Varanasi day 2, Wed 30 Jan

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Update: the next few paras were caught in a draft, so not sure I’ve written about these. Anyway, here they are:

Yesterday we chatted to a young German girl at our lunch spot when she helpfully started the conversation by explaining one of the menu items was. She was a single girl (boyfriend she met in Peru, still there) travelling in a gap year through South America and now India. I asked about personal safety. Her experience was that she never felt unsafe in either place, though there were lots of stares (Becky, and even Jamie and I get those) and questions for her whether she has a boyfriend, but not unsafe. Her observation was that the Indians are always interested in your money, so travelling is hard here, but easy in South America where they leave you alone, which is mostly good except when you need some help and it can be hard to engage with the locals.

Another point of interest here and in Nepal is the electrical plugs. Most have a multi set of pins, but it is a game as to which of our electrical adapters will fit. Some take the Aussie plug which is a firm fit, or the UK plug, also good. A lot take the US two parallel pins which is a bit wobbly sometimes, and worst is the two round European pins which hardly support the adapter. It is interesting how the world got so many plugs, and most exist here.

The beds are really firm here, which has given us side sleepers sore hips.

We had planned to go to Bodh Gaya today, as my earlier research said a 2 hour train ride, with trains hourly. But when I went to book, the journey is 5 hours, and only a few trains a day. The car distance is 277 km, so must be 4 hours each way, so too long. So we’ll have a quieter day in Varanasi today. Jamie and Becky are still asleep as I write this (8:15). In fact, India wakes up late – the hostel staff who sleep in the common room are not yet up, and at the last hostel, breakfast didn’t start till 8:30 am.

Gender observations : Plenty of urinals around the streets. Typically just two urinals in a indent in the wall, with minimal screening. Often good toilets at bus stations and the like, but not around where we are staying. The tuk-tuk drivers are all men, as are the shopkeepers. There might be an occasional women. There are definitely female security guards at the train metro and the historical monuments were they search men and women, but otherwise women are not working. We did see plenty of women washing clothes, and some women in Khajuraho weeding the lawn. Interesting.

Serendipity: We researched the Bodh Gaya side trip (have I written about this?) but found that the trains took a lot longer than I had found earlier, and the road distance is 277 km. Given the low speed that everyone travels at, it was not possible to visit. So we went to Sarnath instead. Fantastic. Huge Buddha with fountains and dahlias made for some great photos.

Sarnath is where Buddha made his first sermon, so is considered the birth place of Buddhism, even though he achieved enlightenment at Bodh Gaya. Then up the road a little to a British built museum on the archaeological treasures of the site. The displays were good and the toilets smelt of Pine-O-Clean. Then we tried to find the park, but ended up wandering into a little village that we got shoed out of. They were digging up the road with one digger, and maybe 30 people, and motor bikes and pedestrians were just walking through the site.

Then Becky wasn’t feeling well and ended up vomiting. Argh! But she recovered well after that and we took a Tuk-Tuk back to the hostel, walked to the train station, had a basic meal at the refreshment rooms and on to the platform in time. Off to Khajuraho tonight.

Rushed dinner. Packed train. American Chinese. Big tour. Chaos as they didn’t have seat allocation and mostly had big bags and didn’t have blankets.