Benares - Banares

Older than History, Older than Tradition, Older even than legend and looks twice as old as all of them put together - Mark Twain.

I arrived in Varanasi, the oldest city, the holiest city, and oh my god the poverty has really stepped up a notch. The smells of trash, poo and the fact that urinals are literally right in the street are all accentuated by the heat making the city overwhelming at times. Saying that theres this calm and tranquil feeling as you
sit over looking the river.

I have to mention here that I love India, I even don't mind this place, it has a really good vibe, and everyone is so happy, the poverty is shocking, and at times the smells and sights are overwhelming but the food is awesome.

We flew in a mad panic (after the cab driver overslept for our 4am cab
booking and arrived at 430 for our 530 flight half an hour away from
the airport) and landed in Delhi at 630am WHERE IT WAS 38 degrees
already.

When we arrived we were met by a driver with a very cute sign

Mr. JacGui from. AUST.
Welcome to
Sita Guest House 1040.am
Thanks

who spoke very little English but had a very nice (big) car .. kind of feels like you
aren't going to die as fast when you're in a big car.

I have some fabulous videos which will be placed on once we are up and running with real Internet connection again.

Once in the old city some one walks you to the hotel = which actually
isn't a 5 min walk but a walk though a wonderful maze of alleyways for
close to 15mmins filled with the smell of cow poo and that oh so
disgusting smell of rotting trash. The porters carry your bags (all 24 kgs of them) above their heads to avoid all the wonderful bonuses along the way - its closed shoes all the way here. Infact I am leaving my Varanasi shoes here.

We got to the hotel and there was no electricity in the whole of the
town, which means we were on generator, which means no air con and no
electricity BUT we did have a beautiful view of the Ganges (the hotel
overlooks the Ganges) so doing away with tradition, we opened
the windows (to a beautiful and polluted breeze) and Susan went to
sleep.

Not fifteen minutes later this HUGE monkey came swinging into the
window to which I started screaming hysterically no no no no no - poor
Susan was up in a flash thinking there was a small man in the room
(she didn't have her contacts on), So we decided to close the window
overlooking the terrace but keep the window overlooking the river
(with a deathly drop) open for air - it is like a sauna here if you
have it closed. Not ten minutes later there were two small hands and
a little face that poked up and over the window again. I had been
warned about the monkeys however I was not happy with no air con
and no windows. Finally the power came back on around 3pm.

The street kids here are super cute but of course part of a racket
which means we cant photograph, nor can we actually even talk to them
which makes it real hard for Susan who wants to talk / give money to
everyone. Thankfully I am in charge of the budget and purse strings.

I'm attracting a hell of alot more attention here, whilst I had no
problems with everyone pointing and asking for pictures and calling me
whitey in Bangalore or Jaipur - last night I there was some dude with
a video following us, another who decided that he loved my ass (who
would have thought?) and wanted to cop a feel along with some dude who
had apparently never seen a white chick with boobs.

Thankfully I had my kungfu fighting girlfriend with me who actually
gets far more upset about all the attention than I do and screams NO
at everyone.