Last but Not Least: Varanasi with a Touch of the Taj

Varanasi, India's holy city lying on the Ganges River was the end of the spice road for us. After one final 15 hour train ride, we rolled into my most anticipated stop of the trip. Varanasi has been a place I've seen pictures of and always wondered about, so it was time to find out. Leaving the train station and striking off across the insane chaotic traffic, things looked a bit grimmer than I had imagined. I guess I had conjured up images of serene holy men bathing in the Ganges, gurus floating around in robes spouting philosophy, cows adorned with

Errm...Nope!

flower garlands and The Beatles playing the sitar. After checking into our hotel and vowing that I'd taken my last cold shower in India, we struck out to eat. This is where morale hit an all-time low as I hastily ordered vegetable lasagna....In India -_- In hopes of bouncing back, Ty and I headed for the main attraction, the Ghats along the Ganges.

Annnnnddd, WoW! The energy on the river banks was impressive. It was quiet, bright, unimposing...all words I would not use to generally describe India. We stood in awe. While in Varanasi we became obsessed with what was going in the river, on the banks of the river and in the name of the river: The River Ganga is personified and worshiped as the Hindu goddess Mother Ganga and is considered the river of life. Besides being one of the most polluted, contaminated rivers in the world, there was life happening everywhere (ironic?..I will never know). People were bathing, doing their laundry and drinking the water, animals were grazing, snake charmers and Holy Men were dancing, and as death and a funeral in the Holy City means salvation, people were cremated and laid to rest in the river. As spiritually curious and open-minded people, Tyler and I were lapping it up. Lining the banks of the river are ghats, tall, once-grand bath houses, temples and private residences stacked on top of long sets of stairs that lead into the river. Ideal spots for a hot chai, intense people watching and some inner reflection-- With life and death literally all around you, it's hard not to gaze into the sunset and get a bit introspective.

As it is often the case, it's recommended that watching the sunrise on the ghats is the cat's pyjamas. As we rolled out in our Rajastani toques we were a bit disappointed to see the cool air had brought heaps of heavy fog and no hint of the sun at all. Although we didn't see the sunrise, we watched shadows of boats and ghosts of people wade through the morning mist and into the river. It was beautiful and eerie all the same.

Besides the constant hum of activity on the banks of the river, the old laneways, shops and buildings were an easy way to get lost. Varanasi is considered one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world (although I have heard this claim about numerous cities..) with a serious puzzle of narrow passageways and alleys. We spent hours haggling over jingle jangles, eating dosai, skirting cows and evading clingy salesmen.

Oh, and on the way to Varanasi we also hit up the ol' Taj in Agra, ordering an indulgent amount of room service on Christmas Day. Followed by days of rambling around the insane and intricate laneways of Old Delhi with butter chicken  perma-stained lips and nails...wasn't a bland moment!

A final homage to the best food on Earth!