Woke up at the unholy hour of 5am today to go and visit the ghats. Took a boat down the Ganges for only Rs200 (just over two pounds). Varanasi is very beautiful from the river - it is like the India you envisage when you read the travel books - full of colour and sound. Unfortunately humanity's capacity for destruction is ruining the city. Everywhere we turn, everywhere we look, people are excreting. I won't go into detail, I'll leave that to Lydia. The whole city smells like a toilet. The touts and rickshaw-wallahs constantly harrass you. It's really offputting. It's such a shame as this place could be really beautiful, but the attitude of the people ruins it.
The streets here are all red, as if stained with blood from the paan (betel nuts wrapped in leaves) that people chew here.
I feel like I'll never be clean again. The smell of Varanasi seems to follow you and stick to your clothes.
The boat trip was lovely though. I think we left around 5.30am so it was still very cool. Rowed up to the Manikarnika Ghat which is where the majority of cremations are done. Got my facts wrong yesterday - they don't put the person out to water. Rather they bathe them in the Ganges to bless them, then stoke up a fire until it's white with heat and place the body on it. Apparently it takes 2 hours for a small child to burn, 3 hours for a normal sized person, and 4 hours for your bigger than average person. Lydia and I couldn't get over the attitude of people here towards funerals. In England people will gather and cry and remember all the good times. At the ghats it all seems to be very matter of fact - bring the body, bless the body, burn the body then wander home. It all seems so detached, with touts approaching the Westerners throughout the funeral asking if you'll buy wood (Sandalwood fetches the highest price).
This place will never grow on me. We're off to a posh hotel to see if we can have a swim and a massage, before leaving Varanasi at 8pm. And not a moment too soon if you ask me.
Caroline xx
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