Udaipur and Varanasi

Even though I've been in China for over a week... I still have one more post for India. I thought I would end on a positive note, since my previous posts were rather negative. Once again, I would have to say that India is by far the most captivating place that I've ever been to. Just taking the train from one big city to another can be a complete adventure. The two most exciting cities for me were Udaipur and Varanasi. I won't say that they were both "nice" experiences, but definitely interesting.
For all three of us, Udaipur was the consensus "best" stop in terms of relaxation. We stayed at an awesome Havelli (renovated historical house) with a family that operated the hotel. It had a nice courtyard and three levels of rooms with a roof top deck. Since no one is stupid enough to travel through India in the summer... we got the off-season price which was basically $12/night/person. Our room had a great view of the water and a day bed and sitting area that overlooked the water. I spent hours just watching people do their laundry and bathe on the ghats (steps that lead into the water) right outside of our hotel. I was so interested in watching people bathe and do laundry side by side in horribly poluted water, and little did I know that this was just a taste of what we would see in Varanasi. During the evening we sat on the rooftop deck and watched the sun set over the water in one of those iconic kodak moments that makes you forget that the water actually smells like sewage and is filled with unknown waste and funk. After sunset we had dinner at my favorite restaurant through our entire India trip. It was a little mom and pop restaurant called Queen Cafe. The mom (actually more like grandma... or great grandma) did the cooking and the pop (grandpa) did the serving and entertaining. Seeing as how there were only two tables... his job was pretty easy and he sat and chatted with us while we ate. It definitely gave us that "home-cookin" feeling complete with that crazy relative that just wont leave you alone while you are trying to eat. The food was totally unlike anything we had anywhere else... I can still taste it weeks later... banana curry, coconut rice, stuffed eggplant curry... geez that was an amazing meal... FOODIE HEAVEN. Steph claims that they had the best mango shakes in India as well, but seeing as how I hate mango I can't confirm. The next day was a little more of the same sitting, watching, and relaxing but for dinner we took our second cooking class in India. This one was a little more structured, because it was at a spice shop instead of at home. We learned a variety of different dishes and I'm definitely stoked to go home and try them out. FYI... this is an open invitation to anyone who wants to come to NY and try out my authentic Indian cuisine (complete with 4 cups of oil... read the previous posts if you don't get that joke). Hopefully you all make it before I lose interest!!!
Varanasi was my absolute favority stop in India. I know Steph disagrees with me but I think that Ariele is leaning towards my side. I would have to say that it was a little funky with the rain. As I described earlier... many of the streets are not paved and filled with cow, pig, dog, goat, and buffalo excrement... so when it rains the streets get really funky and when it pours it just creates a brown mystery mush that you have to walk through to get anywhere. Walking just a block away was a complete "mess"... and we spent a lot of our time washing off our feet. Just thinking about the mystery mud makes me kinda shudder. In any case... the highlight of Varanasi is, of course, the Ganges River. This was very high on my list of things to see when coming to India... and it did not disappoint. First, you have to imagine this scene... people from all over India come to Varanasi to die, because its close to the Ganges river, which is holy. So they are hundreds of public funerals all day right on the water. The funeral is a long ceremony with the body colorfully wrapped and dressed and sitting next to the water while the family lines up to scoop water from the river and pour it on the dead body. Meanwhile the funeral pyre is burning a few feet away. After the ceremony the funeral conductors (is that the right word?) put the body on the pyre and do a public cremation... YES, we actually watched a body burn. I don't know about Steph and Ariele, but that was an eery experience for me. It gets crazier though... I guess the locals end up sending the bodies along the river or spreading the ashes along the water. Other backpackers told us that they saw dead, bloated bodies floating in the river. Even more crazy (yes... more crazy) is that this is all happening right next to the rest of the Ganges river action. Within 100 feet there was a herd of water buffalo (maybe like 20) swimming around. The water buffalo even came up to the dead body and started eating the flowers decorating the corpse. Can you imagine having a public funeral and having to swat away animals trying to nibble at the corpse?!?!? Of course there were also the resident bathers and laundry workers doing their business. Imagine this scene... a line for bathing standing next to a half dozen men and women doing laundry... 20 feet upstream dead body burning and another corpse waiting to be burned with buffalo nibbling at the corpse... another 20 feet upstream kids swimming and playing in the water. Could you imagine learning to swim next to dead bodies and a herd of buffalo. Whether one likes the funk or not, I think that everyone has to agree that Varanasi and the Ganges is a uniquely Indian experience that can't be found anywhere else. I had read many articles about the Ganges and I was hyped to see the action... and my traveler's curiosity was more than satisfied. No matter how hard I try to describe it... its just one of those things you have to see for yourself.