Allahabad and Varanasi

I’m soooo ready to come home. If it was at all an option, I would seriously consider it, but as it would a) be expensive and b) I have a bag full of stuff in Bangkok, I guess it's not really feasible. Oh well.

I haven't been feeling well for a few days, and have basically been subsisting on toast and tea and soda with as little Indian food as possible. I don't know that I actually ate anything bad; I think it was just too much of a change to my diet. But still. I’ve been grouchy and headachy and worried briefly in my hypochondriac way that I might have contracted malaria, so as I was jostled around not quite sleeping on the overnight train, I was trying to figure out, geographically, where I wound want to be in a hospital if it came to that and I actually had malaria. I couldn't really figure out anyplace safe and close. The best I could come up with was someplace down in Asia, like Singapore, or maybe someplace like Dubai. But those are still really far. luckily it didn't come to that... and as it turns out there are apparently very nice private hospitals in India and westerners actually come here for certain medical procedures b/c it's cheaper and the places are really nice.

Anyway, our last day in Orcha we spent at the pool and river rafting. The pool was glorious, as they always are, and the rafting was a great way to see another perspective of all the temples and palaces and ruins. Our guide was a drill master and made sure we knew how to follow directions, but it was all fun and games once we proved adept and the paddlers at the front took "stop" to mean "splash the hell out of everyone." Very refreshing...

We took the overnight train to Allahabad, and it was an experience. I don't know that anyone got much sleep between the rocking of the train in ALL directions, snorers, etc.

Once in Allahabad we had breakfast and toured the house of Nehru. Then we hopped on a chartered bus (meaning it was only the 12 of us, the driver, our guide, and a porter instead of us and 100 others) for hours of bumpetybump through the countryside. We then got on these small wooden boats with awnings and "sailed" down the Ganges River for a few hours. While the boats technically had sails, the wind was not in our favor and the poor boatmen had to basically row the entire way yesterday and today. The river was brown and looked pretty dirty, but there are dolphins (although they're blind), and the locals swim and drink it (and still occasionally put burning bodies into it)

We camped on the sand dune of sorts--and it was glorious. The weather was nice and cool, sunset was gorgeous, and at night the stars came out and it was surreal--the river was in front of us, but across in the distance you could see the lights from towns and hear the trains and the very loud musical celebrations going on for the festival that's going on. it was very cool, and probably the highlight of my trip so far (well, apart from the Taj Mahal).

We left around 7ish this morning and "sailed" until 2. Then we loaded into SUVs for ~ 2 hours to get to Varanasi.

Varanasi is one of the 7 holy cities of Hinduism. Supposedly if you die here you go straight to heaven and skip the rest of your cycles of reincarnation. Knowing that, it's no wonder that it's so heavily populated. The population is "officially" 1.2 million, but I think it's probably much much higher. I can't even imagine trying to do a census.

Here the rivers are at their worst. The guidebook says it is considered septic b/c there is no dissolved oxygen left. People bathe in it every day b/c it's so "holy" but meanwhile 30 sewers are continually discharging into it!!!! I’ll think I’ll stay dry, thanks.

Anyway, we spend tomorrow and tomorrow night here--sunrise and sunset sightseeing, and we leave at 6 the following a.m. for an 8 hour drive to the Nepalese border.

India continues to be overwhelming. It is like so many places I’ve travelled, and there are so many times I feel like I could be in Mauritania (from behind women in saris look like women in mullafahs), and yet it is like no place and indescribable. I keep waiting to see the nice parts, the stuff from the "incredible India" ad campaign... but I don't think that’s part of our itinerary. I guess the images are just sanitized and put on the TV screen--absent the smells and sounds and most of all the stifling heat and humidity, which is what makes the real experience (and what makes it fairly miserable at times).

I have to say, more than anything else, I’m looking forward to walking out of the house after taking a shower and not immediately feeling gross and grimy and hot again. But even my discomfort is a double edged sword. Knowing that I can go back to comfort makes me feel even worse about my discomfort now, precisely because I have the option to leave. Yeah, I’ll be overworked... but it will be nicely compensated and in air conditioning, which you certainly cannot say for our boat operators. I can see more and more why religious beliefs in reincarnation are so strong. It’s the only way to justify what life doles out to some.

Anyway, my appetite is coming back so I’m going to try to get some dinner. Hope all is well back home. Can’t wait to join you all.