Chaos, burning bodies,, Hindu ceremony and a crazy tuk-tuk ride. Cheap and expensive food. Today had lots of excitement.
After the washing finished and we hung it out, A$4//load, including powder, we took a tuk-tuk to near the burning ghat (riverside), with an instruction that it was 5 minutes walk down this crowded road. We followed Jamie’s navigation, which was tested at times with very narrow, weaving alleys only wide enough for a scooter and person to pass, but we got there, where we were immediately “helped” by a self described cow herder (“not a guide”, he said).
He was quite informative, and we saw many cremations, including later on the beach, and the “eternal flame”, which is a fire kept alight for ?a thousand years. Then he took us to the golden temple, but it was in the middle of a demolition site and accessed down these narrow alleys. Our families spider sense tingled, and Alan went on, whilst Bec and Jamie held back. Then Jamie appears, yells, “Alan, we’re leaving now” and we all scramble over the demolition to the alley. One of the walls near Jamie had collapsed, nothing endangering us, but enough to confirm that we shouldn’t be there. The guide managed to catch up, and we paid him 100 rupees, which he protested wasn’t enough to help the poor people. Not for himself you understand.
To get out, we followed some army soldiers, who still had a couple of false starts finding the way, and then came out into another narrow alley, with mourners lined for hundreds of meters on one side, and us, the scooters and bikes all jostling on the other side.
We had lunch at an overpriced restaurant here, and didn’t really get enough to fill us up. We had wanted to go to Sarnath archeological dig, but thought it was too late to make it, so had an hour to kill. Alan wanted a coffee, and we looked in a couple of shops before settling on one, which also served over priced coffee and chips. But they did take a long time doing the cooking, and the toilets were clean.
Then we walked down river to Assi ghat, past some boat builders, past the cows on the beach (Note for Sandy: they are everywhere) to where the evening Hindu ceremony is held. Pizza beforehand, and Becky had another cookie milkshake (she reports it as good, but not as good as the Oreo shake). The Hindu ceremony was good, with lots of twirling of flaming cobra statues and candles, finishing with lighting candles and putting them into the river. There was a small crowd, but it didn’t have the wow factor of the festival that puts candles on the river.
Then we happily found a tuk-tuk to take us home, at what we thought was a reasonable price of 200 rupees. The tuk-tuks are cheaper than Delhi, and we haven’t haggled them down as the price was what the hostel said was reasonable. But he was a crazy driver and pulled out in front of cars. We had one “thump” early in the trip, but that might not have been his fault, and I was feeling nervous. Then he answered his phone, holding it with this neck, and raced headlong through a manically busy intersection. Then he ran up the back of another tuk-tuk, and did say something to the other driver, who didn’t seem perturbed. Then driving down the wrong side of the road (common here, but it was a divided road). But we are home now, and the hostel is comfortable, and the washing is dry. The hostel provides free drinking water from a little wall mounted sophisticated filtration unit (RO, micro filter, UV for those technically interested).
Jamie is posting photos on Google Photos.
Brake Family Adventures 