotiated. It took a few minutes but then we were off! This time we seemed to take a short cut through the houses but we arrived at the station safely.
There is a big electronic board that shows you which platform your train will arrive. It also shows you the expected time. For the first time this trip, our train is late by over 2 hours. We tried to watch a movie on our phones but could hardly hear it even with headphones on because of the constant train announcements. First in Hindu and then in English.
We spent the day wandering the Varanasi ghats and sitting watching the daily routines of the locals. As Varanasi is such a sacred place for Hindus, it was interesting to watch the Indian tourists too. It was very relaxing and quite hot. At one stage we thought a nice swim in the river would cool us down, then we thought twice. It is not a clean river and in fact we are not sure if anything lives in there any longer because it is so polluted!
We walked through the old city and then sat for a while. There were 3 young children that particularly caught our attention. They were dressed up as Sadhus (holy men) with wigs of dreadlocks and painted faces. They tried really hard to extract money from every tourist by smiling in their cheeky way or having their photos taken. If they were unable to get money they would ask for crisps or a drink from the shop. They seemed to be enjoying themselves and being watched carefully by their mum. They certainly had charm!
There are Sadhus everywhere in Varanasi dressed in their orange robes. They are often carrying a trident, garlands of flowers around their necks and money collection pot.
As we sat we spoke to 2 Swedish gentlemen with huge expensive cameras and lenses. Some of the local touts were talking with them too. Their discussion involved the price of their cameras. We hope they keep them securely as at the last station someone told us they had witnessed the following ... A man was talking on his mobile phone. A little boy ran past grabbed the phone and was gone!
We had photos with a lovely Indian family at the ghats. There was about 10 of them from every generation enjoying their holiday.
We ate and drank lots of different things today from a variety of small Indian dishes to some interesting masala flavoured buttermilk.
We returned to the hotel and collected our bags. Next we took the short walk to catch an auto rickshaw. Once again the price had to be negotiated. It took a few minutes but then we were off! This time we seemed to take a short cut through the houses but we arrived at the station safely.
There is a big electronic board that shows you which platform your train will arrive. It also shows you the expected time. For the first time this trip, our train is late by over 2 hours. We tried to watch a movie on our phones but could hardly hear it even with headphones on because of the constant train announcements. First in Hindu and then in English.