Sadly, this isn't chocolate water
Varanasi is regarded as the holiest place in the world by Hindus and it is their most sacred pilgrimage places. It's a lot like most other Indian cities we've been to - noisy, dusty and hot - but what sets it apart is the ghats (steps leading to water) that border the River Ganges where people bathe, make poo poo, do their laundry and cremate each other!
Our guide book tells us that water safe for bathing should have 500 fecal coliform bacteria per 1 litre of water. This part of the Ganges has 1.5 million per litre! Nice.
Varanasi is a crazy place but we love it instantly. Along the bustling narrow streets we're fighting with every inch of space with stray dogs, cows, funeral processions, police with riot shields, motorbikes, pedal bikes and hoards of shop sellers. It's a dizzying but rewarding experience.
During our stay, we spend a day in a police station to register our passports. Lucy gets chatted up by an Intelligence Officer, "Does that mean you're intelligent?" she asks jokingly and gets a stony face in return. He gives her his email address and phone number on a piece of paper with a special little message. She doesn't call him.
The food in Varanasi has really blown us away. We've discovered chana masala (a spicy chick pea curry), tandori salad (peppers, potato, pineapple and mushrooms) and we eat it for days with naan and rice. We're going to be as fat as fools before we leave India I have no doubt.
Our guide book tells us that water safe for bathing should have 500 fecal coliform bacteria per 1 litre of water. This part of the Ganges has 1.5 million per litre! Nice.
Varanasi is a crazy place but we love it instantly. Along the bustling narrow streets we're fighting with every inch of space with stray dogs, cows, funeral processions, police with riot shields, motorbikes, pedal bikes and hoards of shop sellers. It's a dizzying but rewarding experience.
During our stay, we spend a day in a police station to register our passports. Lucy gets chatted up by an Intelligence Officer, "Does that mean you're intelligent?" she asks jokingly and gets a stony face in return. He gives her his email address and phone number on a piece of paper with a special little message. She doesn't call him.
The food in Varanasi has really blown us away. We've discovered chana masala (a spicy chick pea curry), tandori salad (peppers, potato, pineapple and mushrooms) and we eat it for days with naan and rice. We're going to be as fat as fools before we leave India I have no doubt.
Cow incoming!
Fun at the ghats
Ghats your lot! - Bathtime at Assi Ghat
Varanasi police station - minus flirting copper
Local lady checking her stocks and shares
The police station filing is what Natalie would describe as 'distressing' - less flirty, flirty, more sorty, sorty.
ReplyDeleteMake poo poo. Oh that voodoo that you do. Brilliant.
ReplyDeleteAlso reckon there’s a job waiting for you in the UK when you return as a tabloid headline writer. “Ghats your lot! - Bathtime at Assi Ghat” will prove difficult to beat in the caption competition I reckon, although good work on the incoming cow tagline, when there was a certain someone in the photo walking away in the other direction…
What did the special little message from PC Plod say (didn’t think a pig related police name would go down too well)? The “little messages” I am most accustomed to are of a dirty protest nature left by naughty hounds & must surely beat the 1.5M fecal coliform bacteria in the Ganges. On second thoughts, maybe not.
The police station looks more like an abandoned restaurant than a crime fighting base & if that is the extent of their filing, reopening as a rubbish eatery, with already sleazy employees, wouldn’t be a bad idea. Deeply distressing indeed. Also, what an earth are they keeping in the red sacks, phnarh phnarh?