November 18, Varanasi, India

Jeff's first India quote, Varanasi, 11-17-06, "We should put on our closed-toed shoes as there's a lot of shit on the ground.... or just go barefoot and wash our feet at the end of the day."

Rickshaw driver quote (after hassling us for a ride and watching us keep going), "Ride, or are you walking and talking?" Jeff responds - "yah, we are 'walking and talking'. From now on - "no thanks, we are walking and talking".

We survived the 20 hour bus trip from Nepal to India with sore bums. We arrived in the holy city at 1 AM with 3 other tourists and all braved motorized tricycles to the Ghats - river front. With very narrow city streets, the drivers couldn't get us that close so we ended up walking round and round - over dogs, cows, sleeping bodies, roaches, piles of shit, etc. until we found a hotel and got some sleep.

Yesterday morning we changed hotels to one with much nicer common areas - a garden in the center and many balconies overlooking the Ganges, and that actually turned out to be cheaper - 150 Indian rupies per night (44 IR = $1). We also walked around the city a lot and did a sunset boat ride to see the Ghats - cremation sites. The one closest to our hotel had 20+ bodies burning at one time. It was really pretty ghastly - and a lot of dogs fighting and humping and then eating remains - yuck. We also saw one body dropped in whole - babies, pregnant women, and holy men - saddhus aren't burned. Only men are involved in the cremations as women tend to cry and there is no crying aloud as it makes it difficult for the deceased spirit to leave this world.

Today we will walk around a bit more and then we are taking a 12.5 hour night train to Delhi tomorrow. Liz is wearing a red saree today that she bought in Nepal and is excited that her tying job lasted the 30 minute walk this morning without falling off.

Hope all is well with you all. Love Liz and Jeff