Up at 4 today. Abhi wanted us to return the the Ganges to see the sunrise and that sounded promising.
We took tuk-tuks to the river. It's a much better ride in the morning, less traffic and cars honking and people staring at you.
We hung out at the ghats with some street puppies.
We hung out for a little bit and watched the sunrise. Sorta. The smog makes it hard to find the sun sometimes.
Then we got on our boat! It's a completely different atmosphere this morning from last night. People are doing laundry and bathing and fishing in the river. Last night was like a concert. It's hard to believe this is the same place (although I did get splashed again. Blessed twice I guess).
Today is International Yoga Day. I have never practiced yoga and I have no interest, but I won't deny it has health benefits. Abhi taught us some yoga moves. One involved breathing in one nostril and exhaling out the other. Another has you place your fingers over your eyes. Abhi chanted om mani padme hum. I found it difficult to close my eyes and try any of this. I just want to look in the water for fish and watch the sunrise. Om mani padme hum translate to "praise to the jewel in the lotus".
We went over to the crematorium again. There are still bodies burning, it's a 24 hour thing in Varanasi because the city is holy. Abhi told us about these men who live in a building close to the crematorium. They're called Aghori and they cover themselves in the ashes of bodies and eat human flesh. I would have liked to see one. They sound like the thing of nightmares.
We got off the boat and had the option of getting blessed by a holy man. Instead of a red dot, they wipe this white stuff on your forehead and make 3 lines, then give you an orange dot. I didn't get this done but a couple people from our group did.
We returned to the hotel and had breakfast there.
I had a slice of quiche, french toast, fruit, a weird spicy fried potato thing, and a piece of bread. I liked the quiche and french toast. After that I went back to the room and slept for an hour.
We met up in the lobby at 10 and took a bus to a Buddhist temple thing.
Abhi talked to us about Buddha. His real or birth name was Siddartha and he was an enlightened mofo. This is skinny Buddha, not the fat jolly one. Apparently they're completely different.
Anyways this skinny Buddha annoyed me from the start. Literally seconds after he was born he got up and took seven steps then pointed to the sky (heaven). I get that it's a story but I can't stop thinking about if he picked up his placenta and took it with him or cut it off or what. Anyways, he was a prince. He grew up and got married and had a baby with his wife, then left them in the middle of the night to go on the journey of enlightenment. Again, I'm pissed off. Who just leaves their wife and baby in the middle of the night? AND I find it suspicious a prince becomes enlightened. Why not a peasant? Why not a woman? Why is it always the rich? He grew up spoiled and entitled. He knew nothing of suffering yet he's the enlightened one. Anyways he sat on the side of the road and only ate what people gave him while he contemplated life. What a dramatic, rich person thing to do. Boy was extra as shit.
I find Buddhism confusing. There's more than 1 branch of it because people have to complicate things.
We took our shoes off and went inside a little building that had a shrine for our buddy Buddha.
Then we saw these spinning things that you turned clockwise.
There was also a bodhi tree that had statues of Buddha and his 9 disciples when he gave his first sermon.
I went back inside the building to buy my mom a gift. They had jewelry made out of sandalwood with a little tassel at the end. They're called Buddhist prayer beads and there are 108 beads and that signifies... something. Basically it signifies a lot of different things (how many times to recite a manta, the stages of the human soul, something to do with chakras or lines to your heart). I think it's open to interpretation.
Once we were done, we met up with another guide who sat us down in the grass and talked about Buddha. It started to rain and we left to take shelter under a tree.
Then we walked by a stupa but we weren't allowed in.
We got back on the bus to drive over to the archeological museum. No pictures inside so we're just gonnna have to go by my shit memory of what I saw.
Lots of rocks. They had carvings on them. A lot depicted the gods Vishnu and his "consort" (why do they call her that?) Pavarti/Kali and Ganesh. They had old terracotta and clay pots and vases and plates and little figurines of animals and people.
At one point a young lady came up to me and asked where I was from. I told her USA and asked where she was from. The place she said didn't sound familiar, then she ran off. Then she went up to another one of the people in my group and asked them what my name was. I'm not sure what that was about. She seemed nice. I would be her friend.
We got back on the bus at 1:20 and went to the hotel. We had lunch and the menu had more western style food god bless. Abhi had bought us mangos earlier today and we sliced those up for apps.
Ummm I love mango? It's in season here and perfect, even at room temp.
I ordered a chicken pesto panini with fries for lunch and it was amazing. Best meal since I left Montana.
I told myself I would eat every bite but I could only eat half my sandwich and half my fries. Maybe my stomach has shrunk! I also ordered an iced mocha and it was this nasty lukewarm drink that tasted like water. I think they poured boiling mocha over a couple ice cubes.
Lunch cost 585 rupees.
After eating we took tuk-tuks to see silk being made into items. We walked through all these back alleys and had a herd of children following us. They were kind of cute at first then got to be annoying.
Our guide (not Abhi, he dropped us off) took us into lots of little rooms to show us what was happened. First people punch holes into this thing.
Then they do some of this with the silk-
It was kind of scary because we were in these really small, cramped rooms that were super loud and I had a big backpack and didn't want to getting caught on anything.
There were little boys running around the shop and I think they worked there. Our guide said they didn't, they're just family or apprentices, but of course he would have to say that. It's illegal. I think we just visited a child sweatshop.
It was about half an hour of this then we went to the shop where they sell the silk. Just like when we looked at cotton in Jaipur, we all gathered around and a gentleman showed us all the silks they had.
They were all very pretty and well made but out of my budget. Prices ranged from $70 to $305. They had 5 different types of silk and the highest quality took 4-5 months to make.
I didn't buy anything. A couple people did. We took tuk-tuks back to the hotel. They had dinner there but I skipped it. I was still good from lunch.
I hung out in the room. Showered, did my hobo style laundry (washing in the bathroom sink), and read. MJ came back to the room and we had a nice talk about Varanasi and spirituality. It's hard for me to differ between religion (which I try to be apathetic toward but I really harbor feelings or contempt) and spirituality. You can be spiritual without being religious but I'm not sure I know how.
Anyways we went to bed around 10.
We took tuk-tuks to the river. It's a much better ride in the morning, less traffic and cars honking and people staring at you.
We hung out at the ghats with some street puppies.
Babies!
We hung out for a little bit and watched the sunrise. Sorta. The smog makes it hard to find the sun sometimes.
Then we got on our boat! It's a completely different atmosphere this morning from last night. People are doing laundry and bathing and fishing in the river. Last night was like a concert. It's hard to believe this is the same place (although I did get splashed again. Blessed twice I guess).
Today is International Yoga Day. I have never practiced yoga and I have no interest, but I won't deny it has health benefits. Abhi taught us some yoga moves. One involved breathing in one nostril and exhaling out the other. Another has you place your fingers over your eyes. Abhi chanted om mani padme hum. I found it difficult to close my eyes and try any of this. I just want to look in the water for fish and watch the sunrise. Om mani padme hum translate to "praise to the jewel in the lotus".
wtf does that mean
We went over to the crematorium again. There are still bodies burning, it's a 24 hour thing in Varanasi because the city is holy. Abhi told us about these men who live in a building close to the crematorium. They're called Aghori and they cover themselves in the ashes of bodies and eat human flesh. I would have liked to see one. They sound like the thing of nightmares.
We got off the boat and had the option of getting blessed by a holy man. Instead of a red dot, they wipe this white stuff on your forehead and make 3 lines, then give you an orange dot. I didn't get this done but a couple people from our group did.
We returned to the hotel and had breakfast there.
I had a slice of quiche, french toast, fruit, a weird spicy fried potato thing, and a piece of bread. I liked the quiche and french toast. After that I went back to the room and slept for an hour.
We met up in the lobby at 10 and took a bus to a Buddhist temple thing.
Abhi talked to us about Buddha. His real or birth name was Siddartha and he was an enlightened mofo. This is skinny Buddha, not the fat jolly one. Apparently they're completely different.
Anyways this skinny Buddha annoyed me from the start. Literally seconds after he was born he got up and took seven steps then pointed to the sky (heaven). I get that it's a story but I can't stop thinking about if he picked up his placenta and took it with him or cut it off or what. Anyways, he was a prince. He grew up and got married and had a baby with his wife, then left them in the middle of the night to go on the journey of enlightenment. Again, I'm pissed off. Who just leaves their wife and baby in the middle of the night? AND I find it suspicious a prince becomes enlightened. Why not a peasant? Why not a woman? Why is it always the rich? He grew up spoiled and entitled. He knew nothing of suffering yet he's the enlightened one. Anyways he sat on the side of the road and only ate what people gave him while he contemplated life. What a dramatic, rich person thing to do. Boy was extra as shit.
I find Buddhism confusing. There's more than 1 branch of it because people have to complicate things.
We took our shoes off and went inside a little building that had a shrine for our buddy Buddha.
Then we saw these spinning things that you turned clockwise.
Prayer wheels
There was also a bodhi tree that had statues of Buddha and his 9 disciples when he gave his first sermon.
I went back inside the building to buy my mom a gift. They had jewelry made out of sandalwood with a little tassel at the end. They're called Buddhist prayer beads and there are 108 beads and that signifies... something. Basically it signifies a lot of different things (how many times to recite a manta, the stages of the human soul, something to do with chakras or lines to your heart). I think it's open to interpretation.
I just hope my mom likes it!
Once we were done, we met up with another guide who sat us down in the grass and talked about Buddha. It started to rain and we left to take shelter under a tree.
Then we walked by a stupa but we weren't allowed in.
We got back on the bus to drive over to the archeological museum. No pictures inside so we're just gonnna have to go by my shit memory of what I saw.
Lots of rocks. They had carvings on them. A lot depicted the gods Vishnu and his "consort" (why do they call her that?) Pavarti/Kali and Ganesh. They had old terracotta and clay pots and vases and plates and little figurines of animals and people.
At one point a young lady came up to me and asked where I was from. I told her USA and asked where she was from. The place she said didn't sound familiar, then she ran off. Then she went up to another one of the people in my group and asked them what my name was. I'm not sure what that was about. She seemed nice. I would be her friend.
We got back on the bus at 1:20 and went to the hotel. We had lunch and the menu had more western style food god bless. Abhi had bought us mangos earlier today and we sliced those up for apps.
Ummm I love mango? It's in season here and perfect, even at room temp.
I ordered a chicken pesto panini with fries for lunch and it was amazing. Best meal since I left Montana.
I told myself I would eat every bite but I could only eat half my sandwich and half my fries. Maybe my stomach has shrunk! I also ordered an iced mocha and it was this nasty lukewarm drink that tasted like water. I think they poured boiling mocha over a couple ice cubes.
Lunch cost 585 rupees.
After eating we took tuk-tuks to see silk being made into items. We walked through all these back alleys and had a herd of children following us. They were kind of cute at first then got to be annoying.
Our guide (not Abhi, he dropped us off) took us into lots of little rooms to show us what was happened. First people punch holes into this thing.
Then they do some of this with the silk-
It was kind of scary because we were in these really small, cramped rooms that were super loud and I had a big backpack and didn't want to getting caught on anything.
So much string
It was about half an hour of this then we went to the shop where they sell the silk. Just like when we looked at cotton in Jaipur, we all gathered around and a gentleman showed us all the silks they had.
That's a blanket
They were all very pretty and well made but out of my budget. Prices ranged from $70 to $305. They had 5 different types of silk and the highest quality took 4-5 months to make.
I didn't buy anything. A couple people did. We took tuk-tuks back to the hotel. They had dinner there but I skipped it. I was still good from lunch.
I hung out in the room. Showered, did my hobo style laundry (washing in the bathroom sink), and read. MJ came back to the room and we had a nice talk about Varanasi and spirituality. It's hard for me to differ between religion (which I try to be apathetic toward but I really harbor feelings or contempt) and spirituality. You can be spiritual without being religious but I'm not sure I know how.
Anyways we went to bed around 10.
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