Saturday, January 17, 2009

Arrival in Varanasi

Here I am, in the heart of Hinduism. This is quite clearly the poorest place I've been, in India or elsewhere. And it just teems with people. The ride from the airport to the hotel was rather terrifying. Moving at 80 kph in a large SUV among pedestrians,bicycles, motorcycles, rickshaws, cars, trucks, and of course cows -let's just say I was more comfortable buckling up and looking out the side window.
Then we reached the city itself, where the "streets" are too narrow for anything larger than a rickshaw, and some times are not even that big.
This is a wonderful view of the "real" India, but not one for the faint of heart. It is an intense place in every way. But now is time for the evening aarthi, so more to come later.

No comments: