Ok, so here is the reason I was dredding Varanasi:
A couple people in Kolkata were telling me some rather unpleasant things about the place. One woman from NYC (there were 4 new yorkers in the hotel I was staying at, a little bizarre) told me men would come up, do this little ceremony on her then say, "I just blessed you, 10/20 rupees please." She'd tell them off and they wouldn't be too aggressive, but that still sounded quite annoying.
A guy from Hawaii (but grew up in Chicago) said Varanasi was the dirtiest, smelliest place he has ever visited. Considering he had been all over Latin America, southeast asia, as well as some big cities here in India, that did not sound very good.
Well I can tell you I have been to dirtier places that make Varanasi look half-decent. Fez, Morocco wins the price for the biggest dump I've been to. Marrakesh is only a little better. Parts of Cairo are most definitly worse than the old city of Varanasi. Yes, there is piles of cow excrement here and there. Flies love some areas too, but at no point did the smells make me ill. Can't say the same about Fez.
As far as the "blessers" go, the only people who approached me were those trying to get me to visit shops and/or buy drugs. Overall, it was not that bad.
That being said, all I did yesterday was hang out with a French guy. We first found a shady spot along the river and chilled out there for a couple hours. At one point, an Israeli man joined us and I became an English-English translator. Frequently the French man couldn't understand the Israeli and vice versa. They were both speaking decent English but I suppose in different ways. Consequently I had to rephrase what one was saying so the other would understand. So it goes.
After hanging out at the river, we went to the roof-top of our hotel, the Puja Guesthouse. The view is quite stunning, and you can see the entire riverside. The wind is quite brisk too, so it keeps you relatively cool. Up there, we met a Brit and a Canadian.
Eventually we went to the train station. The french man was off to Nepal and I was going to try to get a ticket to Agra. Well all tickets for yesterday were booked, but there was something available for 6 pm today. Another day in varanasi- yay! Actually I did not mind so much. I got a nice hotel room close to the train station and am able to bum around on the internet for a couple hours, so things could be worse.
Showing posts with label Varanasi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Varanasi. Show all posts
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
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.
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.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
24 more hours in Kolkata
Ventured out of my hotel around 10 am with the goal of buying a train ticket to Varanasi tomorrow. The good news is I got the ticket, and it was not a hassle doing so. Unfortunately it took me over an hour to find the office due to the poor map in Rough Guide. Yeah, I thought I should have gone with Lonely Planet's guide, but cheap me had to save a few bucks and get the RG instead. So it goes..
It honestly wouldn't have been so bad had the temp not been over 90 degrees (high today around 35 celcius) and very sunny. Walking around in that weather ain't exactly heaven. Throw in the fact that my sinuses are acting like I'm being attacked by the other of all colds/flus/whatever, and you've got yourself one hell of a time. When I returned to my hotel, I drank about two liters of water and took an hour long nap.
Yeah, pretty dull times here, I know. I'm hoping getting out of Kolkata will help my health, but Varanasi is most likely even hotter and even more dusty. Yay. After that, my ass is heading for the mountains- enough of this flat land stuff.
It honestly wouldn't have been so bad had the temp not been over 90 degrees (high today around 35 celcius) and very sunny. Walking around in that weather ain't exactly heaven. Throw in the fact that my sinuses are acting like I'm being attacked by the other of all colds/flus/whatever, and you've got yourself one hell of a time. When I returned to my hotel, I drank about two liters of water and took an hour long nap.
Yeah, pretty dull times here, I know. I'm hoping getting out of Kolkata will help my health, but Varanasi is most likely even hotter and even more dusty. Yay. After that, my ass is heading for the mountains- enough of this flat land stuff.
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