Varanasi

A few years ago I found a photo of my parents in India before I was born. It shows them sitting in a boat, with a distinctly Indian city on the shore behind them. For Christmas I framed it for them, and Dad told me that it was from an early-morning boat road that they took on the Ganges at Varanasi. This morning Jamie took a photo of me in a boat, with a similar backdrop (I even have a mustache like Dad did in the shot).

The hassle that Jamie and I had to go through with touts to get the boat is probably more than they had to deal with, but the city has probably changed very little. Indeed, the city has had a continuous history as the city at the centre of Hinduism since at least 600BC, and it has achieved that in part by changing very little, and not getting involved with greater politics.

The city is stretched along the western bank of the Ganges with an endless string of ghats (bathing steps) along the shore. The other bank is completely bare, without a single building or sign of human intervention. While tourists are conspicuous, along with hostels, bakeries and stores advertising to them, the city really has a life of its own and it is very easy to step aside and just watch the city do its thing.

Jamie and I have had a blast the last few days here, though I suppose we haven't actually done much. We have just been wandering around the fiendishly complex network of alleyways behind the ghats, sampling food and watching the rituals of daily life. The food has been a big hilight for us. Street food in Nepal was not too interesting or varied, but in Varanasi there are many little stalls serving all sorts of vegetarian delights to Pilgrims at high speed, so the food is always very fresh and hot.

We have found a very good little place where the guys stand in front of big pots of fresh food, serving it out as fast as physically possible. We also have a very friendly chai man whose chai sells for less than 10 cents a hit, with lots of sugar and a hint of cardamom. And this morning I got a great video of a pro making chapati at a little stall that only serves a three types of curry with chapati. It matters that they get their chapati right! It is great to see the chapati rolled out, then placed on a hot plate for a minute, then put straight on a bed of hot coals where it puffs up instantly, then removed and patted down to make it flat.

On the first day, just after checking in in our hotel after the long and tiring 24 hour bus-rickshaw-jeep-train-rickshaw journey from Pokhara, I went for a wander and found a lassi shop called Blue Lassi. Lassis are made from creamy yogurt that is worked in with sugar until it becomes smooth. Good ones are served with thick lumps of cream and a dash of rosewater infused with saffron on top. Jamie and I have made them a two-a-day ritual, and at 30 cents a pop we can afford to.

The lassi shop is on a narrow lane that leads down to the main ghat where the dead are cremated on wooden pires. Every five minutes a group of men chanting a simple mantra will walk past carrying a body wrapped in a shroud and covered in marigolds towards the ghats. After a while you end up chanting the mantra to yourself while waiting for your lassi (now rated as my "best in world", replacing the Lassi Wallah in Jaipur).

I am getting along a lot better with Indians in general this time, which is probably because I knew what to expect and I have a slightly higher budget! It is nice to not worry so much about getting ripped off, and letting the hotel make rail bookings and such for you instead of having to sort it out myself. There have still been a few exasperated moments, but nothing that a head wobble and patience can't solve.

I have booked my train tickets to Hyderabad tomorrow, and from there I will getting another train and bus to Hampi, where my fingers will hopefully be in good form on the rocks. So the next post should see me very happy and relaxed in Southern India. Of course, this is India, so I am not taking anything for granted!