Varanasi India

Well we made it to the Holy City of Varanasi. They say people come from miles away just to bathe in the water of the Ganges. A little scary for me. Since the water is so polluted. I hear there are 35 points of sewage pouring into the river around the city unfiltered. Just raw sewage. I’d probably get sick just sticking a toe in. It’s also a place people bring their dead to be cremated. Which is another crazy site to see. They have these burning Ghats were they cremate bodies right along the river. They say 300 bodies a day are cremated right out in the open. I’m still not sure how to take it. I couldn’t believe I was standing there looking at dead bodies being burned. It felt like I was back 1000 years watching something. It’s not for the faint of heart. It was another fascinating city. Just to see how people live in this city. It’s full of these very narrow alley ways where people have set up shop selling whatever they can to survive. It was fun just wandering through the streets getting lost.

One thing that has also been the same in every city I have been at so far is the poverty. You cannot avoid it. It’s everywhere. It’s kinda of sad. Especially the children. You wish you could help them all. But you can’t. You can’t even give to one child here. Once you give to one you get a mad rush of kids attacking you. So you have to just walk on by.

We found a guest house to stay in along the Gange River. This is the front of the house that faces the river. It was a very cute place. The Guest Houses are a great place to stay to get more of a local experience. The one negative about this place was there were no heaters in the room. And it turned out to be freezing at night there.

You’ll see these yogi covered in ash hanging around the river.

This kid loved the camera

We had these monkies hanging outside of our room.

At night they do these religious ceremonies. Everybody gathers along the river Ganga for this.

Another Yogi wandering around. Most of these yogi guys seemed to be there more to get you to take a picture with them. Then they want you to pay them. They seem to be there just for the show rather than the religious side of things.

The next morning we got up early and took a sunrise boat ride along the banks of Varanasi

Time for a bath in the filthy dirty river.

Stephanie jumped in the shower with him,get out of his bathroom Stephanie

They also do laundry in this river. So every morning you will see people out there doing laundry early

These are the boats you can rent to go up and down the river. For about $5 per hour. One thing about India is that everything is cheap.

Another thing about India is that their are homeless dogs also. Everywhere! Stephanie loved shooting pictures of all the cute puppies.

We had a friend waiting for us when we got back to our house.

Laundry day again I guess everyday is laundry day

Stephanie watch out for those cows

some cool graffiti

Just hanging out with one of the street vendors

This guy was always hanging around the ghats

Time to leave Varanasi

There is always a cow to take a picture of

Need a shave,you can find a place on just about any street corner

I love the bikes

Good Bye Varanasi, off to our next adventure