From Mumbai (Bombay) to Varanassi

Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th October 1997
Hotel; Volga Hotel, Bombay (Mumbai), India
Room Type: Two doubles (250-300 Indian Rupees [IR])
Verdict: Fine. Bombay is expensive relative to the rest of the country, as land prices are high. Look around for cheap accommodation in Guest Houses above stalls and shops on Colaba Street. Most hotels charge too much.

Upon arrival in India you will find the Indian way of life hits you in the face. Take it easy and get used to hassle, decrepency and poverty and you will find a brilliantly warm hectic atmosphere. As everyone will tell you, India affects all your senses and emotions.

Bombay/ Mumbai
Sight-seeing
Bombay is busy and overcrowded. To get away from it all a boat from the majestic India Gate to Elephanta Island on a Sunday introduces you to the familial way of life for Indians. Everyone wants to talk to you and you can enjoy watching children play cricket as monkeys hop around you. The cave temples dedicated to Siva are a good introduction to the Hindu culture.

A long stroll around Chowpatty Beach along the bay is recommended ending up at the Hanging Gardens and the Parsian Towers of Silence. Parsians hold water, earth and fire as sacred so they leave their dead in open chambers surrounded by high towers to be disposed of by hungry vultures. You will not see into the towers but you can spot the circling vultures.

Eating and Entertainment
There are plenty of clean cheap cafes on Colaba. The ones noted in guidebooks tend to be more expensive.
Opposite the market is located a Western cinema as well as one showing the local Bollywood favourites, a lesson in tackiness!

Travel
The booking area of the train station opens at 9am. There is a separate queue for tourists for the tourist quota whereby they keep 6 seats in 2nd class sleeper free for tourists on an otherwise overbooked train. A ticket over 1,500km to Varanassi cost us a mere $10.

Communications
Posting a package at the GPO is a study in division of labour. An experience not to be missed.
Telephone exchanges with call back facilities can be found on Colaba street.
Internet and email connections can be made from Bombay but I do not know the address.

Monday 20th and Tuesday 21st October 1997
Hotel; Train between Bombay and Varanassi
Room Type: Hard bunk
Verdict: Paying extra for a luxury or minibus in the morning to Pokhura - you usually end up in the one bus anyway. We had bad experience or moreso an inconvenience on the way from the border to Pokhura. There was an accident, which closed the direct road so we took a detour. Also one young lad tried to throw our rucksacks off the top of the bus on the way. We should have arrived in Pokhura at 4pm but got there 16 hours after we had left at 1am. the following morning. These things tend to happen a lot.

Train journeys
It takes a while to get used to the cattle cart 2nd class sleeper with barred windows, Indians mushed in to every free space and the rancid smell. However after we left India we actually missed the things! The journeys are enjoyable if you chat with the Indians (photos are good to have with you) and observe country life as you speed past fields. Another advantage is that you can read and write on the steady trains - which you cannot do on buses in other countries. Offerings at stations include the sugary local tea (chai), served in clay cups, fruit, delicious roasted monkey nuts and samosas. Trains are never on time and when you eventually get the correct platform it is difficult to find your carriage. Nothing is marked. Everyone gets used to this, it's a skill all visitors to India go away with.

Wednesday 22nd to Sunday 26th October 1997
Hotel; Schindia Hotel Varanassi
Room Type: Four bedded room, outside toilet and shower (40R each)
Verdict: Great location beside the burning ghat. The hotel itself is quiet and peaceful. It would be difficult to get to during monsoon season as the main ghat areas are covered in mud.

Varanassi
(c) gregg butensky
Varanassi is crude, dirty, overcrowded and squalid with cows and goats roaming freely on streets. However it is the most fantastic place, steeped in tradition and a harmonious way of life. Lepers and beggars line the Ganges as colourful processions of dead bodies parade to the funeral pyres at the ghats. Here the smell of sandalwood overcomes the human and cow excrement that is prominent elsewhere. The colourful processions, rituals and meaning behind the cremation of the dead is amazing.

Sight-seeing
Take a boat trip down the Ganges to the Ram Nagar Fort. Other than visiting the monkey and other temples Varanassi is a place mainly to observe life and death around the sacred Ganges River. I would highly recommend spending at least a week walking down the ghats, sitting drinking chai in the evening, chatting to the children who will impart their knowledge of the traditions and practices, buying silk and generally feeling this is what it is all about. Be warned, it is not a luxurious place!

Monday 27th and Tuesday 28th October 1997
Hotel; Sri Lanka Guest House, Bodhgaya
Room Type: Dorm beds (but there were only the four of us there; 50R each)
Verdict: Mr. Buddha boss is serene and welcoming. The rooms are basic and mossie infested.

Bodhgaya

An autorickshaw can take you 11km to the train station for Bodhgaya. The queue for your ticket is difficult and requires a lot of deep breaths, hard pushing, and patience. The 240km however only costs 57R.
Bodhgaya is the place where Buddha received enlightenment after years of self-mortification. It is a peaceful astounding place with Buddhist temples in every style. Visit all the temples and just wander through the town to the quaint riverside cafes. The same enjoyment observing but more quiet and peaceful than Varanassi.

Wednesday 29th to Thursday 30th October 1997
Hotel; Shanti Hotel, Varanassi
Room Type: Room for 4 (50R each)
Verdict: Louder than the Schindia which was full. It has a good if slow restaurant on the roof from where we watched the fireworks and trails of candles for Diwali festivities.

Enjoyed fantastic Varanassi some more.

> on to Nepal