A mammoth drive day later took us to a city called Varanasi, one of Hindu's holiest cities and on the riverbanks of the Ganges. This city, smelt worse than Agra and walking down a typical street, wildlife you would see are cows, pigs, rats and millions of flies. Hindu's believe that to break the cycle of reincarnation your body has to be put into the Ganges at death. So this city is full of dead bodies waiting to be cremated and old people waiting to die. If you are too poor to get cremated, you just get thrown in whole. If you die as a child or when pregnant, you aren't allowed to be cremated so are just thrown in too! We asked someone what happens to the bodies and they said they just get eaten by crocodiles downstream! Hence, it was known as 'very nasty' rather then Varanasi in the group.
Unfortunately for us, the river has burst its banks and was flowing too fast for boat rides. But we were able to get to see some of the ghats by foot to see people washing their clothes and themselves metres away from where bodies are put in.
We were told the fact that in the UK, drinking water has to have less than 1000 microscopic particles of faeces per litre but the Ganges typically has over 15 million. I.e. that water is disgusting and avoid contact at all costs!
We also were taken by our tuktuk driver (initially against our wishes) to his brothers silk weaving factory and outlet! It was actually quite interesting to see how it was done and we were given a free cold diet coke to slurp on as we endured another selling display of pashminas.
Other than that, our time in very nasty was spent relaxing and avoiding the rain and Gill managed to get a bit of a massage at the hotel spa.
In honesty, neither of us particularly enjoyed India as much as we thought we would. I think it was Oscar Wilde who initially described India as an 'assault of the senses' and he was absolutely spot on. With constant smells (as detailed in Agra), constant blaring multi-tone horns, shop keepers harassing you and children trying to snatch things or beggars scratching. And of course the food, chicken or mutton packed full of spices but the overwhelming memory is just the filth everywhere. There are some absolute gems like the Taj, golden temple and McLeod Ganj (basically Tibet anyway) but everyone on the trip was very much looking forward to Nepal for hopefully, and literally, a breath of fresh air.
Unfortunately for us, the river has burst its banks and was flowing too fast for boat rides. But we were able to get to see some of the ghats by foot to see people washing their clothes and themselves metres away from where bodies are put in.
We were told the fact that in the UK, drinking water has to have less than 1000 microscopic particles of faeces per litre but the Ganges typically has over 15 million. I.e. that water is disgusting and avoid contact at all costs!
We also were taken by our tuktuk driver (initially against our wishes) to his brothers silk weaving factory and outlet! It was actually quite interesting to see how it was done and we were given a free cold diet coke to slurp on as we endured another selling display of pashminas.
Other than that, our time in very nasty was spent relaxing and avoiding the rain and Gill managed to get a bit of a massage at the hotel spa.
In honesty, neither of us particularly enjoyed India as much as we thought we would. I think it was Oscar Wilde who initially described India as an 'assault of the senses' and he was absolutely spot on. With constant smells (as detailed in Agra), constant blaring multi-tone horns, shop keepers harassing you and children trying to snatch things or beggars scratching. And of course the food, chicken or mutton packed full of spices but the overwhelming memory is just the filth everywhere. There are some absolute gems like the Taj, golden temple and McLeod Ganj (basically Tibet anyway) but everyone on the trip was very much looking forward to Nepal for hopefully, and literally, a breath of fresh air.
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