The 1st class AC train has compartments with a door and 2x2 bunks for sleeping. They give you a package of fresh sheets, pillow and a
blanket and we were ready to get to sleep immediately. We had a 4th person in the compartment with us but he was fairly quiet, other
than his snoring. Ear plugs and eye mask solved everything and we were able to get a decent amount of sleep. Upon arriving in
Varanasi, our compartment friend said to stay on til the next stop, which was the second Varanasi station. We shouldn't have listened to him, because
after arriving, we realized that we would have to return to the other station at the end of the day for our night train. This was a problem
because we wanted to store our bags for the day. After some inquiries, we found the luggage office and stored our bags for about 50 cents.
Into the tuk-tuk we went and got dropped off near the southern end of Varanasi near the Assi Ghat. Varanasi is known as the birthplace of Hinduism, and is a major
mecca destination for Hindu people. Considered a very Holy river, the Ganges is used for bathing, purification, as a final resting place, and
anything in between. The river is lined with many stair steps and buildings called ghats. Each ghat has a different significance,
although it wasn't often clear to us. After a quick stop for breakfast, which turned out to be non-Indian, and we were disappointed, we did a quick walk
over to see the
Durga temple, with its bright red towers. There were many Hindus there offering flowers and other gifts. Then, back to our
main agenda which was to walk along the river ghats from
Assi
all the way up to the
Manikarnika Ghat.
After the 1st ghat we were distracted by a cobra snake charmer, and then a nice young lady wanting to do henna. Ella and Jaimie decided to take
her up on the offer. She did a beautiful job covering most of one arm on each of us. She had said the cost was up to us, which obviously was a mistake on our
part not to get a firm number, but since she did good work, we gave her 1000 rupees, or about $12, which was more than we were expecting to pay. Of course
they always want more, but we decided it was fair. We got walking and passed through many ghats with people bathing and many trying to sell us things or get
us to take a boat ride. We made our way into the narrow streets above the river to a rooftop cafe called
Aadha-Aadha where we had a relaxing lunch of Indian
thali (a selection of items on a tray), chicken curry and beer. When we asked for beer, the owner acted so strange and said to call it apple juice, lol. We
were quickly realizing that 95% of places didn't sell alcohol at all, and the other remainder still shied away.
After lunch we took up an offer for a boat tour, after negotiating down to 1800 rupees (~$20), for private motor boat, we boated down to
roughly where we had started our day and then back. It was a unique perspective to see things from the water and a once in a lifetime to ride on the
river Ganges. From the boat, we could take pictures of the Manikarnika Ghat where the burning of the bodies takes place. It's not allowed to take pictures up close.
We were told that people come from all around to burn their loved ones bodies here and also of the circumstances where you're not allowed to
burn them and instead they are dropped directly into the river! Yep, we're not bathing in there!
Starting to get tired, we wandered around some market streets, coming upon a random parade and huge crowds of people waiting to get into a temple
complex, before securing our seats on the steps for the evening Aarti, a ceremony they hold every night at sunset at the
Dashashwamedh Ghat.
The crowds poured in until literally every square inch was taken. We had people sitting on our feet, leaning in, and breathing down our backs.
The aarti started and because we were semi-far away and not able to even move an inch, we didn't enjoy it as much as everyone around us. I think also
not being able to understand anything made it difficult. Last stop was dinner, which was OK but not great. No beer and so-so food and we were fighting sleep.
Back to Varanasi train station to get our bags and then over to the other station to catch our 11pm night train for our 4th night in a row of
either sleeping on planes or trains! Luckily we had secured 1st class AC again and managed to get a decent sleep on our way to Agra.