Holy Shit...

So some how I've survived India, not to mention a 36 hour journey, and made it to the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, where Shiva was born, where the Sacred Mother Ganges river flows and gives life to all and all that. This is quintessential India at its best (or worst, depends how you like it). The guide book says that this is an incredibly colorful place -- well I suppose by colorful they must have meant all the various shades of yellow to brown (and some green) of the thousands and thousands of piles of shit on the alleys and streets. You people won't even believe it if I just told you. I call it a lucky day if I don't step on one of these piles. But just my luck, as I was walking along the famed ghats where people ritually bathe in the polluted waters, where ashes of the cremated are scattered, where dead bodies (humans) are thrown in, where raw sewage is drained into ... just my luck as I was hopping over the piles of shits on the walkways, a flock of birds flies over head and shit on my shirt. Ha ha, you just have to laugh at it.

Varanasi is crowded and filthy. To give an idea how bad it is... every one ritually bathes in the water, some 60,000 a day; but, get this, the Ganges river is so polluted that it contains over 1.5 million fecal bacterial count per 100 ml. What is considered safe bathing water should have less than 500 count per 100 ml. And the DRINK from this and cook from this. It's a cespool of sceptic water and nothing can survive in it, there is NO dissolved oxygen! What's more, the alley ways to my "hotel" is lined with shit, and trash, and more shit. Just this morning as I was walking (hopping over shit) out, I saw this one old man with a bucket of urine and shit from the previous days collection from his entire home (it was a big bucket), he proceeded to dip his bare left hand in the bucket and gave it a few swirls to soften it up before pouring it down a crack in the alley way. He then rinsed his hand with a little bottle of water (from the river of course). And all of it flows straight back into the river. I think if you survive India, you can survive everywhere.

But despite this, the people are quite friendly... especially when they're trying to sell you somehing or trying to get you to buy hash. And who said India was conservative? Today I saw women topless bathing along the ghats. A couple of teenage boys asked me to take a photo of them in front of thousands of people... and as I clicked the shutter, one of them fully kissed the other on the cheek. Woh. You have to laugh.

Lastly, everyone thinks I'm Japanese and speaks to me in Japanese. For some strange reason, there is a ton of Japanese and Korean tourist here, but hardly any at all in other parts of India.

Anywho, I'll be going to Sarnath to see the excavated ruins of where Buddha preached at Deer Park. Then the day after I will hopefully catch a train to Bodhgaya to find the tree where the Buddha sat under and attained enlightenment. I will then be in the high Himalayas of Nepal within a few days.

Amritsar, India

Well, after 3 days audience with Ramesh Balsekar in Mumbai, I am in Amritsar, Punjab, India.  It's stunning to sit in silence and gaze at the famed Golden Temple of the Sikhs.  The entire main dome is plated with pure gold and sits in the center of a pool of water, i.e., pool of nectar.  The holy scripts are chanted continuously by holy men and broadcasted to the entire complex throughout the day.  It's one place that feels really spiritual. 

The last few days with Ramesh plus the ambience here has brought me a lot of peace.  It's just different when you don't have to deal with the daily monotonous routine of daily life.  Though conditions are rudimentary and travel difficult at times, there is plenty to keep one's cheer up.  The people are all genuinely so friendly... and especially if you're a caucasian woman, they all want to take photos with you.

Interestingly, today I also visited the war memorial in Amritsar in commemorance of the 1919 where british soldiers open fired on unarmed indian protesters, killiing over a thousand and wounding over 2000.  The irony of it is that I went there with another british girl I met, but all the local men wanted to take a photo with her - i mean, clearly the sign says the Brits massacred the Indians here! 

Well, I'm in northern india now.  It's cold and I don't have adequate clothing.  I'm heading to Dharamsala next to see the Daila Lama in exile and then taking a  LONG train to Varanasi, and then Bodhgaya, India before heading over by land to Nepal.  Which will be colder.  Wish me luck.  Happy new year all! And sorry, internet access is still rather spotty.