Varanasi: The City of Life

May 6

11:24am Delhi time
Well, the train left at midnight last night (2 hours late) and we are still not there yet.
I have the top bunk which is kind of annoying but it's also nice because I'm with a family so being on the top puts me out of the way.
I was hoping I wouldn't have to go to the bathroom on the train but it got to the point I couldn't wait.
At this point in time I feel like I brought too many clothes and not enough toilet paper. Most places (public) don't have toilet paper an even at our hotels we end up running out of it. Good news is that shitting into a hole is surprisingly easier than I thought it would be. Bad news is I still have loose stool but whatever.
I had to go through my bag before heading to the bathroom to find my wet wipes because I knew toilet paper would be Jon existent. That assumption was 100% correct.
The sleeper train is actually pretty comfortable. I think I was so scared and felt unsafe last night because we had just been standing with a million men starring at us and being creepy and then I was tucked into a cabin on my own in the dark. I feel a lot better knowing I'm with a family with 2 small children. Maybe a 5 year old and a 1 year old. I just hope I get off when I'm supposed to now!
I also was looking at my itinerary stuff and realized I have a problem on the last day of my elephant conservation project trip. It says we arrive at 6:30pm back to the office in Chiang Mai and to not book onward travel until after 9pm... My flight out of Chiang Mai the travel agent booked for me leaves at 4:30pm and arrives in Bangkok at 5:30pm. Sooo I need to get that fixed

11:44am Delhi time
If men spot from outside the curtain that I'm white ill still see them just stand there and stare. Sometimes they will open the curtain to look. It's strange. The family I was with didn't stare at all. They did however eat a ton of food. They had a snack bag full of chips and other goodies and they kept buying nuts and other things.
Yesterday when we were driving Stacey wondered out loud what they do during the monsoon. Everyone is always outside... Shopping, working, sleeping. It would be interesting to see how it was different.

4:02pm Delhi time
Jeezus. We've been on the train for like 17 hours now. I have no idea when to know to get off either. There are no announcements for the stations... Or at all. Also, since I'm on the top bunk I can't see out the window. For a while I was spying on the other people in my group who were close by (which I didn't realize til morning because it had been so dark and there were curtains over every bed) through the curtain. Michael has bright yellow shoes so I was always making sure those were still there. A few times I didn't see them because he had gone to the bathroom but I could see Martina's jacket on her on the side of the curtain.
Steve, from the US (Missouri) just moved back here because he didn't know when we would get off. He was in B1 or B2 and he said they didn't have curtains and there were 6 beds per cabin, 3 and 3 bunked. He couldn't even sit up straight. We have about an hour left on the train.
Steve also said apparently there is a wait list and the train starts in Delhi so they started assigning the wait list seats since we weren't there so a few people were told they needed to share a bed with people they didn't know. They wanted Stacey to share a bed (because the beds fold up into seats so there are 2 seats per bed) with a family of 4 people! Z tried to negotiate it and give them a whole bed and have them take a bed to share with Monique so it was at least someone she knew but the family didn't want to do that. Z ended up sharing the bed with the family and he was moved from seat to seat throughout the night. It doesn't sound like he got very much sleep at all. The people from my group in the other cabins also said that people in their cabins woke up really early and were loud and that there was yelling about seats constantly. It seems like people just sit where they want even when there are assigned seats. It's strange. I'm glad that wasn't me though. I felt like I actually got a lot of sleep.

9:31am Delhi time
Yesterday was a full day. By the time we got back I started typing my entries up and fell asleep in the middle.
When we arrived in Varanasi we took tuk tuks. 2 people per tuk tuk this time because we had to fit our bags in and we did not have "trunk space".
The hotel we are staying at deferred us drinks (fanta and diet coke) upon arrival. It is a very nice hotel.
W had 15 minutes to freshen up because we were so late arriving and we had to make it to the flower ceremony.
We took tuk tuks there. The streets are full of people. I think there are more people than vehicles which is the first city I've seen in India like that. The road is more dirt covered than in the other cities as well.
Varanasi is so lively. There are shops and people and colors and so much history. T is the oldest city in india dating back to 12 B.C. It is also the most holy city for Hindus. People come here to die and bury loved ones and pray.
I was surprised because there were even glass windows over some of the shops. At some places it looked very metropolitan and out of place compared to the surrounding buildings.
People are very friendly. They want to know where you are from and tell you things about the city.
When we arrived a the Ganges, the flower ceremony had already started. We were the last tuk tuk if our group to get there because we had to stop for gas. The gas stations are a lot smaller with only a few pumps. I didn't notice notice how he paid.
You have to walk down a lot of stairs to get to the river. There, there was a stage like area where the prayers were being performed. They were chanting and there were different objects that were on fire that they would lift in the air and move around. There were maybe 10 men doing this- dressed in white robes. There were tall poles and open umbrella structures at the top. It was all covered in flowers and colored lights. Many people were watching or gathered down by the river to let a flower/candle float out on the river. It is said that whatever you pray for will come true if you set it free on the Ganges.
We saw a man that Zahid said was an aesthetic who has no clothes, home, or belongings and gave his life to Hinduism. His face was covered in ashes. We were allowed to go up and talk with him and take pictures but we were asked to donate some money because he only survives off of donations. Most people have 10 or 20 rupees but I only had a 50. I figured that was fine because it is about a dollar.
While we were walking around young girl kept asking me to buy this colored powder that had metal design stamps in a bunch of different shapes. A lot of the girls bought one but I didn't care for it. This girl literally followed me for probably 15 minutes. She would leave and come back again too. "All your friends bought one. You should buy too." "I need money because I go to school." "Only 100 rupees." "Why you break my heart."
I said "no" the most amount of times I ever have in my entire life in a time span of 15 minutes, ha. She followed me all th way out of the riverside and up the stairs. Finally she said, "fine. No problem ma'am." And left.
We went back to the hotel on a tuk tuk (paid 50 rupees each way) and went for dinner. I had gobi sunehari and naan and it was so good. It was pieces of cauliflower with different spices on it. I kind of expected it to be more like a sauce but it was still very good.
By the time we got to the room it was 11pm and I had to shower still. It is so humid here. My skin feels constantly wet.
I bought a 2 hour Internet card for 100 rupees ($2). I only had a 500 rupee bill and he kept trying to give it back to means say he didn't have change. It's strange because the ATM gives you large bills but no one ever has change for large bills. It took 6 minutes for him to find change in a hotel! So weird.
We couldn't find how to turn on the AC for the longest time. There was no remote. Finally, I saw a switch on the wall. It was set at 24 degrees Celsius which is pretty cold.
Every time I travel I get annoyed that we don't use the metric system. Heights, weights, temperatures, it just makes everything pretty confusing.