Last full day in India

May 7

10am Delhi time
We got up at 5am this morning and left around 5:15am to go see the sunrise on the Ganges. We took bikes that had a little 2 person carriage on the back of it.
Honestly, it amazes how many people hey can cram into tiny spaces. Sometimes you'll see 6-8 people crammed into a little tuk tuk. I think I've seen 4 people... With small children though... On these bike carriages.
In the road there are small divets that are evenly spaced sometimes. I don't know what they are for. Maybe speed bumps because when we went over what we consider a speed bump it was really uncomfortable in the tuk tuks and bike things. I don't think they are pot holes because they are all the same size and like perfectly spaced out around each other.
We went directly to the river and got on a boat. The boat sat all 12 of us that went and was wooden. It took us all along the coast of the Ganges. So many people are bathing in the river. There were men and women covered in white suds with bars of soap next to them. It's actually kind of nauseating because the water is very nasty. It's not really a brown color but there is trash all along the shore line and the water is not clear anywhere. It is dark and muggy.
People do laundry in the river, go to the bathroom in the river, bathe in the river, swim in the river, pray in the river, and as we found out later, die in the river. I guess it is more like they go to nirvana in the river.
There are a ton of what look like beach umbrellas on the side of the river. They are not as flimsy and I think they have cloth over the top of the wood, if that is what they are made out of. Along the main part of the river there are just stairs leading to the river. There is more of a shore line along the other parts but no one sun bathes. It is not like a beach. Along the shore line areas there were wooden planks set up for doing laundry.
A lot of young boys were doing laundry. They had rolls of sheets or clothes. They would dip the fabric in the water and slap it against the wooden planks and repeat a number of times. Then they would throw the "clean" laundry on the shore on top of a sheet so the laundry wasn't directly laying on the dirt. In other cities we saw people drying sarees directly on the dirt on the side of the river.
The Hindus consider the Ganges to be very holy so most, if not all of the people bathing in the river were Hindu. Z said he hasn't gone in it because he is Muslim.
There are many burning sites along the Ganges as well. If your body is cremated here, the Hindu religion believes you go directly to nirvana because this is one of the four holiest cities for Hindus.
It sounds like it is rather expensive. It costs about 300 or 400 rupees per kilo of burning wood. I don't know how many kilos of wood you need but the body burns for 2 or 3 hours. I think there is also a special kind of wood you buy that masks the smell of the burning flesh. If it is not totally cremated by the 3 hour mark the rest of it is thrown into the river. If it is totally cremated the family throws the bones into the river. They cremate about 200 to 300 bodies a day. I can't even imagine how many bones are at the bottom of that river. We have approximately 206 bones in the body and if 300 people are cremated a day, that is about 61,800 bones a day going into that river.
A man who works there came on the boat/canoe to tell us all the information. Because it is so expensive, for people who don't have families or are poor, there are 3 buildings at the burning sights that allow the homeless to stay. They are provided with food and shelter while they are there and then they are cremated once they die so they too have the chance to go to nirvana.
We saw 2 bodies be carried down. The men bring the body on a stretcher (the body is covered in fabric and flowers- the flowers represent innocence) to the river down a stairway. They dip the body into the river fully and then they uncovered the face, I think, and everyone put some handfuls of water on the deceased persons face. The first group of men actually were posing with the body and taking pictures which was strange. It was also strange because the same group of men saw some Westerners who were taking a tour near the sight and they just left the body laying there and went over to look at and talk with them.
We didn't see any of the bodies being cremated but during our free time Monica and Curtis went for an hour tour there. The spot they cremate the bodies is pretty high up in the buildings. There is an eternal flame (they said it was mostly just hot coals) that has been burning for 3,500 years. That fire is the source of all the flames that are used. Also, the only people who can control the flames are the "untouchables" which is the lowest class system for the Hindu people. I know nothing about the cast system though.
There are also certain bodies that won't be cremated for various reasons. Children are not because they decorate the bodies in flowers which represents innocence and children already represent this. Pregnant women are not cremated because they carry children who are the innocent. Holy men are also not cremated because they gave up their lives to pray to the gods. All of these bodies are floated out on the Ganges and then sink as whole bodies to the bottom of the river. The holy men can then continue praying to the gods for their whole life. Bodies with venom in them from snake bites are also not cremated. They are wrapped in banana leaves and also float along the river. The combination of the banana leaves and the soap from the people bathing in the Ganges is apparently what gets the venom out of the body. It was really difficult to understand the guy and for some reason I thought he said that people with snake bites were sent out down the river and that jungle people took them in and cured them of their bite for a week and then they sank to the bottom of the river. Ha. Lost in translation... Or I'm making things up. Either way it was wrong.
The large burning sight (there were also smaller ones along the river) was stacked full of so many piles of wood. It was crazy. Although with burning so many people a day every day they probably need a ton of wood. I wonder where it all comes from.
I'm also unsure if they put the ashes into urns or not. The big burning site is called Manikarnika.
The landscape of the buildings along the coast line are really beautiful. There is so much life along the coast as well. And it was pretty busy for 5:30am too.
When we were walking back from the boat ride, I had a guy following me trying to sell the same powder stuff as last night. I kept saying no and that I didn't want it. He followed me all the way to the tuk tuks and stuck around until we got in it to leave. The girls who bought theirs yesterday bought them for 100 rupees, Monica got hers for 60 rupees. They started at 200 rupees. He also said he was going to school and "you are beautiful" and the ever so popular "why you break my heart?" He actually dropped down to 50 rupees by the end but I did not want it and I don't have room for it. I actually had forgotten my wallet in the room and I told him that and then when he wouldn't leave me alone I showed him my bag which had my water in it. He kept saying "ask your friends, you borrow money."
Stacey said maybe they follow me because we are close in height haha. Maybe I'm just not rude enough.
We went back to the hotel for breakfast around 8:30am. I wanted to try French toast which I know isn't Indian food but We have had a lot of Indian food. It was okay but it is way better at home. Their bread is kind of strange here. The texture was kind of like eating a soaked sponge.
Yesterday I ate some trail mix on the train but I basically didn't eat for 25 hours or so. Maybe more because I felt so sick after the rooftop cafe in Agra. The diarrhea stopped though which was great considering it was going on day 3 and if it lasts past 3 days it won't go away and is most likely caused by a parasite or something. So that was a relief!
For the boat ride (150 rs) and the tuk tuks there and back (50 rs each way) we paid 250 rupees total which is about $4.50. That is so cheap. It's crazy that they work for so little money, which also just brings us back to their extremely low standard of living. It was strange because they always wanted to wait for us while we did whatever we were doing. They would wait for 3 hours sometimes. It doesn't make sense because they didn't go take other jobs during that time. They just waited.
In Jaipur we "hired" tuk tuks for a certain route and then they would wait for us while we were in there but we paid them 400 rupees total I think for 2 stops.
A random thing I have noticed is the kid toys are made out of balloons. They are kind of like balloon animals but it isn't an animal.
Our food at restaurants also never comes out at the same time. Whether it is 18 of us or 3 of us. This morning we didn't even get our tea until after we had been served and basically eaten our whole meal.
A lot of people say that they have been getting mosquito bites but I haven't noticed any yet. I have heard they are pretty bad in Cambodia though. I don't know if it will still be bad when I get there or not with all the season changes and everything.
Some other random things I have noticed:
1. All cell phones have a song or music ring tone
2. Lines don't exist here. People just push past each other and shove in where ever they can to buy ticket or water or snacks. They shove past you to go places too.
3. The hotel rooms we stayed in were all pretty nice. We had towels in all of them and were provided with rolls of toilet paper and soap and sometimes shampoo. The rolls of toilet paper are probably only one fifth of the size they are at home though and they only give you two. Maybe just one. They also set the AC really low everywhere. Like 18-24 degrees Celsius usually.
4. A few of the places we've been have ha little parties in the street. In one city there was a construction vehicle that had white party lights strung around it. Then there was music blasting and a group of people kind of wiggling and dancing in a group. In Varanasi, there are a lot of festivals an celebrations going on so there was always stuff all over the street. Lights, singing, chanting, strange processionals or parades, wedding cars decorated with flowers (the wedding season just started), and the normal hustle and bustle.

8:37am Delhi time
It's the next day. I decided to leave my journaling for today because we have a lot of travel time.
Yesterday after breakfast I journaled until about 11am when a small group of us went to go to Sarnath, a small city outside of Varanasi, which is where Buddha gave his first sermon. It seems like it is a very small town. We saw a museum that was 5 rupees to enter and had a lot of different Buddhist artifacts. The 4 headed lion is on the corner of the 500 rupee bill actually.
After the museum we went to the park which was 5 rupees for all Indians and 100 rupees for all foreigners. Once we got inside there was a guy there who was bothering us to give a 20 minute tour and Stacey ended up paying him 100 rupees. It was not too great. It also wasn't 20 minutes but he was cute. It was like a guessing game with his English though and he always made sure we understood what he said but it took a whole sometimes and he didn't say a ton haha. Inside was a lot of brick and stone that had been mosques. There were small stupas and large stupas. The huge stupa had been restored on parts of it. The old part had beautiful intricate designs on it. The guide told us that Buddhas bones are inside of the big stupa.
We wanted to go see the Temple that was there but we were told it was close from 11 to 130. Of course no one told us that and we left for the city at 11. We took time to go see a huge Buddha statue and then the driver took us to the temple. It may be Sri Lankan? I don't know. It is supposed to house the original bodi tree. So we saw that and it was a pretty quick visit for everything. We got back to the hotel a bit before 2pm. When we were driving in to the city there were a number of huts that had been made out of sand and were small and had hay or something for the roof. I don't know if people actually lived in them or not.
We stopped at the hotel for a quick snack. I had vegetable kofta or something like that. It was mixed vegetables that were then fried. It was actually pretty good. It was still flavorful and spicy and it was fried, but not covered in grease. It kind of reminded me of small latkes without all the grease ha. It may have even had potato in it.
At 3pm we met in the lobby again to go to see how silk is made. Varanasi is the place where pure silk comes from. It was crazy because I thought we were just going to go see a factory but it is actually this small community that makes all the silk products. There are about 700 workers I think the guy said. It was really loud with all the machines running so it was very difficult to hear what he was saying. I still don't know the process and can't tell it to you, but it was pretty cool to see. The children in the community were also so excited to see white people ha. They kept running around us and after us and waving and saying hello and wanting us to take their pictures. It was kind of weird but it was also cute since they were all small children. Not like the creepy men at the train station.
There were hand looms and power machines that they used. The hand loom was crazy. The guy was using his hands and feet to operate it. He was also weaving things through. I don't know how it was supposed to work. It looked difficult though. His feet were below the level of the floor but still extended down normally to work that part of the machine. They make all their own designs for the things they weave or sew or whatever as well.
After he showed us around the community, we were taken to a show room. The community was a number of small, winding streets with a lot of open doorways that had no doors. There were a lot of people around too. All the parts of the tour were in different rooms in different parts of the community. There would be absolutely no way I would figure out how to make my way around there. (Same with India though. I don't even remember seeing street signs. There were very few traffic lights and no cross walks or stop signs or yield signs or anything. Not even speed limit signs).
The show room was very nice and comfortable. It was cool which is always nice when it is hot as balls outside. We were also offered refreshments of our choice and there were cushioned pillows for us to sit on and lean against. I was not planning on buying silk because I didn't think I liked silk and as I said before, I don't really have the space to buy anything at the moment. They started showing us piece after piece and showing us the different qualities and prices and silks and cashmeres and wools and other things. Everything was so beautiful. And, I was wrong about silk. High quality, pure silk is very soft and nice. I saw a blanket that caught my eye and I didn't think I would buy it but I ended up doing it. It's so beautiful. I had it shipped home as well and because they export silk to most d the world I don't need to pay a ton of taxes for shipping. I figured at home a pure silk blanket would be a lot more expensive. I only paid $220 for it. It is blues and teals and I can't even describe the design to you other than saying it is gorgeous. I could also pay with a card which was nice. The guy walked us back to our hotel and we met up with Z and most everyone else for dinner. He was taking us to this little family owned roof top restaurant. You couldn't really get Indian food, it was Mexican, italian, and Greek but oh man it was so good. It was also a lot cleaner on every level than any of the other restaurants we had eaten it. The man was very nice as well. I had garlic butter pasta with tomato olive and cheese with some garlic bread. It was better than most pasta dishes I have had in the states. It was more expensive than a lot of our other meals but it was still less than $10 (500 rupees).
The drivers we had take us to the restaurant wanted to wait for us again. Z tried to tell them there was no point but they said they wanted to and he didn't argue with them after that I guess. He thought it was stupid though. At dinner we all reflected on our day. It was very relaxing and enjoyable.
I don't remember if I ever answered this or not. I can't ctrl find either so it's hard to find out. Z said religion is not mandatory in India and that you have freedom to choose what you want, but most families would be devastated if you decided against it. He also said during the monsoon in India people still stay outside for the most part and that they love the rain. But he also said that sometimes the first few weeks it rains pretty hard and that is when people try to stay inside.
That was our last full day in India. Today is really just a travel day. I don't know how I feel about leaving India. It definitely is not one of the cleanest places ever, and everyone else on my trip said Southeast Asia is cleaner and Elisabeth said she even thought Africa was more clean. The culture of India is so beautiful and the women in their sarees are still breath taking. I wish I could have seen more of India, maybe the south. Maybe even had more time to experience the culture and cities I did visit. It is definitely a different place to be and I have never been anywhere that compares to it. I don't think the 8 days was enough to really understand India and I think that may be why I am not feeling too enchanted by my time here.
However, Varanasi was by far my favorite city we visited.It's one of the oldest cities in the world. There is so much history but its not just a boring town. It's so lively and colorful and crazy. Even though there are not too many sites or monuments to see, it is just full of people doing things all the time and there is always something to watch. Maybe I like it so much because it seems a lot easier to understand the culture and way of life watching people here than any of the other cities. But I don't know. I definitely do not think 8 days did India any justice for me. I did like it though and I think I would come back again to see more of it.
I didn't get to do any henna so that was disappointing. We ran out of time yesterday because of the silk shopping. We were there for 3 hours as a group I think shopping. We didn't even move! He just rolled things out in front of us. We should shop like that in the US ha.
Off to Nepal!