January 10 There Is A Distinct Lack Of Teeth, But We Can At Least Try I Suppose.
Nothing much yesterday, tried to get here (Kausani), but got foiled by buses and roadworks. No dice. Arrived early this morning, it's by far the most pleasant village, town or city I've seen in the country. Superb Himalaya views from our hotel room. Went for a walk to a viewpoint that is much worse than we have from here and that's about all there is to do. So it's kind of boring, but nice. It has currently resorted to a terrible Mexican zombieslashvampire film starring Jon Bon Jovi. Followed by a convict escape movie featuring the worst spoken word 'jazz poetry' ever in the history of everything.
January 11 Yeah, Torque Is Definitely The Worst Movie I Have Ever Seen.
And we thought last nights movies were awful. Who comes to India to watch bad American cinema anyway? Oddly comfortable and suspiciously easy bus trips today. Much quicker than anticipated and being completely immobile and wedged in the midgets only back seat wasn't as bad as it sounds. Got to Nainital about 2pm and proceeded to get hammered by hotel touts, whom I'm surprised Anthony even bothered dealing with. Ended up with a cheap TV room that is pretty scummy. Nainital is even nicer than Kausani, amazing, and the food is outstanding. Explore tomorrow.
January 12 Got Any Spare Change Man?
Walked up through morning mist and plastic fire fumes to the ridge line above town for the supposedly amazing "snow view". Presumably they mean the mountains. And yes, the view is all vast and impressive despite me being close to mountained out, but the viewpoint is terrible. I'm not suggesting they cut down a few dozen trees just so people can see distant mountains, but why build a fairly comprehensive viewpoint (including a horrible fun park and optional cable car between town and viewpoint, no thanks, I remember the last one) in a forest? Walked back down to the other side of the lake, Naini Tal, which the town is built around and is quite lovely and largely clean thanks to a lot of work and positive re-enforcement. Watched a cricket match, the red team ploughed the yellow team, in case you were wondering. Returned to last nights dinner find for lunch, so good, mini golf is closed so not much doing this afternoon.
January 13 And This Inferiority, Is Complex.
Currently on the train to Varanasi, not as comfortable or easy as the last one. Booking a ticket was near impossible, and sleeper class was full anyway (that's not why booking was hard though, you'd still get a ticket if someone was willing to help despite it being full). Some of the rail staff are beyond helpful and pleasant, but they tend to be the ones who are of least use which is frustrating. We jumped on sleeper with nothing more than a general ticket for the pack-em-in second class, after finding the conductor to upgrade our ticket he gave us the "should be empty" guards seat without even looking at our ticket. Sometimes being white is has benefits. The seat's a pretty uncomfortable place to spend ten hours, at least we think it's going to take that long, but it's better than second for sure. We're going to get to Varanasi at a super awkward time, 3.30am perhaps. Finding a hotel is going to be fun. So glad to be back in Uttar Pradesh, the state that smells completely of human urine (no exaggeration, no lie).
January 14 I Think, Somehow, A Day, Night And Another Day just Happened.
Yeah, the train got worse. Got up for a leg stretch at Lucknow and returned to find our seat occupied by three smug, arrogant Indian weed-men. Apparently another conductor told them to sit there. Our conductor was nowhere to be found, arguing wasn't worth the bother. Ended up sitting on my pack in the filthy end of the carriage between a sleeping man, the exit doors, a not-working-but-everyone-wants-to-try-anyway sink and the toilets which every time one was opened peppered us with that enchanting Uttar Pradesh urine smell. Yet despite this, it was actually much more comfortable than the seat. We later got moved to another guards seat in another carriage, only to arrive in Varanasi shortly after. At 2am. Now what do we do for 6 hours? We ended up getting minorly lost and going the long way to the Old City, killed some time. Got to Raj Ghat about 4am, which is the Northernmost Ghat in the city (Ghats... stairs going down to the river where Hindus bathe from? Not sure exactly, I know what they are, just not what they are, if you catch me, probably ask wikipedia) and walked down along the river, getting to the Old City about 6. It was very nice in the pre-dawn murk actually, and more and more people were coming down for their bathe. Finding a hotel was quite painful. Even at that time touts are everywhere. What they usually do is take you to a hotel, these are generally easy to find anyway, these men serve little purpose other than to annoy. If you follow them, they get a commission from the hotel, and you pay extra on your room (you're not supposed to know) to cover said commission. At Varanassi they have a bad habit of just standing in front of a hotel and when they see you approach reception, they run in and ask for you, so as to get their commission. So so so damn annoying, but that's India. Got an okish hotel that's right on the river, crashed.
January 15 Why Don't People Like Us?
Walked up to Gay Ghat this morning and got a boat ride back down to Dasawamedh Ghat, which is the major tourist point along this stretch of The Ganges (hard to believe this filth is the same river we saw at Haridwar and Rishikesh). Boat rides are the token tourist activity and well worth it, even with an annoying weed of a boatsman. The Ghats, the river here and all the people and activity are amazing, definitely one of the most incredible places I've been to. It's crazy to see thousands of Hindus coming down every day for their bathe (probably ask wikipedia again, I don't know the details exactly) in this river which, despite how holy it is to them, is absolutely disgusting. The water is literally (yes, literally) septic, on top is a layer of grime, oil and trash, cremated bodies are dumped (it's not uncommon to see half cremated bodies in the river, we weren't so lucky) and raw sewerage pumped into the river constantly and to think it's about a third to half the population of India who rely on this river for survival. Yeah, it's hard to have hope for a country whose centuries of tradition have placed them here, like this. It's actually people's job to put lime all over the Ghats every couple of mornings because people piss everywhere and anywhere. Experiencing the Ghats from the river and land was something I enjoyed a lot, even if enjoyed doesn't sound like the right word. This afternoon we walked a couple of kilometres south, upstream, to a sensationally disappointing fort. Although it did scratch a lot of urban decay itches. Then again, this country IS urban decay. Probably walked more today than on most of our trekking days.
January 16 Rats And Rats And Rats For Candy.
And that's India pretty well done. Gorakphur by train tomorrow, cross back to Nepal 18th and fly home 22nd. Supposed to go to Sarnath this afternoon, but it's not worth the cost. Power cuts ruined the end of the cricket and The Replacements. We have a mouse as a roommate and the worst lumpy, filthy, straw-filled bed of all time.
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