Day 8? (6/25/2009)

Oh man, I'm starting to miss home. sike.
Today I was supposed to wake up before sunrise (4:30am ish) and head to the ghats. It's now 6:00am and I'm just rolling out of bed. So I miss the sunrise and meeting up with nick, the Australian dude from the night before. I still head to the river and pay for a private boat ride up the river. This hour long drift was so relaxing and the view of the city was amazing I took pictures of course. During the river journey we stopped at the burning ghat where a live cremation was being done and watched, by live I mean done in public not that the person was alive lol during this part I wasn't allowed to take pictures out of respect. After the boat ride I head back to my hotel and wait for my train tickets still... Ok so the rest of the day was spent waiting for my tickets which the man couldn't get. Eventually I end up buying a plane ticket from Varanasi to Delhi for 4500 rupees... Retarded but I really wanted to move on. So now I have a plane ticket and I ask if I can book train tickets for other cities from here. The travel agent guy and my hotel host said yes. So now were working out bus/train tickets for a route that was Delhi ---> Agra ---> Jaisalmer ---> Delhi. There was a connecting train bus I forget in Johdpur between Agra and Jaisalmer. In the end I opted out heading west to Jaisalmer and to just end my first trip to India with Delhi and Agra. I'll be back someday for the west and south parts of India. A couple hours later and more waiting and a thousand rupees later I have my train tickets for Delhi to Agra and back to Delhi. Sigh... Expensive stuff. Well now I'm packing up my things and heading to bed. I check out at 11:30 tomorrow. You know I never did take a dip in the Ganges, maybe I'll get up early, hopefully before sunrise and head back down one more time, then take a dive. We'll see how things go tomorrow morning.
Oh btw, on my way back from the river this morning a man approached me and we talked and he helped me find the street my hotel is off of but of course he wanted to show me the family silk business....I know Varanasi silk is what every Indian bride wants but do these "family businesses" need business that bad that they have to bug me? I'm cutting my trip short and they want me to buy shit. Heh. I didn't buy anything just so you know.
Well bed time.
Byee

Day 8? (6/25/2009)

Varanasi, India