To Varanasi

We enjoyed a relaxing few days in Jodhpur. We were the first
foreigners (and only) guests at a very very friendly guesthouse.
Friendly in the slightly irritating way. We got a lot of
attention...like calls on the phone at 7:00 am or 9:30 (asleep both
times) and knocks on the door sometimes just to say hello or to offer
us water every couple hours. All things considered the family and
helpers where incredibly sweet and helpful.

The day before yesterday we took a sleeper train to Varanasi. It was
a marathon 29 hours long (we gathered the delays were due to problems
with the brakes or "vacuum"). We slept in a 3-tier carriage with a/c.
There was also sleeper trains and chair class below us. The
airconditioning was nice but for 29 hours almost nothing would be
confortable. The room had 8 beds in it. It was clean, as was
the squatty toilet with the exception of a few small rogue cockroaches
The people around us were friendly and nice, and we had some good
discussions with them about Indian politics and culture. One man
bought us tea from the circulating tea-man. Part way through a young
girl and her husband joined our room. As the train pulled away she
had tears streaming down her face and her mother was running with the
window of our carriage until she couldn't anymore. We found out that
she was leaving her parental home after a visit. When a woman leaves
the parental home, she paints the tips of her fingers with henna. She
offered excitedly to paint Kristin's too. It was a fun and bonding
experience.

Train stations are another world. A sort of purgatory. Young boys
walk around reparing zippers or shining shoes for money. Young girls
and old men and women
walk around begging for money, often making gestures to their
mouththat they are hungry. People sleep on the floors, and often we
find ourselves weaving through them to walk. Have they been there for
days? Weeks? Mangy dogs roam around eating trash and pooping
everywhere. It smells bad and flies are everywhere. It's all in your
face, and crazy. Once you get on the right train, and it begins to
move, a weight is lifted off you. The experience for locals we
imagine is much different.

We arrived to Varanasi yesterday. After a wild trip on a rickshaw, we
arrived to our guesthouse on the Ganges River.

Today we have explored some of the back-alleys. The alleys are too
small for cars, which is great, so it is quieter and less intense.
Still enough room for cows, and motorcycles and bicycles
unfortunately.

The shopkeepers are not as aggressive. It is one of the more mellow
places we have been in India. Smells are fragrent and pleasant at
times, and the calm but massive river adds to the peacefulness. Maybe
we are starting to understand the peace travelers talk about when
coming to India. Maybe?