Trip to Varanasi

So on June 20th I left Kolkata for Varanasi. Due to some information I heard at the hotel I was staying, I decided I should play it safe and leave signficantly earlier than my train departure of 7:10 PM. I was able to say good-bye to various people that I had met in my few days there. Two people that I clicked with the most was an American couple (previously mentioned in at least one entry below). One of them, Boris, said on that last day how he seemed to click with Americans the most out of various nationalities. At first I thought, "That sucks. I certainly don't" but then thought of who I had hit it off with best on this trip. I have to say it has been Americans. Quite a contrast to my trip through the Middle East. That being said, the person who drove me nuts the most was an American (but don't tell her that, she thinks she's Jamacian even though she's been in NYC since age 11). And that's the USA for you.

Anyway, i left my hotel and walked out to the main road. I found a perfect spot to flag down a taxi cab. First few either refused or asked for 100 rupees. I knew a pre-paid taxi would cost 80 from Howrah (the train station) to my hotel, so no way in hell I was going to pay 100 rupees.

Well I found one that was finally interested. He initially said 100, I started to walk away. He asked me how much. I said 50. He countered with 80. I said 70. He wouldn't budge, and another taxi pulled up behind me so I started walking away again. Of course he accepted. I felt good for negoiating a price, even though I knew he was still getting a good price. Better than 100 right?

After a couple minutes and at the first stop light, the car died. Yessss... We needed to be rear ended by the taxi behind us to get going again. I thought, "had I known this was going to happen, I would have stuck with 50 rupees." Thankfully that was the last of the drama en route to the train station.

I was stupidly blown away by the # of people at the train station. I say stupidly because well, duh, this is India, and Kolkata itself has millions of people. It was around 6 pm too, so what should have I expected? Anyway, traffic was not nearly as bad as reported by others, so I had a bit of time to kill at the train station. Around 20 minutes before the train was supposed to leave, I made way for my seat.

This might also sound stupid but I was also blown away by the length of the train. It had car after car, and seemed to never end. I was in sleeper car 7, which was packed with people when I boarded.

The train ride wasn't so bad. Unlike Thai trains, they actually allow you to turn out the lights in the sleeper cars. I was in a non a/c car, which isn't that bad since the windows are open and there is always a breeze due to the train moving or fans working from the ceiling above. I had the same type of conversations that I had in Bangladesh.

As we approached Varanasi, I was quite nervous. I had heard many things about how the touts would drive you crazy, how much excrement was in the old city, how much it stank, etc. Well I learned two lessons: a) locals don't know best b) don't believe the hype.

a) I became friendly with the father of the family sitting across from me on the train. They were from Varanasi. As we got off the train, he told me to hold on, and he'd help me out. Well some dude immediatly got on me and asked me where I was going. I said "Puja Guest House" and he said, "rickshaw 20 rupees." I knew he was full of shit because 20 rupees was 1/2 the price I would get after bargining hard with a rickshaw driver. I ignored him and followed the family.

Well the dude wasn't totally stupid. He started chatting it up with the father (named Utthman). When we got to the front of the station, Utthman said, "auto-rickshaw ok?" I said yes. He told me that the dude would be ok. Now my gut was saying, "no, this guy is going to try to pull something" but I went along with him.

I knew he wanted a commison from the hotel and it would come out of my pocket. I figured he'd park the rickshaw far from the hotel, walk me through the old city so I couldn't figure things out, then walk in with me into the hotel. Surprise surprise, that's what he tried to do.

What stopped him? signs, glorious signs. Thankfully Puja Guesthouse has signs near it directing people to it. As soon as I saw the signs, I handed him the money, said "thank you very much, I can take it from here." Of course he didnt like it and then said, "oh, well i thought you meant buddha hotel, which is much closer to hotel." I'm like yeah, uh huh. "So how much do you want?" I asked. "60 rupees, Indian price" he said. well i knew that 50 was the pre-paid fare, but hey, 60 to get rid of him? no problem. "Ok, 60. Got change for 100?" I asked him. He didn't- of course. So I went to the hotel, got change.

When I returned, he started to talk again. I stopped him short: "You said 60. Here's 60. Bye!" I said with a smile. He didn't reply.

Anyway, had I followed my gut and done my own thing, Varanasi would have been a real breeze. Want pain in the ass touts and people bothering you EVERYWHERE? Go to Luxor Egypt. Want to feel like spewing due to the smells? Go to Fez Morocco. This place isn't bad at all in those two areas.

Actually I'm glad I heard all that negative stuff. It got me hyped up and ready to deal with the hells of the tourist world. When it turned out it wasn't so bad, it was a relief. So it goes.