Leaving Darjeeling was all so much fun. We asked around where we would find the Jeeps headed down to New Jalpaiguri where we would catch our night train to Varanasi. We walked down to the taxi stand where everyone told us to wait for a jeep and none came. Also the men hanging around the area quoted us prices that were almost double than what we had paid to get to Darjeeling a week earlier. We got fed up with waiting and a little bit antsy we passed our expected departure time from Darjeeling. This meant that we might be late catching our train. We kept asking different people about where the main jeep and bus stand was and it turned out to be quite a ways further down the mountain, but still within the sprawling city. We walked as fast as we could with our enormous packs and when we made it down to the main jeep stand and asked where to find a jeep to New Jalpaiguri the men standing around all pointed in different directions. No one was able to speak English so we kept getting turned around and sent in the wrong direction. Now we were well past the time we had expected to leave Darjeeling in order to catch our train on the other end. To put things into perspective, if we were to miss our train to Varanasi we would not be getting on another. There were no other trains that had space. Everything was completely booked. Our last hope would be to get a tatkal ticket (a last-minute emergency ticket) that costs a whole heck of a lot more, for a train that departs the following day or the day after. Which means we would likely have to spend a lot of time in the train station. Not fun. Frusterated and out of breath we scrambled through the crowds pushing our way through the smattering of people and jeeps trying to find a ticket booth. When we finally did we purchased two tickets and immediately got in a jeep that was bound for Siliguri, a town near New Jalpaiguri where our train departed from. The jeep took about 20 minutes to get loaded and drive off. When we were finally on our way to Siliguri there was almost no hope of us catching our train. We asked the driver to go as quickly as he could without driving us off a cliff. When we arrived in Siliguri I grabbed the bags while Courtney grabbed a tuk tuk and we asked him to race to the train station. Miraculously we had 15 minutes to make it there before the train departed. The tuk tuk driver said it would take 15 minutes to get to the train station but that he would try his best to get there sooner. We arrived at the train station with about 2 minutes to spare and we raced to our platform and to our surprise the train was still there. We half expected it to start driving away as we approached it but we were able to find our correct car and hop on without chasing it. As we got settled in our berths the horn blew and off we went! For those of you who haven’t travelled in India you may not realize how difficult it is to book trains. As it is the main form of transportation for the rich, poor and everyone in between the trains book up well in advance. In South America we were used to travelling without much planning beforehand and because we thought that would work in India (despite being told otherwise) we have had to take whichever trains are available. For example there were no spaces on the trains from New Jalpaiguri to Varanasi so instead we had to buy a ticket all the way to New Delhi then get off at Mughal Saris, a train station close to Varanasi. The only issue was the train arrived there at 1:30am. So we set our watches and woke up a few minutes before the expected arrival so that we could jump off. Sometimes there is no way of knowing which train station you are at without asking, because signage can be non-existent so we had to be ready to jump off at any point as the train stops in some stations for a max of 2 minutes. We did get off at the correct station and decided we would sleep in the station in one of its retiring rooms; a very bare-bones style room with a few beds and a squat toilet and about 50 salamanders lining the walls. We were actually pretty impressed with the room, between having our own bathroom, beds and clean sheets it was an infinitely better alternative than sleeping on the floor of the train platform. The next morning we took a tuk tuk to our guest house in Varanasi, which came highly recommended by other travellers. The guest house was situated right along the Ganges, the scared Hindu river. We dropped our stuff, had a bit of a rest and then headed out to explore a bit of the city. Varanasi is one of the oldest living cities in the world and was founded by the god Shiva. For Hindu’s it’s a sacred city because of the Ganges River that the city is built around. Hindu’s believe that the Ganges allows a crossing point of access to the divine and for god and goddesses to come down. If a Hindu dies in Varanasi they believe they attain moksha or enlightenment. Therefore, many elderly people come to Varanasi to die, the family then has a ceremonial cremation next to the river at the burning Ghats. We were fortunate enough to watch a ceremony; it was very interesting especially because funerals for us are sad occasions but Hindu’s do not feel that it should be sad because their loved ones are that much closer to crossing over. We were told that each ceremony differs in scale but mostly is dependent on the family’s caste and wealth. The minimum cost is 30000 INR (approx. $550 CAD) which, people save for their entire lives as well as get help from family members. We heard mixed information, one person said anyone from any caste can get cremated there if they have the funds but we were also told only certain castes could be? For people who can’t afford the cremation, their bodies get wrapped up like a mummy then a rock is tied to their legs and then the body is taken to the middle of the Ganges and sunk. Unfortunately, it is common that the tie comes loose and the bodies float up; therefore, it’s common to see bodies in the river while boating. Government workers go around and retie the rocks to the bodies so they sink. Also, all animals that die in Varanasi also get buried at sea (so to speak) in the Ganges. To us Varanasi was a very odd place to visit; it’s very overwhelming and emotional but also very spiritual and we enjoyed the experience. The Ghats are the steps that line the Ganges. We would walk up and down the Ghats people watching. It was so interesting seeing what everyone was engaged in. We saw many people bathing, many washing clothing and beating the clothes with paddle boards which, resembled cricket bats. We also saw many groups of cows getting bathed by their herders in the river. During our time there, there was a festival where the people created wood or weaved god shaped statues where at night would get burned or placed into the Ganges. At first we thought we kept seeing tons of bodies but quickly found out that it was the figurines of a goddess. While we walked along the Ghats avoiding the touts (they are everywhere and have the most slick ways of getting you to speak with them always ending with them trying to take you to their shop, go on a boat trip, or paying to see the burning Ghats), which Varanasi is horrible for, we were approached by a westerner who was looking to talk with people without the need to pay for something at the end. His name was Matt from the USA. As he had a long thick beard Indian’s kept coming up to him and calling him Western Babba. Matt had studied religion in school and taught us so much about Hinduism and the caste system. We had a great day and evening chatting and experiencing the city all together. At sunset we all went for a boat ride to get a different view of the city. We took a night train from Varanasi to Agra to see the world’s most beautiful building, the Taj Mahal. Rather than explaining the history behind the Taj we’re going to give you the Wikipedia link and then bombard you with photos! Check it out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taj_Mahal.
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