Serendipity

I arrived to Varanasi three days ago. I had planned to stay in nepal 1 month but it was more like a month an a half. My last 3 days I spent at chitwan national park on a really touristy package including elephant ride, jungle trek, and the like. It wasn’t so spectacular and I felt sorry for the elephants. It’s not so easy to sit on an elephant, even when there is a platform to sit on. I saw Rhinos, which was cool. They remind me of Triceratops, which was probably my favorite dinousaur back in the day.

I set off to India from Chitwan in the morning, without a solid plan, but I thought I’d have to stay at the border overnight and continue on. But as it worked out I got an easy train connection from the travel agent. I crossed into India without incident then caught a ride to the next city from a returning cab driver. He told me the story of his life how he was selected (after 3 stages of selection) for the national cricket team but could not afford to pay the required fee, then his brother died and now he has to take care of his family by driving a tourist cab. He wanted to open a shop but needed to save the money. I felt sorry for him and gave him a tip, he was happy with that.

So i was dropped off at the train station and had to wait for a while there for the train to Varanasi. I had my first meal outside the train station, one kid tried to lead me to a place where i had to sit by a loud generator, but I declined. Everyone was pestering me to eat at their restaurant, which I was not in the mood for. I walked away and circled back, finally came to a reasonable place and ate a huge meal for about $0.80. The place was kind of a dive. The train station and area around were really dirty. The whole place had a kind of stale smell. I drank a coffee and it came in an unvarnished clay cup. Those are the disposable cups in India! It tasted good but you kind of get a taste of clay in your coffee. I suppose it’s not bad for you.

I was in a sleeper car — I got in and sat down on the bench. it was wet because it just rained and the window was open. i wiped it off and lay down, but I had to move anyway because i was supposed to be in the top bunk. i argued with the train conductor a bit because the sign was confusing, but he seemed to have an attitude about it. i switched and fell asleep. I was abruptly awakened by the train conductor at 5:30AM, because the train had arrived. In the chinese trains they give you some warning, but here I pretty much had to jump off a moving train with all my bags. I had forgotten a towel and he was nice enough to throw it on the ground at me as the train sped away. I was standing around, dazed and half-asleep when a nice accountant man came towards me and asked me where I was going. I told him and he helped me get an auto-rickshaw to my intended guest-house. I had gotten a recommendation from someone in Kathmandu.
So at sunrise I had a drive through the twists and turns of Varanasi, seeing familiar sights like cows, chickens, and mangy dogs wandering around the streets. It was dense and dirty, and reminded me of Indonesia. With a mixture of advice and intuition I made it to the guest house and checked in, the place seemed good. You can walk 1 minute and overlook the ganges river. It’s relaxed and quiet there, the owners of the place pretty much just lie around all day and it’s really casual. I intend to stay a while.