day 40 - varanasi - 11 nov

up at two reading, till alarm at 4:30, set out to meet the guys from last night, for sunrise boat ride. waited at the agreed spot - no show. i walked, north along the river bank, shooting photos. along the way this guy started giving me some unsolicited information about the area and trying to lead me around. i just wanted to go at my own pace and find photo ops. after a while he let me be.

you’ll find some of the on flickr of the burning stations, sunken temple ruins. etc. then there were the things you won’t find pictures of, the things i wish i’d never scene, but odds are while i’m here, i will. along these narrow streets, you have to be very careful, where you walk. those of you who know my true germ-o-phobic side can only imagine how freaked i’ve been. in the interest of decorum i’ll keep it this simple, when the barber who had just zipped up from his activity on the adjacent wall approached me to offer a shave, haircut or massage. i politely said no.


back down to hotel around 8:00 downloaded photos from my camera and tweaked some of them. slept till 10, the driver was due at 11. turns out he got stuck in traffic and then a policeman jumped in his tuk tuk and made him take him somewhere. at 11:15 i had gone back up to rest more, he didn’t show till 12. we ran down to a place where i could plug my computer in. checked email, my reservation for dec air change was canceled. sent email hoping that can be resolved, responded to some emails but neglected to do the ones i really needed to: rechecking sean's and contacting steven and preet about things to do in goa.

had lunch at the haifa hotel restaurant. then over to travel agent to book flight to mumbai (bombay) ticket was cheaper than some of the other options i was considering. so the plan is: fly to bombay on monday evening, catch the train to goa spend two days there then a train to bangalore for the rest of the india journey.

stopped at a temple that had a scale model lay out of india, the dimensions were as follows: altitude was 1800 feet to 1 inch, and horizontal was 18000 feet to 1 inch, which gave the mountains a very long and jagged appearance. the north is very steep and mountainous while the central and southern regions are relatively flat in most places.

following that, i really,didn’t have anything else that i wanted to see and since the driver couldn’t entice me to go anywhere else to spend money. i had him take me back to the guest house. i took a much longer nap, as i was wiped out from being up so early having been awake so lake.

i got up around 20:00 and didn’t get all that motivated, until around 23:00, i knew i had to send an email to steven and harpreet this evening in order to get a response from them before my departure. considering, the 12 and a 1/2 hour time difference. so i ventured out with my map in hand to find the internet place i’d been using but up until this point had always been driven to by the driver, who once i looked at the map i was very confused by the routes he’d been taking. couldn’t figure out why he always turned and took longer paths.

i walked down to the rivers edge and south. as the path was poorly lit in the best spots i began to question my chances of getting there. i could see on the map that it wasn’t more than a kilometer down the rivers edge, but from there i didn’t know the street it was on or anything more than an idea that i had of where it might be. finding my way back into some light and onto a street i happened upon another internet establishment, i approached them to see if they would allow me to plug in, they wouldn’t, but i started asking questions, about where this other place might be and then trying to describe the hotel next to it that was built with stripped and stained branches in place of railings, of course my description wasn’t that clear because no one there, had any idea what i was talking about. i finally realized i had a receipt from lunch and pulled it out and sure enough the name was on it. the hotel haifa. once the guy saw the name he pointed 50 yards ahead of me and there it was. i was surprised how close i’d come with the guessing i’d done. had i not stopped for directions i would have found it without incident, not that there was any incident in the first place.

did my email, cost me a bit extra since the guy was about to close and i kept him there and extra 10 minutes (lesson #???? {i’ve lost track} :keep the lists updated and follow them) not wanting to venture back into darkness and risk stepping into something soft and disgusting. i opted for the pedicab back to the hotel. of course since i’d slept all evening i was wide awake, so at midnight i made my way to the roof top restaurant, and the poor guy there stayed up long enough to make me some chicken masala and nan. bed came a few hours later.