Varanassi 12th May 2006

I went down to the Ghats at 10:00am today, that way I missed the sunrise rush and it should have been quieter, and I’m glad to say it was. That’s not to say that I wasn’t hassled as soon as I walked out of my guesthouse, because I was. Why would I want a rickshaw to the Ghats when they are about twenty metres away from the guesthouse? Funny people.

I did get a few requests for boat rides, but it was much less intense than my visit yesterday evening. I walked the complete length of the Ghats, which took over an hour. There were loads of people washing their clothes in the Ganga (Ganges), I’m not sure if that would actually get the clothes any cleaner though. There were plenty of people giving their own ‘blessings’ to the river by pissing on the Ghat walls and this gave off a lovely aroma in the blasting heat.

I passed a number of burning Ghats, which they use to cremate people and I had the pleasure of seeing someone burning. I got there just as they were about to put another body on the Ghat and was invited to watch from the ‘gallery’, I declined this kind offer and made my way along the ghats, only to see something a lot worse. I came across a bloated corpse floating face down along the river. I had the classic dilemma of should I record the event or not? I thought about it for a while and if I didn’t record it and document it, it would be as though I hadn’t witnessed it, so I took a photo. I had thought about putting it on the blog site, but I’ll spare you that.

I trying to think where to go to next. I was going to go towards Bod Gaya, which is where Buddha found enlightenment, to see if any of it will rub off on me. I also fancy going to Nepal, now that the political tension seems to have eased. I’ve checked www.horizonsunlimited.com, which is a motorbike travel website and a few people have travelled through Nepal in the last couple of weeks and report no problems. Looking at the map it’ll probably take three days to get to Kathmandu from here and a further two days if I want to get to Sagarmatha – Goddess of the sky, which is probably better known in the West as Mount Everest.

Some hours later……..

I put an advert on the ‘travellers seeking travellers’ section of the horizonsunlimited website and I got two replies back from guys that are currently there. One of the guys is German and he’s on a RTW (round the world) trip, it looks like they are going to in Khatmandu until 17th May and then heading west and then up to the mountains in North India. If I leave here on Sunday, I should be able to make it to Khatmandu for the 17th. It’ll be good to travel with a couple of bikers for a few weeks, the only other people I’ve met on Enfield’s here are Israeli guys who have just finished in the army. I’d rather travel on my own that put up with them.

I’ve been checking out where to watch the Liverpool v West Ham F.A Cup final tomorrow, but I can’t find anywhere that is showing it. I tried to ask the guy on reception here, but he didn’t understand me, I’ll try again in the morning when someone else should be on the desk.