Varanasi India and old pictures

This internet cafe's connection speed isn't too shabby so I'm able (inch Allah) to post a few old pictures along with my ramblings. The picture to the right was from early on in our hike, before I filled my camera up and Luke took over all picture-taking responsibilities. The second one was from a few days later, at about 1,600 meters, when we found ourselves surrounded by wild Cannabis. I'm the Ganja Caesar in case you can't tell what I was going for. I stayed dressed up until some young and impressionable kids approached us on the path.

I burned all of my photos onto a CD and I know now there's no way I'll get these uploaded before I return home. Enjoy the visuals while they last.


We're in the ancient and holy city of Varanasi, located along the Ganges. The city extends away from the river and the surrounding ghats (any area that you can approach the river from), where bodies are cremated around the clock, and from where people do their morning puja rituals. We went down to the river this morning and watched the Hindu cremations while a guy explained to us what we were seeing. He was unasked for and demanded money at the end (for the local hospices, naturally) but we both happily donated because he was so informative. I'd say this is one of my favorite stops on this trip so far, because of the purity and importance of what we're seeing. There may be tourists watching the burnings (of which we're clearly a part) and a whole group of people making a living off of us, but the ceremonies themselves aren't tainted by tourism and it's interesting to know that these rituals have been performed, every single day, all day long, for (if the guide is to be believed) at least 2,600 years. It calls Varanasi 'one of the world's oldest living cities' and it does feel like an accurate description.

Anything trite I have to say isn't going to help you visualize what its like to be here and take an observer's part in what's going on. It's something I'm glad I got to see and think about.

On another note the fruit is incredible. If I come home and can't find mangoes like this I'm going to be really pissed off.