I am writing this while already on the train back to Delhi. My flights is tomorrow night. Varanasi was a nice place to see. I like to believe that all stereotypical pictures of people bathing in the Ganges were taken here. The day I arrived I went straight to my guest house and checked into my room. From there I went by foot to see some of the close temples. The guest house was very close to Assi Ghat, one of the biggest Ghats (a set of stairs leading into the river Ganges) in Varanasi. The next morning I had a guide booked to give me a tour of Varanasi. We started the day early in the morning by attending the morning Aarti. As I understood, Aarti is a general morning ritual to worship the Hindu gods. In this case the goddess Gaṅgā. The Aarti was followed by some music and a morning Yoga session. We left the Assi Ghat to start a boat ride. I didn't mention that monsoon season just started the north of India when I arrived in Varanasi. When we boarded the boat, the sky was dark, but it was'nt raining. By the time we got back though, we were all wet on the boat. The boat ride took us along some of the Varanasi Ghats. Varanasi has 88 of them, some smaller, some bigger and two of them solely for the purpose of cremating the dead. Colloquially they are called burning Ghats. Both of them are actively used to burn the dead and pour their ashes into the river. My guide mentioned that the Hindu believe that pouring their dead's ashes into the river will lead them to another life in heaven instead of on earth. Off the boat we went to have some breakfast in a little street shack for around ₹25 per person (around 0,30€). Breakfast was Puri and Sabji, bread and some vegetable stew. It was simple and very delicious. After breakfast we decided to put on some dry clothes and then meet again to go to Sarnath, a place north of Varanasi. Sarnath is famous for its Buddhist history and so we saw the temple where Buddha first taught his followers and then to the ruins of a Buddhist monastery. At last we visited a museum with lots of Buddhist sculptures, which I continously mistook for Hindu deities... In the evening I went to see the Shri Kashi Vishwanath temple. It is one of the most important Shiva temples for Hindi. Foreigners (I guess non-Hindu) have their own gate. I was allowed to enter the temple and was quickly fetched by a local who shoved me into the crowd so I could better see the ongoing ritual. It was only a short visit as the people were in full praying mood and I felt I was disturbing them. Initially I was thinking of doing a trip to Kathmandu after Varanasi, but I quickly realized that I didn't have enough time to travel to Kathmandu and be back in time for the wedding in Patna. So, instead of Kathmandu I stayed another day in Varanasi where I basically just spent some time wandering around, sleeping, eating and seeing tjr tour guide again who invited me to the classical dance event at the Assi Ghat.
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